quarta-feira, 21 de dezembro de 2016

Ukraine: a planned crisis?

(Eurasian Youth Union´s rally.)

Wars, conflicts, mass demonstratios, all this occurs always with some planning behind or at least with some sort of stimulus or "push" that triggers the desired effects.

In August 2014, already during the ongoing war in Ukraine, professor Anton Shekhovtsov published in his blog comparative photos of Eurasian Youth Union´s members between the years 2006 and 2014. The photos taken in 2006 show five members of this movement at a summer camp for indoctrination and training of ultra-nationalist cadres. According to Shekhovtsov, these members should actively fight against democratic movements, a reference to the so-called "Colored Revolutions" that took place in countries neighboring to Russia in 2004 and 2005. The 2014 photos show, one by one, the members of the Union occupying key posts in the administration of the self-proclamed "Donetsk People´s Republic", a region dominated by the pro-Russian fighters that claims for autonomy in eastern Ukraine. Bellow are two of the examples identified by Shekhovtsov.

               
(Andrei Purgin, leader of the Donetsk Republic organization at the camp in 2006, and as Prime Minister of the "Donetsk People´s Republic" in 2014.)

            

(Oksana Shkoda, at the Union´s camp in 2006, and as representative of the "Donetsk People´s Republic´s" headquarter in 2014.)

The Union was founded in 2005 by the Russian ideologist Alexander Dugin and then deputy head of the presidencial administration Vladimir Surkov. The Eurasian Youth Union Party Program outlines guidelines to be followed by it´s members. Firstly, it points to the US as the great enemy to sorround and penetrate Russia with the spread of it´s financial, plutocratic tiranny and moral degeneration. Then, the program proclaims the so-called "Great Cleansing", an era of fighting to nation´s alleged traitors that hold key positions in media, bureaucracy, and to fight againts conformism for the construction of Greater Russia. In order to carry out this revolution, the program establishes the creation of an Eurasian Army and seeks to boost the Eurasian pride by highlighting the supposed virtues of the Eurasia´s people, and promise to honor the values inherited by their ancestors. Finally, it promises to fulfill it´s destiny, to realize the Eurasian Revolution and to establish the Eurasian Empire, whose members would live the highest virtues of honor and glory, claims for the creation of a country with a "joyous" and "merciless" people and invite the young to get thogether in the "Eurasian collective", which is the Youth Union. All the party program is based on Dugin´s thought, which references are clear in it´s language, the enemies to be fought (US and the Western financial elites) and in the promise to rescue and protect the Eurasia´s peoples cultures.

(Vladimir Surkov with Vladimir Putin in 2006)

Those who follow this blog probably have an general idea of who Alexander Dugin is, but maybe don´t know Vladimir Surkov. Surkov was Russian deputy prime minister and assistant to the Russian president in international affairs, and it´s considered one of the architects of Russia today. He defines himself as "one of the actors of the Russian system", is nicknamed "political technologist of all Rus [Russia]" and presents himself as firm West´s opponent. As deputy head of the administration, Surkov met with Russian journalists and determined what should and should not be said and appear in country´s televisions, as well as encouraged the media to present the Kremlin as a stable and reliable power. Among other activities, he published literary works exposing the double character of Russian public moral, characteristic heritage of the Soviet period and of which Surkov is a representative.

(Konstantin Malofeev)

Another member who would be also involved in Ukraine crisis is the oligarch Konstantin Malofeev. He´s accused by Western leaders of financing the pro-Russian fighters in the neighboring country, and is on the list of economic sanctions of Canada and European Union, which he considers "much stupid" and unable to affect his business. Maloffev is head of the investments firm Marshall Capital and is described in the Western media as "Putin´s Soros", in allusion to his financial support for Kremlin projects, and as "God´s oligarch", a reference to his commitment to promoting Orthodox Christian values and the restauration of glory of the former Russian Empire. Among his actions are the funding to the World Congress of Families, to the dissemination of traditional values (i.e. Orthodox) through his St. Basil the Great Foundation, the law against homossexual propaganda to minors in Russia, the internet control and the rebels in Ukraine.

(Strelkov, Malofeev and Dugin in a meeting recorded in vídeo in na unidentified location.)

The conection between Malofeev an the Kremlin circle is narrow. On his list of contacts are the former Russian Minister of Communications Igor Shchyogolev, the head of state Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin, the likely Vladimir Putin´s personal confessor and head of one of the main monasteries in Russia father Tikhon, the political technologist, former Malofeev´s public consultor and former Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed "Donetsk People´s Republic" Alexander Borodai, the member of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia and leader of the pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine Igor Girkin (known as Igor Strelkov) and Alexander Dugin.

Marshall Capital provides funding to the St. Basil Foundation. In this company, Igor Strelkov would have worked years ago, information denied by the oligarch. Strelkov also appears in the economic sanctions imposed by the US and European Union.

Malofeev, Strelkov and Borodai probably form a close relationship. In a trip to Ukraine that would have aimed the exposure of Orthodox relics, Malofeev visited Kiev and had his protection provided by Strelkov, who is also a Borodai´s friend.

(Igor Girkin - or Strelkov - military leader of the pro-Russian fighters in Ukraine.)

The oligarch doesn´t spare praise to Strelkov, whom calls "a man of ideals". He also says that for his actions in Ukraine Strelkov would be a "real hero". "He´s got the spirit of a Russian officer. As someone loves the Russian Empire, I can only sympathize with him." Dugin also shed many praises and exalt Strelkov´s figure, whom he describes as "the Russian myth" presenting him as model of the "ideal" Russian man, the one who embodies the nation´s identity. He would be the "bearer of the Russian archetype". "He´s us", says Dugin, the right man to fight with hatred the spiritual enemy, a reference to the men who embody the Western way of life. Both Malofeev´s and Dugin´s statements suggest that both have a good knowledge of who Strelkov is, and who is openly supported by them.

The relationships network that brings Dugin, Malofeev, Strelkov and Surkov to the conflict in Ukraine is complex. Their role indicates that the Russian government delegates to members of it´s relationship circle the responsability to act in Ukraine, avoiding the accusation that Moscow would be acting directly in it´s territory. This is the stratagem used by Putin to repeatedly state that Russia isn´t intervening in the neighbouring country, what amounts to say that a gang didn´t invade a house because it delegated to the other gang the assault in an agreement signed by both parts.

