Love Those Far Removed
Chechenya, Tolstoi and the World Community
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
In terms of method, cruelty, scope and intensity, the Russian Army’s operations against the Che-chen civilian population have exceeded what could be proved against Slobodan Milošević in Den Haag. Yet the international community is silent when it comes to this war – a war reminiscent of genocide. This will not astonish those versed in the enlightened thinking of cynical realpolitik. If people in a globalised world want to survive and stand by one another, they need a number of responsibilities. The most important of these is “love those far removed” (as opposed to “love thy neighbour”), which Nietzsche first proposed and Lev Tolstoi realised in Hadzhi Murat in the setting of Chechenya.
(Osteuropa 7/2006, pp. 3–16)