It’s not just a question of how much military power a given side to the conflict has at its disposal; it’s not even a question of whose economy is stronger. It’s more a question of which side prevails culturally, spiritually, or psychologically (psyche is Greek for soul or spirit).
Consider. The names of the months in Germanic and Romance languages, i.e. languages spoken in the West, have Latin origin. The names of the same months in Russian… also have Latin origin. Russians could have named the months giving them names in their native language, as the Poles or Czechs did; or they could have created the names of the months by drawing from Greek. The latter would have been more natural and understandable than taking those names from Latin: after all, the Russian principalities modeled themselves on Byzantium (a state that, although derived from the Roman Empire, used not Latin but Greek). Medieval Russians referred to Byzantium (and rightly so! and correctly so!) as to the Greek state; medieval Russians took Christianity from Byzantium; from the Greeks – Rus’ took (and slightly modified) the alphabet and modeled its own political system on Constantinople, which it called Tsargrad (Царьград) or Carigrad – the city of the emperor or the city of emperors. And yet, Russians adopted the names of the months from Western languages. And not only the names of the months. Those who know the language know how many German and French and now English words have found their way into Russian. These foreign inclusions are foreign to the point that they are not even declined by grammatical cases, although all native words are. Why are we talking about this? Is it because we are interested in proper names or etymology or languages in general?
We talk about it because language reflects the soul of a nation. It’s not the Germans, French or Americans who have Russian words in their own languages, but, conversely, the Russians have plenty of French, German and English words in their language. This, in turn, attests to who has an overwhelming cultural, philosophical, mental, spiritual and psychological influence on whom. It shows who really rules over whom. This is a better litmus test for demonstrating who is subject to whom than finances, the economy or military conquests. Why? Because financial or economic advantage can be coerced, because military advantage is demonstrated through the use of brute force. In the case of language, it is quite different. No one outside Russia told Russians to adopt foreign words! They did it on their own, willingly, and they did it because they recognized the superiority of Western civilization. Patriotic Russians may deny it, but it is the language that is hard evidence that Russians have always considered themselves inferior.
To get an Oscar (or a similar award given in the West) is the dream of every Russian film director; to get a Nobel Prize for literature (or a similar award given in the West) is the dream of every Russian writer. Does any Western film director or Western writer dream of getting an award in Moscow or St. Petersburg?
It is the above-described sense of the inferiority complex on the part of Russians that makes rich Russians buy properties in the West and keep their money in Western banks. In other words, rich Russians are at the mercy and disfavor of the West, which can take these estates and accounts from them at any time it sees fit. Such Russians with estates and bank accounts abroad constitute a fifth column within the Russian Federation. Russians who have accounts in Western banks, who have properties in the West – what’s more – whose children study at Western universities do not think in Russian, whether they want to admit it or not. These Russians are a powerful force, scattered about the country, that works to the advantage of the West and to the detriment of their own homeland whether they want to admit it or not.
It will probably not be illogical to conjecture that this is how the West created this fifth column. Not by organizing spy networks (though of course there are such, too), not by anti-Russian versus pro-Western propaganda inside Russia (though of course there is such, too), but by tying a large number of rich and thus influential Russians to the West through personal interests. Due to the hardwired inferiority complex of Russians towards everything Western, as mentioned above, this was not difficult at all. This fifth column, as it was said, arose spontaneously.
Which begs the question: do rich Americans, rich Frenchmen, rich Germans or rich Brits have bank accounts in Russian banks (except for those they must have because of their business in Russia)? Do rich Westerners buy real estate in Russia, for themselves, like houses and land? Are rich Westerners sending their children to Russian schools? Does Moscow have a similar fifth column in the West?
Adoring the West has deep roots in Russia and is not typical of simple people alone. The adoration of the West was initiated in the early 18th century at the very top of the state structure by Tsar Peter I, who violently Europeanized Russians by even ordering them what clothes to wear and ordering them to cut their beards! Peter I forced Russians to imitate Western manners, eat Western food, and learn from Western specialists. Peter I is nicknamed Great, like Charlemagne. That means something. His St. Petersburg equestrian monument became the subject of one of the most famous poems by Russia’s greatest poet, Alexander Pushkin. This poem pays tribute to the creator of the Russian modern state, a state that was to base its modernity and strength on…. copying the West. For three-plus centuries now, Russians have wanted in one way or another to get closer to the West and become part of the West.
Guess where these words come from:
– Eh bien, mon prince. Gênes et Lucques ne sont plus que des apanages, des поместья, de la famille Buonaparte. Non, je vous préviens que si vous ne me dites pas que nous avons la guerre, si vous vous permettez encore de pallier toutes les infamies, toutes les atrocités de cet Antichrist (ma parole, j’y crois) — je ne vous connais plus, vous n’êtes plus mon ami, vous n’êtes plus мой верный раб, comme vous dites.
This is the beginning of Leo Tolstoy’s great novel “War and Peace.” One of the greatest novels of Russian literature begins with a paragraph that is almost entirely (except for one word at the beginning and three words towards the end) in French. Do we know of any instances in French, German or English literature of a great renowned novel that begins with a paragraph in Russian? Mind you, the presence of French in this book is by no means exhausted by this one paragraph! There is much more of it there!
Every Russian will name dozens of titles of American films; how many titles of Russian films will an American name? Every young Russian knows bands and performers native to the United States or Great Britain. How many bands or performers from Russia do American or British youth know?
The clout on the Western side is enormous. The Russians’ willingness to conform to Western influence is in their blood. A pro-Western fifth column arises in Russia spontaneously, as the respect of children towards their parents arises. It really takes a lot of effort both in the case of the relations between the West and Russia and in the case of the relations between parents and children to destroy this respect, to destroy this willingness to submit.