Given the size of the Russian network linked to the Kremlin that´s operating in Ukraine, it´s higly unlikely it have been created in the period between the overthrow of President Viktor Yanukovich, on February 22nd 2014, and the beginning of the Crimean invasion by Russian military forces from the port city of Sevastopol four days later. It not only existed before, like the Eurasian Youth Union´s summer camp, as people like Strelkov were already active in military, an activity without which would be impossible to lead an armed militia. Most important of all, however, it´s the Neo-Eurasian ideology that moves groups such as the Union, the International Eurasian Movement and a number of representatives of politics, the Armed Forces and the media. The ideals of restauration of the former Russian emperial power, as openly supported by the various Konstantin Malofeev´s projects, are perfect tools for the expanstionist program of the Eurasian movement. The oligarch sees the conflict in Ukraine as a war in a cultural context. Culture is seen by the Dugin´s Neo-Eurasian movement as one of the fundations for the formation of civilizations and, hence, of their political forces. For Malofeev there are no differences between Russians and Ukrainians. Both don´t form distinct people, but only one, an idea also shared by the Eurasianists.

It should be noted that the Ukraine´s people and territory are crucial for the creation of Greater Russia and the Eurasian Empire idealized by Dugin, the fighters in Ukraine, the Kremlin´s oligarchs and put into practice by Putin. Judging by the Eurasian Movement´s principles, Moscow won´t rest until its has carried out it´s plans in Ukraine and, thence, to the rest of the world. The fight is much deeper than the economic sanctions imposed by the West to some members of the Russian power. It pass through the conquest of hearts and minds and the bodies movement into the battlefield.

* Published in Portuguese on July 15th 2015.

sexta-feira, 9 de dezembro de 2016

Martyrs, heroes and others not so saints: the construction of the new Russian identity

(Town of Kaluga, Russia)

The anthropologist and professor at the New Bulgarian University, Milena Benovska-Sabkova, has carried out a work on memory policy implemented in Russia in the religious revival context. Her activity had as reference the city of Kaluga, with 350 thousand inhabitans 150 km southwest Moscow, and has been published in various academical journals (here - page 95-98, here and, most complete, here).

With the end of the Soviet Union, a series of research began in order to reconstitut and rebuild the religious communities, churches and monasteries destroyed in Russia. Much of this work was done by so-called kraevedenie, researchers specializing in local history as cultural heritage, biographies and origins of families. Such a kind of researcher has emerged still in the time of the Soviet Union and actually has a semi-official status, acting independently and also with research centers, schools, churches and local authorities. Within this branche there are the church kraevedenie, who makes the same work, but focused especifically on religious matters, with emphasis on survey of demolished churches, research on religious files and biographical survey of clerics and religious people, especially those who desappeared in the Communist era.

Since 2000, with the Vladimir Putin´s arrival to Presidency of Russia, the activity of the kraevedenie has has gained great official stimulus: they were co-optated by the authorities to work in rescue research of Russian history acting in schools, museums and in local activties such as congresses and books launches. Thus, these reasearchers began to form a semiprofissional group related a) to the national project of memory policy, b) to the regional projects linked to the memory policy at national level, and c) to the spontaneous research acitvity carried out by their members. The church kraevedenie also entered this process, and began to work close to the Russian Orthodox Church´s authorities. Thus, they consolidated the role as intermediaries between the Orthodox clergy and the common citizen making a knowledge "bridge" between the two social groups.

(Optina Pustyn Monastery, in the town of Koselsk 60 km from Kaluga. Founded in the 15th century, the monastery is one of the main ones in Russia and also region´s religious center. It was transformed by the Bolsheviks in the Kraevedenie Museum in 1917-29, and later received a department of a Koselk´s museum in 1957.)

It´s through the close relationship between the kraevedenie and the Russian Orthodox Church that the religious revival takes place in Russia. They work together both at national level in the Synodal Commission of Canonization of Saints and at regional level, following the example of the Commission of Canonization of the Eparchy of Kaluga, where the anthropologist Milena carried out her research. Therefore, these researchers not only rescue the Orthodoxy´s past memory but also integrate the Church´s plan to reconstitute a national religious identity.

Since 1989, the Orthodox Church has carried out a series of canonizations, among them the confessors and "new martyrs", that is, the religious assassinated or dead during the communist regime. The church kraevedenie are of fundament importance mainly for rescuing files, survivors´ memories and to discover abandoned cemiteries in the old churches. Along them work the so-called "religious entrepreneurs" who commit some of their time and personal resources to carry out and organize religious processions, restore icons, restore and rebuild destroyed churchers and create the so-called "sacred places" for visitation, as the new memorial designed in Kaluga for the veneration of the new martyrs.

The memory policy in Russia also seeks to rehabilitate the civilians and militaries´ memory, especially soldiers killed in World War II. The so-called "Great Patriotic War" is considered, as Angelo Segrillo in the book "Os Russos" ("The Russians") comments, a moment of great trauma, meaning practically a refoundation of the country. It´s estimated that seven thousand cities have been destroyed and up to 27 million people have died in this event, of which 100 thousand only in the small district of Kaluga.

The kraevedenie are also involved in this secular historical rescue, mainly in the discovery and cataloging of the collective graves, activity that involves mainly military groups and war veterans. Milena comments that it´s through the indentification of the dead and a new decent funeral that there´s a "sacralization" of the soldiers, seen as heroes, civil "martyrs" of Russia. "The anonymous dead", the anthropologist says, "are transformed into heroes via personalization and 'proper burial'" (p. 20)

The new martyrs canonization and mainly the national heroes identification serve as a way of dealing with the traumatic past, not only of war but also of anti-religious persecution. Some of the kraevedenie who formed their academical life during the Soviet Union today have to deal with KGB´s files, where many of the crimes commited against religious people as murders, arrests and persecution are documented. The seemingly irreconcilable legacy of Communist terror against religious and ornidary citizens is transformed in a "positive" past through the heroes veneration and the martyrs canonization.

(Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, in Moscow, Russian Orthodox Church´s headquartes. It was destroyed by the Bolsheviks at the behest of Stalin´s, in 1931, and rebuild from 1990 during Yeltsin government. It was consacreated on August 19th 2000.) 
 
In the current Vladimir Putin administration (2013-2018), there´s a clear attempt by the Kremlin to approach and ideologically instrumentalize the discourses of the Orthodox Church´s upper clergy on the country´s history. This instrumentalization, that appears on Putin´s public statements, fosters the idea of Russia as a civilization distinct from the others, unique and origial, in opposition to the West. It would be through the return to it´s cultural roots and the rescue of the tradition that Russia could fulfill it´s role as power which is destined to be. Thus, all Russian history, including the Communist period, is considered "sacred" and necessary as part of an unique experience of a people distinct from the others. In Putin´s own words:

"Many people argue about the Lenin’s Tomb, saying that it does not follow tradition. What does not follow tradition? Just visit Kiev’s Pechersk Lavra or go to Pskov Monastery, or Mount Athos. You will see hallows of holy people there. Go ahead, you can see it all there. Therefore, the communists continued the tradition even in that respect and did it competently, in accordance with the demands of those times."

