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Russia and China never got the memo about ‘the end of history’

Dictatorship is returning to Russia. China makes it official. Islamic states never pretended otherwise. The struggle for justice never reaches its ‘end.’

Shortly after the disintegration of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1989 — when one republic after another boldly declared its independence from the Kremlim — Francis Fukuyama made quite a name for himself with his memorable phrase, “the end of history.”

Fukayama, a political scientist, captured the moment, arguing that political ideology had evolved to its end point: liberal democracy and free market capitalism. The counter  movements, the endless variations of authoritarianism and socialism, were dead. Democracy defeated Nazism on the political right. Democracy outlasted Communism on the political left. These were epic struggles. They were over. History had come to its end, that is, its final political form.

Even back in 1992 when Fukuyama published his celebrated book, it conveniently ignored the many malignant Islamic states and movements, from Saudi Arabia and Iraq to Hezbollah and the precursors of al-Qaida. Islamic authoritarianism was very much alive, only to deliver wicked punches to the solar plexus of the West in the coming decades. Then there was the not yet risen specter of China, easily overshadowed by the spectacular fall of the Soviet Union.

But it turns out that Fukuyama spoke a bit prematurely even about the West. The struggle for good over evil was hardly over, and where? In the very heartland of the supposed final victory: Russia itself.

Yes, for some 15 years afater 1989 Russia  democratized, and certainly cast off its state-controlled communist strangulated economy. But the changes could not uproot a centuries-old strain of authoritarianism that Russia seems unable to shed. Call them tsars, call them commissars — and now call them the lackies of Vladimir Putin — and not only has history not come to an end, it seems to be reverting right back to form. For all practical purposes, Putin is dictator for life. Russian capitalists or Russian thinkers who get too independent are either jailed or poisoned. Not to mention, neighbors like Ukraine are invaded. It is not a pretty picture. It is certainly not “the end of history.”

True enough, Jews for the most part thrive in Russia and many other locales of the former Soviet Union as never before. Against the  background of deep-rooted, persistent Russian anti-Semitism, this is astonishing. But here too a note of caution is in order. If Jewish life is protected by the grace of Putin and a few other autocrats, rather than firmly rooted in political pluralism, the fate of Jewish life could also radically change.

Then there is the instructive example of China, which has milked the West’s naivete for all its worth.

“Just trade with China. Just encourage its economy. Just integrate our economies. Just bring the country along a step at a time. Just wait and see: Through its contact with the democratic West, China will go the way of the old USSR, will embrace democracy and also feast on the end of history.”

Just this week, Xi Jinping, China’s head of government, who is also the head of China’s single political party, who is also the head of China’s military, who is also the head of every other important national Chinese entity, declared himself ruler for life. A rubber stamp parliament cheered him on.

It was not just naivete that undermined the West’s approach to China. In fact, the West’s approach to the USSR and China were diametrically opposed. To the USSR, the West said: Improve your human rights. If not, we shall impose trade sanctions. They, together with the West’s staunch military preparedness, worked.

To China, the West said and did . . . nothing. Whenever China cracked down on “dissidents,” i.e., on people who demanded the right to speak freely and to assemble peaceably, the West imposed no sanctions whatever. Whatever violation of human rights China found necessary to build its economy, the West went merrily along, bedazzled by the low-priced products that emerged from this employee-oppressed country. Whenever the West needed help in countering North Korea, an enemy of its own people as well as of the West, China did nothing. On all matters diplomatic, economic and human-rights, China gets a pass. Needless to say, it hasn’t worked.

It’s hard to know which of the two countries that did not get the memo on “the end of history” highlights the greater failure in Western diplomacy and economic policy. Take your pick. Surely nothing will change in Russia and China with more of the same look-the-other-way.

Copyright © 2018 by the Intermountain Jewish News




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