Wu Wei

East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet?

This month's Hidden Europe's Newsletter (travel writing on obscure parts of Europe) starts:

In Dostoevsky's last novel, The Brothers Karamazov, one of the characters declares "I want to go to Europe," going on to say "I do know that I'm going to a graveyard, but it's a precious graveyard." It's an interesting formulation, somehow suggesting that Russia is not quite Europe. More than a century earlier Catherine the Great had observed that "Russia is a European power," but obviously Ivan Fyodorovich Karamazov never quite took the point on board (or faith in its veracity had been shaken by Russia's unhappy defeat in the Crimea War). Anyway, Karamazov speaks of Europe as somewhere beyond Russia, just like generations of Russians since. We have Russian friends who still talk of "going to Europe" when they hop on the train in their home town for the overnight journey to Berlin. It is as if there are seven continents plus Russia.

This Russian perception of global affairs is of course nicely mirrored in British discourse where popular parlance refers to Europe as if the British Isles were somehow a place apart. A government poster campaign in Britain used the banner "Going to Europe?" as the prelude to reminding citizens of the importance of securing health cover prior to crossing the English Channel.

Russian perceptions of Europe are much in the news this month in the wake of Moscow's response to the Tbilisi government's ill-considered adventure in South Ossetia. And yet Russian popular perceptions are shaped not merely by Kremlin dictates but by several centuries of Russian writing about western Europe. A contemporary of Dostoevsky, Saltykov-Shchedrin, wrote wittily of his stays at decadent German spa towns in Across the Border, while Dostoevsky himself, in his Winter Notes, offered a polemic on France and Britain that powerfully shaped Russian understanding of its western neighbours. Winter Notes is a plea for Russia to affirm its distinctive position and a warning of the dangers of being seduced by too cosy a relationship with western Europe.

Russia has had phases of looking West for ideas and solutions (Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, various Tsars) alternating with finding its own distinctive destiny often labelled with some eastern characteristic.

I decided I didn't like the anti-Russian state of mind I had got into, thinking Russia just had to be like the West. This is one of the problems with the EU at the moment, since the EU 15 allowed the rest in on the assumption that they were just the same, only to find out that they weren't and came with their own ideas, culture and historical baggage. Very inconvenient of them.

So I have been busy choosing books to take back to Georgia to read to reorientate myself a bit and do some critical thinking.

This discussion of Russia linked or separate from Europe must have links to Edward Said's "Orientalism", and the definition of the Orient as the "Other". Said uses the term to describe a tradition, both academic and artistic, of hostile and deprecatory views of the East by the West, shaped by the attitudes of the era of European imperialism in the 18th and 19th centuries. He claims that Western knowledge about the East is not generated from facts, but through imagined constructs that see all "Eastern" societies as fundamentally similar, all sharing crucial characteristics unlike those of "Western" societies, thus, this 'a priori' knowledge established the East as antithetical to the West. Such Eastern knowledge is constructed with literary texts and historical records that often are of limited understanding of the facts of life in the Middle East.

The book has sparked a great deal of critical debate, even with Said's own arguments being turned on him, that he has set up the West as a stereotypical creation whereas it exists in several forms, just as the Orient does.

Orientalism was one book I had been meaning to read for a long time, from references picked up from Imagining the Balkans by Maria Todorova. It seems interesting to explore to what extent the Cold War made Russia the "Other". Of course criticisms of Said have pointed out the existence of "nested orientalisms" a term coined by Milica Bakic-Hayden, especially with regard to the former Yugoslavia, where chaos and the east starts on the eastern border of whatever country you are considering at the moment, but not in that country.

So also on my reading list are:

Tolstoy The Cossacks/Happy Ever After/The Death of Ivan Ilich (read a long time ago)
Lermontov A Hero of our Time (new)
Russian Short Stories from Pushkin to Buida (new)
Kurban Said Ali and Nino (well referenced in Stories I stole by Wendell Steavenson, which I enjoyed rereading recently in Tbilisi)

I also got Ken Loach's film "The Wind that Shakes the Barley" to remind me that the British approach to separatism and independence has also been brutal.

Incidentally, Hidden Europe has recent articles on Abkhazia and South Ossetia from the travel point of view.

Support for the Georgians in Vilnius

Of course everybody wanted to hear about the war and who I thought had started it.  Everyone understood how the Russians could be causing provocations.  The Lithuanians have had to cope with several oil pipeline stoppages, the last permanent, when Yukos's oil refinery at Mazeikiai was sold to the Poles in defiance of the Russians. But they are still dependent on Russian gas, and will become more so when the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant finally closes in 2009. 

So it was not surprising to see the Georgian flag with a black ribbon (a common combination in other places) outside the Research Centre for Genocide and Resistance on Didzioji St, near where the Jewish ghetto had been.

