About 15 years ago I had the opportunity to speak at a conference a report on my usual theme. I talked about the fact that turning Russia into an enemy – not a good idea. During the discussions one of the participants of the conference, which, as I later found out was a retired Director of the highly serious intelligence structures in NATO, had raised objections, claiming that the Russians do not share our values.
Our values, which are usually called “European values”, have been the subject of considerable discussion in the 1990s. NATO in those days proudly called the Alliance of human values, more specifically, of European values. In General, call and now, is that not so loudly. I remember, as a Spanish eurocrat was explained to me, the essence of these values. Just think: a Spaniard who grew up in the days of General Franco, was confident that may enlighten Canadians about democracy and freedom! However, these were fads of the time.
Me these him rant actually seemed very tedious. First, Franco, Hitler, Marx, Engels, Mussolini, and Robespierre, Napoleon, Quisling (the Norwegian Nazi collaborator, a national socialist, actively collaborated with Germany during the Second world war – approx. mixednews) and others, they were all Europeans.
And, second, hell, if it were not the Soviets and not “anglosphere” (English world), in “European values” that are so proud of the Eurocrats and their allies in 1995, would contain a lot more leather uniforms, boots forged and greetings with outstretched hand. It is not the French, Spaniards, Belgians, Danes and Italians liberated Europe from the German Nazis, right? In addition, NATO is a military Alliance that has passed through the dictatorship of Salazar in Portugal, of the “black colonels” in Greece and various coups in Turkey. NATO actually did not dare to “swallow” Franco, however, the United States had so many agreements with Spain that in the formal NATO membership was not necessary. In those days, when NATO was a defensive Alliance, real estate, and the existence of a common enemy prevailed over “values”. However, in the 1990s emerged the craze for the idea of “common European values”.
I admit that it wasn’t completely irrational. I don’t like this sanctimonious the word “values”, but I thought that the collapse of the Soviet Union marked something important. Contrary to the fears of many people in the 70s and 80s, which is clearly weakening the Soviet system would triumph over our disorderly and fragmented the West, this Soviet system collapsed. For me, the lesson of this collapse was not that defeated our “values”. Simply put, because the future is unknown, the system, which allows for more options to solve problems, is more stable, since today’s answer might not be suitable for tomorrow’s issue.
Democracy is political pluralism, freedom of expression is a mental pluralism, and the free market is an economic pluralism. The Soviet and Nazi system, had One Great Answer to all the questions. It worked for a certain period of time, until there arose a problem that the Great Response has not been able to solve. By the way, I’m sure that Putin understands this, even if the West will agree with a few, and today he says: “History proves all dictatorships, all authoritarian forms of government short-lived. Only democratic systems are resilient and able to survive”.
So, it seemed to me that the findings should be made and lessons learned. Alas, this did not happen. On the contrary, we are today self-righteous, and arrogant glorification of “European values” that were revealed to us from heaven. However, what is important is that we, but not them. And it came to pass: they either learned from us (if it actually was possible) or went to the bottom.
So, where are we, the West, appeared today, two decades later? It seems that all not so smoothly. Political parties deviating from prescribed to society’s views, rapidly pushed and demonized: it is enough to read any material in the official media about French party “national front” to see at almost every line the word “right-wing”. Thus, everyone knows that it’s bad, and when it does there is no need to find out. Volleys of “flattering” epithets are heard in the address of any party or person that threatens the established order: Donald trump is “a racist, a fascist, a fool, a homophobe, a misogynist”. Freedom of expression is extremely limited by laws against hate speech and the rules of political correctness. The long ears of the government are absolutely everywhere. The murder of unmanned devices have become the norm. As regards market freedoms, today’s world, apparently, managed by financial manipulators in their own interest. Pluralism is increasingly less relevant, and the legendary “European values” look more and more battered and useless.
One very ancient European by the name of Herodotus, once said: “Divine justice will punish human arrogance”. Our victorious “value” transformed into the self-confidence that gave rise to the excesses and carelessness, and today we were at the mercy of misconceptions. Nemesis, goddess of retribution, would inevitably accomplish a just recompense and restore the destroyed balance.
The author, Patrick Armstrong is a foreign policy analyst, former political counselor at canadian Embassy in Moscow
