Упрощенная HTML-версия
Author : Armen Oganesyan
Editor-in-Chief of International Affairs
DURING his 40-minute-long address to the UN General Assembly, President Obama sounded
less like a president and more like a prophet" or a
preacher with a mission to reveal the truth about the
world to mankind. The host is expected to be re-
strained, especially in view of the realities of the day.
This time, the host pushed aside all rules to confirm
the old truth that weaker positions are defended by
stronger rhetoric. It seems that time has come for the
UN Security Council and General Assembly to revise
the tradition of long introductory speeches. Indeed,
people who represent the world community are ex-
posed to endless bragging and all sorts of opinions voiced by the leader of one, even if the most
influential, country.
His speech abounded in "political drama": "We come together at a crossroads between war and
peace; between disorder and integration; between fear and hope" in the world "threatened" by
Russian aggression in Europe." It looked as if the master of the White House was lost in a wood
of different times, epochs, facts, and people. He showed us a black-and-white world in which
white was taken for black and black for white. This brings to mind Vasily Rozanov who wrote
in Fallen Leaves about a nightingale bewitched by his own song.
It would have been funny had not it been dangerous.
Today, many in Europe and even in America have assessed "political extreme" of the Obama
Administration in its relations with Russia for what it is: irresponsible and open provocations
rather than just a short-sighted and unrealistic course.
On both sides of the Atlantic middle-aged and older people have been lamenting the loss of
the tradition of Russia studies. Russia is turning into terra incognita while the degree of ignorance
has practically reached the highest point. This is true at the grassroots level and is testified by
blunders of prominent political figures of the West, the United States in the first place.
Those who expected that sanctions would force Russia to toe the line were wrong: in the glob-
alized world these measures can ruin only a relatively small country. Today, this is what they say
in Europe: Russia is cherished as a partner, its role being not limited to the energy sphere. Europe
knows that it will pay dearly for the possible split - there is no hope that the United States will
shoulder at least part of the cost.
President Obama spoke of the "threat of Russia" as the world's second gravest danger after the
virus Ebola. I should say that an epidemic of hatred is much worse, for it is said: "Do not be
afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can
destroy both soul and body..." (Matt. 10:28).
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Barack Obama: "At a Crossroads Between War and Peace"