IN RUSSIA’S POLITICAL SHADOWS: NEO-EURASIANISM?
File this under wacky and potentially worrisome ideologies.
I am passing this along because, as goofy as this will read, it is not the first time I have heard rumblings about the following nonsense “Neo-Eurasianism” and its purveyor, Aleksandr Dugin.
From HNN – ” The Rise of Integral Anti-Americanism in the Russian Mass Media and Intellectual Life” by Dr. Andreas Umland.
An excerpt on Dugin’s Neo-Eurasianism movement:
“Whereas most nationalist authors and journalists remain within the limits of traditional Russian anti-Westernism, Dugin’s writings and speeches are informed by his intimate knowledge various non-Russian forms of anti-liberalism including West European integral “Traditionalism” (René Guénon, Julius Evola, Claudio Mutti, etc.), European and American geopolitics (Alfred Mahen, Halford Mackinder, Karl Haushofer et al.), the German so-called “Conservative Revolution” (Carl Schmitt, Ernst Jünger, Arthur Moeller van den Bruck, etc.) and the francophone, neo-Gramscian “New Right” (Alain de Benoist, Robert Steuckers). In most of his public statements, to be sure, Dugin plays down the influence of Western authors on his thinking, and instead uses the term “neo-Eurasianism” (an explicit reference to a reputed Russian émigré intellectual movement of the 1920s and 1930s)—an obvious attempt to hide his true sources.
In his many books and articles, Dugin draws the picture of an ancient conflict between
*free-market, capitalist, Atlanticist sea powers (“thallasocracies”) that go back to the sunken world of Atlantis, are in the tradition of the ancient states of Phoenicia and Carthago, and are now headed by the “mondialist” United States, on the one side, and
*autarkic, etatistic, Eurasian continental land powers (“tellurocracies”), originating with the mythic country of “Hyperborea,” continuing the tradition of the ancient Roman Empire, and now having as its most important component Russia, on the other.
The secret orders or “occult conspiracies” of these two antagonistic civilizations—Eternal Rome and Eternal Carthago—have been in an age-old struggle, an occult Punic war, that has, often, remained hidden to its participants and even its key figures, but has, nevertheless, determined the course of world history. The confrontation is now entering its final stage, the “Great War of the Continents.” This demands Russia national rebirth via a “conservative” and “permanent revolution.” The new order to be created would be informed by the ideology of “National Bolshevism” and an exclusively “geopolitical” approach to international relations. A victory in this “Endkampf” (final battle; Dugin uses the German original as introduced by the Third Reich) against Atlanticism would create a “New Socialism,” and imply territorial expansion as well as the formation of a Eurasian bloc of fundamentalist land powers (including, perhaps, a “traditionalist” Israel!) against intrusive, individualist Anglo-Saxon imperialism.”
While the bizarre occultish references are reminiscient of the faddish, theosophical and volkisch fringe of German politics circa 1890-1920’s, Neo-Eurasianism would not be entirely alien to the most mystical cultural traditions of Russian Pan-Slavism and Russophilism. ” National Bolshevism“, moreover, was influential in Russian emigre communities in the 1920’s and 1930’s as an attempt to conciliate Russian nationalists with the Stalinist U.S.S.R.
While officially disapproving, Stalin did have some sympathies toward using the “National Bolshevist” program’s Russian chauvinism and anti-semitism to strengthen popular support for his terror regime. Elements in Soviet policy that emerged most strongly during and immediately following WWII but enjoyed a sinister revival in the 1980’s, prior to Glasnost when persecution against dissidents and Jewish “Refuseniks” were at its peak.
Where this silliness matters is as an ideological wedge to move Russia away from connectivity and globalization and to justify the reimposition of a more statist, autarkic, political economy. The Neo-Eurasian foreign policy fits comfortably with siloviki (Putin’s political clan) determination for Russia to reassert itself in its “Near Abroad” but runs against siloviki economic interests of developing Russia’s potential as a global energy exporter. While Dugin has gained a following of sorts, it would appear, he (and Neo-Eurasianism) is not yet a player of great significance. Let’s hope it stays that way.
LINK:
“RP’s Weekly Russia Experts’ Panel: Defining the “Post-Soviet Space” –Untimely Thoughts
