Ukraine’s karma. A corporation for reparations. A new job for Johnson

Ukraine’s karma. A corporation for reparations. A new job for Johnson

It is already clear to everyone that the war against Ukraine is ending for the Russian Federation with the defeat of its army. The mortal agony of a once powerful dying empire is frightening the world with its unpredictable behavior at the finish line.

We can already see a power struggle between those who want to be heirs of the current regime. Both Russian citizens and neighboring countries are not only beginning to lose basic respect for the weakened state, but are in full swing over its territory and natural resources. We will not go into details of geopolitics here, but nevertheless we will point out that the leader of China has recently declared support of territorial integrity of Kazakhstan. Meanwhile we remember about several regions, originally Chinese or Kazakh, which once were taken away from one or the other by the Moscow empire... And Turkey, too, has been successfully activated, expanding the sphere of its influence in the Caucasus region. Japan has long been talking about returning the Kuril Islands, and now those conversations have received a new impetus to become substantive. Chechens are already demanding to be distinguished from the Kadyrovites (Kadyrov’s fighters). Residents of Karelia are already seriously thinking about independence or going home to Finland. The list could go on and on.

And the inhabitants of all the lands of the Moscow empire themselves, bolded by the approaching turmoil in the capital, are already ready to think seriously about the obvious slogan: "Enough feeding Moscow!” The ancient fear and subconscious understanding of the Russians of the inevitability of "the empire collapsing one way or another" are already ready to give rise to real action. "United Russia", as an idea without a future, is dying.

I get the objection that "the West does not want Russia to collapse”. But come on, ladies and gentlemen, this is an outdated narrative already. It used to refer to an era that was irrevocably over by February 24, 2022. Today, the "collective West" itself is in the process of changing its own familiar format. They are slowly realizing this. Their elites are just beginning to get used to the new reality, unaccustomed to them.

The world order of the past life on the planet is already destroyed, international institutions do not work, etc. Europe is still very slowly coming to its senses and realizing the newness of an unfamiliar reality. And the USA, meanwhile, reacts faster, because they have already started seriously discussing all kinds of models of products and rates of inevitable collapse of Russia. They are already thinking about how to make this process visible and manageable, since it is inevitable. The U.S. is gradually getting used to living in a new reality. The Europeans, too, will inevitably get involved: Very soon they also will begin to look for their own meaning of the collapse of Russia and will undoubtedly find it on the ruins of a huge collapsed empire and its natural resources.

Russia’s despicably unleashed war against Ukraine has visibly shaken the foundation of the world order across the planet. Collective security organizations and institutions have clearly demonstrated their incompetence or ineffectiveness – much has been said about this already. We are getting news about problems in relations between China and Taiwan, the Basques, Catalonia and Spain, Scotland and Britain. The list could go on, but here we would like to discuss the problem of our northern neighbor.

Yes, the Russian empire is vast, sluggish, and impotent. By itself it will collapse long and painfully, so it is necessary to help it in this process, dissolving it by purposeful efforts, that is, creating and implementing special projects. At the same time, it is necessary to work without repeating the historical mistakes of the world community’s passive observation of the collapse of the USSR in the early 1990s.

And for us, for Ukraine, this should not be a new task, but a continuation of the current war initiated by the Russian Federation against Ukraine and the entire world community. The war for us, the citizens of Ukraine, will end ONLY AFTER the DESTRUCTION of the empire that has attacked us. That is, its dismemberment into parts no longer capable of threatening the entire planet: a dismemberment either along the very seams that have long been clear to historians, or along those that will quickly emerge from the efforts of various political forces, countries and the emergence of distinct economic interests. The complete destruction of the Russian Federation is necessary right up to the moment when such an anomaly disappears from the political map of the planet.

In anticipation of the military defeat of the Russian Federation, certain social forces and individual fighters against the Moscow empire have revived. The League of Free Nations was activated: in July 2022, the 2nd Forum of the Free Peoples of Russia was held in Prague, where issues of decolonization and freedom of peoples for self-determination were discussed. Soon the 3rd Forum will gather in Gdansk. Let’s wish our colleagues successful work and fruitful communication! This is only the beginning. These are just the sprouts of future grand projects.

With all my skepticism about the competence of the so-called Russian liberal opposition and representatives of various organizations that finance work projects, I never tire of repeating that if they are unlikely to be our real partners, they could certainly become at least our fellow travelers. We, the citizens of Ukraine, will be neighboring with some new countries on the territory of the collapsed Russian Federation and 100+ million people in the fragments of the former empire. Someone will have to form the bodies of power and self-government there, guarantee the lives of people, promote the revival of normal business, etc.

I don’t believe in some kind of "democratically renewed, genuine Russian Federation" or "united states" of different kinds, because it is not compatible with the local historical traditions. In my opinion, all this is just a euphoric utopia, and nothing more. But no one stops them from talking about it – and such conversations can be encouraged.

