Sixth column
The fifth column in the geopolitical coordinate system
The term “fifth column”, which appeared during the Spanish Civil War, is used extensively in modern Russian journalism. Its value was determined in our conditions fairly accurately. Therefore, this term has a strictly defined semantic framework.
This concept acquires meaning when we clearly and unambiguously recognize the existence of a radical confrontation between Russia, on the one hand, and the United States and the NATO countries dependent on them, on the other.
This confrontation cannot be described in ideological terms, since both Russia and Western countries are democratic societies with a capitalist market economy and a predominantly liberal ideology (individualism, civil society, freedom of speech, movement, conscience, human rights, etc.) .
The model of Eastern Christianity against Westernism does not fit either, which predetermined the opposition of the Orthodox Russian Empire and, earlier, Muscovy, and Catholic-Protestant Europe.
Today, both Russia and the West are secular secular societies. Therefore, to accurately determine the nature of this confrontation, only geopolitics that consider history as a planetary duel of the civilization of the Sea (West) and the civilization of the Land (heartland, Heartland, Russia), that is, as the Great War of the Continents.
In this case, both the opposition of powers with different Christian denominations before the October Revolution, the ideological war between socialism and capitalism, and the expansion of NATO to the East in the 90 of the twentieth century become separate moments of a more general geopolitical scenario in which the indelible contradiction between the sea, a trading system (Carthage, Athens, Great Britain) and a land society with heroic values (Rome, Sparta, Russia). And it was after the end of the USSR that the geopolitical nature of this confrontation was revealed with all the clarity: the era of geopolitics began.
Geopolitics distributes spaces and societies by its main criterion: some lands, countries, political and social movements belong to the civilization of the Sea, that is, to the West, to the Empire of a trade-colonial type; others - to the civilization of Sushi, to the Empire of conservative values. Borders pass in the political space, which means they can coincide with whole countries, and can divide them from within along the line of civilizational choice.
The zone of American influence (North America, the European Union, pro-American regimes and political structures throughout the world) is an area of atlantism, the civilization of the sea.
The land civilization has the main core of the space of Russia, as well as adjacent strategic zones. These adjacent zones can cause both the Land civilization and the Sea civilization. Geopolitical networks operate in them: Eurasian, that is, land, cultures and societies stretch toward Russia; in the direction of the United States and NATO - the Atlantic, that is, the sea.
The Ukrainian drama vividly illustrates this law of geopolitics: in this country, the geopolitical border passes exactly in the middle — in the South-East and in the Crimea people are endowed with a pronounced Eurasian, land, pro-Russian identity; in the West and partly in the Center - pro-American, Atlantic.
It is this geopolitical polarity that caused the death of the immature Ukrainian statehood in 2014. The radical atlantists who came during the coup d'état immediately faced fierce opposition in the Crimea and the South-East, which ended with the Crimea leaving for Russia and a civil war.
But back to the fifth column in Russian society. Now its nature will be obvious to us: it includes those groups that stand on the side of the civilization of the Sea (USA, NATO) and oppose the land, Eurasian identity that dominates Russia throughout its history.
This fifth column contributed to the collapse of the land continental structure represented by the USSR, then seized power under Yeltsin in the 1990s, when Russian Foreign Minister A. Kozyrev openly declared his “atlantist” orientation, and then was at the head of Russia as the ruling political party. economic and cultural elite until the 2000's.
During this period, she could not be called in the full sense of the word "fifth column", as she managed to fully establish herself in power and suppress the patriotic opposition. The fifth column and the regime of liberal reformers in Russia 1990-s are synonymous.
And, nevertheless, from the geopolitical point of view and at this time the Russian ruling elite was none other than the fifth column: it acted not in the national interests, but as an instrument of external control. The decision-making center is located in the West, while Moscow liberals only carried out these decisions, trying to achieve maximum benefits and preferences for themselves and their business.
This is how the Russian oligarchy developed, the power of a small group of large magnates who seized in the course of privatization and relying on reckless corruption, entire state monopolies, primarily the sphere of energy resources.
Fifth Column: from the ruling liberal reformers to the non-systemic opposition
The turn in the fate of this comprador pro-Western oligarchy was the coming to power of Vladimir Putin in 2000. Putin stopped the process of external control and began the careful removal of the most radical agents of the influence of atlantism from power. From that moment began the design of the fifth column in an independent socio-political phenomenon.
Since the beginning of the 2000-s, opposition to Putin has been composed of representatives of atlantism who dominated the 1990 and were marginalized with the advent of Putin and his course towards the civilization of Sushi, Eurasianism.
Since then, the “liberal opposition”, consisting of Westerners, disgraced oligarchs and outspoken Russophobes, has become increasingly reminiscent of the fifth column: in its fight with Putin, it has been more openly relying on the United States and NATO countries, without disdaining their direct financial support and openly speaking against the national interests of Russia and its sovereignty in favor of globalization and a cosmopolitan way of life.
