Taiwan, Kosovo and Ukraine

 The following should not be read as a support for any country or power!

 

Taiwan, Kosovo and Ukraine are three prominent examples of countries loosing provinces regarded as of crucial importance. Now, there is no law stating that such areas will or should be regained. Also the theory of the parallel but time-displaced  development of different civilizations does not predict this. But there is sufficient concrete precedence to predict that the loss of provinces having strong emotional importance often lead to strong bitterness and resurgent conflicts and wars. Just look at Alsace-Lorraine between Germany and France.

 

As described in earlier posts the Western civilization is in most of its lifetime strongly historically minded just like the Chinese civilizations and Old Egypt. But in the course of our present modernity we loose this sense more and more. This means that political leaders don’t learn from the past, and it means that they tend to underestimate the importance of history for other countries. The importance of Taiwan, Kosovo and Ukraine are examples of this. For the Chinese leadership Taiwan still symbolizes the century of humiliation by imperialist powers occupying and dominating territories. The emotional importance of this should not be overlooked. In long term Chinese history division has always been lamented. Even if division lasted centuries, it was always overcome inn the end. Even though much has changed with the westernization of the country, the reunification wishes remain a fact.

 

Kosovo and Ukraine are different cases. Both can be seen as the birth place of the mother countries, even though these, Serbia and Russia have since moved there centers. Their status as origins in itself gives the lost territories an enormous significance. Again, I must reiterate that this under no circumstances is meant as a defense of the ethnic cleansing by the Serbians in Kosovo.

 

What further aggravates the feelings in Serbia and Russia is that the primordial provinces Kosovo and Ukraine are seen as stolen by an alien civilization. Both Serbia and Russia are parts of what increasingly looks like an emerging East European civilization. Of course a membership of Ukraine in NATO or a direct military aid to Kiev would be an absurd provocation under such circumstances.

 

It is interesting to follow how on the level of foreign  politics and militarily the western powers (which in this case also mean the western civilization) seemingly unaware of what they are doing are moving eastwards into the areas of the East European civilization.

 

At the same time culturally and on the level of internal politics the East European civilization is moving westwards into areas hitherto firmly attached to western ideals. Poland and Hungary are only the most prominent examples of this. Ukraine is even more East European. Obviously a cultural embedding in the same civilization does not mean warm political relations  between countries in East Europe and Russia. As Said earlier the new civilization can even strengthen anti-Russian feelings despite increasing cultural and even political similarity.