by Gevorg Mirzayan
[REGNUM] Stockholm has sacrificed the national interests of its country and the civilizational interests of the collective West for the sake of the right of its citizens to engage in obscurantism. And the main beneficiary of this sacrifice was Russia.
In Sweden, a new folk tradition has emerged - the desecration of the Koran. The next - and far from the last - action took place on June 28. On the holy holiday for Muslims - Eid al-Adha, near one of the Stockholm mosques.
Russian media write that a sacred book for Muslims was burned. However, in addition to this, an activist ( Salvan Momika, who arrived from Iraq five years ago and received Swedish citizenship as a refugee) also wiped his boots with the pages, and also put a piece of bacon in the book. In fact, lard, which is a forbidden food for Muslims.
“This book should be banned worldwide. It poses a threat to democracy, ethics, human values and rights, as well as the rights of women ,” he explained his position. Forgetting that true democracy just recognizes the right to cultural diversification, ethics presupposes the right to faith, and human rights (including female people) cannot be violated by traditions that this very person decides to observe of his own free will.
The problem was aggravated by the fact that Salvan Momika burned the Koran not only because he wanted to, but also because he was allowed to do so by the authorities of the country. The point is that back in February the police did not allow two citizens (a private person and a representative of one of the public organizations) to burn the Koran in front of the embassies of Iraq and Turkey.
However, these citizens went to court, and in mid-June, the judges ruled that these bans were illegal. That they violate the right to self-expression. That a person can notify the police about the act of burning, and if he at the same time complies with the law (for example, a ban on making open fires due to fires raging in the country), then there is nothing to punish him for.
The Swedish police stated that "the risks arising from burning cannot, given current legislation, lead to a decision to deny the right to burn" . And in this situation, the position of the Swedish government, voiced by Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, is very simple - "it's legal, but inappropriate."
In fact, the story of permission to burn the Koran is one of the reflections of a new general Western trend - ultra-liberalism. Simply put, the elevation to the absolute of a person's personal freedoms (the same right to self-expression) and the elimination of the very understanding of public morality. Rejection of the principle of mutual respect and tolerance for other people's faith (after all, for Muslims, the Koran is not just a book, but the embodiment of the divine word), from basic democratic concepts. And, of course, the priority of ultra-liberal values over such a sacred concept as the national interest - which Moscow can now take advantage of.
The first Russian benefit is already obvious - the permission to burn the Koran pushed Sweden even further away from NATO membership. Membership, which was positioned by the West as a grandiose victory over Vladimir Putin , as a kind of mockery of the Russian leader (they say that Putin launched a NVO for Ukraine to prevent the expansion of the Alliance, but in fact he received this expansion).
Turkey, which has not yet ratified the protocol on Swedish accession due to political contradictions with Stockholm, now regarded the burning of the holy book for Muslims as another insult. Moreover, the insult is not from the activist, namely from the Swedish state.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has already warned that if the Swedish authorities do not respect the Koran, Ankara will not let them into NATO. “It is unacceptable to allow these anti-Islamic actions under the pretext of freedom of speech. Turning a blind eye to such heinous actions means being an accomplice in them,” commented the head of the Turkish Foreign Ministry Hakan Fidan on the current burning.
And now Sweden's accession to NATO is being delayed for an indefinite period. Even if the Turkish authorities wanted to ratify the accession protocol (and they do not), the embittered Turkish population would not allow them to do so. And Erdogan always took into account the opinion of his voters.
And this is only part of the Russian benefits. Russia will receive much more bonuses if the conflict moves from the Turkish-Swedish to the civilizational level.
The fact is that the current Russian-Western conflict has many dimensions, many fronts. And one of them is the fight for the sympathy of the global South. For which side in the current conflict will be the states of Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.
Russian President Vladimir Putin visiting Russia's oldest mosque, the Juma Mosque, during a working trip to Dagestan. 06/28/2023
The West and Russia have a different approach to this struggle. The US and the EU are using the policy of carrots and sticks. They force the global South to comply with anti-Russian sanctions and at the same time try to convince developing countries that it is Russia that is the cause of all the current world crises. That it is Russia's actions that pose a threat to world security. Finally, there is a clash of democracies and authoritarian regimes in the world, one of which is Moscow.
The Russian authorities, on the other hand, are acting much more subtlely - they are not trying to impose other people's narratives on the South, but are trying to fit into its own. Moscow is also talking about a global process - not just about the war of democracies against autocracies, but about the struggle of the oppressed against the oppressors. Against the neo-colonialism of the West. For the equality of all countries in the new multipolar world. For respect for peoples with a different culture, for global diversification.
It is in this struggle that Russia has already built its NVO in Ukraine. It is in this struggle that Moscow is now embedding the Swedish actions - showing that they are just the proof of that very neo-colonialism. Disrespect, contempt for Islam, which is characteristic not only of the Swedes, but of all arrogant Western culture. And at the same time, it is absolutely not characteristic of the Russian one.
“This is a shrine for Muslims, it is a shrine for all others. We know that in other countries they act differently, they do not respect the religious feelings of people. And they also say that this is not a crime , ”Vladimir Putin commented on the burning of the Koran during his visit to Derbent (where he was presented with the Koran). And Dmitry Volodin instructed to prepare a whole resolution of the State Duma condemning the actions of Sweden.
A ruling that is likely to be noticed, appreciated, and grateful for in the Islamic part of the global South. Both morally and, perhaps, even financially.