Ukraine is witness to an unusual kind of war, a Vernichtungskrieg, a war of wanton destruction. In the modern age there are few wars of this type, the most infamous being the aggression of Nazi Germany. The scale of destruction is now very different from then, but I ask whether we can nevertheless learn about the forces driving these two events by looking at one similarity: a deep historical tradition in both places that aims to create empire as well as nation state in the same space, that is the effort to build a nation state within the frame of an empire. This combination seems to produce the worst of both worlds: the intolerance and desire of homogeneity of the nation state, but also the wide geographic dispersion and great power ambitions of the empire.

The article sets current colonial war narratives in historical perspective. It argues that one should understand Russia’s insistence on cultural unity with Ukrainians through the lens of settler colonialism. In contrast to overseas extractive colonial regimes, which based their rule on highlighting difference with the colonized, settler colonialism works through politics of assimilation and elimination of cultural difference. Settler colonial regimes work through denial of its coloniality, which in Russian case developed into societal and official identity of “imperial innocence” and victimhood.

The article argues that Russia’s regime changed considerably under the rule of Vladimir Putin. It evolved from authoritarian and autocratic to a personal dictatorship with totalitarian elements. While Putin and his entourage initially tried to build an authoritarian system that relied more on mass-media than on violence they changed course after the crisis of 2011 and increasingly relied on repression and outright violence. The possibility of returning to a dictatorial rule may also be explained by pointing to pillars of the Soviet system that survived the collapse of communism unreformed, i.e. the secret police and the armed forces. The return of both Russia and China to personal dictatorships constitutes a challenge to the liberal order of 1989.

Die von der russischen Führung scheinheilig als „spezielle Militäroperation“ zum Schutz der russischsprachigen Bevölkerung bezeichnete Militärinvasion in der Ukraine ab dem 24.2.2022 stützt sich auf den massiven Einsatz russischer Propaganda, das Verschweigen oder Verdrehen von Tatsachen, das Begehen von Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit und Kriegsverbrechen durch die Soldaten der Russländischen Föderation (RF). Die Kombination aus Hass, Grausamkeit und Gewalt gegen das ukrainische Volk, die es seit dem Zweiten Weltkrieg nicht mehr gab, hat Wissenschaftler und Politiker veranlasst, den Russismus als eine neue Richtung der faschistischen Ideologie unter der Führung Putins zu diskutieren. Da die ukrainische Nation seit langem die „volle Existenz“ des russischen Staates behindert, hat die Aggression gegen die Ukraine den Russismus in ein Mantra dieses verbrecherischen Krieges verwandelt, das propagiert wird, um den Status der RF als Supermacht zu erneuern und in Zukunft alle ihre „ursprünglichen Territorien“ zu erobern.

Due to its special status and peaceful occupation policy, Denmark was long regarded as a “model protectorate” of the Nazi regime during World War II. This did not change until the end of 1943, when a wave of sabotage and strikes led to the resignation of the Danish government and the German occupying power responded to the ongoing attacks by the Danish resistance with a new security policy. Assassinations and acts of sabotage were now retaliated against in the same way. Given this context, the article examines the background and the establishment of the so-called „counter-terrorism“. At the same time, the article discusses the central consequences of this special policy of retaliation and examines the political consequences associated with the dynamics of security and insecurity.