This is an important point - the geopolitical fifth column (civilization level) began to take shape as the internal political fifth column, which already opposes its country from within it. But the core of this fifth column was precisely those who were in the center of the political establishment in 1990: oligarchs (Gusinsky, Berezovsky, Khodorkovsky), top officials (ex-prime minister Kasyanov, ex-deputy prime minister B. Nemtsov, ex-deputy from ruling parties V. Ryzhkov), media, culture and art figures.
The fifth column of street opposition was replenished with large figures who left the political elite under Putin. But the most important thing: the fifth column was typologically the same — both when it maintained its position within the political system, and when it found itself in the role of an extra-systemic radical opposition.
Thus, we are dealing with a dual phenomenon: an open (explicit) fifth column in the face of the radical anti-Putin street liberal pro-Western opposition and a hidden (implicit) fifth column in the face of those oligarchs, politicians, officials, analysts, experts, public figures, media owners who found it possible for themselves, being not less radical atlantists than the anti-Putin radicals, to remain within the political regime, going to compromise with Putin and his patriotic course.
From the point of view of geopolitics, both are the fifth column in the full sense of the word; both work in the interests of the United States, NATO, and the West; both those and others share the principles of the trading system, liberalism, individualism, globalism, etc .; both are opposed to the Russian original identity, the “special path” of Russia, do not consider its sovereignty and civilization uniqueness to be valuable (rather, on the contrary, they see an obstacle to progress and modernization).
But in relation to Putin, their positions differ significantly: some strongly oppose him, others for tactical reasons consider it necessary to support him, each time reinterpreting his words and actions in the atlantist key, and sometimes engaging in frank sabotage of patriotic reforms and steps to strengthen Russian sovereignty.
For Putin, some are open enemies and direct opponents of Russia, who have unequivocally chosen the West; others are his comrades-in-arms, associates and colleagues, although their basic setting is an orientation towards civilizational betrayal and sabotage. Geopolitically, the entire fifth column, both in power and in opposition, is one and the same. From the point of view of domestic politics, they are on opposite sides of the barricades: the first are against Putin, the second are for him.
The Sixth Column: Introduction of the Concept
To emphasize the difference between the two segments of the fifth column, it is proposed to introduce a neologism: the “sixth column”.
As in the case of the “fifth column”, which indicated the presence of the Franco general Emilio Mola, in addition to the four main columns, there was a special group of Franco supporters in Madrid-controlled Republicans (she was called the “fifth”), the number “six” was not carries no symbolic load here. We introduce this concept simply for the convenience of a correct politological analysis.
Both the fifth and sixth columns describe the supporters of the Sea civilization within the Land Civilization, that is, the network of atlantist agents of influence within modern Russia. And in terms of their fundamental positions, priorities and values, both columns are the same: they have one ideal, one owner, one landmark, one ideology - the USA, the West, Euro-Atlantic civilization, liberalism, globalism, global financial oligarchy.
But with respect to Putin, they are fundamentally differentiated: the fifth column in our society is customarily called only those who are openly and completely against Putin, for the United States and NATO, against the Crimea, against Russia, against Russian identity, against sovereignty, against Eurasian integration, against the return of Russia into history as a world power. This is pure betrayal in its acute, frank stage, if we consider it at the scale of the country and its people, and in the case of Putin, these are its open enemies.
The sixth column implies those whom we still cannot accurately qualify in our political science dictionary: its representatives are for Putin and for Russia, but at the same time for a liberal, pro-Western, modernized and westernized Russia, for globalization and integration into the Western world, for European values and institutions, in order for Russia to become a flourishing corporation in a world where the rules and laws are set by the global West, of which Russia is destined to become - on as worthy and profitable grounds as possible.
The sixth column is not Putin's enemies, but his supporters. If they are traitors, then not on the scale of the country, but on the scale of civilization. They do not attack Putin in every patriotic step, they restrain him.
If the fifth column violently attacks all Putin's projects, for example, the Olympics, the sixth column ridicules the fifth and is proud of the Olympics. But when it comes to Crimea, it recommends that you limit yourself to the success of the Olympics and not risk an image victory.
When the fifth column organizes a march of traitors against reunification with the Crimea, the sixth column, cooling the flame of patriotism, agrees with the Crimea as inevitable costs, while emphasizing in every possible way that it will have to pay a high price for all this, and then categorically does not advise Putin to go deep into the affairs of the South-East, since this is supposedly threatened by success in the Crimea.
When Russian troops stand up for the Donetsk People's Republic, the fifth column will shout about military aggression against a sovereign Ukrainian democratic state, and the sixth one will put pressure on Putin, so that he will limit himself to this and not extend the peacekeeping operation to Kharkov and Odessa. Later, they will also be asking to keep Dnepropetrovsk, Kolomoisky, Nikolaev and Kherson behind the junta, when the fifth column will rage and slander the bloody tyrant who has now allegedly launched the “Third World War”.
