Below is a translation of Aleksandr Dugin’s latest piece which is a response to the recent Ukrainian counter-offensive in the Kharkiv Oblast.

The original text in Russian is available here:

IT BEGINS: THE MOST IMPORTANT ARTICLE BY ALEXANDER DUGIN

In the past few days, there have been significant changes in the balance of power in Ukraine. This needs to be considered in its entirety.

Kyiv’s counterattacks were generally a failure in the Kherson region, but, alas, successful in the Kharkiv region. It is the situation in the Kharkiv region and the forced retreat of the allied forces that is the turning point. If we now put aside the psychological effects and the natural worries of the patriots, it should be observed that in the entire length of the SMO we have come to the point of no return.

Everyone as one now recommends taking extraordinary measures to turn the tide, and some of these proposals are quite rational. We do not pretend to be original in any way, but we will only try to summarize the most fundamental points and recommendations and place them in the global geopolitical context.

World War III

We are on the verge of a third world war, which the West is obsessively pushing us towards. And this is no longer fear or expectation, this is a fact. Russia is at war with the collective West, with NATO and their allies (although, not with all – Turkey and Greece have their own position, and a number of European countries, primarily France and Italy, but not only, do not want to actively participate in the war with Russia). And yet the threat of a third world war is getting closer.

Whether it will come to the use of nuclear weapons is an open question. But the likelihood of a nuclear Armageddon is increasing every day. It is quite clear, and many American military leaders (like the recently ex-commander of the US Armed Forces in Europe, Ben Hodges) openly proclaim this, the West will no longer be satisfied even with our complete withdrawal from the territory of the former Ukraine, they will finish us off on our soil, insisting on “unconditional surrender “(Jens Stoltenberg), “de-imperialisation” (Ben Hodges), dismemberment of Russia.

In 1991, the West was satisfied with the collapse of the USSR and our ideological capitulation, primarily by the adoption of Western liberal ideology, political system, and economy under the leadership of Western curators. Today, for the West, the red line is the very existence of sovereign Russia – even within the borders of the Russian Federation.

The counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kharkiv region is a direct blow from the West against Russia. Everyone knows that this offensive was organised, prepared, and equipped by the military command of the United States and NATO and took place under their direct supervision. This is not only the use of NATO military equipment but also the direct participation of Western military space intelligence, mercenaries, and instructors. In the eyes of the West, this is the beginning of “our end.” Since we have slacked in the defense of the territories under our control in the Kharkiv region, we can be defeated further. This is not a small success of the Kyiv counter-offensive, this is the first tangible success of the Drang nach Osten of the NATO forces.

Of course, one can try to attribute this to temporary “technical difficulties” and postpone the essential analysis of the situation until later. But this will only delay the realization of a fait accompli, and, consequently, will only weaken and demoralize us ourselves.

Therefore, it is worth coldly admitting: the West has declared war on us and is already waging it. We didn’t choose this war, we didn’t want it. In 1941, we also did not want war with Nazi Germany and refused to believe in it until the very end. But in the current situation, when it is waged against us de facto, this is not of decisive importance. Now it is only important to win it, having defended the right of Russia to exist.

End of the SMO

The SMO as a limited operation to liberate Donbas and a number of territories of Novorossiya is completed. It gradually developed into a full-fledged war with the West, where, in fact, the terrorist Nazi Kyiv regime itself plays only a role of a tool. An attempt to besiege it and liberate a number of territories of Novorossiya controlled by the Ukrainian Nazis, while maintaining the existing geopolitical balance of forces in the world unchanged, failed as a technical operation, and to pretend that we are simply continuing the SMO further, somewhere on the periphery of public attention, is simply pointless.

Against our will, we are now at war, and this applies to every citizen of Russia: each of us is in the crosshairs of the enemy, a terrorist, a sniper, a sabotage group.

At the same time, the situation is such that, with all the desire, it is impossible to return everything to the initial conditions, before February 24, 2022. What happened is irreversible, and one should not even be afraid of any concessions or compromises on our part. The enemy will only accept our complete surrender, enslavement, dismemberment, and occupation. So we just don’t have a choice.

The end of the SMO means the need for deep transformations of the entire political and social system of modern Russia – the transfer of the country to a military footing, in politics, economics, culture, and the information sphere. The SMO could remain important, but not the only content of the Russian public life. The war with the West subjugates everything.

Ideological frontline

Russia found itself in a state of ideological war. The values ​​advocated by the globalist West: LGBT, the legalisation of perversions, drugs, the fusion of man and machine, total mixing during uncontrolled migration, and others, are inextricably linked with its military-political hegemony and unipolar system. Western liberalism and the global military-political and economic dominance of the US and NATO are one. To fight with the West and to accept (albeit partially) its values, in the name of which it is waging a war against us, a war of annihilation, is simply absurd.