The plaque outside the Town Hall might have been  comforting once to Lithuania.  On the bottom panel it says:

Anyone who would choose Lithuania as an enemy has also made an enemy of the United States of America.  George W Bush, President of the US, Vilnius City Hall, November 23rd, 2002

Will the US really go to the aid of small countries on the boundary of Russia?

Technorati tags: Lithuania, Georgia, USA

Trip to Vilnius

I had a very lazy time.  As my "niece" liked to sleep, we had a leisurely morning and then walked into town along the Antakalnis river bank road.  It's still very green in the city centre, with ducks in the river and old houses with cottage gardens, though some new blocks are appearing.  Lithuanian flags were everywhere because of the basket ball, though cars sometimes had Georgian flags as well.

 

This building near the British and Danish Embassies has been restored recently, and houses a literary museum.

The Danish Embassy was exhorting the Lithuanians to save energy. The first poster shows how much little renewable energy Lithuania uses compared with, errrr,  the Swedes, which was a bit strange. The second poster says: "by renovating our building our heating costs have reduced from 200Lt to 80Lt a month.  Over a year that is a whole 1440Lt". (420 Euros)  I must show these posters to our staff in Tbilisi.

          

After a 45 minute stroll, we were already in the city centre, so I stopped off in a cafe near my old office, opposite the Cathedral. The office, previously the Energy Efficiency Centre, was on the third floor of this newly decorated building, but now is the Ministry of Economy's Department for Bankrupt Companies.  Outside the kiosks and make-shift cafes have been smartened up, you can now sit and watch the special fountains for pigeon bathing or, as the little girl watches, an opportunity to freshen up your single rose to present to your lady friend.  All is not well however, as Literatu Svetaine, the famous Soviet era Writers' Salon, which continued its existence more recently as an excellent Scandinavian restaurant, has now turned into a bank, wasting a wonderful view of the Cathedral.  In fact, many shops are now turning into banks on Gedimino and other main streets. From every other shop being a shoe shop, now they are all banks.

   

Further up Gedimino, the main street, the municipality building has been turned into a smart shopping centre with Marks and Spencers.  However my friend pointed out that the clothes were too frumpy and expensive for the young.  The food stocks were odd too.  A lot of wine bottles and then things like organic lentils.  Why would anyone in the UK buy yellow lentils in Marks and Spencers.  In the end I bought some exotic muesli and some caramelised onion chutney which was very popular.

 

Also on Gedimino is the Lithuanian fur designer Nijole's shop.  On the left are the summer fur designs on offer and on the right (one day later) we had already moved onto the winter designs. And a tree seems to have appeared.  Can there be two shop windows? Everything else looks the same.

St Casimir's Church seems finally to have had a coat of paint. The new trolley buses are named after composers.  I spotted "Bachas"and  "Brahmsas" as well as the "Haidnas" pictured here.

  

Our final destination was to meet on the new balcony at the Shakespeare Hotel in the heart of the Old Town.   The Shakespeare is a favourite with everybody as the service is exceptional.  We had a 4 o'clock lunch here, pretending it was our own balcony (it's really small).

 

One of the reasons I don't like England is that it would be impossible to have a 4 o'clock lunch in most places.  Lunch is strictly 12-2pm. 

Then we met Dad (who still has to work unfortunately) and after some more cafes we drove home.    Lithuanian social security now provides maternity pay at 100% for the first year and 75% for the second, with the job held open, so not so many problems for mums, these days.

Technorati tags: Vilnius, Lithuania, maternity pay, trolley buses

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Union revival

In today's BBC report here on Georgia's withdrawal of its diplomats from Moscow, the following item appears:

And Interfax also quoted Abkhazia's foreign minister, Sergei Shamba, as saying his province "may become part of the Union State of Russia and Belarus".

This Union used to be driven by Belarus when Lukashenka thought he had a chance to topple Putin. Russia was never so keen since it would have to prop up the Belarussian economy.

More recently it looked like even Lukashenka was having second thoughts and turning westwards, perhaps having got wind of what was being planned for Russian borders.

So does the Union State of Russia and Belarus still exist except on paper? Will the Belarussians want to pay their fair share of recovery of Abkhazia or will their leaders just be pleased that they can holiday in Sukhumi again?

How to qualify for a Presidency

There were several reports on the blogs yesterday that announced that Kokoity, President of the newly declared independent republic of South Ossetia had celebrated by publicly drinking 3 litres of wine (at one go). Neeka's Backlog actually has the video.

Kokoity was hardly democratically elected so we cannot blame them by saying the South Ossetians get the leaders they deserve. However, one can't help wondering how much more he will have to drink in one go when South Ossetia "volunteers" to join Russia.

