The Tower Is Teetering
Published in Zavtra
(Russia) on 20 November 2014
by Aleksandr Prokhanov (link to original)
Do you hear the contacts cracking and the land heaving? Humanity is molting, shedding the dead skin in which the high and mighty have imprisoned it. The American “city on a hill,” the symbol of American messianism and dominance over the world; this city is quaking, and it looks like it’s become infested. The American temple of the golden calf, from which America controls its global empire, is beginning to crumble; cracks are appearing in the dollar. The American tower of Babel, that monstrous instrument with which America seeks to decide world history, to rule over historical time: this tower, having touched the heavens, is beginning to teeter. And soon a new Brueghel will appear to depict its destruction.
It seems God has forsaken America. Everything America touches turns to dust and rot. With cruise missiles, the Americans plowed up all of North Africa, destroying many regimes America found objectionable. In return, they got the fiery, America-hating Islamic State, which keeps cutting off the heads of American journalists, the symbols of American democracy and freedom. The Americans brag about their power and about their great civilization, and suddenly it turns out that the world’s number one economy is China, which has overtaken America in its development.
How did the Americans try to turn Ukraine into a NATO country? They executed a coup. But Russia snatched Crimea from under the noses of NATO’s generals and annexed it. And the sanctions which America is inflicting on Russia in order to destroy its economy, to embitter the people and to stir them up against the Russian government? It’s all in vain. The Russian people have rallied around their president. Where are those renowned Americans, those strong fellows with buzz cuts who sat in “flying fortresses” and patrolled the skies over Europe and Japan? They have been replaced by helpless neurotics, by confused, hung-up, dreaming hedonists, who have resorted to the most savage forms of human enjoyment.
Where is the great American literature, Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, Faulkner and Whitman, the authors who preached about virtue, goodness and great deeds? Instead, there are worthless fantasizers, talentless entertainers and petty chroniclers of everyday life. The American has turned into a weary man who has lost faith. And the “city on a hill” is turning into Sodom.
They have forgotten that besides the American dream, there exist in the world a Chinese dream, an Iranian dream, a Brazilian dream and, of course, a Russian dream. The Russian dream – which lives in Russian fairy tales, in epics and in the works of the great writers, as well as in sermons – is a dream of great heavenly meaning; of freedom, love and justice; of turning earthly life into a symphony; and of turning the community of earthly people into a family, into a thriving multitude, into a thriving union, a union that opposes the violence and despotism of a single civilization by itself.
Following the 1991catastrophe, Russia has been strengthening its country. In the midst of attacks, slander and endless threats and dangers, and despite the fact that winter is near, the Russian bear is not lying down in his den: he traverses his “taiga,” which stretches across three oceans. We are building a Russian state that is defended by our army, our weapons, our planes, tanks, and submarines, but not these things alone. Russia is also defended by great courage, by the stoicism of a people who are used to adversity and who do not fail in a time of trouble, who do not break down into individual blades of grass but turn into an enormous national monolith.
Our state is founded on the great Russian dream, the dream of divine justice, truth and beauty of which all the Russian artists, poets and preachers sing. Russia is like a bird ready to take wing from its tree, ready to begin long awaited growth. The attacks and difficulties that have befallen us will not break us but spur us to action. We are preparing for change. We are preparing to launch new projects, new factories and new universities, and to create new scientific, economic and philosophical schools. We are preparing to improve our lives, to rid ourselves of filth and to direct our thoughts toward lofty goals.
Russia has gotten through its most painful and difficult period, having survived the 1990s. We are now on the brink of a new ascent and new social development.
Our state is founded on the expectations and aspirations of the guiding star that Pushkin described: “The star of captivating happiness.” This star is inescapable, bringing us closer to Russian victory.
It seems God has forsaken America. Everything America touches turns to dust and rot. With cruise missiles, the Americans plowed up all of North Africa, destroying many regimes America found objectionable. In return, they got the fiery, America-hating Islamic State, which keeps cutting off the heads of American journalists, the symbols of American democracy and freedom. The Americans brag about their power and about their great civilization, and suddenly it turns out that the world’s number one economy is China, which has overtaken America in its development.
How did the Americans try to turn Ukraine into a NATO country? They executed a coup. But Russia snatched Crimea from under the noses of NATO’s generals and annexed it. And the sanctions which America is inflicting on Russia in order to destroy its economy, to embitter the people and to stir them up against the Russian government? It’s all in vain. The Russian people have rallied around their president. Where are those renowned Americans, those strong fellows with buzz cuts who sat in “flying fortresses” and patrolled the skies over Europe and Japan? They have been replaced by helpless neurotics, by confused, hung-up, dreaming hedonists, who have resorted to the most savage forms of human enjoyment.
Where is the great American literature, Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, Faulkner and Whitman, the authors who preached about virtue, goodness and great deeds? Instead, there are worthless fantasizers, talentless entertainers and petty chroniclers of everyday life. The American has turned into a weary man who has lost faith. And the “city on a hill” is turning into Sodom.
They have forgotten that besides the American dream, there exist in the world a Chinese dream, an Iranian dream, a Brazilian dream and, of course, a Russian dream. The Russian dream – which lives in Russian fairy tales, in epics and in the works of the great writers, as well as in sermons – is a dream of great heavenly meaning; of freedom, love and justice; of turning earthly life into a symphony; and of turning the community of earthly people into a family, into a thriving multitude, into a thriving union, a union that opposes the violence and despotism of a single civilization by itself.
Following the 1991catastrophe, Russia has been strengthening its country. In the midst of attacks, slander and endless threats and dangers, and despite the fact that winter is near, the Russian bear is not lying down in his den: he traverses his “taiga,” which stretches across three oceans. We are building a Russian state that is defended by our army, our weapons, our planes, tanks, and submarines, but not these things alone. Russia is also defended by great courage, by the stoicism of a people who are used to adversity and who do not fail in a time of trouble, who do not break down into individual blades of grass but turn into an enormous national monolith.
Our state is founded on the great Russian dream, the dream of divine justice, truth and beauty of which all the Russian artists, poets and preachers sing. Russia is like a bird ready to take wing from its tree, ready to begin long awaited growth. The attacks and difficulties that have befallen us will not break us but spur us to action. We are preparing for change. We are preparing to launch new projects, new factories and new universities, and to create new scientific, economic and philosophical schools. We are preparing to improve our lives, to rid ourselves of filth and to direct our thoughts toward lofty goals.
Russia has gotten through its most painful and difficult period, having survived the 1990s. We are now on the brink of a new ascent and new social development.
Our state is founded on the expectations and aspirations of the guiding star that Pushkin described: “The star of captivating happiness.” This star is inescapable, bringing us closer to Russian victory.
Dream on, darling. Russia is as corrupt and ideological as any ISIS. Chechenya, Crimea, gulags, are not things to brag about.
That stoicism is the old peasant “duck and hold on” way of life, and the new masters are just the same old masters.