(Military parade in Moscow on Victory Day, celebrated on May 9th: Communist period rehabilitated as part of the Russia´s "sacred" history.)

It´s possible to see clearly in the Putin´s statement the memory policy carried out in his administration. This is why the official stimulus of a historical rescue and a value transformation of the Communist period, from where the Russia´s new martyrs and heroes were rescued. This policy covers part of the Russian Orthodox Church´s upper clergy, as well as Orthodox leaders and faithful called "fundamentalists" and nationalist groups. These last two nourish an extreme rejection to all the Western influences and demand canonization of proeminent civilian figures in the Russian history, includind the dictator Josef Stalin. The researcher Igor Torbakov of the Uppsala University, in Sweden, comments on this Russian government´s attemp of synthesizing the contradictions of the Russian history into a single narrative:

"In Frederick Corney’s words, 'Putin was offering a narrative of modern Russian history in which the turbulences of Russia’s past served merely as a backdrop to recent progress, an offer of reconciliation without truth.' [author´s highlight] As its support base consists of a broad coalition comprising heterogeneous social groups, the regime, in its quest for historical legitimacy, seeks to synthesize disparate elements of Russia’s different 'pasts' into a kind of eclectic fusion. 'It attempts to yoke, if uncomfortably, various idealized aspects of the tsarist, soviet and émigré pasts' and present this concoction as 'history without guilt or pain.'

The search for an indivisible truth, the fascination with the irrational, the hope to find a special path, a destiny, a mission granted by God and/or History are current discourses among Russian intellectuals in the post-Soviet era, amalgamating all events and ideological branches into a single body. Nothing more exemplary of this characteristics than Alexander Dugin´s Neo-Eurasian though, so often mentioned in this blog, or the extremely heterogenous composition of members and groups linked to the Putin´s United Russia Party.

Russia seeks for an absolute unity, a totality that unifies everything and everyone in a new national identity. The Moscow´s memory policy is one aspect of the attempt to rescue or create a new Russian identity unifying successes and traumas, heroes and martyrs, crimes and holiness acts and "saints" of all specters of  Russian society, even if they arent´s so saint thus.

* Published in Portugues on April 13th 2016.

segunda-feira, 28 de novembro de 2016

The publication of the debate between Carvalho and Dugin in Romania: the need to defend a nation

(Cover of the Romanian publication.)

For the first time the debate between Olavo de Carvalho and Alexander Dugin will be published in another language than Portuguese and English. It´s an initiative of the publishing company Humanitas, from Romania. The publication is, therefore, in Romanian language, and will be released on November 20th this year.

(Horia-Roman Patapievici)

In an interview given to a television channel of his country, the philosopher, essayist and former chairman of the Romanian Cultural Institute, Horia-Roman Patapievici, spoke about the book´s publication (here and here for those who know Romanian). Patapievici was asked why publishing in Romania a book with Dugin´s ideias because of the hostility inspired by his philosophical thought and the Eurasian Movement. In the text below, reproduced in Portuguese in Olavo de Carvalho´s profile on Facebook, there are the Romanian thinker´s answers:

"Interviwer: Why publishing company Humanitas publishes Alexander Dugin?
Horia-Roman Patapievici: Because we have to know our adversaries well, and Dugin is author of a well-articulated theory, that recovers the totalitarian ideologies of the 20th century, but also the Russian messianism idea, to proporse an Eurasianism theory.  The Western Liberalism is, for him, absolute evil. The hate - de-legitimized by liberal political practice - against modernity a postmodernity must lead, after all, to the annihilation of the West and it´s values system.
Interviwer: Then, is it not harmful the spread of his ideas in the Romanian space? 
Horia-Roman Patapievici: No, because the retort of the Brazilian professor Olavo de Carvalho is a brilliant retort. Olavo de Carvalho is the complete opposite of the institutionalized intellectual idea, as is the Dugin´s case. He has exiled himself from his native Brazil to a farm in the US, where he has an online philosophical "garden" with 3000 students. He opposes to the Dugin´s emotional rethoric the argumentation delivered from Western-type rationality. Therefore, Humanitas publishes this book, firstly, to know an extremly pernicious ideology, against the values we believe in and even against our statehood, but also to have access to a counter-argument, a brilliant retort, that mobilizes the best in the Western society, to show that Dugin´s ideology has no root in the Western philosophy, thought, culture and religion.
Interviwer: Why is Putinism dangerous to the Romanian stability?
Horia-Roman Patapievici: Because the Eurasian plan relies on the Asia´s division between Russia and China, turning Europe to be entirely of Russia. In this plan, Romania has no future. It has to be part of Russia. It´s unnaceptable, not only from the Romanian point of view, as also European.

Without going into debate´s merit, two points at the Patavievici´s responses deserve attention. The first is the cultural war waged by Dugin against values that politically and socially support the West. His war isn´t restricted to the field of ideas: it enters into politics. In his complex trajectory as philospher, ideologist, founder of cultural movements and advisor to political leaders, the Russian thinker has already openly stated that his intention isn´t act as a politician, but to acto behind the scenes to influence it. When creating the political movement Evraziia, on April 21st 2001, Dugin stated: "Our goal is not to achieve the power, nor to fight for power, but to fight for influence on it." According to professor Marlène Laruelle, the movement was intended to formulate a "national idea" for Russia. Dugin leaved Evraziia in September 2003, just over a year after it´s transformation into political party and two months after it´s merger with the Rodina Bloc, whose ideological profile he desagreed with. But he continued his trajectory as adviser to other Russian MPs and professor at Moscow State University (where he left in 2014), releasing a series of books and texts on the internet, as on Forth Political Thoery and the newly founded Katehon.

(The mastodontic Palace of the Parliament - 365.000 m² - build by dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu, in Bucharest: communist experice helped put Romania into the EU and NATO.)

The second point is the geopolitical dimension of the Neo-Eurasian thought. In June I´ve made a brief analysis on the Dugin´s vision on Brexit based in an interview with the think thank Katehon (of which he´s member of the Supervisory Board) under the title "Brexit: Europe is falling into abyss" and in the debate with Olavo de Carvalho. The Russian thinker states that the European decline would be due the "ultraliberal ideology" in the continent, and puts in check the Western leadership in the world. On the other hand he shows preference for the rival alternative, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), whose two main members are Russia and China. "Brexit is the collapse of the West and it is a victory for humanity", Dugin says, which after completes: "And the flagship of the mankind is the SCO, Russia, the current sovereign free multipolar Russia led by Putin, and those who are in the Eurasian Club".