Of course, first the world community must force them to disarm nuclear weapons. Most likely, this could be done in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. Whether the sanctions should be lifted all at once or by parts, in stages – can be discussed, but the ruling circles of each of the empire’s wrecks would have to unconditionally agree to such a general demand.

International courts will award reparations to the defeated aggressor and terrorist country in favor of Ukraine (and other victims, too). However, the money and assets already seized outside the Russian Federation will not be enough, and the current state of their budget will be deplorable as a result of the sanctions.

As a result, they will have to pay with their minerals and other natural resources. This is nothing particularly new; it is commonplace. This has always been the case with countries that started and lost wars. And those who want to survive at least somehow in the future on the ruins of Russia have to be persuaded and forced to agree with this. This is a special job. The methods are well-known and intelligible, so let’s not get bogged down in details.

It will be necessary to identify and/or form the regions of Post-Russia that are economically capable of seceding, living independently or joining other countries. I myself witnessed the events of the Ural Republic, which failed to exist, but that was a long time ago.

Serious informational and ideological work will have to be done, such as education and training of local personnel, motivating and luring home the Russian emigrants and/or their heirs, educating the leaders of the next generation, etc. Thus, there is a lot of special, specific professional work to be done in this regard, which is usually done by special services and political technologists. It is clear that Ukraine itself will not be able to cope with all these tasks simultaneously on such a vast territory, and therefore it is obvious that this is not only our concern, but also a task for the entire international community.

Naturally, we are talking about those countries that are now helping Ukraine expel the enemy troops, and those who will assist our revival, modernization and post-war reconstruction – of course, with the mental and ideological leadership of Ukraine – and the understandable resource influence of all concerned.

All these countries and their special services will not (will not be able to) solve this new problem by themselves, because they all have enough of their own national problems. However, they should still allocate an item of unavoidable expenses for such activities in their budgets and appoint corresponding commissioners in their administrations. It is necessary to discuss not only the possibility of returning the funds spent on such work but also to obtain a certain profit, of course.

So, who will do this work?

We propose to create a corporation with a reasonably balanced combination of private and public or even international resources, that is, a corporation that relies mostly on private capital, but with the participation of public – or even international – resources.

What kind of corporation could we talk about? 

Everyone remembers, or at least has heard, about the history of the East India Company, established on the initiative and decision of private individuals in London at the beginning of its activities, and later fully supported by the state. That’s about the sort of thing we could talk about. By the way, do you remember Sherlock Holmes? Well, his partner, Dr. Watson, was namely a retired military doctor of this East India Company. As a result of its activity not only Great Britain as a whole has managed to get enormously rich. Many citizens became wealthy by working for this company. And the shareholders of the company, of course, as well. 

It may not be the best example, but it is quite simple and understandable to all concerned. Well, we can remember, for example, how the Panama Canal was built. After all, it was just another interesting variant of this kind. This is exactly the type of corporation we propose to create, but with adjustments for the current situation, of course. It’s already getting interesting, isn’t it?

It will be this corporation that will hire the necessary specialists for each area of work, for each region, will acquire the rights to manage certain regions of Post-Russia, its natural resources and businesses for some time (for about 50-100 years). Or who else will the interim international administration of the winning countries entrust with the management?

The citizens living there today can be trusted only after lustration, the establishment of real local government and other institutions of democracy – already in the new countries or regions of Post-Russia. Meanwhile regular reparation payments will have to be made immediately and now.

It will be necessary to identify and describe the regions of Post-Russia, which are economically capable of living independently, ready for a sovereign existence, or which aspire to join other countries. Today, you can find a dozen different versions of maps of possible parts and new countries in this territory available on the Internet.

Bankers, individuals, and various foundations would be happy to buy shares in such a company while the member states (or just sympathizers) would help them – or just stay out of the way, silently.

Who could lead such a corporation, especially at the start?

Ideally, it should be an internationally renowned leader, determined enough for such an unprecedented and grandiose undertaking.

There are some options. The job could be offered to Boris Johnson for the next year, until he takes the lead of NATO, as people say of him. Well, or instead of NATO at all, it would certainly be more interesting. 

And then he can hand over the helm to current Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. His term in office will just expire and he promised not to run for the second term as the President of Ukraine. And this would be good for Ukraine. In this way, the company will demonstrate the changeability of its leaders, and it will also use the international recognition of Zelensky intelligently, which will be clear to the whole world.

Mikheil Saakashvili could also be invited; he is also quite a well-known figure and quite a determined politician.

However, these are only three candidates, everyone can suggest someone else. Ilon Musk has already been suggested, let’s look for more.

Why am I mentioning them? Not to smile. But so that you can imagine that such a corporation can really make money, and quite quickly. You just have to think about it and wish to start.

Igor Dushyn, head of the organizing committee of the National Conference of Political Technologists and Political Consultants of Ukraine