Выступление Орлова

Dr. Vladimir Orlov’s Introductory Comments at the Seminar Hawaii: Lessons of History: Russian Flag, and American Annexation

Sometimes seminars are shaped by the topic, and not very often are seminars shaped by geography.

This seminar is definitely shaped more by geography than by the topic, and this geography brings us to Aloha culture, to Hawaiian shirts, to beautiful places in the Pacific Ocean.

It is a little bit egotistic for a professor to steer the seminar towards his own study, but I really wanted to use this occasion and this long afternoon here in Moscow – and early morning in Honolulu – to look at a few dimensions and, more importantly, to listen than to talk myself today.

Although some may be surprised that if you look at Hawaii, one of the remotest archipelagos in the world, its extreme western parts are closer to Russia than to the United States. I was lucky to visit the state of Hawaii and almost all major Hawaiian Islands on numerous occasions. It was already more than 10 years ago when I introduced my own study and my own small project on the Russian legacy in Hawaii, and more specifically, in my view, on the most beautiful island of the Hawaiian archipelago, the island of Kauai.

First of all, we will discuss the exotic/historic topic – the history of the Russian flag in Hawaii. And you may see here – at least those who are in the audience, I'm not sure how it will work with the camera, but I am sure there are so many volunteers here who will be able to help with that – this document from the archive of the Russian Foreign Ministry. You can also find them on the Russian Foreign Ministry website. Assigned by the Hawaiian King Kamehameha some time ago in the early 19th century, it provides the Russian Emperor Alexander the First as the owner of the island of Kauai forever, for eternal times.

Whether it was just an adventurist thing, a temporary historic episode, or a missed opportunity, I am sure we will hear more today. The second element of our discussion is what I would call tragic/historic, and this is the issue of the annexation of Hawaii by the United States later in the 19th century. I am really pleased that we see here Professor Niklaus Schweizer, who is a remarkable personality himself. Today we will look at Professor Schweizer’s book, which is called His Hawaiian Excellency. The Overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy and the Annexation of Hawai, and of course, the book has been translated into Russian and is present here.

So, the historic Russian part borders very clearly the current developments, and I know some of the participants will share their observations here. Last, but not least, we will build a bridge from history to today and maybe even into tomorrow or the future.

Those who prepared their remarks and comments have already got the book. This is a seminar, but also a book launch, and I am glad we are doing it. But it is not only exotic/historic or tragic/historic; the third element of today's discussion is current affairs/security: Hawaii as a US Pacific Ocean fortress, missile tests ground, antisubmarine activities which are executed from there against China and partly against my country. And of course, what Trump has called "super-duper missiles" have been tested on the same Kauai Pacific missile range, which borders the Russian Fort Elizabeth. So, the historic Russian part borders very clearly the current developments, and I know some of the participants will share their observations here. Last, but not least, we will build a bridge from history to today and maybe even into tomorrow or the future.

It is true that we need to resume bilateral scientific and cultural contacts between the United States and Russia, and we, of course, expect steps from the United States side. But it is also true that here at MGIMO University, many students are interested in US foreign policy more broadly and view with much interest the expansionism of the United States – whether only American declarations, or maybe some real preparations, whether it's the Panama Canal, Greenland, or Canada.

Dr. Vladimir Orlov’s Theses at the Seminar Hawaii: Lessons of History: Russian Flag,

and American Annexation

I was surprised when I was travelling across Hawaiian Islands.

Here you can find some beauty of this islands, and came to the Westmost island on the major Hawaiian Islands which is called Kauai. In fact, you may not be necessarily familiar with this geography. This is an old map. This is the island of Hawaii or everybody calls it a "big island". There are volcanoes and beautiful views: I remember when I had a flight there with my friend and colleague from MGIMO University, Professor Alexander Nikitin, in a small airplane overviewing the lava flowing from there. It is also true that you can do the downhill skiing in the island of Hawaii because there is a lot of snow up in the mountains. So very unusual big island, as it is called.

These are some parts of history and it was actually very correct to say that it was not that long history: Americans pushed the Russians out of Kauai.

The [Russian geopolitical] idea was to turn North Pacific into the Russian inner lake. It was not the naive or purely adventurous idea as it may sound today. How you could do it? Of course, Russians already developed Kamchatka, then it was Russian Alaska, then there was Fort Ross in Russian California and you need to lock that part, and the only way to lock it was through Hawaii or – at least, one of the islands. This is how Alexander the First could ahead for Russia the whole North Pacific as the Russian lake.

Generally, Saint Petersburg authorities were interested in that to a certain extent. The Russian traders were very interested in having that lake for clear purposes and push Americans out of that as well as the British – it was a fight in a certain way. Additionally, Governor Baranov of the Russian America sent his son together with Sheffer probably to explore the place for a nice tropical retirement for him.

The Fort Elizabeth which is still an American landmark and national park, I hope it still here, although there were attempts to question that status. On the northern tip, there was the Fort Alexander which where is now Sheraton Hotel, but there is a plate commemorating the existence, and there was the Barclay de Tolly Fortress.

Alexander the First did not believe that Russia would be able to hold Hawaii. Whether he was wrong or right is another question. He was probably right because Russia could not potentially project its power all the way to the North Pacific. So, the question is: if Russia had retained Hawaii, would that have changed the picture and it would have been easier to hold and control both Alaska and Russian California. Now it is interesting to speculate whether Alexander the First was right or wrong, but his decision was very clear.

There are a lot of common things in history between Russia and Hawaii, but in recent

years American authorities became to be a little bit nervous about why Russia starts to look into

its history even suggesting that Fort Elizabeth name, which is official American landmark,

should be renamed. I hope that the new turn of Russian-American relations would allow us to

enjoy culturally our history and our heritage here

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