The cultural war and the geopolitical consequences of Neo-Eurasianism are at the core of the Patapievici´s warning. In a world shaped by the Eurasian Movement and led by the SCO will be little or no space for opposition from smaller countries such as Romania. After the experience in the Communist bloc, this helps explain the country´s choice for the European Union and NATO. In addition, Russia and China has a long-term estrategic alliance (like the multibillion-dollar Russian gas supply agreements in 2014), being China the attraction pole of all Eastern Asia and Russia the frontline of the Eurasianism expansion with it´s onslaughts in Europe and even in the US in the political, cultural and military fields. In a world were multinational powers (whether Eurasian or Western) grow excessively, it´s necessary to know where the greatest danger lies to know to situate itself more consciously and less unconfortably among great powers. In the Romania´s case this accomodation is strictly necessary, since the country is situated in Eastern Europe with Moldova and Ukraine, countries under Russia´s direct action.

 (Third and second editions of "The Garden of Afflictions", by the philospher Olavo de Carvalho: defense of inner freedom against the modern state´s intrusion. In the third edition, the philosopher corrects some distortions of his essay and supplements it with a brief analysis of the Dugin´s Neo-Eurasian plan.)

Finally, here is what Patapievici commented on the Brazilian philosopher: "Olavo de Carvalho is the complete opposite of the institucionalized intellectual", whose reply to Dugin he defined as "brilliant". This is keeping with I wrote in the text on Brexit: Dugin doesn´t understand Carvalho´s thought, he can´t see him out of an ideological frame, and for this very reason he feels confused in the debate he had with the Brazilian. For the Russian it was inconceivable that his adversary were an opponent of the Eurasian plan and also the Western globalist plan. It happens that Carvalho think as an individual and not within ideological schemes, however complex they may be. It´s this inner freedom that Patapievici also wants to preserve, because the nation´s freedom depends upon it. This last sentence isn´t a passionate, emotional defense of freedom: it´s the pillar of Olavo de Carvalho´s though, as the final chapter of which I consider the best of his book, The Garden of Afflictions (p. 307, 2nd edition) shows:

In the absence of spiritual power (...) power is the sole judge. Democratic or oligarchic, communist or capitalist, monarchical or republican, social-democrat or neoliberal, it will always be the Caesar´s power, with an incoercible propensity to self-divinize. And as long as we don´t understand these things we´ll continue to bet on this or that political system, not seeing that the merits of any political system depend essentially that it knows to respect the limits imposed by the people´s religious conscience, vivified by the presence of spiritual authority and based on values that precede from long the very birth of this system and the very society it governs; that precede, maybe, from eternity."

* Published in Portuguese on November 18th 2016.

quinta-feira, 24 de novembro de 2016

The Eurasian Movement in Brazil: trajectory and arrest of Rafael Lusvarghi

(Lusvarghi in eastern Ukraine in early 2015.)

On the morning of October 6th, at 9 am, it was arrested at Boryspil International Airport, near Kiev, the Brazilian Rafael Marques Lusvarghi, 32 years old, one of the foreign fighters linked to pro-Russian separatists in the war in Ukraine. The arrest was carryed out by agents of the Inteligence Service of Ukraine (SBU) on charging of terrorist group formation according to Article 253-8 of the country´s Criminal Code. Lusvarghi is considered a foreign mercenary. With him were found an ID of the Donetsk People´s Republic (DPR) bearing an Igor Strelkov´s signature, Russian military and main leader of the War in Donbass, a DPR´s passport, a laptop with messages exchanged with groups considered terrorists and a medal as condecoration by services in combat, possibly given by Strelkov himself.

(Youtube video of the Intelligence Service of Ukraine that shows Rafael Lusvarghi detained by Ukranian agentes at Boryspil Airport, on October 6th.)

The Brazilian fighter´s arrest raised questions by pro-Russian supporters. Lusvargh was arrested because the plane he was inside, bound to Moscow, was diverted to land in Boryspil. The plane would be British Airways, rising suspicion that there would be a UK interference in his arrest.

On the same day a report from the Opera website, leftist Brazilian magazine friendly to Lusvarghi´s person, received a series of information from "friends and supporters of the Novorrosya´s cause" by André Ortega, former magazine´s correspondent that´s in Ukraine. According to him "netizens from the Russian-Ukranian world" suspected that Lusvarghi´s arrest were a made-up history. The justification was that the video released by the SBU showed the Brazilian´s face blurry, and his beard would be bulkier than presented in recent videos. The report says that "supporters sympathetic to Novorrosya´s cause" would be concerned about the Brazilian´s safety, as the Kiev government, which would act "neo-Nazi paramilitary groups", would be using torture against their prisioners. The text also accuses "nationalist radicals" and the Ukranian government´s paralisys of not complying the Minsk Agreements, including the war prisioners amnisty

(Blurred face rised suspicion by Lusvarghi´s defenders that the man arrested at Boryspil woundn´t be the Brazilian.)

On October 9th, the maganize published another report with Ortega´s informations commenting on the Lusvarghi´s trajectory untill his arrest. The fighter returned to Brazil at the end of 2015, where he worked in a fishing boat on the coast. He would have left Ukraine to be "tired of living in the region", having lived the war enough and was frustrated with the conflict stalemate and the uncertain ceasefire. His departure from Ukraine would be condition for compliance with the Minsk Agreements, since he is foreign fighter.

Lusvarghi had received work offers elsewhere in the world, among them the company Omega in August this year to act as security in a ship that would leave Odessa, in Ukraine, to Galle, in Sri Lanka. He accepted the offer, but at the same time reacted with concern. The Brazilian contacted the company to know the risk of passing through Ukraine after having fought in Donetsk and informed about the amnesty to the fighters according to the Minsk Agreements. He also sought guidance on his situation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Brazil. According to Ortega, Lusvarghi accepted the offer because it offered only one-way ticket, to consider Odessa a pro-Russian city and trusting the Agreements. Omega would have come into contact with the office of the Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe (OCSE), located in London, that would have ensured that there´s no risk to the Brazilian. He bought the ticket on September 26th, flew to Turkey on October 5th and on 6th flew to Ukraine. According to the report, the Kiev´s Prosecutor would have issued arrest warrant against the Brazilian on October 4th, one day before his departure from Brazil, and a "pro-Ukranian site" would have disclosed the path of his trip. Theses informations would indicate that the SBU knew about the Lusvarghi´s passage by Ukraine.

Even without providing evidence, the magazine also suggests that Omega would have contributed to the arrest, since among it´s clients would be the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

The informations avaliable in the paragraphs above lead to a contradiction: if Lusvarghi went from Turkey to Ukraine, as Opera claims, then how would his flight, supposedly of British Airways, be going to Moscow? Otherwise the plane wouldn´t have it´s route diverted to land at the Boryspil airport. Either the Brazilian had Russia as a destination for a conection, or the magazine missed (or omitted for unknown reasons) this information.

