Russia too liberal says Film Director

By:
Tom Washington

Russia’s salvation lies in imperialism, the Orthodox church and a calculated snub to the west.

At least, that’s the verdict of Oscar-winning film director turned politician Nikita Mikhalkov in his newly published manifesto.
“The euphoria of liberal democracy is over, the time has come to do business,” he says in his manifesto. Entitled “The manifesto of enlightened conservatism” he published his road to Russia’s salvation in small editions and handed it over to the government, The Epoch Times reported.

Return to the true faith

He lays out his impression of Russian history as a deviation from the Holy Rus of old and towards the Great Russia of today. Much of it criticises modern political and socio-economic trends, Yuga.ru reported.

“Modern society is a volatile cocktail of overarching western liberal modernisation, ‘clan chiefs’, and ‘insidious corruption’, which does not suit the majority of Russians, he says. A veneer of economic reforms and liberal institutions are concealing traditional, ancient social relations,” he laments.

He has repeatedly spoken against Kosovan independence and in 2008 lamented the “war against Orthodoxy” in an address to Serbian youth group Nomocanon, which denies war crimes allegedly committed by Serbs in the Balkan conflicts. Mikhalkov described the faith as “the main force which opposes cultural and intellectual McDonald’s,” Russian Newsweek reported.

An empire reborn

The voter should have recourse to a, currently defunct, conservative party, a liberal party, and a socialist party, he says. Furthermore, the nation must realise itself as a continental empire in which the church plays a strong role and the government is strong, appointing mayors and governors, Ekho Moskvy reported.
“Healthy, enlightened nationalism” is what the nation needs, he said. It should be a free and creative force which is unconfused by pluralism and happily absorbs foreign influences. He says he is not afraid of competition or of absorbing alien elements, Rosbalt.ru reported.

This is the type of nationalism which created great empires with positive missions, including Byzantium, Russia and the hitherto little-known “Anglo-Saxon” empire.

He has been a strong supporter of prime-minister Putin and in October 2007 co-signed an open letter asking Putin not to step down at the end of his term in office, producing a television programme for Putin’s 55th birthday in the same year.

There are no official reports that he intends to create his own political party.

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