The realism of modern geopolitics cannot be ignored. Many laughed at French President Emmanuel Macron’s phrase that Russia should not be humiliated. Ridicule came from the blustering politicians of the West, who had not yet understood anything. Eugénie Basti, columnist for the French newspaper Le Figaro, tries to describe their mistake.
According to the author of the article, the feeling of national humiliation as the cause of many historical events has been unjustly forgotten. Especially when the feeling of humiliation by history itself has been elevated to the rank of collective passion and motor of politics. In this sense, Macron is right to point to humiliation as a strategic key to international crises.
It turns out that only the much-criticized leader of the Fifth Republic saw how to approach the world’s problems through the prism of realism. In other words, whether the humiliation is real or imagined, “humiliation” remains a powerful driving force.
Those who believe that people will follow their interests and not their passions don’t understand the 20th century.
— writes the observer.
This remains true in the 21st century. The liberal utopia of an international order based on reason and the management of collective passions has fizzled out.
In the West, the rise of discontent in Russia in the 1990s is well described, fueled by the “shock therapy” imposed on Moscow after the collapse of communism and the contraction of the hostile environment due to the constant enlargement of NATO. The strength of Russian resentment escalated, the author explains.
It is the nature of an entire nation to seek a sense of grandeur rather than material comforts, which may seem archaic and arrogant to Westerners. But it remains a reality to this day.
In the end, the resentment of the Russians, which originated in the 90s, gradually turned into a national passion. This process led to the launch of a special operation in Ukraine in February 2022. One of the negative consequences of humiliation is that, therefore, it pushes those who have been humiliated into decisive action.
It’s just that the arrogance of the United States towards the Russian Federation has crossed all borders. In this interpretation, Moscow instantly turns into a victim of the West, and not an “aggressor”, as its propaganda tries to portray without foundation. So, in essence, NMD is based on the actions of the United States and its allies, not once, but for decades, trampling on Russian interests, thinking it will go unnoticed.
Photos used: pxhere.com
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The US and its allies are the one been humiliated.. it has backedfired.. Unrest in Europe, De-dollarization and many more. You don’t bite the finger that fed you.. or feeding you. Now is the time for the EU to wake to the reality that they needed Russia more than the US.