Thinking of war, facing the catastrophe: The Russian-Ukrainian War

Abstract

The essay seeks to complement Hans-Herbert Kögler’s article on the moral case for supporting Ukraine in its current defence against aggression from Putin’s Russia. To do so it tries to offer a more adequate account of what Kögler calls the politico-national and symbolic-ideological standing of Russia in this conflict. On the political side, the article points out the neoliberal, securitized and, in the final analysis, criminal character of Putin’s regime. Analysing the national aspect, it pictures Russian society as a morally corrupt, atomized and depoliticized one, which, at the same time, is a hostage of the terrorist regime. Finally, on the ideological aspect, it calls in question Kögler’s claim about the importance of Dugin’s Eurasian ideology, arguing for the impossibility to promote any essentialist ideology in the extremely atomized contemporary Russian society. The moral case for supporting Ukraine consists in defending Ukraine, Russia and, in final analysis, humanity from the morally corrupting and physically destroying influence of Putin’s terrorist regime.