The idea of the racial inferiority of Russians and dehumanizing them is no longer a taboo subject in European media.
"We should not forget that although Russians appear European, they are not Europeans, culturally speaking. They view violence and death differently. They have no concept of a liberal postmodern life that each individual can choose," French-German political scientist Florence Gaub said in a recent interview with ZDF, one of Germany's leading TV channels.
This statement should not be taken lightly as it is not just an accidental propaganda line from another "TV talking head". Gaub’s opinion represents the consolidated position of Europe’s military elites. Currently, she serves as Deputy Director of the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) in Paris. She worked for NATO Defense College in Rome from 2009 to 2013, where she supervised courses for officers from Arab countries. In 2013, Gaub joined the EUISS and served as a reserve officer in the French army until 2015.
Graub's second job title is even more intriguing. In 2020, Florence Gaub became Vice-President of the European Forum Alpbach (EFA). The EFA was founded in August 1945 by Otto Molden and Simon Moser, two Austrian intellectuals. They were both linked to U.S. intelligence services.
In August, the forum is held annually in Alpbach (Tyrol, Austria). It was initially designed to fill a certain intellectual void following the defeat of Nazi Germany and to preserve Europe’s ideological unity. The forum's primary objective is to develop and formulate a European strategic agenda in politics, culture, science and ethics and promote this agenda among Europe’s young intellectuals. Speakers at the forum have included major scholars, public figures and politicians from post-war Europe and the West (with a few exceptions, for instance, Indira Gandhi).
Nazism and fascism were defeated and rejected as ideologies. When World War II ended, it was thought that unity would be based on liberalism. In addition, European liberalism and excessive freedoms "from anything and everything" stemmed from a strong desire to escape from the Nazi regime’s totalitarian past.
The next step has been completed in part. The concept of "a liberal postmodern life" that major Gaub speaks about so passionately implies that choosing an identity and way of life makes it possible to break any social, societal or natural framework in the interest of one’s freedom. This concept does have some appeal as it suggests unbridled hedonism and egoism, rejection of duty, love, reproduction and life in a particular time and society. It is akin to living in a cloud of "fantasies and desires". Its goal is to embed some of these fantasies (e.g. gender) in people’s somatic nature through technologies that intervene in the individual’s somatic structure. This is expected to produce social groups with different biological characteristics, leading to a new form of racism created in today’s technological circumstances.
Years ago, the Nazis gradually made their way toward eugenics. It appears that, nowadays, some have fully embraced this racist practice. The EFA has dedicated dozens of thematic sessions to these issues.
The ultra-liberal postmodern freedom recognizes only one restriction, a requirement for cohabitation with other free individuals. However, those who do not fit into this paradigm are expected to fall by the wayside of history and become subject to increasing sanctions.
In line with this logic, a minority may dictate its will to a majority in wartime. Brutality may become the norm, and dehumanization of those who do not fit into the framework of the postmodern narrative will also be acceptable. This is essentially what Florence Gaub said in her interview.
In any case, the combination of Nazi ideology (i.e. dehumanization as the Russians are "inhuman" or beasts) and postmodern liberalism reduced to absurdity is not an entirely illogical phenomenon or a product of extreme wartime conditions. Change through the stages of thesis, antithesis and synthesis follow the laws of dialectics. Following a sincere rejection of Nazism, Europe has now returned to it on a different level.
