The Anti-Manichaeist

Levko at Foreign Notes translates into English some of a letter written in Ukraine by a friend of Alexander Livinenko, the murdered ex-KGB spy. 

“All of the might of the KGB, and now the FSB, is held together by total fear - of control, of the system. So throughout the whole period of existence of the Soviet authorities only one thing was said about the KGB: “They know [what’s happening] everywhere - [they’ll get you] from under the ground, if this becomes necessary.”

And in order for those who sit in the building in Lyubyanka to hold people in a state of terror it is necessary to confirm everyday the certainty of the irreversibility of punishment for deviation, and for overcoming fear of the system.

A person such as Alexander Litvinenko, who knew the system from the inside and who did not stop fighting it for a minute, could not be an exception for them. For the Kremlin it wasn’t Litvinenko that was dangerous. The danger was the precedent of his impunity.

It was necessary to destroy him as a lesson and a warning for those who may try some contortions [’tricks’] before the next presidential elections.”

This is the sort of tyranny that only the politics of Jesus, where the power of death is seen as broken, can overcome.  The technology of killing people can always “progress”, it is only when we have a critical mass that are willing to lay down their lives on behalf of their neighbors that the state can function effectively in its mandate of the use of evil means to restrain human evilness. 

Fortunately, the Ukrainian people are learning more about their nation’s tragic history under Communism and turning away from the acceptance of tyranny as a legit means of staying in power. 

dlw