Our own fully-fledged ideology would not just be “useful” to us today. If we don’t have it, we will lose. The West will continue to attack us from the outside, with the hands of armed and trained Ukrainian Nazis, and from within, with the hands of the fifth, still liberal column, skillfully corrupting the consciousness and corrupting the soul of the younger generation. Without our own ideology, which will clearly define who is a friend and who is an enemy, we will find ourselves in such a situation almost powerless.

The ideology should be immediately declared in general terms, and its essence should be the complete and direct rejection of the ideology of the West, globalism, and totalitarian liberalism, with all its instrumental subspecies – including neo-Nazism, racism, and extremism.

Mobilisation

Mobilisation is inevitable. War concerns absolutely everyone. However, mobilisation does not mean forced sending of conscripts to the front. This can be avoided, for example, through the formation of a full-fledged Volunteer Movement, with the necessary benefits and state support.

We should bet on veterans, on special support for the soldiers of Novorossiya. Russia has few of them, but there are supporters abroad. We must not hesitate to form anti-Nazi anti-globalist international brigades from honest people from the countries of East and West.

But the main thing is that Russians should not be underestimated. We are a hero people. At a great price, but we won over a great enemy more than once or twice in our glorious history. We will win this time too, but only if the war against the West becomes a people’s war. It is people’s wars that we win, wars in which a nation-giant is awakening.

Mobilisation involves a complete change in information policy. Peacetime norms (in fact, blind copying of Western entertainment programs and strategies that only corrupt society) must be abolished. Television and the media in general should become patriotic tools for wartime mobilisation. All concerts are for the frontline, the very being in the rears is also for the frontline. This is already gradually beginning, but so far it affects only a tiny part of the channels. And it should be everywhere.

Culture, information, education, enlightenment, politics, the social sphere – everything must work unanimously for the war, that is, for the Victory.

Economy

Any sovereign state can issue as much national currency as it needs. If it is truly sovereign. A war with the West makes it meaningless to continue economic games according to its rules. The wartime economy cannot but be sovereign. To win, you should spend as much money as you need. It is only necessary to ensure that emissions are concentrated in a special circuit designed for strategic purposes. Corruption in such circumstances should be equated with a war crime.

War and comfort are incompatible things. The comfort as a goal, as a life guide, should be abandoned. Only peoples who are ready for hardships are able to win real fully-fledged wars.

In such situations, a new layer of economists always appears, whose goal is to save the state. This is of primary importance. Dogmas, schools, methods, and approaches are secondary.

You can call such an economy a mobilisation economy, or you can simply call it a military one.

Our allies

Allies play a vital role in any war. Today, Russia does not have many of them, but they do exist. First of all, we are talking about those countries that reject the unipolar liberal Western order. That is, the supporters of multipolarity, such as China, Iran, North Korea, Serbia, Syria, Central African Republic, Mali, and also, to a certain extent, India, Turkey, a number of Islamic, African and Latin American countries (primarily Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela).

In working with them, it is necessary to mobilise all available resources, not only professional but also people’s diplomacy. And for this, again, an ideology is needed. We must convince the allies that we have decided to break with globalism and Western hegemony irreversibly and are ready to go all the way in building a multipolar world. Here we must be consistent and resolute. The time for halftones and compromises is over. The war of the West against Russia is dividing humanity into different sides of the barricades.

Spiritual Factor

The central moment of the world confrontation that has begun is the spiritual, religious aspect. Russia found itself in a state of war with a God-fighting anti-religious civilization that overthrows the very foundations of spiritual and moral values: God, the Church, family, sex, human. With all the differences between Orthodoxy, traditional Islam, Judaism, Hinduism or Buddhism, all religions and cultures built on them recognise divine truth, the high spiritual and moral dignity of a person, honor traditions and institutions: the state, family, community. The modern West has abolished all this, replacing it with virtual reality, extreme individualism, the destruction of sex, universal surveillance, a totalitarian “cancel culture”, and a post-truth society.

Open Satanism and outright racism flourish in Ukraine, and the West only supports this.

We are dealing with what the Orthodox elders call “the civilization of the Antichrist.” Therefore, the role of Russia is to unite believers of different faiths in this decisive battle.

You should not wait until the ultimate enemy destroys your house, kills your husband, son or daughter … At some point it will be too late. God forbid we live to such a moment.

The offensive of the enemy in the Kharkiv region is exactly that, that very thing. The beginning of a fully-fledged war of the West against us.

The West is demonstrating its intention to start a war of annihilation against us – a third world war. We must gather all our deepest national potential to repel this attack. By all means: with thoughts, military power, economy, culture, art, internal mobilisation of all state structures and each of us.