The sixth and fifth columns are one. Therefore, every representative of the political and economic elite 1990, who was thrown out or simply dismissed by Putin, is a natural candidate from the sixth column to the fifth. The most important thing here is that both columns are the same network, geopolitically working against Russia as a civilization and against Putin as its historical leader.
The sixth column: existential enemy
What can oppose the fifth and sixth columns of Russia as a civilization, as a people, as a historical force, as a subject of world politics? With the fifth column of outspoken traitors and enemies of Putin and his patriotic course, the state itself is now seriously engaged.
Since the chief dispatchers of the sixth column, who previously covered the fifth column from inside the Kremlin, are somewhat removed from business, checks and conventions regarding the radical atlantist opposition have ceased to function. Putin openly called them “national traitors” and promptly took a number of concrete measures to localize them; including informational and online space.
In wartime conditions (Ukraine), it is not difficult to wage a struggle against an outright fifth column: all that is required of the state, including the power ministries and departments, is strict observance of the law and decisions taken.
Without patrons in the Kremlin, the fifth column is extremely vulnerable and untenable. It is effective only when the hands are tied and the eyes are closed. And also in emergency situations of crisis, catastrophes, etc. Therefore, at this stage, the fifth column can be identified, localized and placed under control.
Some of its representatives will leave Russia, some will lie low, some will become part of the sixth column, some - the most irreconcilable - will be punished. But this is today only a technical question. It will become acute only if Russia weakens sharply and enters the test zone, which, however, cannot be ruled out. But then the fifth column will be just a detachment of outspoken saboteurs, and repressive measures will be taken against it. For this, both the will and the understanding of the Kremlin in its current state will definitely be enough.
Much more problematic is the question of the sixth column. Its presence in the political and economic elite of Russia is still almost prevalent.
She does not impersonate anything, truly supports Putin and his policies. In every way defends the interests of the corporation Russia. Never objects to the president in the face. Motivates his position with the “interests of the state”, “limited resources”, “taking into account the international situation”, “concern for foreign policy and foreign economic relations”, “concern about the image of Russia”.
The sixth column is system liberals, effective state managers, loyal oligarchs, executive bureaucrats, active officials, and even some "enlightened patriots". Putin trusts them and relies on them. The fact that their consciousness acts according to the usual patterns of a unipolar, west-centric, atlantic operating system may not be obvious.
They are part of the civilization of the Sea, not only by personal choice, but also by virtue of circumstances. This paradigm prevailed in 1990, and its influence persists in Russian society to this day. Most of the economic structures, educational and cultural institutions, the modern Russian lifestyle itself are tuned to it.
Modern Russia is “Russian” only in a very relative sense. Its land Eurasian identity only weakly appears through the imposed, alien in fact, occupation forms and norms of life. We are under Western authority in a much deeper sense than direct technical external management, as it was discovered in the 1990s.
The West is within us in all senses, including consciousness, analysis, the system of relationships, values and values. The current civilization is not yet fully Russian, this is not the Russian world, this is something that can only become the Russian world. Yes, there are all historical grounds for this, and moreover, history itself requires us to return to our deep-seated identity - the Russian Renaissance, the Russian Spring.
But this process of spiritual return to the Motherland, to the Russian essence, to our origins, to the Russian fate, has a fundamental enemy. It is the sixth column. She is so rooted in the ruling elite that she blocks any health initiatives of the president.
The sixth column - in politics, economics, culture, education, morals, values, information field - continues to stifle the Russian revival. It holds us back in politics and in social transformations, in ideas and art.
The sixth column constantly, a hundred times a day, betrays Putin, extinguishes revival, sabotages so mature and vital patriotic reforms, again turns the national idea into a simulacrum. And if with the fifth column the state entered the war, the sixth column still enjoys immunity and freedom of the hands.
But it is precisely in it today that the main obstacle is in Ukraine, in Europe, in the matter of Eurasian integration, and in domestic policy. It is invisible, cunning, mean, self-confident, deeply rooted in the structures of power, consolidated and follows a carefully worked out plan in the West. If Putin does not find the courage to fight the sixth column, his fateful accomplishments, his historical mission will be too fragile, reversible, even ephemeral.
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Putin is now busy making history. But it is this historical mission to revive Russia that is the main object of hatred of the sixth column. The sixth column operates in the interests of a civilization alternative to us. In fact, this is still the same fifth column, only impersonating something else.
Today, the sixth column is the main existential enemy of Russia. In the world of network wars, precisely such a serpentine body of influence deeply embedded in the structures of power often becomes the decisive factor in dismantling political regimes and overthrowing rulers.
Ukraine became the victim of not only the fifth column of euromaidan, but also the sixth column inside the administration of Yanukovych and the Party of Regions. Washington strategists are preparing something similar for Russia. But who warned, he is armed.
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