The news website of pro-Russian militants Slavyngrad.org says that the Brazilian´s flight was on the Dublin-Moscow route. He would go to the Russian capital to negotiate a job offer in a ship security company (it doesn´t clarify if of Omega). Lusvarghi would have been deceived by SBU agents, who in the contact for the job offer would have passed as Russian agents. The site also rises the possibility that there would be UK´s interference, questioning the recklessness of the flight in making a stopover in Ukraine, that is in conflict with Russia.

The DPR´s media, as expected, also rejected the classification of the Brazilian as a "foreign mercenary", calling him an "internationalis worrior".

In Brazil, the Itamaraty (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) received the news of the Brazilian´s arrest on October 7th through it´s Embassy in Kiev. The Embassy´s consular section contacted the Ukranian authorities to visit Lusvarghi and have more information of what had happened. The answer came on 14th by the Itamaraty: the Brazilian would be well with access to god food, he didn´t suffered mistreatment, he had a lawyer, and a Ukrainian prosecutor was following up the case. These informations were released after the Embassy made a consular visit to Lusvarghi.

But how did the Brazilian fighter come to Ukraine? And what was his trajectory before the arrest?

(Lusvarghi, center, at the French Foreign Legion in 2006.)
L
Rafael Lusvarghi was born in Jundiaí, in São Paulo State, in a middle class family and descendant of Hungarians. His trajectory was decribed by himself in an interview granted to the website História Militar Online (HMO, Military History Online in English) in September 2015. This is the most complete description of his public life avaliable in the Brazilian media:

"My name is Rafael Marques Lusvarghi. I´m military officer, combatant officer, and a very good one. I started my career early, getting ready at the French Foreign Legion as parachutist in the Mountain Company of the 2EP [2eme Régiment de Étrancher Parachutistes] where I participated of some missions [that he can´t reveal], and also doing some courses. I was dispensed for health problems. Recovered, back to Brazil, I passed in a contest for soldier of the São Paulo State´s PM [military police] at the end of 2005.  
There my service was basically internal, with only a few ontensive rounds and radio patrol. But even so I learned a lot about the funcioning of the administrative area, and the bureaucratic part without that´s impossible to generate a great force. Although I don´t like this role, I consider indispensable the bureaucracy and the procedures stardadization operante modes.
Of course, ambicious and proud, I wanted to grow and become an officer. I passed on the competition to the CFO [Portuguese initials for Officer Training Course] in Pará State, and I attended the Coronel Fontoura Military Police Academy at IESP. Traditionalist, I decided for perfect myself in the cavalry and I was presented at the Cassulo de Melo Mounted Regiment.
In 2010 I made the big mistake of interrupting my military career, asking to discharge from the corporation. It was to go to live in Russia. I have never had patience with civilian life, lack of discipline and hierarchy, black in white.  
Back to Brazil in 2014, I took certain actions for reasons I disagree with today, the way the demonstrations unfold in Brazil is improperly. I would like to point out here that above all I´m apolitical today, even I have my conceptions, above all against all this victmism that plagues our nation, who wants do, who cries is weak, and as we say in the military circle, the weaks that explode. Therefore, I regret the reasons that took me to the streets [during the World Cup demonstrations in Brazil], but I don´t regret the struggles I involded myself. As free citizen and in spare time, I can do as I please not breakings the laws. If I want to drink and stop in the middle of a street without traffic, I will, if I want to drink dressing a skirt, I will too. And being right, I struggle to the death for my rights. As the US Marines say, one of the best forces in the world: Sempre Fi, do or die!
After released I returned to my project to participate in the civil war in Ukraine, on the pro-Russian side because... I´m pro-Russian unconditionally. But it turns out that it´s really the pro-Russian who are right in this issue."

Lusvarghi´s trip to Ukraine received significant attention from the Brazilian press. First because he was already known for participating in the street protests in Brazil in 2014; second, it was curious that a local citizen would go to such a distant country to engange in an armed conflict without direct connection to his homeland.

Despite the succint description of his career as military, police officer and figther, Lusvarghi omits some details that help to understand the trajectory and the reasons that made him to take these decisions.

The Brazilian´s actions became more "radical" after his return from Russia in 2010, where he took an Administration course in Kursk, worked and learned the Russian language. One of his teachers gave him the nickname "Riurik Varyag Volkovich", in reference to Rurik dinasty. Lusvarghi intended to enter the army, but wasn´t accepted for being a foreigner. He returned to Brazil in the around 2013/14. In this return period he claims to have gone to Colombia and contacted the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), to whom he would have made a "visit" in the city of Cartagena. He would have entered the guerrilla, but left because the guerrillas "don´t have culture (...) they don´t have prepare, they don´t have plan of what to do", and he was disapointed with the peace process then under negotiation between the group and the Bogotá government that would lead to the weapon delivery and the transformation of the guerrilla into a policial party.

(On the left, Lusvarghi´s detention by the military police in São Paulo, on June 12th, whose photo had great repercussion in the Brazilian press; on the right, the arrest on June 23th wearing a Scottish kilt.)

Back to Brazil, Lusvarghi got two jobs in the city of Indaiatuba, in the interior of São Paulo, one as an English teacher and another as a helpdesk assistant in a computer company. He participated in protests promoted by leftist movements and parties againts the expenses of the 2014 World Cup. In one of the demonstrations held in the city of São Paulo on June 12th, day of the event´s opening, he was detained after standing in front of the Military Police´s Shock Battalion. He received several rubber bullets shots and was only contained by five policemen officers at the same time. It was in this occasion that he became famous: in a photo widely divulged by the Brazilian press, he appears being strangled by a military policemen, which picture became one of the symbols of the protests against the World Cup.

(Scars that Lusvarghi has scored on his face in a tattoo studio: a stage of creating of a Nordic fighter.)

On June 17yh, Lusvarghi underwent to a scarification in a tattoo studio, a technique used to cut the skin and leave a scar, while the Brazil team played against México in the World Cup. The brand was inspired by the characters Leonidas, from the movie 300, Kratos, from an eletronic fight game, and a former Foreign Legion´s collegue. On June 23, he was in another protest, now at the Paulista Avenue, the main one in São Paulo. There were new clashes with the military police, but this time he and a friend student of Journalism at USP (University of São Paulo), Fábio Hideki, were arrested of charges of being black blocs and carrying explosives. The future fighter was dressed with his ideals of fight: scared face, long hair and beard (in allusion to the Nordic warriors), kilt, (Scottish dress similar to a skirt) and shirtless. He also carried a tattoo on his right shoulder with a symbol and the Russian word "biersek", that would be a reference to the Norse mithology warriors.

