The title of this article is a shortened version of the title of a book written by radical Russian historian Oleg Platonov: Why America Will Perish:
The Secret World Government, published in 1998. The appearance of such a book in Russia, and later in Ukraine, seemed very symptomatic to me.
Soviet and American ideologists and cold warriors had predicted the inevitable collapse of each other's political systems for decades. Such "architects of subversion" like George Soros or Zbigniew Brzezinski accused "the evil empire" of draconian totalitarianism and the absence of basic rights and liberties. Their communist opponents replied with an extensive list of vices ascribed to the decadent West and its leaders. They were convinced that the United States of America was a Zionistic-Masonic civilization, "a vampire on the body of humanity", and a country where Satanism and perversion were cultivated and encouraged.
In the United States, domestic criticism resounded in similar if less geopolitical tones. For example in the 1970s, Gus Hall, secretary of the U.S Communist Party, dedicated his book The Decline of World Imperialism to his grandson, hoping the latter would live in the communist states of America. Many non-communists, including leading members of the American cultural elite, also predicted a pessimistic pattern of development for their country. The third world, it was said, would inevitably redirect its raw material resources to internal consumption and "the greedy America" would face poverty and then destructive popular protest movements.
However, we see that the sinful and aggressive America has survived, while the predictions of American anti-Soviet critics came true. The Soviet Union's monopolistic Communist Party collapsed to be replaced by capitalists, nationalists and others. Russian, Ukrainian and Baltic writers, historians and even politicians started fiercely criticizing Russian imperial values, many of which turned out to be chauvinistic myths.
In his reactionary book, Platonov reminds his readers of the vices and crimes of the United States, which he describes as deadly sins explicitly condemned by Jesus Christ.
Arguments laid bare
I have never been to the United States. But as far as I know, America's multi-strata society professes different social and ethical priorities and makes no attempt to conceal this.
Nevertheless, there are quite a few highly moral people in the United States. On the other hand, I have often visited Russia, where I immediately picked up the mothball smell of the kind of "imperishable values" much touted by Mr. Platonov: the notorious Slavic unity and "chaste" Russian Orthodox Church, which supposedly fought to defend the rights of people as far removed as native Alaskans.
Like professor Platonov, I am not impressed by consumption obsessed and materialistic Americans. I also do not like many facts of American history: Indian reservations, the centuries-long slave trade, and the annexation of Florida, Texas and California. But I also do not like the assertion of Platonov that the warriors and commanders of Russia always fought for the sake of their motherland. While the territory of the United States was extended eight times over between 1776 and 1823, Russia and then the Soviet Union grew 140 fold by means of continual expansions and annexation.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the realm of the Tsars and commissars was reduced by a third, although it still remained the largest country in the world. This was deeply painful to Russian self-esteem. Russian chauvinism is as immortal as American messianism. Professor Platonov rather subjectively expresses the desire of all those who support and believe in the renaissance of Great Russia, those who would like to return "Russian lands" from Tashkent to Kyiv, which were "stolen" from the Russian crown and by rebellious nationalists.
Haughty language, offended honor and the readiness to interfere in the affairs of other nations are characteristic of chauvinism. The author of Why America Will Perish expresses his opinion in the same way. He gloatingly and peremptorily asserts that the United States will cease to exist in the nearest decades. According to Platonov, the land of the free is about to face devastating social cataclysms, which he calls breaks. At this point, let me offer the reader a few of the professor's more striking predictions.
The fate of the states?
As a result of the secession of Texas, Florida, several Indian reservations and Hawaii, new sovereign territories will appear on the North American continent. The author stresses that he is particularly looking forward to friendly relations between Alaska and Russia.
Continuing racial tensions will lead to the formation of Afro-American self-governments in places where Afro-Americans populations are particularly large. Later, these territories too will become sovereign states.
On the financial side, the artificially overvalued dollar will be deflated following an imminent crisis on Wall Street, which will be set off by yet another stock-market panic with consequences that spin into a chain reaction around the globe.
Economic and environmental breaks will be caused by the growing gap between the shrinking availability of resources and the selfish consumption of these resources in the United States.
Finally, the international break will occur as the result of a conflict in which the United States is set against other countries of the world that are frustrated by American presumption and hegemony.
The author claims he spent around seven months in America, visiting twelve different states before putting pen to paper. However, I doubt that it was his "hundreds of meetings with ordinary Americans from all walks of life" that made him come to his worrying conclusions about the fate of the country.
Platonov's book is destined to become part of a compilation of primarily Russian and American futurologist research papers.
I am not writing this review to offer an alternative opinion.
I cannot give any advice to Americans about how to solve their problems. But as a Ukrainian, I decided to pick up my pen because I am worried about the fate of my own country. Platonov's "burial" of America and revival of Russia as a super state cannot forebode anything good for Ukraine.
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