I support Ukraine and think the Russian invasion is evil. But I don't think Putin is being a wordcel caught up in the past. This is a war for natural and mostly human resources. The objective is turning Ukranians into Russians. It is a very comparable affair to the wars after 1640 of Spain trying to reconquer Portugal.
Putin knows from history that national identity and religion are a very malleable thing. The English went from Catholic to Protestant through top down pressure of the government on the population (and the process would have been aborted if Bloody Mary had lived a longer life), something similar happened in the same time frame in Iran, with the government forcing people to switch from Sunni Islam to Shia Islam. The process is over when the last generation that knows how things used to be dies, and all that is left is people that only know the new reality.
Putin knows that Ukranians don't want to be Russian, but he also knows that if he conquers Ukraine, in 3 generations all Ukranians that knew an independent Ukraine will be dead, and all that will be left is people who grew up being indoctrinated in Russian controlled public schools about how the Ukranian nation was never real, how it was a creation of the west to weaken and diminish Russia, how Kiev is the birthplace of the Russian nation, etc.
Annexing Ukraine would be a gigantic boon for Russia, it would make them a country of more than 150 million people, it would help make sure Russia keeps it's Slavic Christian European identity, instead of becoming more of an Eurasian significantly Islamic State, and it would give Russia very valuable natural resources, including some of the best farmland in the world.
Even though the realist explanation of Mearshamer about NATO is completely bullshit, the actions of Putin are still completely rational, though immoral, like an American annexation of Canada.
There is no ideology in Russia, only irritable mental gestures of our leaders, and Dugin never really had any major influence on the Kremlin, especially now. I understand that if you have no way of knowing the inner workings of the Russian regime it’s very enticing to say “this or that is the main ideology so let’s just open a book and infer things from there” but this will obfuscate more than elucidate.
Well, Marxism was exactly as non constructive as Eurasianism. We have not Marxist text about how to make socialism work. Marxist is an interesting a critical theory of capitalism, but its replacement is not discussed.
I support Ukraine and think the Russian invasion is evil. But I don't think Putin is being a wordcel caught up in the past. This is a war for natural and mostly human resources. The objective is turning Ukranians into Russians. It is a very comparable affair to the wars after 1640 of Spain trying to reconquer Portugal.
Putin knows from history that national identity and religion are a very malleable thing. The English went from Catholic to Protestant through top down pressure of the government on the population (and the process would have been aborted if Bloody Mary had lived a longer life), something similar happened in the same time frame in Iran, with the government forcing people to switch from Sunni Islam to Shia Islam. The process is over when the last generation that knows how things used to be dies, and all that is left is people that only know the new reality.
Putin knows that Ukranians don't want to be Russian, but he also knows that if he conquers Ukraine, in 3 generations all Ukranians that knew an independent Ukraine will be dead, and all that will be left is people who grew up being indoctrinated in Russian controlled public schools about how the Ukranian nation was never real, how it was a creation of the west to weaken and diminish Russia, how Kiev is the birthplace of the Russian nation, etc.
Annexing Ukraine would be a gigantic boon for Russia, it would make them a country of more than 150 million people, it would help make sure Russia keeps it's Slavic Christian European identity, instead of becoming more of an Eurasian significantly Islamic State, and it would give Russia very valuable natural resources, including some of the best farmland in the world.
Even though the realist explanation of Mearshamer about NATO is completely bullshit, the actions of Putin are still completely rational, though immoral, like an American annexation of Canada.
There is no ideology in Russia, only irritable mental gestures of our leaders, and Dugin never really had any major influence on the Kremlin, especially now. I understand that if you have no way of knowing the inner workings of the Russian regime it’s very enticing to say “this or that is the main ideology so let’s just open a book and infer things from there” but this will obfuscate more than elucidate.
russia should embrace mladorossi thought
I would not take the maskirovka political performance of the world’s most successful intelligence officer as evidence of anything.
Well, Marxism was exactly as non constructive as Eurasianism. We have not Marxist text about how to make socialism work. Marxist is an interesting a critical theory of capitalism, but its replacement is not discussed.