The weekly “Novoe Vremya” (New Times) is a well-known magazine, to say nothing of its permanent columnist Valeria Novodvorskaya. The magazine and its author are a good enough attraction for its readership, and that enables both the magazine and Ms.Novodvorskaya to never fail to widely use it for systematically indicating their obstruction to the Kremlin. There’s no telling that this “general course” is totally devoid of foundations, but at times it beings to remind of a liberal democratic wild goose chase, so some comment is needed.

Let’s refer to the latest, 45th edition of this popular publication that carries an article of Valeria Ilyinichna entitled “Blood Oaths”.

That’s a megaton title! And what a strong thesis it is based on: no other than the President’s team is behind the raising wave of Russian nationalism! The author is wielding this argument as one would a crowbar striving to convince the reader of the absurdity of “nightmarish visions” of Russia’s leadership of a threat of a break-up of the country. What’s more, Novodvorskaya attributes to the Russian authorities the intention to “tie up “ all Russians by spilling the blood of ethnic minorities. And the apotheosis of the article is a protracted discourse on the topic of there being no other state in the civilised world where the practice of protecting the title nation against ethnic minorities was in place. Well, as for “Russophobia”, she says it is the brainchild of Russians themselves who are now defending themselves, which exactly is the reason behind the rise of fascism in Russia.

To go into a serious debate with this impersonified raving would be getting us involved in something unclean. But then again, there’s no leaving it all without a comment that could provide the not-so-well informed public from Ms. Novodvorskaya’s poisonous excreta.

All the more so that Valeria Ilyinichna is correct speaking about the Kremlin being tortured by nightmarish visions of a break-up of the country. But unlike her vision and mentioning as she did, in passing, that “no one except for Chechnya, ever really tried to secede from Russia”, the nightmares the authorities are haunted with, do not appear as something coming from empty space. What makes one suspect this flamboyant lady of insincerity is the ethereal lightness with which she juggles different facts of the bloody Russian history. This simple soul seems unaware of how much courage it took Vladimir Putin, then still Prime Minister, to make a decision about launching Phase 2 of the Chechen war. Her easy-flowing loud remark “no one asked to leave” is a shade concealing thousands upon thousands of deaths. Novodvorskaya as a woman of other than Chechen descent would have probably been happier had she lived in Gudermes in, say, 1994, shortly before the first Chechen war, or in 1999, on the eve of its Phase 2. She would then have fully enjoyed body and soul the sweet sensation of reality of implementation of the project of dismembering Russia into 50 independent “subjects” as set out by Andrei Sakharov. Its implementation was begun by her permanently drunken idol with his opening line:”Take as much sovereignty as you can stomach.”

Russia has paid a tremendous price for putting an end to the then launch of a break-up chain reaction. The very first attempt to make the Russian Federation experience “the domino effect” leaning on Chechnya, failed. That is exactly what makes Valeria Ilyinichna restless and tortures her disorderly mind. Why would a not-so-well informed reader not agree to her arguments? But a little more knowledgeable reader knows that the marginalisation of the preponderance of the Russian population that breeds fascism is the result of the activities of the Yeltsin regime idolized by Novodvorskaya, a regime that began by destroying the nation and then robbing it.

Yes, the Kremlin is extremely concerned with what’s happening, seeking ways to avoid the looming catastrophe. They in the Kremlin realise the expedience of unification of the nation under new slogans. There are yet no slogans, and the team that is entrusted with the task of working out social ideology would undoubtedly fail to come up with them. This team shares some of the symptoms of Novodvorskaya’s liberal paranoia. Wise people have long learnt to infect weak-minded aborigines of the territories they colonise with the virus of this disease.

But Novodvorskaya is not so weak-minded. If she denies the threat of a break-up (dismembering) of Russia, she does so deliberately. She has learnt perfectly well the lessons of her western idols from Churchill to Brezinsky. Her intent is simple: by taking advantage of the troubled social situation whereby Russian fascism is beginning to raise its head to smear as dirty a mark on the Kremlin’s policies as possible. And she is doing that gleefully and enthusiastically, as usual. The question arises: should we take care? Let’s forget all about it. But one unanswered question prevents us from forgetting about that. Where are our intellectuals when the nation is facing a terrible danger? Those who together with Novodvorskaya gloat watching unskilled attempts of the authorities take the situation under control, remind one of the Russian “thinkers” of the early 20th century who went out of their way to shake the pillar of autocracy, and after its fall were running for their lives to every corner of the world.

Our intellectuals today are once again performing their cowardly and irresponsible part in another act of the Russian national drama. Russian fascism has already been giving signs of its existence. It is not a phobia or a figment of the mind. Fascism has been raising its head in the depressive regions and the poor urban outskirts. Fascism is bred amongst the masses of the unemployed and amongst the youth whose future is totally unpredicted. The motives of fascism can be heard in the despair of those who are doomed to live beyond the poverty line. THERE ARE MILLIONS OF PEOPLE LIKE THAT IN RUSSIA! It should take the crooked brains and the cloudy blood of Novodvorskaya’s to view the present-day social situation as nothing but another chance to do dirt on the government.

It is all but clear today that the government scabbed with dogmas of “liberal economy” is defenceless against the rising wave. Its timid steps towards a social state are undermined from inside by the parasite of the oligarchic corruption. The government is unable to implement intentions it proclaims. The government’s incapacity to act in any other way but a delayed response would only aggravate social tensions. We are already repeating the dramatic experience of the Weimar republic. Unless this trend is not severed, its consequences can be much worse than in Germany.

No other group but intellectuals who are an embodiment of the nation’s spiritual beginnings and mental power can do what should be done. Doing the following is expedient:

1. To make an exhaustively honest assessment of the current situation in Russia.

2. To work out historically founded ways of Russia’s further development.

Let’s repeat: neither the administration nor the presidential parties are strong enough to do that. The forces of the society are dispersed. To bring them together and unite them is our debt to the memory of our fathers and the coming generations. Please stop sitting cosily in your kitchens! The likes of Novodvorskaya should be denied access to the nation’s consciousness.