(Lusvarghi on the day of his release from Tremembés penitentiary, São Paulo State, on August 7th, with tattoo on his shoulder in a symbolic reference to Norse mythology.)

Lusvarghi was also charged of resistence, criminal action, incitement to crime and disobedience. The São Paulo Justice released him and his friend 45 days later, on August 7th, when reports from the Forensic Institut showed that the material they carried wasn´t explosive or incendiary, but empty cans of chocolate and yogurt that, according to the police, had a "smell of fuel". The judge, in turn, had classified the two as "gauche caviar" , in allusion to the fact that they would be hypocritical socialists. The arrest caused Lusvarghi the lose of both jobs and a trip to Ukraine, where he had already bought a ticket and would have to board on June 28th. Released from Tremembé penitentiary, where he was imprisioned, the future fighter sought help from "politically engaged friends" (whom, he said, wouldn´t be recruiters) and gathered documentation for travel. On September 18th, he and Hedeki were "summarily" acquitted of the charge of carrying explosives by the Court of Juistice of São Paulo. The next day, Lusvarghi was already in Moscow, from where posted a photo on Facebook that appears at Red Square. He arrived in Ukraine on day 20 to work with the pro-Russian separatists.

(Lusvarghi, on the left of the Brazilian flag, with the pro-Russian separatists in winter 2014/15)

As soon as he arrived in Ukraine, Lusvarghi joined the Prisrak Battalion, in Dombass, where most members were volunteers. His knowledge and experience in the military, police and armaments helped him to become a fighter. His trajectory in the first year of war was intense. The first combat he participated was in Vergulovka, in October 2014. In March 2015, he already commanded his own platoon with five Brazilians denominated Ernesto "Che" Guevara Internationalist Unit, in allusion to the Argentinian communist guerilla. The platoon was created with battalion´s permission of which it was part. The members came from different regions of Brazil, had vaired profiles and had as function to recognize the enemy and to commit acts of sabotage. Until this time, Lusvarghi would have directly participated in death of at least four Ukrainians soldiers, according to his own statement in an interview. On April 26, he got seriouly injuried on legs, trunk and arms after being hit by shots or a bomb´s shrapnel in the violent battle at Donetsk International Airport. Recovered at the city´s hospital, he returned to battle more than two months latter. His military role during almost this time was of mortars battery commander. 

With the disclosure of his photos on Facebook where he appears in combat, Lusvarghi has drawn more people from Brazil to fight on the side of pro-Russian militants. Today there are around ten Brazilians on the battlefield.


(Lusvarghi carrying out maintenance of the machine gun DShK 12,7 mm, at Donetsk Airport, on April 2015, just before being seriously injuried in a violent battle.)

The return from Russia, contact with the FARC, participation in the street protests in Brazil (whose motivations declares repetance) and the definitive trip to Ukraine revail an insistent search of the Brazilian for more dangerous activities. Some of his statements help to understand the personal and political motivations for such attitudes.

Shorlty after being released from prision, on August 7th 2014, he was interviwed by the G1 website of Globo Organizations. At one point the journalist questioned his ideology, and had the following answer:

"Left. I would say anarchist, but anarchist is a utopia. So I would stay in Stalinism. I would say anarchist if I though it worked, but it´s utopia. So I call myself a stalinist.

In the same interview, the journalist recalled that Lusvarghi had previously stated he was fan of the former governor of São Paulo State, Luiz Antônio Fleury Filho, for being a nationalist. But when questioned if he had sympathy for the Integralist movement (fascist and nationalist right-wing movement in Brazil in the 1930s), he showed rejection of the opposite spectre of the left: "I don´t like anything that has to do with the right", he replied.

(The Brazilian with Communist symbols: admiration to the left-wing ideologies and a growing adherance to Russian nationalism since 2014.)

On the last days of September 2014, just under two months after the interview with G1 website, Lusvarghi, just arrived in Ukraine, exchanged messages with newspaper O Estado de São Paulo where he once again aswered to questions on his political positions:


"On the political part, I oppose the imperialist advance in Ukraine, to the claws of the great international financial capital, the NATO´s base (North Atlantic Treaty Organization, lead by the US) pointing missiles to Russia."

In the interview granted to Istoé, one of the Brazil´s largest circulation maganizes, in January 2015, the Brazilian had been fighting in Donbass for four months. At the time he revealed some about his motivation to participate in the war in Ukraine. His interest on Russia is of long time, and he follows everything connected to the country. "In addition to descending from the peoples of the East, my interest comes from childhood, from everything related to Russia, history, culture, people´s mentality", he says, defining himself as leftwing and Stalinist. When asked why he believed that eastern Ukraine should become independent, he cited several historical cases of independence (including that of Kosovo, criticized by Russia) and justified the separatist movement for "the right to peoples´ self-determination". In another question, they asked why he elisted as volunteer in an foreign army, and he replied:


"... I fight here exclusively for the Great and Holy Mother Russia, my ancestors´ land, because the blood that flows in my vein is the same as the blood of the people here. Politically I´m totally against liberalism, the current UE and US policy. But my struggle is, above all, for the Russian people´s independence and the union of this people under the umbrella of only one country and only one leadership".

The fighter´s brother, Lucas Lusvarghi, says that since he was a child he was interested in military mattes, mainly war history, and studied a lot of Geography, History and strategy.

The Brazilian also makes clear in other statements his predilection for armed struggle and his preference for Russia. In the interview with the HMO website, in september of that year, they asked why he left Brazil to join the separatists. The answer was this:

"1) I´m not going to deny. I like war. Beside this, it´s not a lie, only live in peace who learn to fight. 2) I´m totally pro-Russian, that´s what brought me here, absolutely no political ideology."
He was also asked by a reader how he could conciliate his self-declared "left" position, published in Istoé magazine, with obedience for an authority like Igor Strelkov, according to the questioner a "right-wing monarchist" who "openly declares himself a Tzarist and 'white' nationalist" (in reference to anti-Bolshevik forces in the Russian Civil War in 1918-1922). Here´s what the Brazilian replied.

"When I said Stalinist, and stood as leftist, more than a year ago, I meant that I was an admirer, not a supporter of this flag. Several times I have made clear to be a practical person, who doesn´t buy ideas in closed packages, but a little here, a little there. I don´t support any flag myself... (...) It must be done the best for the nation. Answering your question, I see no problem in being commanded by anyone... command who can, obey who is judicious."

Another reader asked if, even as a "leftist ideology follower", he belivied in freedom of the pro-Russian ones after the conflict:

"I´m not leftist, and our struggle is precisely for the Kiev government not to forbid the Russian language and culture in the east of the country." 

