A Vision

 

Once Ukraine has won the war, what happens next?

To begin with, Ukraine will have immense cultural prestige.

This reminds me of a vision I had long ago, in the late Sixties. It was that Russia would become the world’s cultural leader; not the Soviet Russia that existed at that time, but a new spiritual Russia based on the virtue of honour.

Ukraine—almost Russia—may be acting that out right now.

There seems to me a decent chance that, as a result of this war, the current regime in Russia will collapse. It might be replaced by a more democratic, outward-looking regime. This has happened elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe, almost as though it is inevitable given time. And surely, those nations that have embraced the West, Poland, Hungary, Czechia, Slovakia, and the rest, have profited as a result.

If this happens, I predict that Central and Eastern Europe will become the new centre and cutting edge of world civilization. Fostering a revival of the principles of honour and ethics.

Unless, that is, the regime in Beijing also falls. Then it might be East Asia.

We have been needing one.