Pedro Innecco

According to repeated statements by the Russian government nothing of what you are about to see ever happened.

I took the liberty to quote the “The Hunt for the Red October” movie opening quote at the beginning of this post. In the 1990 movie, the captain of an advanced first-strike soviet submarine addresses his crew, claiming that they’re on a game of chess with their old adversary.

And I must take my hat off to the Kremlin: Not that I agree with their politics, but I must confess that they seem to surprise the west over and over again with their moves. Keeping on with the chess analogy, Kasparov’s fatherland is showing off to the world how the game is meant to be played (ironically, that is regardless of how Kasparov himself may feel).

To me, Russia proclaiming the end of the Soviet rule and a shift to democracy was one of the biggest strikes of evil geniuses I’ve witnessed so far. With the end of the cold war declared, Russia was officially acknowledged as a friendly democratic country. On the other hand, it inherited virtually all of USSR foreign relation protocols, including partnerships and mutual aid with socialist regimes. Plus, having veto power within the UN Security Council gives Russia an (unfair?) handicap advantage – making a game of chess look more like a game of tic-tac-toe from this side of the (former?) iron curtain.

Moldova is a former Soviet Republic, located between Romania and Ukraine. A unrecognised breakaway republic, called the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic is located within its eastern border with Ukraine. A Russian “peace keeping” mission is present in the region since 1992, which according to the government of Moldova, “is against the political will of Moldovan constitutional authorities and defies the unanimously recognized international norms and principles, being qualified by Moldovan authorities as a foreign military occupation illegally deployed on the territory of the state” (source).

Since they say a picture is worth a thousand words, take a look at the flags and coat of arms of the previous Moldavian SSR, the current Moldovan Republic and the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (separatist Transnistria). Can you spot the similarities?

Moldavian SSR (until 1991)	Moldova (present)	Trasnistria State (separatists)

Another regime that has (unconditional?) support from the Kremlin is the Republic of Belarus. It’s (so far perpetual) president Alexander Lukashenko is seen by his critics as an authoriarian leader which policies are influenced by a nostalgia for the Soviet regime. Let’s have a look at their flags and coat of arms as well:

Byelorrusian SSR (until 1991)	Republic of Belarus (present)

Can you spot the similarities? It would be funny if it wasn’t sad. But now trying to be completely pragmatic (if one could ever) – how is this different from what truly democratic western countries ever did? Russia’s move, in my opinion, echoes the stand of the British Empire with regards to South America’s independence from Spain. Breaking South America in small sovereign states would hinder the possibilities of a super power in the region with a stronger bargaining power.

Thus, to me Russia’s strategy just reinstate that capitalism and communism is just two different sides of the same coin.