The assertion that historical guilt is individual guilt per se is nothing more than the subterfuge of a guilty and lying conscience. This does not mean that one can put off the problem of historical guilt with easy generalizations.
Stupidity, i.e. inability to understand the mechanism of events, can cause tremendous suffering. In this sense, the president who told us to dream about barbecues in May 2022 is guilty of stupidity, and his guilt has an individual character1.
Historical guilt, however, is different. This weighs upon Z's six (оr seven) potent (потужный) managers, who in January 2022 refused to acknowledge the obvious — not out of stupidity, but, on the contrary, out a full understanding of "historical processes," i.e. a correct evaluation of the invasion our CIA director told them was both unavoidable and imminent2.
This word game reminds me of the субъектность (subjectiveness) vs сувернность (sovereignty) confusion still clogging the heads of people who pour words daily into the supreme commander-in-chief’s mouth.
Sovereignty — unlike subjectiveness — neither transcends nor resides in a person, but is a sequence of gestures and utterances – a repeated script – performed between those with credible parts to play and with command of the occasions in which to play them. That Z and the head of his office still don’t know the difference is a problem.
It apparently still hasn’t dawned on Z and his team of potent managers that subjects of political activity don’t ask for permission and hand-outs, objects do. The above message posted yesterday by the head of Z’s office says Ukraine seeks approval to use long-range western weapons to strike deep into Russia. Regular, systematic and public requests to use western long-fire weapons against Russia diminish — not enhance — Ukraine’s subjectiveness.
"Financial assistance from the U.S. is extremely important for us. Part of it is energy support. We are currently preparing for a difficult heating season. We need more equipment from our partners to build a decentralized energy system. I voiced our urgent needs," Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Telegram this morning.
These exercises in public diplomacy remind me of tonguing a sore tooth to see if how much it still hurts. Stop it. No one is interested how many times Ukraine’s leaders ask publicly Team USA for help. On the other hand, we are all interested in what Team Ukraine is doing, such as erecting defensive fortifications, protecting critical energy infrastructure, ending toadyism, strengthening democratic institutions, et al, et cetera.
The tragedy of the current mess is that our post-revolution passionarians since, er, at least 2014, have had no choice but put everything at stake in order to express what seemed to be true, at least to them. This is absurd if it is not supported by a belief in an order of values that exists beyond the whims of their populist leaders.
On the war jacket, Krivyi Rih, one day later. You are borderline suicidal to check into a hotel frequented by foreign journalists in frontline eastern Ukraine. Maybe change the security protocols?
Lost in Translation. Imminent inevitability in Ukraine's underpants (February 4, 2022)