try, a country vvhicli borders both thernMushiii world (where birthrates arernmuch higher) and a China of over a bilhonrnpeople, wliich is just beginning tornflex its economic, pohtical, and mihtar’rnmuscles. Demographically speaking,rnRussia is a country in decline, and it appearsrnunlikely, if not impossible, that anyrnleader can hope to man Russian industryrn(or the Russian army) and realize the “rebirth”rnof a country whose people arc notrneven reproducing themselves. Meanwhile,rnRu.ssia’s porous borders are beingrnviolated daily by Islamic holy warriors inrnthe south and Chinese migrants inrnSiberia, as well as hosts of Third Worldrnmigrants who irse Russia as a transit pointrnto the West. All have brought morerncrime, disease, and instability with them.rnWithout a spiritual and moral awakeningrn—a prospect which even Puhn, thern”patriots,” and the Orthodox Churchrnbarely mention—to renew Russian confidence,rnthere will not be any kind of social,rnmuch less economic or military, rebirthrnin Russia. The decadent West,rntroubled by manv of the same problems,rnshould take note.rn—Denis PetrovrnPRESIDENT PUTIN is mheriHng arnnress. After almost a decade of BorisrnYeltsin, Russia is reduced to a neocolonialrnwreck with collapsing birthrates,rnmoribund industry, and a fractured bodyrnpolitic. A narrow stratum of robberrnbarons, who do not give a hoot for therncountry or its people, are busy squanderingrnRussia’s still ample resources in returnrnfor huge profits that arc subsequentlyrnspent in Western casinos or invested inrnWestern banks.rnFlic rest suffer. The grim orderlinessrnof the era of “real” socialism has givenrnway to a mix of brazen consumerism atrnthe top and abject poverty everywherernelse, a mix usually encountered in morernmoderate climes. Gold-chromed GrandrnGhcrokees speed past the crumblingrnfacades of dreadful 1960’s tower blocks;rnpitiful babushkas beg (“for the sake ofrnChrist, for thy soul . . . “) right outsidernflashv boutiques selling the latest Parisianrndesigner collections. At the Bolshoi bar,rnbetween acts, German businessmenrnsmugly buy half-bottles of the sweet Modovanrnchampagne for their pretty Russianrnescorts, at lea.st two decades their junior.rnThe country is in disarray! This is thernwail heard in very different quarters. It isrnrepeated in elegant nouveau-riche apartmentsrnon the Arbat (icons on the wall,rnItalian furniture, Japanese stereo, andrnphititudes about the market economyrnand Western-style democrae) and in diernsmoke-filled office of the Union of Writersrn(samovar and vodka, piles of booksrnand newspapers; the search for the Meaningrnof Russia continues). The disarray isrnthere, all right, but few of fliosc offeringrnsuch diagnosis can suggest a therapy.rnAngry old men, predictably enough,rnwant to “shoot them all” (“they” beingrnnot only the unplea.sant Grand Cherokeerndrivers, but just about everyone underrn60). This tried and tested Russian recipernstops short of step two: Then what? Thernlack of a viable program that wouldrnpromise more than a better yestcrdav isrnthe bane of the Communists. Thev neverrnpresented a credible alternative: a dourrnlot they are, those recycled apparatchiksrnwith balding pates and bulging waists,rnnostalgic for their cozy world of dachas,rnchauffeur-driven Volgas, and specialrnstores for the elite. Their promises of arnbetter yesterday worked with the niultiniillionrnarmy of impoverished pensioners,rnbut they arc devoid of real ideas andrnsolutions.rnEarnest yuppified technocrats, on thernother hand, with their Foreign LanguagernInstitute English and their hopes ofrnAmerican scholarships, parrot the New-rnWorld-Order-speak of radical free marketrnreforms, of democratic institutions andrn”P’.uropc.” Chubais was their man, ofrncourse, but they still hope to capturernPutin’s attention. “Inevitable,” they sav,rnin view of Russia’s financial dire straits.rnThey do not understand the globalist music,rnmuch less its full implications, butrnthey like its sound. Their inferiority complexrnvis-a-vis “the West” has given usrnKozyrev’s disastrous foreign policy andrnthe IMF-style reform of the early Yeltsinrnyears. Their abject failure will never bernaccepted, much less examined. They arernthe janissaries of the West, and fliey believernthat their time will come. They dornnot say it, but they remember that Marxismrnitself was a Western import into Russia’srnbody polihc, enthroned with the aidrnof non-indigenous forces and the supportrnof “progressives” the world over. Theyrnstill control the Foreign Ministry^ (MID)rnbureaucracy and want to continue thernpolicy of appeasing Washington in thernformer Yugoslavia, often to the exasperationrnof other elements in the power structure.rnTheir approach —based on thernrhetoric of “post-Cold War coopcradon”rn—overlooks the new Evil Empire’srncharacter and agenda.rnPutin’s first task should be to clean thernstables and establish where Russia .standsrnin the new international order. In manyrnRussians’ minds, last year’s Kosovo crisisrnwas the last moment to start doing so, butrnunder Yeltsin it could not be done. Thernformer Yugoslavia is now seen as the testrnease of Russia’s relations with the Westernrnworld for decades to come. Many seernNATO in Tuzla and Prishna as the heraldrnof NATO in Latvia, Estonia, or thernUkraine. It is now suspected in Moscowrnthat there have always been people inrnWashington — such as Zbigniew Brzezin.rnski —who regarded Russia, rather flianrnthe Soviet Union, as the enemy. Tbcyrnshould be forced to declare their intenhons.rnThat will not be enough to get Russiarnback on its feet, however. Across the ideologicalrnspectrum patriohc intellectualsrnwarn fliat, without moral and spiritual renewal,rnRussia cannot be saved. And yet,rnwhen asked about the practical scenariornfor making this happen, they display anrnalmost oriental fatalism: It may happen,rnbut only by a miracle. When pressed,rnRussia’s foremost mathematician andrnthinker, Igor Shafarevich, admits that, “asrna seienhst,” he sees no grounds for recoveryrn”in the foreseeable future.” As an OrthodoxrnChristian, however, he believesrnthat the Holy Spirit may intervene inrnways unexpected and mysterious.rnIn the meantime, nine-tenths of thernpeople have no time to ponder anyrnmacro-issues. They are too busy strugglingrnto make ends meet, and this manvrnof them miraeulously manage evenrnthough, stahshcally, most of the populationrnis below what is considered thernpoverty line in the “developed” world.rnRussia’s Western “partners” are makingrnsure that she will not belong to that worldrnfor a very long tinre. The economy hasrnbeen effectively reduced to neocolonialrnstatus: Russia’s natural resources, such asrnnatural gas, oil, rare metals, preciousrnstones, and hmber, are traded for Westernrnconsumer goods and industrial products.rnThere are hefty profits there for thernstate-approved mafiosi who control thernprocess of exchange, which may explainrntheir reluctance to contemplate any fundamentalrnchange in the power structure.rnUnder Pufin, they want more Yeltsin.rnAfter Yeltsin, Russia must reexplorernpolitical reality ni the big, wide world.rnMore importantly, regardless of Puhn’srnnlfimate intenfions, it is at least possiblerndiat Russia’s recovery-and self-discov-rnJUNE 2000/7rnrnrn