Russian political psyche: history and modernity

[mirhond]

disclaimer #1. any links and sources which is going to be posted here are quite possibly biased
disclaimer #2. Unsupported claims and irrelevant ravings will be ignored.

Ok, lets get started.
Before posting anything here, you, Westerners must remember that we, Russians, lived for three generations under stern but (mostly) just supervision of omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent state. If you think it explains everything - you are probably far from truth.
How the whole system has been set up - that is a huge historical question, still unanswered, how it works today, after a dissolution of Soviet state - I'll try to explain.

Now we have a mostly free market economy, paternalistic politics, consumerism ethics and apathetic population.
I won't tell about structure of the economy, it's well known, but I'll tell what people think about it: free market is unjust, capitalism is unhuman, so any ideology which denies it as an economic basis would have public approval.

Most important tool of the paternalistic policy is the controlled media, full of dumb entertainment and, quite recently, spiritual guidance from the Orthodox chirch, pseudo-patriotic sentiments and sheer propaganda Dr Goebbels would be proud of.
Why it works? I think of the part of the answer is simple: people are stupid, so they are unable to tell the truth from the lie, they are politically powerless, because they are trained to be divided, they are in general want to be left alone, but won't mind to listen about great achievements, kicking some asses, stupid Americans who can't find Ukrain on the map or spoiled and souless Europeans - the majority of the Russians exposed to the media are prone to any lies which brings a little bit of comfort.

End of part one. Part two on the way (may be)

[kaur]

May 16, 2014

Window on Eurasia: Infantilism on the Rise among Russians, ‘Nezavisimaya Gazeta’ Says

In a lead article today entitled “On the Growth of Social-Political Infantilism in Russia,” the editors of the Moscow paper review recent poll results which show among other things a decrease in support for democracy, human rights and markets and a rise in the share of those who are indifferent as to what kind of state they live in as long as they and their families are well off (ng.ru/editorial/2014-05-16/2_red.html).

That there should be a decline in support for Western models of state and society is no surprise, the editors say. It reflects the Ukrainian events or “more precisely their treatment in the government and pro-regime mass media” and the tendency of Russians to evaluate other countries primarily on the basis of their policies toward Moscow rather than anything else.

This “lack of understanding of the role of procedures” has had the effect of opening the way for the acceptance among Russians of “declarations of ‘a special path’” for Russia without a clear understanding of what that might mean. Unless such things are specified, they add, coming up with and imposing an “alternative” model to the West will be “extremely difficult.”

http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.be/...m-on-rise.html

Mirhond, hope to read your answers

Mirhond: "golden age lost due to the sins of fathers"

What was the period of that age?

Who were those fathers?

What sins they did?

To whom they lost it?

[JMA]

When the a Soviet Union collapsed the greatest mistake made by the US (and their western allies) was not to dismantle the Russian Empire to a status where there would no threat to neighboring minor nations of non Russians ever again. We are seeing the results of one of histories great strategic mistakes as Russia once again develops expansionist dreams and converts them into reality paid for by an oil industry that never should have been allowed to be developed.

Russia will probably get away with it because of the US fear of nuclear weapons (as was the real reason for the soft settlement at the collapse of the Soviet Union). So keep testing rockets and issuing threats about using weapons and the US will stay out of it.

The reason for this fear of Russian nuclear weapons is that it is generally believed that the Russians are actually stupid enough to use nuclear weapons despite the assurance of the complete destruction of Russia if they ever do. So don't do anything to lead the US to start to think Russians are really capable of intelligent and logical thought.

[mirhond]

May 16, 2014

Window on Eurasia: Infantilism on the Rise among Russians, ‘Nezavisimaya Gazeta’ Says
http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.be/...m-on-rise.html

I fail to see why it's called "infantilism", not just "indifference" or "apathy", but everything else in this article is true.

Mirhond, hope to read your answers

OK, lo and behold:

1. it were several last decades of Soviet epoch
2. anyone who is now at his 50-60s
3. they sold primogeniture for lentil soup, in geopolitical sence
4. to the coterie of thieves and foreign agents

[kaur]

mirhond, that golden era was called stagnation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Era_of_Stagnation

[mirhond]

mirhond, that golden era was called stagnation.

So what? Does it even matter?

[kaur]

mirhond, I think it does. How country happened to be in this situation? Overstretched ambitions, bad economics etc ? Structural problems?

[mirhond]

mirhond, I think it does. How country happened to be in this situation? Overstretched ambitions, bad economics etc ? Structural problems?

Source of the mith isn't necessarily rooted in reality, as Dayuhan have already said. Call it as you wish, it remains golden age of justice, equality and great achievements. Real problems of USSR you've mentioned above deserve another topic in "Historians" branch.

[kaur]

mirhond, what can I answer if Russians dream about era that had serious systematic errors. Memory is tricky thing that picks out usuallly good things. Freud may think other way. Do you still like Жигули beer or prefer Carlsberg? What about those Sovet ice creams that were dreams of childhood? What about Magnum ice cream? Did you like riding Десна-2 bicycle, or Scott would be better? Oh, I forgot that those NATO/EU guys are producing those things in Russia now together with Russian oligarhs ...

