On Kosovo
A symbol of modern anti-totalitarian thought comments on Kosovo.
(Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn) Tuesday, August 05, 2008
April 8, 1999, in the midst of NATO bombing of Serbia over Kosovo:
"Having thrown away the United Nations and trampled its Charter under foot, NATO has proclaimed before the world for the coming century an old law, that of the jungle: the strongest is always right. If your high technology permits it, surpass a hundred times in violence the adversary you condemn. And it is in this world that you invite us to live henceforth.
Under the eyes of humanity they are destroying a magnificent European country, and the civilized governments applaud it.
When the people [of Serbia] in despair leave their shelters and make human chains, at the risk of their lives, to save the bridges over the Danube, does this not rank with the high heroics of antiquity? I do not see what could stop Clinton, Blair, and Solana from exterminating them by fire and water to the last man."
In an interview to the Spiegel in September 2007:
SPIEGEL: But Russia often finds itself alone. Recently relations between Russia and the West have gotten colder and this includes Russian-European relations. What is the reason? What are the West's difficulties in understanding modern Russia?
SOLZHENITSYN: I can name many reasons, but the most interesting ones are psychological, i.e. the clash of illusory hopes against reality. This happened both in Russia and in West. When I returned to Russia in 1994, the Western world and its states were practically being worshipped. Admittedly, this was caused not so much by real knowledge or a conscious choice, but by the natural disgust with the Bolshevik regime and its anti-Western propaganda.
This mood started changing with the cruel NATO bombings of Serbia. It's fair to say that all layers of Russian society were deeply and indelibly shocked by those bombings.
In his message to the Kosovo Serbs following Pristina's UDI in February 2008:
"During recent years you went through devastation: Orthodox churches destroyed, Serbian schools burnt, people attacked and killed. God give you courage to stand by the graves of your beloved ones."
