Karaganov: The Russians need to find out who it is.

At the 20th anniversary celebration of 20 12 Russian Foreign Policy and Defense Policy Committee, many Russian scholars said that Russia's national identity should be clarified. For these scholars who consider themselves enlightened intellectuals, this idea seems inappropriate, because most of them are tough and conservative Russian intellectuals who are currently engaged in the study of Russian national identity.

Whether Russia is a country wandering around the periphery of Europe and whether it will become a peripheral country of Europe is an important issue worthy of consideration. But the most important problem is that Russia has no national identity because of the history of Russia in the twentieth century. The Soviet Union once created its own identity, including many good things, but it finally disintegrated. When faith is destroyed, conscience, honor, dignity, sense of belonging and their carriers die together.

After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the most important thing for Russians is to survive. At that time, people had no time to look for new ideologies. In particular, the word ideology is easily associated with Soviet rule. People think that with the passage of time, ordinary people themselves can create new identities and produce new ideologies, but this is not the case. The recognition of the Soviet era was finally cancelled, but the memory of the Great Patriotic War became the knowledge of the whole people, and no other new ideology was produced. As a result, no matter the people themselves, the government and social elites have been able to find new ideas to unite the whole country and promote national development.

It can be said that most Russian elites are full of expectations for the future, but they think it is better for them that the national consciousness created on the basis of national identity does not exist. Some elites are more committed to stealing national assets than linking their future with the future of the country. Coupled with the slowdown in economic growth and rising social discontent, some elites simply immigrate or transfer their money and children abroad.

At present, the national debate about Russian national identity is still going on, but the way of thinking is not uniform. For example, the Vatican believes in the unique Russian spiritual belief and team spirit. They believe that the west is the enemy of Russia and advocate being friendly to all enemies of the west in foreign policy. However, the dominant idea of the Russian school is moderate nationalism, and it adopts an identity attitude towards all historical periods of Russia.

At the same time, extreme nationalism and xenophobia are also developing. They are not representative in the formal knowledge field, but they are strongly reflected in blogs and social consciousness. Their slogan is that Russia belongs to Russians. They are hostile not only to the west, but also to the whole world.

Pro-western right-wing politicians and intellectuals preach their Russian dream and criticize the centralization of government, but they don't care about the current domestic and public reality, and their utopia is only aimed at minority groups.

All the above views are permeated with general pessimism. Therefore, Russia needs a kind of national consciousness, needs people to change themselves and establish spiritual connection with the country, must clear the confusion and self-harm dissatisfaction in their minds, believe in the future and find their own national identity, which must be based on a correct evaluation of themselves and a correct understanding of their origins. (The author Karaganov is honorary chairman of the Presidium of the Russian Foreign Policy and Defense Policy Committee and a member of the Valdai International Debate Club Committee. Disclaimer Copyright works are strictly prohibited to be reproduced without the written authorization of Global Times, and offenders will be investigated for legal responsibility.