In one of his last interviews, given to Slavyngrad.org website, Lusvarghi positioned himself in a nationalist of clearly Eurasian line. The interviwer asked him why he went to war, since, in his words, "loving Russia is one thing, but dying for the Russians is quite another". The Brazilian´s answer shows the language typical of the Eurasian movement:


"Well, in first place, Brazil and Russia are very closely aligned by the BRICS. Whatever is the Russia´s interest also favors Brazil in a geopolitical perspective. The BRICS can become a substitute for the US and European hegemony in the world - but only if the actions finally take the place of the words we hear now." 
"The US influence in Brazil is very strong. Everything the US touches goes away: familiy values and religion, though I´m not very religious. Everything become rather meaningless." 

As late as 2014, Lusvarghi had openly declared himself "leftist", "stalinist" and even "anarchist". In the interviews given at the end of the same year when he was already in Ukraine, he demonstrates a relative detachment from a "pure" far-left to which he sympathized when was in Brazil. When comparing the declarations about his political motivations and ideology, the Brazilian shows an "evolution" from a far-left to Russian nationalism between 2014 and 2015. 

Lusvarghi sees himself as a militant and legitimate heir of the Russia´s nationalist "cause" under a leftist, anti-American and anti-Western bias. Since he arrived in Ukraine his political positions, judging by the statements given to the Brazilian press, has become more pro-Russian than exclusively leftist. I would say a mixed of both, in an absorption of leftist ideology into Russian nationalism. He doesn´t openly state wheter he had any personal involvement with the ideais and Eurasian political movement, such as the Alexander Dugin´s thought or the Eurasian Youth Union, that since at least 2006 was already preparing a future war in Ukraine. This hypothesis is raised when Lusvarghi resorts to the same movement´s language by stating radically against Western liberalism, makes references to Russia´s geopolitics and at the same time demonstrates admiration for apparently antagonistic figures in the ideological field such as Stalin and Strelkov. Another clue, this more evident, is a photo published on July 18th 2015 in the "Brazilian Front of Solidarity with Ukraine", a Facebook group in support of pro-Russia, separatists, where Lusvarghi appears holding a Eurasian Movement´s symbol flag.

(Lusvarghi, on the right, with his battle colleague Luizz Davi: Eurasian Movement in war in Ukraine.)

The Neo-Eurasianism developed by Dugin has as one of it´s main characteristics the combination of far-left and far-right elements in the same political movement. This is made clear in the Russian thinker´s statements during the debate with the Brazilian philosopher Olavo de Carvalho, where he proposes an alliance among all social elements capable of facing the US globalism. Carvalho, in turn, warns exactly this aspect of Dugin´s Neo-Eurasianism, capable of absorbing extremists of both specters and make them work together in the name of a global dictadorship, as he comments in the article Eurasianism and Genocide.

Lusvarghi´s connection to the Eurasian movement is clearer in an interview given to the Vice News section in Portuguese and released nine days after he arrived in Ukraine. He states he "answered to the call of the Brazilian Front of Solidarity with Ukraine" and the Continental Brigade, armed branch of the Continental Unity, in his words a "synthesis between the the FARC and Hezbollah", to fight in the country. The Brigade, he says, is a unity within the Prisrak battallion, of which he´s member, and armed branch of the Unity, that originated in January 2014 in Belgrade, Serbia, and consists mainly of Serbs and French.

("Glory to Rafael Lusvarghi": Facebook page´s stylized cover used to exchange informations and recruit Brazilian fighters for war exalts the person of it´s main representative.)

But the most important thing here is the Lusvarghi´s mention to the "Brazilian Front of Solidarity with Ukraine". Altough it´s not possible to prove, this is possibly the group to which belong the "politically engaged friends" who would have helped Lusvarghi to go to Ukraine after leaving the jail. The group has a Facebook page that´s used to recruit future Brazilian fighters for pro-Russian separatists. There are also informations about the conflict and Russian or pro-Russian press news. It´s active members criticize Western countries and the Kiev government, including commemorating the death of soldiers on the Ukrainian side, and exhibit symbols and language characteristic of the Neo-Eurasian ideology. Many of them exchange messages asking informations on how to get on the battlefield. The great page´s symbol, that untill now has almost twelve thousand likes (many only as observers), is Lusvarghi, pioneer and reference for the Brazilians which want to fight on the Russian side of the war. The page´s cover presents a stylized image of him with the greeting "Glory to Rafael Lusvarghi" in Russian.

On October 7th, one day after the arrest, it was created on Facebook a page for asking the Brazilian´s freedom: "Free Rafael Lusvarghi". Until this day it had one thousand likes.

(Picture taken from the Facebook page that ask for the Lusvarghi´s release: similarity with Jesus Christ´s figure - added the light from the top that illuminates his face - reinforces an idealized image of the Brazilian.)

In the next text we´ll see how this recruitment is done, the contacts network in Brazil and who are the Brazilians which, besides Lusvarghi, are fighting on the side of pro-Russian separatists.

* Published in Portuguese on November 1st 2016.

sexta-feira, 18 de novembro de 2016

A publicação do debate entre Olavo e Dugin na Romênia: a necessidade de se defender uma nação

(Capa da publicação romena.)

Pela primeira vez o debate entre Olavo de Carvalho e Alexander Dugin será publicado numa língua além de português e inglês. Trata-se de uma iniciativa da Editora Humanitas, da Romênia. A publicação é, portanto, na língua romena, e sairá dia 20 de novembro deste ano.

(Horia-Roman Patapievici)

Numa entrevista concedida a uma televisão do seu país, o filósofo, ensaísta e ex-presidente do Instituto Cultural Romeno, Horia-Roman Patapievici, falou sobre a publicação do livro (aqui e aqui para os que dominam o romeno). Patapievici foi questionado sobre a razão de se publicar na Romênia um livro com as ideias de Dugin devido à hostilidade inspirada por seu pensamento filosófico e o Movimento Eurasiano. No texto abaixo, reproduzido em português no perfil do Olavo de Carvalho no Facebook, estão as respostas do pensador romeno.

