List of high-quality authors
Executive Summary:
In an interview with American host Carlson, Putin spent most of his time talking about Russia's vast territory in history and looking for a justification for its aggression against Ukraine. Putin's theory of historical territory is illogical and incompatible with modern international politics, drawing criticism from the crowd. Before Mongolia, he choked with a few maps. "Since ancient times" should not be a reason to launch a war of aggression, but a peaceful settlement is the norm of modern international politics.
1. In an interview with American host Carlson, Putin spent most of his time talking about Russia's vast territory in history and looking for a basis for its aggression against Ukraine.
On February 7, American news anchor Tucker Carlson, as the first Western host and journalist after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war, interviewed Russia's ** Putin.
And this is exactly the opportunity that Putin craves to directly instill in Westerners that there is a justification for his aggression against Ukraine. The difference is that the reason for Putin's invasion of Ukraine explained to Carlson has been changed from the threat to Russia's security due to NATO's eastward expansion and the threat posed to Russia by Ukrainian Nazism around February 24, 2022, to "to recover Russia's historical territory".
As soon as Putin met Carlson, he asked Carlson to listen to him talk about the history of Russia. Putin said
The beginning of the formation of a centralized state in Russia was in 862, which is considered the year of the founding of Russia. At that time, the Novgorodians – there was a city called Novgorod in northwestern Russia – invited Rurik, a Varangian from Scandinavia, to rule the principality.
In 882, Rurik's successor, Grand Duke Oleg, came to Kiev and drove out the two brothers, who had been Rurik's retinue. Oleg was in fact regent for Rurik's youngest son, who had already died. In this way, Russia began to develop, forming two centers: Kiev and Novgorod.
The next important year in Russian history was the year 988, known as the "Baptism of Rus", when Rurik's great-grandson, Grand Duke Vladimir, baptized Russia into Orthodox Christianity. Since then, the centralized Russian state has begun to consolidate and strengthen. Why? Unified territory, unified economic exchanges, unified language, and unity of faith and princely regime after the baptism of Rus'. ** A centralized Russian state began to take shape.
However, for various reasons, Russia, which began to move towards unification, fell apart and easily fell prey to the empire of Genghis Khan. To the south, where Kyiv is located, there are other cities that have lost their autonomy, while northern cities have retained some sovereignty. They paid tribute to the Genghis Khanate, but part of their sovereignty was retained. Then, with Moscow as the center, a united Russian state began to take shape.
During the time of Catherine II, Russia regained all historical lost territories, including the south and west.
Back in the XIX century, theorists of Ukrainian independence appeared, saying that it was necessary for Ukraine to be independent. Before the First World War, the Austrian General Staff began to actively promote the idea of Ukraine and Ukrainization. However, all these stalwarts who advocate the independence of Ukraine say that Ukraine should maintain very good relations with Russia.
In short, Putin read the history of Russia and Ukraine over the millennia with Carlson like a running account, and then said that parts of Ukraine have actually been Russian territory for hundreds of years. The special military operation against Ukraine was launched on February 24, 2022, in order to recover that part of the territory that historically belonged to Russia.
Second, Putin wants to restore the territory of Imperial Russia, and Mongolia choked him with a map.
After the interview with Putin was uploaded, Carlson himself had to publicly admit that Putin "did not elaborate very coherently on the reasons for his invasion of Ukraine" in the interview. Carlson said Putin portrayed the Ukrainian people as a non-existent entity that "never coalesced into a single state" before the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was formed in the early 20th century. Putin contrasted this with the roots of Russian civilization more than a thousand years ago.
After watching Carlson's interview with Putin, Lebegdorj, a former Mongolian state that is inextricably linked to Russia, felt that Putin's theory of historical territory was illogical and incompatible with modern international politics, so he could not sit still.
On February 12, Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj responded to Russia's Putin interview with Tucker Carlson, a former current affairs commentator on the American Fox News Channel, through the social media platform X, especially the unique historical narrative expressed by Putin in this 2-hour interview.
In a post on platform X, Elbegdorj said: "After Putin's conversation, I found a map of the history of Mongolia. Don't worry. We are a peaceful and free country".
As the most extensive country in history, he can see in the four maps he uploaded that most of the territory of modern Russia was part of the Mongol Empire for centuries.
Elbegdorji's post is accompanied by a map of the Mongol Empire in the 13th and 14th centuries. One shows the vastness of this vast and short-lived empire, with the Mongol imperial system once covering about 24 million square kilometers at its maximum. Another map superimposes the outline of the empire on present-day territory, including most of China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, many Central Asian and Middle Eastern states, parts of Europe, and large swaths of Russia.
Indeed, when we were in high school history class, it was said that Genghis Khan, led the Mongol cavalry, began a long war of conquest in northern China, where he succeeded in conquering the Jin, Western Xia, and Southern Song dynasties, and capturing the vast territory of northern China.
Genghis Khan's army then advanced westward and conquered many countries in Central Asia, including Khorezm, Western Liao, and Khamri.
Later, Genghis Khan's grandson, Batu, led the Mongol army into Europe, conquering regions such as Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, and later conquering countries such as Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia.
Later, Genghis Khan's sons Hulegu and Timur conquered Iran and the Indus Valley, respectively.
In its heyday, Mongolia conquered more than 40 countries and more than 700 ethnic groups and established the Great Mongol Empire. At that time, most of China, Central Asia, the Middle East, and half of Europe and Russia were part of Mongolia's territory.
According to Putin's territorial logic, only Mongolia is qualified to say that those Eurasian countries have been the inalienable territory of Mongolia since ancient times.
Using a map gave Russia** Putin a more advanced history lesson. Elbegdorj also teased Putin at the end of the post, saying that "Mongolia loves peace, Russia should not be afraid".
Third, "since ancient times" should not be a reason to launch a war of aggression, but a peaceful settlement is the norm of modern international politics.
I hate the phrase "since ancient times" the most, because if the logic of historical territory is used as a pretext for waging wars against other countries, the world will never be at peace.
There is a saying in China that it is called 30 years in Hedong and 40 years in Hexi. Historically, when a country was strong, its territory was large, and when it was in decline, its territory was small, and the territory of different historical periods was amorphous. If the theory of historical territoriality "since ancient times" is allowed to legitimately exist, the world will always be at war and at peace.
To paraphrase Putin's theory of historical territory, from the perspective of historical facts, the Grand Duchy of Kiev was founded much earlier than the Grand Duchy of Moscow, and when Kiev was already a prosperous scene, Moscow was still a wasteland at that time! Wouldn't that prove that Ukraine can legitimately retake Moscow as its own inherent territory?!
In feudal society and before, the commoners of a country did not have the right to independence, and all people and land belonged to the imperial power. At that time, the territorial conquest was fought for the scope of the imperial family's rule and wealth, which was the reason for them to start wars. In modern society, the power of a country is elected by the vote of the common people, and the size of the country and the number of people do not necessarily constitute the strength or weakness of the country.
Singapore, a land of millions of people, has a stronger international influence than hundreds of millions of Nigerians; Puerto Rico, a South American country, voted to join the United States, but the United States refused to accept it; Northern Ireland leader Michelle O'Neill said in an interview broadcast on February 4, 2024, that Northern Ireland would hold a vote on secession from the United Kingdom and reunification with Ireland. Britain has also refrained from using force against Northern Ireland as a result. This is the operating norm of modern international politics.
Author: Xu Sanlang].