PANSLAVIA Mr. Vladimir Putin 21 September 2002 Dear President Putin: We wish to focus here on the role of Russia in the ”New World Order” of the 21st century. Eleven years after the collapse of the Soviet Union and 57 years since the WWII has ended the ghost of the Cold War appears to be present and omnipotent on the European continent. West and East are divided in a more subtle way than before, but the gap is growing to a humiliating dimension. This fact should not escape your attention. Russia will never be strong again unless it unites with other Slavic countries to form a consolidated alliance of states that will support each other, cooperate economically, and shall abolish all borders and visa formalities. This was unthinkable during the years of Stalin’s paranoic reign… Perhaps now is the time to do something about it. The idea of Panslavic Union is not new, but as of today in remains mostly in the realm of utopia and wishful thinking (perhaps Bulgaria and Tito’s Yugoslavia are the exceptions to this rule). The opposite seems to be happening. While the Western countries continue to form growing United Europe, we – the Slavs – are divided more than ever before. Former Yugoslavia has reached a record of five new states determined by entirely new boundaries and new travel restrictions. Russia stood by and took no action. Now, there is a price to pay. The citizens of Russia are no longer admitted across a number of the European borders without ridiculous and excessive formalities, and this applies to previously friendly countries such as Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia and few others. At the border of Belorus and Poland the waiting time for cargo traffic reaches the order of magnitude of 30 hours. At certain other borders the Russian citizens are pulled out of the trains or cars, detained and forcibly returned home. It was much easier for a citizen of Russia to reach the Western parts of Europe in 1902 than it is today, in 2002. We can hardly refer to this kind of situation as ”progress”. The dream of Adolf Hitler to have the world divided into the domain of ”supermen” and another one for ”undermen”, appears to come true. Of course, you should have no doubt who those ”second class” citizens are. If you are not sure about it, please present your Russian passport at the border of Slovakia and ask for a transit visa… There are a dozen borders such as this one all over Europe. You have entirely wasted the advantage and the rewards of the victory in the Second World War in 1945. The sacrifice of millions of the Russian lives passes now into oblivion. If you take a closer look at the map of contemporary Europe, you will see a clear division into the Western, read ”first class”, nations, and those East of river Bug – read ”second class” nations. Yes, your countrymen, the citizens of Russia, belong to the latter class, and they bear the full burden of humiliation. Germany has lost the war, but she raised from ashes like Phoenix and is disguised today as the dominant partner of the so-called European Union. Isn’t it time for Russia to learn from this example, use its resources and the friendly allies such as the United States of America and Bulgaria – to finally alter the current ”New Order” into a somewhat more balanced configuration? We at Panslavia believe that you are a President of the highest standards of integrity and endowed with a political vision that was absent in all previous leaders of Russia. George W. Bush is your close personal friend. On behalf of the members of Panslavia, many of whom are the citizens of your country, we ask you to instruct your Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MID) to act. The objective is clear: bring the international status of the Russians to ”equal among equals”, abolish all visas, open your country to the Western visitors and demand the same from the governments of other countries, whether or not they are currently members of the EU. Panslavia and the European Community will embrace such an action, as it is in the spirit consistent with our own credo – ”in pluribus unum”. Sincerely yours,
Professor Michael P. Wnuk, Ph.D. Cc.
|