Weimar 2013?

Weimar Russia Revisited

The phrase Weimar Russia first appeared about 13 years ago, at the height of the confrontation between then President Boris Yeltsin and the Supreme Soviet that ended when Yeltsin s tanks shelled the parliament. The meaning was clear to all Weimar Russia, like Weimar Germany, signified a weak republic attacked from within by nationalists yearning to restore authoritarian ways.

And of course the big mystery is Germany itself, seemingly lifted from history by its own economic buoyancy. Can German politicians abandon Weimar style economics before they are hit by Weimar style political disintegration?

In the last years of the increasingly unstable Weimar Republic, as democracy was fraying, German governments started to use their opponents radicalism in an effort to extract security concessions from the Western powers. Domestic political pressure became a source of heightened international tension.

In the 1920 s and 1930 s, Germany s traditional Christian values and culture had collapsed under the attack of two atheist ideologies communism and Nazism. Both destroyed the Weimar Republic, acting as a kind of evil twins who hated each other, yet shared a common hatred of Christianity and democracy.

That scheme is both absurd and dangerous. After all, the word Weimar draws its infamy from the pact with the devil that German conservatives and royalists made by backing Hitler.

In retrospect, it appears obvious that the Weimar Republic might have been saved had the Nazi Party been banned in time. Joseph Goebbels, Hitler s propaganda minister, famously gloated after the Nazis legal Machtergreifung (seizure of power) It will always remain one of the best jokes of democracy that it provided its mortal enemies with the means through which it was annihilated.

In the late 1990 s and the early years of this decade, the problems that incited fears of a dysfunctional state seemed to fade. But over the past 18 months, the specter of Weimar has once again begun to haunt Russia.

(Republic of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and Republic of Uzbekistan)

The problem is that everyone writes history in their own manner, and that there are no scales that can fix the precise point at which the remedy of unifying patriotism turns into the lethal poison of rabid nationalism. Weimar Germany blindly poisoned itself.

The Latin American Integration Association was established by the Treaty of Montevideo in 1980 and is made up of twelve member countries the United Mexican States, the Argentine Republic, the Republic of Bolivia, the Federative Republic of Brazil, the Republic of Chile, the Republic of Colombia, the Republic of Cuba, the Republic of Ecuador, the Republic of Paraguay, the Republic of Peru, the Eastern Republic of Uruguay and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

Working paper submitted by the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan

The five Central Asian States, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan

by the heads of State of the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation

For the Republic of Armenia For the Kyrgyz Republic R. Kocharian K. Bakiev President of the Republic of Armenia Acting President of the Kyrgyz Republic

For the Republic of Kazakhstan For the Republic of Tajikistan N. Nazarbayev E. Rahmonov President of the Republic of Kazakhstan President of the Republic of Tajikistan

of the Republic of Armenia of the Kyrgyz Republic

Against Algeria, Belarus, China, Congo, Cuba, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Guinea, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Lao People's Democratic Republic, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Pakistan, Russian Federation, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Uzbekistan, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), Viet Nam, Zimbabwe

Statement by the Heads of State of the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and the Republic of Uzbekistan on the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of the United Nations

of the Republic of Kazakhstan of the Republic of Tajikistan

Republic of Latvia and the Republic of Lithuania, 11 April 1996.

Lao People's Democratic Republic, Namibia, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) and Zimbabwe

Belarus, China, Cuba, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Egypt, Gambia, Guinea, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Lao People's Democratic Republic, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Malaysia, Russian Federation, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), Viet Nam, Zimbabwe.

Against Belarus, China, Cuba, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Egypt, Gambia, Guinea, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Lao People's Democratic Republic, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Malaysia, Russian Federation, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), Viet Nam, Zimbabwe

In Europe, where national economic failure once led to the collapse of democracy itself, people are now asking if it could happen again. Some see another Weimar moment, reminiscent of the belt tightening and surging unemployment that characterized Heinrich Brüning s Germany and helped to bring the Nazis to power.

Asia and the Pacific region the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Islamic Republic of Iran, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea

Against Algeria, Belarus, China, Cuba, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Egypt, Guinea, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Lao People's Democratic Republic, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Malaysia, Myanmar, Oman, Russian Federation, Somalia, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Uzbekistan, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), Viet Nam, Zimbabwe

Against Algeria, Bangladesh, Belarus, China, Cuba, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Egypt, India, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Lao People's Democratic Republic, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Malaysia, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Russian Federation, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Uzbekistan, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), Viet Nam, Zimbabwe

Slovak Republic

Czech Republic

Slovak Republic

Czech Republic

Czech Republic

Czech Republic

Algeria, Angola, Belarus, Botswana, Burundi, China, Congo, Cuba, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Lao People's Democratic Republic, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sudan, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), Viet Nam and Zimbabwe draft resolution

At the same time, there was a surge in demand for gold jewelry. The search for non financial assets looks like characteristic behavior in any financial crisis what was known during the great drama of hyperinflation in Weimar Germany as die Flucht in die Sachwerte, the flight to material assets.

Abstaining Belarus, Bhutan, China, Cuba, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Myanmar, Saudi Arabia, Syrian Arab Republic, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), Viet Nam, Zimbabwe

(b) Signatories Austria, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Finland, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Republic of Moldova, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United Republic of Tanzania and United States of America

China (2008), Iran (Islamic Republic of) (2007), Japan (2008), Republic of Korea (2007)

Algeria, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Cuba, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Egypt, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Jamaica, Malawi, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Pakistan, Qatar, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), Viet Nam

Algeria, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Cuba, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Egypt, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Jamaica, Malawi, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Pakistan, Qatar, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), Viet Nam.

Abstentions Bhutan, India, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Mauritius, Syrian Arab Republic, United Republic of Tanzania

The Republic of Azerbaijan, Georgia and the Republic of Turkey, further referred as States ,

Czech Republic (2009), Republic of Moldova (2008), Romania (2007), Russian Federation (2008), Ukraine (2009)