I always found it hard to understand how previously democratic countries in Central Europe somehow after the Second World War managed to "invite the Soviet Union" to protect them. But now I see it is all too easy, with that sort of leader.

My trip to Batumi in July

Just seems an age ago: a trip on the main road east past Gori, Kutaisi and Poti to the Black Sea town of Batumi.  Since the incorporation of Adjaria back into Georgia (still with some autonomy, but paying its taxes) Batumi has seen a lot of development and is now a thriving port and holiday resort. Development has come from both Russian and American funds. 

A trip to Batumi is now hardly possible because of the Russian "peace keepers" in the illegal "buffer zone" which naturally includes the main road, and the destruction of Poti.

This is the second time I have been to Batumi.  You can find my first trip here and here.  I don't blog about my work normally but suffice it to say we had a very successful training course and the trainees asked lots of questions.  Our leader was impressed and found the need for a weekend stay in Batumi fully justified, even if he couldn't connect his Blackberry and get his email. We voted that if we ever needed a second office it would be in Batumi.

This time we stayed in Hotel Alik, which was quite comfortable, at least as far as the rooms were concerned. It had wi-fi in the lounge and some of the rooms.  The breakfast was OK if you were only staying there for a few days, but would get monotonous for longer.

The lounge with its big white sofas features on the website, but some essential features of the ambience are missing on the website.   First there are the green cactus lights in several variations, and also the mini golf.  Then there is the golf ball bar and seats, (the strange white eggcup cum parasol structure behind the mini golf).  One of our party made the mistake of sitting at the golf ball bar early in the visit. Later we realised that this was the preferred perch of the owner, Mr Alik himself, who dressed always in white, though his size meant this was not very flattering.  Always parked outside were the several large black SUVs with number plates in the range Alik1, Alik2 etc though the Hummer below has ALIKA.  These were always being washed to make sure Mr Alik always had a clean car at his disposal.  We also had a clean car quite quickly as well.

 

But most spectacular of all was the singing.  Each morning, like it or not, began with loud polyphonic singing in the lounge.  This was not just loud, (they had the full electronic kit for a rock band) but also repetitive.  They were clearly rehearsing for some important performance.  Eventually, when even we could all sing the full polyphony, we had heard it so often, it seemed this was turning into a recording studio, and the singers were apparently Georgian stars in their own genre.  Mr Alik seemed very proud that the best Georgian singers were in his lounge singing their hearts out.  But as a wake up call it has its limitations.

We had lots of good food in picturesque outdoor restaurants:

We managed trips to two beaches.  One in Batumi itself had excellent power connections so we adopted this beach hut as our temporary office. We even noted its energy saving lamps.

 

The other trip to the beach near the Turkish border (about 20km away) was even more successful.  The signal from the nearest Turkish mobile station on the Turkish side was sufficient for the Blackberry to connect and our leader then had no reason not to work.  However as it was Saturday we lay on the beach.

 

On the way back we returned via Gori and the Stalin museum.  You can find a report of our visit here.

Technorati tags: Batumi, Georgia

My recent trip to Gori

Well, to the Stalin Museum.  It was before the war. 

We were travelling back from Batumi on a Sunday and so as none of us had been to the Museum we all felt in need of some culture.  It's quite a large museum though it hasn't been changed much since Soviet days.   There are three parts to the museum: the large building on the left, situated in a rather nice green park; the wooden hut in which he apparently grew up, and which has been transported to the museum grounds; and his train (more later).

   

The guide appeared to have modified her speech slightly since Soviet times, because it anticipated a more democratic approach to the Soviet style of lectures by the guide.  It brooked no interruptions: now I will tell you about his early work and I will tell you about his family later (subtext in no uncertain terms: do not interrupt my toneless monologue with stupid questions, which I have heard before and will not answer).  Here she is, leading her flock.  I was too timid to treat her as a museum piece and take a photo from the front.

 

Conditions were not ideal for photography, as the blinds were closed to keep the sun out, and we had to rush round to keep up with the guide.

     

Among the exhibits in the museum were the following which caught my eye.  In line with Stalin's early life as a seminarist, is a book called "a general physiology of the soul".  It was shortly after Karadzic had been caught and I was thinking that this looked like a book he might well have used in his disguise.

The second exhibit appears to be some immortal words of Stalin admitting he might have made some mistakes.

Then a picture of Stalin congratulating two pilots who were apparently the first to cross the Atlantic and land in Russia.  In Lithuania we have been used to the story of Darius and Girenas who in 1933 successfully crossed the Atlantic but crashed in a field in Germany and never made it to Lithuania.  They live on in their portraits on the 10 Lt note. 

   

Rather like the Queen of England on her travels, Stalin received suitable presents from the grateful natives.  I think Carpetblogger needs to acquire the carpet with a portrait of Stalin for her collection but alas it was not for sale in the shop, even in replica.  The shop also had not fully adopted capitalism having only some mugs and Tshirts on sale.  I invite you to suggest some suitable gifts (souvenirs from the gulag perhaps?).

