Ukraine, New “Thirty-Year War” and Waiting for the 21st Century

Istraživanje analizira ubrzanje povijesti kojem prisustvujemo u našem vremenu, a koje je bjelodano s izbijanjem rata u Ukrajini, bivajući u proteklim godinama vidljivo i u nizu drugih događaja i kriza, kakvi se u ovako značajnom intenzitetu i frekventnosti nisu događali još od vremena završetka Drugoga svjetskog rata. Razmatrajući rat u Ukrajini i krize koje su mu prethodile osporava se teza historičara Erica Hobsbawma da se »kratko« 20. stoljeće koje je trajalo od Prvoga svjetskog rata »kao doba ekstrema« završilo padom »komunizma« i Berlinskog zida, nakon čega smo ušli u 21. stoljeće. Nasuprot ovoj tezi, kao i nasuprot poznatoj tezi o »kraju povijesti«, rad iznosi tezu da »politički« još uvijek živimo u 20. stoljeću, s obzirom na to da u našem vremenu i dalje postoje napetosti među velikim silama slične onima koje su obilježile i 20. stoljeće i koje općenito obilježavaju moderni svijet od Westfalskog mira u 17. stoljeću naovamo. Ovu općenitu tezu rad obrazlaže promatrajući u najosnovnijim crtama dijalektiku moderne europske i svjetske povijesti i zaključujući da ne samo što »politički« još uvijek živimo u »dugom« 20. stoljeću već još uvijek živimo i u »najdužem« westfalskom klasičnom modernom vijeku koji neprekidno traje tri i pol stoljeća u uvijek istim dijalektičkim proturječjima svjetske politike. Naposljetku, rad razmatra i zada- ću filozofije u vremenu tzv. »ubrzanja povijesti« kakvo je naše te zaključuje kako je filozofija upravo u ovakvim vremenima, hoće li se potvrditi kao znanost, dužna ponuditi jednu svježu i kreativnu »filozofiju povijesti« koja bi objasnila tijek aktualnih međunarodnih događaja.The paper analyzes the acceleration of the history we are witnessing in our time, which is evident in a series of events and crises that mark the world we live in, especially after the start of the war in Ukraine, which have not occurred in such significant intensity and frequency since the end of the Second World War. Considering these events and crises, the paper discusses the thesis of a historian Eric Hobsbawm that the “short” 20th century that had lasted as “the age of extremes” since the First World War ended with the fall of “communism” and the Berlin Wall, after which we in fact entered the 21st century. Contrary to this thesis and to the well-known thesis on the “end of history”, our paper presents the view that we are still “politically” in the 20th century, because in our time there are similar tensions between the great powers that marked the 20th century and which in general mark the modern world since Westphalian peace in the 17th century. This general thesis is explained by the observation of the most basic lines of the dialectics of modern European and world history. The paper concludes that we are not only “politically” living in the “long” 20th century, but we are still “politically” living in the “longest” classical Westphalian age, which has been lasting for three and a half centuries in the same dialectical contradictions of world politics. Ultimately, the paper also discusses the task of philosophy in the times of the so-called “acceleration of history”, such as ours, and concludes that philosophy as a discipline in these times is obligated to offer, with theoretical creativity, a fresh philosophy of history, explaining in wider perspective a series of actual international occurrences