Restarting Russia: How to Turn the Kremlin Monster into a European Dandy. Part 2
No matter how hard the modern Russian state propaganda tries to shout, an endless war with the West in all spheres of life is not the only possible form and meaning of Russia's existence. Nevertheless, this is exactly what the Kremlin regime is currently managing to convince its own population. Why and how, we discussed in detail in the first part of the article. One way or another, the liberal democratic world is slowly realizing the criminal nature of the Kremlin's government. That is why the world must come to an agreement as soon as possible that this regime, which will continue to pursue a policy of racism, must be overcome. And the territory and population should receive real assistance in the implementation of democratic transit and restructuring of the economy on market principles.
First and foremost, the strength and power of the current regime in the Kremlin lies in its centralization, which makes it possible to concentrate all available resources in one hand and for one purpose. In the scenario of dividing the territory of the modern Russian Federation into national sovereign states or certain interstate entities, the resources they manage will be divided accordingly. That is, there will be significantly fewer resources in one hand that can potentially be used for expansion. At present, the Kremlin regime, possessing an inadequately large territory, is able to maintain itself as a form of autarky. It is clear that the conventional several dozen states will not have such an economic airbag.
It should be clearly understood that the military defeat of the Kremlin regime and its continued existence is a guarantee of the continuation of this regime's aggressive policy of revanchism. It does not make a significant difference whether the Kremlin loses on the borders of Ukraine, according to Zelenskyy's plan, or is defeated directly in Moscow. Accordingly, the personality of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is secondary. The bottom line is that if this regime continues to exist in any form, it will not abandon its aggressive policies as long as it has the resources to carry them out.
On the contrary, the military defeat of the regime in the Kremlin and the establishment of a fundamentally new, liberal democratic system will be considered a victory for the future democratic Russia, no matter how wild it may sound now. In fact, this is why, for example, there is no "day of defeat" in World War II in modern Germany. The German democratic regime celebrates the victory over Nazism together with the entire civilized world.
The Nuclear Stick
Speaking of Russia, it is impossible to leave aside the issue of nuclear weapons in the hands of the regime in the Kremlin. It is the factor of nuclear weapons that Moscow uses as the last argument that the regime cannot be finally defeated militarily. The same applies to the dismantling of the "Russian Empire". The nuclear weapon factor should be one of the main reasons for the need to end the existence of the political regime in the Kremlin.
It so happens that not only Russia has nuclear weapons. However, the international community has concerns about its use in relation to Russia and North Korea. Moreover, it is not even a matter of warring ideologies, because, for example, China has a considerable nuclear arsenal, the second largest economy and is an authoritarian country under the leadership of the Communist Party, which pursues an aggressive policy in the international arena. But even with these seeming differences, the world has no real concerns about China's unpredictable use of nuclear weapons. Exactly unpredictable. On the other hand, in the case of Moscow and Pyongyang, the world has fears precisely because of the inadequacy, unpredictability, and outright aggressiveness of their regimes.
The argument that exists in the information space that "it is better to negotiate with one maniac than with a bunch of them" is based mainly on an irrational sense of fear. If we reject this, leaving room only for "ratio," we can come to the opposite conclusion. After all, nuclear weapons are already in the hands of so-called "maniacs" who can use them against anyone at any time. The only real guarantee of nuclear safety in the world is the forced denuclearization of the Russian Federation.
To Melt Bullets Into Coins
In the case of today's Russian Federation and the state of the population that supports the regime in the Kremlin, it is futile to hope for a voluntary democratic transit, let alone voluntary denuclearization. As in the case of postwar Japan, the territory currently being terrorized by the Kremlin regime must be administered for some time by qualified managers who can reorganize the economic structure and integrate it into the global market in the most efficient way. It is important not only to divide the territory of the modern Russian Federation, but also to take care of establishing economic chains between these territories based on the liberal democratic model. This aspect is the essence and guarantee of stability and security on the entire continent. The Union of Democratic Countries should take responsibility for the medium-term development of these regions.
In fact, the very logic of the inevitable and necessary division of the territory currently held by the Kremlin regime should be guided primarily by economic logic. It is the achievement of the fastest possible results in the economic sphere, which will be reflected, in particular, in the living standards of the population of these conditional administrative units, that should be the primary task for the temporary moderators of these territories.
Achieving a relatively quick, but most importantly, positive result in the economic sphere will be a key moment for the population that has been under the Kremlin's yoke for centuries, which will broadly mean good intentions and benefits of this transit. Given how neglected the vast majority of the territory of modern Russia is, this will be quite easy to achieve. This is what will be the best agitator in favor of a democratic form of government and market-based economic models.
Later, after the new economies have been put on a market footing, we can consider establishing the borders of sovereign states, according to the will of the people of these territories. This is a technical issue that should be resolved in a democratic manner. The key task is to create the conditions necessary for the emergence and further development of the population of these territories in the democratic paradigm of the world.
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The current authoritarian regime in the Kremlin will never voluntarily agree to a real democratic transit, because it will simply mean its end. Moreover, even if we hypothetically imagine that such a desire will ever appear, we realize that it is doomed to failure. After all, as it always happens in history, whatever the Kremlin tries to build turns out to be a machine gun. Therefore, it has no place among the modern civilized countries of the world. And the population that it has kept in slavery for centuries deserves to be granted the freedoms that are considered basic and inalienable in a democratic world.
The right to life, freedom of thought and expression, inviolability of property and free economic activity, the right to influence life in one's own country, and many other things that contradict the very essence of the authoritarian regime in the Kremlin. That is why the democratic world must realize the real threat and join forces to overthrow and prevent the revival of the aggressive policy of the "Russian world."