So after the shop we were marched to the train.  Anticipating  something not at all like the Royal Train the Queen used in the past to survey her reign, I wasn't sure what was appropriate for Stalin in the 30s (or was it from the 50s, I don't think we were told). 

After all it was Trotsky who was more famous for train travel.  Google goes straight to the heart of the matter:  Trotsky My Life Chapter XXXIV The Train.  (How long is his book then?).

Now it is time to speak of "The train of the Predrevoyensoviet." [1] During the most strenuous years of the revolution, my own personal life was bound up inseparably with the life of that train. The train, on the other hand, was inseparably bound up with the life of the Red Army. The train linked the front with the base, solved urgent problems on the spot, educated, appealed, supplied, rewarded, and punished.

1. The train of the Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council. – Trans.

And we can note from the recent upgrading of the Abkhazian railway to the Georgian border by Russian railway troops, that the life of the Russian army is inseparably  bound up with the train. See a report from June here

Technorati tags: georgia, gori, Stalin Museum

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But it seems Stalin also travelled by train, complete with bathroom and  all mod cons of the day.  Even power points for his electrical typewriter?

  

There was also a large salon for receiving guests and the great man's chair.  We encouraged our leader to have his photo taken in Stalin's chair, but under the circumstances it does not seem fair to reproduce it.  In any case I seem to have lost it.

Already talk of a "new order"

Some thoughtful remarks here by Ben Judah at ISN (International Security Relations and Network. His article ends:

The new order

The recent conflict has achieved a primary Russian objective, in proving that American power cannot be solidified along borderlands. This leaves only two powers that can actually integrate or control these territories - the EU or Russia.

The post-Soviet space can either seek to emulate the Baltic republics and find security inside the Union or embrace and hope to benefit from Russian dominance, as have Armenia and Belarus. Both are asymmetrical in how they wield influence.

Russia's strength lies in the areas of hard power such as its military capacities, energy power, cyberwarriors, pro-Russian parties and ethnic minorities or former KGB networks. However, it lacks the powers of persuasion.

Bulgarian expert Ivan Krastev argues in a recent article that "Russia is a born-again 19th-century power that acts in the post-20th-century world where arguments of force and capacity cannot any longer be the only way to define the status or conduct of great powers. The absence of 'soft power' is particularly dangerous for a would-be revisionist state. For if a state wants today to remake the world order, it must be able both to rely on the existing and emerging constellation of powers and be able to capture the international public's imagination."

The EU has the opposite strengths. Its power is soft and lies in the promise of membership, cultural appeal, diplomatic influence and financial clout. However, just as the Kremlin's failure to convince the world its actions are legitimate should force a re-think in its inner circles about a return to great-power status, the EU needs to learn that it does not exist in a vacuum.

Russia's strategy may be 19th century - but Europe is stuck in the future.

The great source of instability for the borderlands is that neither the EU nor Russia have reached their final destinations. Both are lost in transition.

The EU is caught between a disunited vague confederacy and a near-federation capable of speaking with a single voice in foreign policy and acting purposefully in a single direction. Its foreign policy mechanisms may slip into irrelevance and its own stability is far from assured. The news from Brussels is still frustration and malaise following on the heels of the French and Dutch "No" votes in 2005. The Irish "No" vote earlier this year does not bode well.

Russia itself is in a similar unsettled position. Its own territory is too large to be run in a conventional democratic manner and the state is still too weak to dominate its neighbors successfully. In the long run, further disintegration cannot be ruled out and the Kremlin is well aware of this.

Hovering between a post-modern empire and joining the club of post-imperial European great powers alongside the UK, France and Germany, Russia will continue its struggle to find institutional stability at home and a place in the state system - to the great detriment of both its citizens and surrounding countries.

Trapped between two uncertain creatures the post-Soviet states need to learn from the Georgian experience and tread carefully to avoid its fate.

Now it seems we are back to "balance of power" 19th century diplomacy and perhaps war.

Beware the power of satire

Not everyone understands the power of satire: to think the unthinkable and to make it humorous.

Here is Edward Lucas on the activities of Colonel Khuiyovich and an update here.

Normal service?

According to my team things are becoming more normal in Tbilisi.

The banks are lending money, though not disbursing the cash. The bankomats are not working and you have go inside the bank to get cash.

Flights are operating again from the airport, so we are planning to return next week.

So for all the people who have been following my blog on ordinary life in Georgia, normal service on life in Georgia will be resumed soon. In the meantime, I hope to get my photos of the last trip to Batumi posted.

And for those who follow the family history saga, there are a couple of new pages on my parents. See the links on the right hand side of the blog.