Nice example about golden age, that should remind childhood

http://blog.t30p.ru/post/A-vi-znaete...-izdeliya.aspx

Some 61 percent of respondents polled by the Public Opinion Fund (FOM) in 2006, when Brezhnev’s 100th birth anniversary was marked, recalled the years of his rule as good times for the country and only 17 percent - bad times. Some 50 percent of Russians believe that Brezhnev played a positive role in the history of the country, 16 percent, think he played a negative role.
Meanwhile, only 36 percent of respondents wanted “to return the country to that historical period, when Brezhnev ruled it, with all typical features and peculiarities of the life in those years,” 42 percent opposed such comeback in the past.

According to the recent public opinion poll conducted by the Levada Centre, 45 percent of young people in the age brackets between 16-18 years stayed undecided about their evaluation of Brezhnev’s era. 44 percent of school students are unaware about the manhunt of dissidents in Brezhnev’s era, 54 percent of respondents do not have the slightest idea about the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.

http://in.rbth.com/articles/2012/11/...era_19001.html

[mirhond]

mirhond, what can I answer if Russians dream about era that had serious systematic errors. Memory is tricky thing that picks out usuallly good things. Freud may think other way. Do you still like Жигули beer or prefer Carlsberg? What about those Sovet ice creams that were dreams of childhood? What about Magnum ice cream? Did you like riding Десна-2 bicycle, or Scott would be better? Oh, I forgot that those NATO/EU guys are producing those things in Russia now together with Russian oligarhs ...

Exactly, not to mention that almost all they produce is BS, because almost no one follow technical requirements and standards. That is why customers usually prefer Belorussian dairy, meat and other staple, which is usually way better then Russian stuff. So when Belorussians lament about tirannical Lukashenko most Russians answer like: "You don't want him - excellent, we take him, we need such kind of a guy" So, if mass and public executions make business to follow the standarts, bureaucracy to obey the law and both to work for common good - we'd support it, because it's a part of a dream, along with free health care, free edication and ridiculously cheap housing we had in the days of yore. Class society is acceptable - unjust class society is unacceptable.

[kaur]

Why Russians need this Lukashenko guy? If I remember correctly Russian state pays every year 20 billion to support this system. 10x more than to Crimea in the future.

[kaur]

Why Russians need this Lukashenko guy? If I remember correctly Russian state pays every year 20 billion to support this system. 10x more than to Crimea in the future.

My bad with numbers. Bad memory

Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Shatalov told Reuters in March that Belarus and Kazakhstan received about $6 billion annually from Russia in direct and indirect support and said that could increase by $30 billion if all trade restrictions were lifted in 2015 after the union is created.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...9BO06S20131225

In 2012 support was 6 billion. Belarus budget was 16 billion. First chapter here

http://www.osw.waw.pl/sites/default/...us_ang_net.pdf

Here are some numbers about Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria for comparsion.

http://www.theatlantic.com/internati...kraine/284197/

Armenia.

Russian cumulative investment in Armenia currently exceeding $3 billion, or approximately one half of total foreign investment in this country whose total annual total GDP was reported at $9.8 billion in 2012 (Interfax, Armenpress, September 3, 4).

http://www.jamestown.org/regions/rus...8#.U3zb7doaySM

[mirhond]

Why Russians need this Lukashenko guy?

Answer is obvious - quality of Belorussian goods, fair pentions and working factories are strongly assosiated with his ironfist rule.

[carl]

disclaimer #1. any links and sources which is going to be posted here are quite possibly biased
disclaimer #2. Unsupported claims and irrelevant ravings will be ignored.

Ok, lets get started.
Before posting anything here, you, Westerners must remember that we, Russians, lived for three generations under stern but (mostly) just supervision of omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent state. If you think it explains everything - you are probably far from truth.
How the whole system has been set up - that is a huge historical question, still unanswered, how it works today, after a dissolution of Soviet state - I'll try to explain.

Now we have a mostly free market economy, paternalistic politics, consumerism ethics and apathetic population.
I won't tell about structure of the economy, it's well known, but I'll tell what people think about it: free market is unjust, capitalism is unhuman, so any ideology which denies it as an economic basis would have public approval.

Most important tool of the paternalistic policy is the controlled media, full of dumb entertainment and, quite recently, spiritual guidance from the Orthodox chirch, pseudo-patriotic sentiments and sheer propaganda Dr Goebbels would be proud of.
Why it works? I think of the part of the answer is simple: people are stupid, so they are unable to tell the truth from the lie, they are politically powerless, because they are trained to be divided, they are in general want to be left alone, but won't mind to listen about great achievements, kicking some asses, stupid Americans who can't find Ukrain on the map or spoiled and souless Europeans - the majority of the Russians exposed to the media are prone to any lies which brings a little bit of comfort.