"Entrevistador: Por que a editora Humanitas publica Alexandre Dugin?
Horia-Roman Patapievici: Porque temos de conhecer bem nossos adversário, e Dugin é autor de uma teoria bem articulada, que recupera as ideologias totalitárias do século XX, mas também a ideia do messianismo russo, para propor uma teoria do eurasianismo. O Liberalismo ocidental é, para ele, o mal absoluto. O ódio - deslegitimado pela prática política liberal - contra a modernidade e a pós-modernidade tem de levar, afinal, à aniquilação do Ocidente e do seu sistema de valores. 
Entrevistador: Não é, então, nociva a propagação de suas ideias no espaço romeno? 
Horia-Roman Patapievici: Não, porque a réplica do professor brasileiro Olavo de Carvalho é uma réplica brilhante. Olavo de Carvalho é o oposto completo da ideia do intelectual institucionalizado, como é o caso de Dugin. Exilou-se de seu Brasil natal para uma quinta dos EUA, onde tem um "jardim" filosófico online com 3000 alunos. Ele opõe à retórica emocional de Dugin a argumentação proveniente da racionalidade de tipo ocidental. Portanto, a editora Humanitas publica este livro, em primeiro lugar, para conhecer uma ideologia extremamente perniciosa, contra os valores em que cremos e mesmo contra nossa estatalidade, mas também para ter acesso a uma contra-argumentação, uma réplica brilhante, que mobiliza o melhor na sociedade ocidental, para mostra que a ideologia de Dugin não tem nenhuma raiz na filosofia, no pensamento, na cultura e na religião ocidental. 
Entrevistador: Por que é perigoso o putinismo para a estabilidade romena?
Horia-Roman Patapievici: Porque o plano eurasiano conta [com a] divisão da Ásia entre a Rússia e a China, passando a Europa a ser integralmente da Rússia. Neste plano, a Romênia não tem nenhum futuro. Tem de fazer parte da Rússia. É inaceitável, não apenas do ponto de vista romeno, como também europeu."

Sem entrar no mérito do debate, dois pontos nas respostas de Patapievici merecem atenção. O primeiro é a guerra cultural travada por Dugin contra os valores que sustentam política e socialmente o Ocidente. Sua guerra não se restringe no campo das ideias: ela entra na política. Na sua complexa trajetória como filósofo, ideólogo, fundador de movimentos culturais e assessor de líderes políticos, o pensador russo já declarou abertamente que sua intenção não é atuar como um político, mas agir nos bastidores do poder com o objetivo de influencia-lo. Ao criar o movimento político Evraziia, em 21 de abril de 2001, Dugin declarou: "Nosso objetivo não é chegar ao poder, nem lutar pelo poder, mais lutar por influência nele." Segundo a professora Marlène Laruelle, o movimento tinha como objetivo formular uma "ideia nacional" para Rússia. Dugin abandonou o Evraziia em setembro de 2003, pouco mais de um ano depois de sua transformação em partido político e dois meses depois de sua fusão com o Bloco Rodina, de cujo perfil ideológico discordava. Mas ele continuou sua trajetória como assessor de outros parlamentares russos e professor na Universidade Estatal de Moscou (de onde saiu em 2014), divulgando de uma série de livros e textos na internet, como no The Fourth Political Theory e o recém fundado Katehon.

(Mastodôntico Palácio do Parlamento - 365 mil m² - construído pelo ditador Nicolae Ceaucescu, em Bucareste: experiência comunista ajudou a colocar a Romênia na UE e na OTAN.)

O segundo ponto é a dimensão geopolítica do pensamento neoeurasiano. Em junho fiz uma breve análise da visão de Dugin sobre o Brexit com base numa entrevista concedida ao think thank Katehon (do qual ele é um dos membros do Conselho Supervisor) sob o título "Brexit: a Europa está caindo no abismo" e no debate com Olavo de Carvalho. O pensador russo afirma que o declínio europeu seria devido à "ideologia ultraliberal" atuante no continente, e põe em cheque a liderança ocidental no mundo. Por outro lado ele mostra preferência pela alternativa rival, a Organização de Cooperação de Shanghai (OCS), cujo dois grandes membros são Rússia e China. "O Brexit é o colapso do Ocidente e é uma vitória da humanidade", afirma Dugin, que depois completa: "E a bandeira da humanidade é a OCS, a Rússia, a atual Rússia multipolar livre soberana liderada por Putin, e aqueles que estão no Clube Eurasiano".

A guerra cultural e as consequências geopolíticas do neoeurasianismo são o cerne do alerta de Patapievici. Num mundo moldado pelo Movimento Eurasiano e liderado pela OCS haverá pouco ou nenhum espaço para oposição de países menores como a Romênia. Após a experiência do bloco comunista, isto ajuda a explicar a opção do país pela União Europeia e a OTAN. Ademais, Rússia e China possuem uma aliança estratégica de longo (a exemplo dos multibilionários acordos de fornecimento de gás russo em 2014), sendo a China polo de atração de toda a Ásia Oriental e a Rússia a linha de frente da expansão do eurasianismo com suas investidas na Europa e mesmo nos EUA em no campo político, cultural e militar. Num mundo onde poderes multinacionais (seja eurasiano ou ocidental) crescem de forma desmedida, é necessário saber onde mora o maior perigo para saber se situar de forma mais consciente e menos desconfortável junto às grandes potências. No caso da Romênia esta acomodação é estritamente necessária, dado que o país situa-se na Europa Oriental junto à Moldávia e Ucrânia, países sob ação direta da Rússia.

 (Terceira e segunda edições de "O Jardim das Aflições", do filósofo Olavo de Carvalho: defesa da liberdade interior contra a intromissão do Estado moderno. Na terceira edição, o filósofo corrige algumas distorções de seu ensaio e o complementa com uma breve análise do neoeurasianismo de Dugin.)

Por fim, cabe aqui o que Patapievici comentou sobre o filósofo brasileiro: "Olavo de Carvalho é o oposto completo do intelectual institucionalizado", cuja réplica a Dugin ele definiu como "brilhante". Isto vai de encontro ao que eu escrevi no texto sobre o Brexit: Dugin não entende o pensamento de Carvalho, não consegue vê-lo fora de um esquematismo ideológico, e por isso mesmo sente-se confuso no debate que travou com o brasileiro. Para o russo era inconcebível que seu oponente fosse um opositor do plano eurasiano e também do plano globalista do Ocidente. Ocorre que Carvalho pensa como indivíduo e não dentro de esquemas ideológicos, por mais complexos que sejam. É esta liberdade interior que Patapivici também quer preservar, porque dela depende a liberdade de uma nação. Esta última frase não é uma defesa apaixonada, emocional da liberdade: é pilar do pensamento de Olavo de Carvalho, como bem demonstra o capítulo final daquele que considero o melhor de seus livros, O Jardim das Aflições (p. 307, 2ª edição):

"Na ausência do poder espiritual (...) o poder é o único juiz. Democrático ou oligárquico, comunista ou capitalista, monárquico ou republicano, socialdemocrata ou neoliberal, ele será sempre o poder de César, com uma propensão incoercível de autodivinizar-se. E enquanto não compreendermos essas coisas continuaremos a apostar neste ou naquele sistema político, não enxergando que os méritos de qualquer sistema político dependem essencialmente de que ele saiba respeitar os limites impostos pela consciência religiosa do povo, vivificada pela presença da autoridade espiritual e firmada em valores que antecedem de muito o nascimento desse sistema e da própria sociedade que ele governa; que o antecedem, talvez, desde a eternidade"