End of part one. Part two on the way (may be)

Mirhond: That is an extremely useful statement. It is just about the best and most cogent outline of the Russian popular worldview that I've read. You obviously can judge firsthand and I only know what I read but it is almost perfectly consistent with all I've read and what Russia has done.

[carl]

When the a Soviet Union collapsed the greatest mistake made by the US (and their western allies) was not to dismantle the Russian Empire to a status where there would no threat to neighboring minor nations of non Russians ever again. We are seeing the results of one of histories great strategic mistakes as Russia once again develops expansionist dreams and converts them into reality paid for by an oil industry that never should have been allowed to be developed.

Russia will probably get away with it because of the US fear of nuclear weapons (as was the real reason for the soft settlement at the collapse of the Soviet Union). So keep testing rockets and issuing threats about using weapons and the US will stay out of it.

The reason for this fear of Russian nuclear weapons is that it is generally believed that the Russians are actually stupid enough to use nuclear weapons despite the assurance of the complete destruction of Russia if they ever do. So don't do anything to lead the US to start to think Russians are really capable of intelligent and logical thought.

This leads me to comment about something I've been thinking of for a bit. I wonder if historians, however many there may be left, in 200 years will judge the Americans with great harshness for what we didn't do. What we didn't do was make certain that after WWII nobody else developed nuclear weapons. We didn't maintain a nuclear monopoly.

We could have done it. The Western nations would have simply been told not to develop any or no aid and by the way pay your war debts tomorrow. The USSR and Red China would have required something harsher, no development or no (pick a city or province). We didn't because it would have required a willingness to actually torch some cities and we weren't willing. Besides the egalitarian streak in us always is susceptible to the argument that if we have something why can't they?

But what did that get us? The Pak Army/ISI with nukes, North Korea with nukes, the Russians with nukes. What it got us, the world, is a lot of people with nukes and more getting them every decade. And many of those realize that if they convince others they are willing to use them regardless of the consequences they most often get their way. They will continue to get their way until they meet somebody who will call a their bluff that may not be a bluff and then-tens of millions, maybe hundreds of millions dead. I believe we are a lot closer to that in the Indian sub-continent than people realize. In any event it will happen somewhere in the next 50-80 years.

So that is where we stand today. Nukes everywhere in the hands of some very bad people and an almost certain nuke war somewhere. Now let's say we were the only ones with nukes, nobody else, just us. Things would be rather more stable I think, regardless of what you think of the noble Americans or the imperialist war-mongering Yankees. The threat of incineration wouldn't be hanging over the heads on millions and millions of Indians and Pakistanis. That is why I think the historians many tomorrows from now will judge us very harshly.

[Dayuhan]

Why Russians need this Lukashenko guy?

I suspect it has a lot to do with fear that any move to replace him could get out of control and put a pro-western government in... the old "he's a bastard, but he's our bastard" attitude.

Of course if Putin comes out of the Ukraine mess feeling very confident, he might try destabilizing Lukashenko to create a pretext for outright annexation, but that is of course very speculative.

[mirhond]

Specially for kaur

a good article about cossaks http://lurkmore.to/%D0%9A%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%B8

Аннотация: Казак - это костюмированный кубаноид.

[kaur]

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Window on Eurasia: Russians Back Putin Because He Offers Illusion Russia is Again a Superpower, Levinson Says


Paul Goble

Staunton, June 8 – Much of the public support in Russia for Vladimir Putin reflects the fact that his actions allow Russians to believe if only for a time that their country is once again a great power even though they fully understand that Russia is not in a position to be one the equal of the United States, according to Aleksey Levinson of the Levada Center.

In short, the supposed unity of the Russian people behind Putin is just as fragile and ultimately illusory as the supposed return of the Russian Federation to the status of a super power and could disappear more rapidly than many, including Putin and his supporters, now think possible.

http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.be/...ack-putin.html

[SWJ Blog]

Old Aspirations - New Tensions: “In Search of a New Russian Identity”

Entry Excerpt:



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Read the full post and make any comments at the SWJ Blog.
This forum is a feed only and is closed to user comments.

[Ray]

Do you still like Жигули beer or prefer Carlsberg? What about those Sovet ice creams that were dreams of childhood? What about Magnum ice cream? Did you like riding Десна-2 bicycle, or Scott would be better?

I am not a Russian but I come from a country that has seen and lived socialism in its worst form.

Do I like Carlsberg or western goods?

Sure. There is quality control.

Do I like my country over Carlsberg.

You bet I do.

Can I still be what I am with this dichotomy?

Yes I can.

Do i reject my country for the Western way?

Never.

Therefore, your argument is false.

Further, may I ask why do you forsake your country's products for Chinese products?

What about the crave for Russian vodkas and Beluga and Iranian caviar and Cuban cigars?

In short, what is good and if one can pay, then one enjoys it beyond petty nationalist considerations.

Any answer?

Jingoism has limits.

This is what Patrick O'Brian said:

“But you know as well as I, patriotism is a word; and one that generally comes to mean either my country, right or wrong, which is infamous, or my country is always right, which is imbecile.”