Tag Archives: Russia

Culture, History, Left, Political

Vladimir Putin – a vandal and barbarian after all

Vladimir Putin had reasonable issues regarding Russia’s security – the same America had at the time of the Cuban missile crisis in 1962. John Mearsheimer, to whom I referred in previous comments, outlined a background – NATO’s eastward movement – for Putin’s concerns about security in his video, Why is Ukraine the West’s Fault? I found his case compelling.

A second reason I had sympathy for Putin’s position was his projection of a Burkean conservatism in speeches that invoked Russia’s rich history, traditions and culture. But the idea that Putin espoused a Burkean conservatism was a chimera – a chimera destroyed by a brutal invasion that has since degenerated into barbarism and vandalism.

Putin’s invasion of Ukraine shows he cannot be trusted and that his nationalism is similar to that of Hitler’s or Mussolini’s, both driven by a warped vision of their history. Their form of nationalism must destroy the sympathy of those who think history, tradition, and custom, circumscribed by the natural law, are of fundamental importance to a healthy nation. Nothing can excuse the indiscriminate pulverising of Ukraine’s cities.

The best outcome now for Putin is a Pyrrhic victory, the worst, total defeat. One must have not only sympathy for the people of Ukraine, but also for the Russian people, most of whom clearly did not want a war with the people of Ukraine and who regard the Ukrainians as brothers and sisters.

Culture, History, Left, Media, Politics

Hyping for a needless war

The numskulls in NATO and the US keep at it

It’s embarrassing to listen to the puerile belligerence of NATO and the US. The clear impression is that the Americans are angling for a war with their constant repetition of the ‘threat of a Russian invasion’ of Ukraine.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is furiously pounding the biggest drums of war in decades. He’s like a gang leader daring his adolescent enemies to take him on. All the while Russia is saying that they have no intention of invading Ukraine. It’s just a lot of hysteria on the part of American and its European allies. All Russia wants is her security guaranteed by not having NATO and US missiles placed on their borders.

What part of the Monroe doctrine do the Americans not understand? What part of the Kennedy Cuban principle don’t they understand? I remember the Cuban missile crisis as if it was yesterday. Kennedy was prepared to go to war over the Soviet placement of missiles on Cuban territory. The world shuddered and then breathed a sigh of relief when Krushchev turned the ships around. Why not the same application for Russia with missiles able to reach Moscow within minutes from Ukraine?

And do Biden and the other numskulls in the EU think they will solve anything by threatening to crush Russia? Have they not heard that pushed into corner that threatens their very being, a country will come out all guns blazing? One despairs over the West. Have Edmund Burke and his principle of prudence been completely forgotten? Indeed, Putin sounds more Burkean with his talk about the prescriptive nature of custom and tradition, the balance of power, and historical antecedence.

I provided a link to Professor John Mearsheimer’s analysis of the Ukraine problem Why is Ukraine the West’s Fault? in previous posts. It has had nearly two million views on youtube. Yet I hear nobody – not in Australia or overseas – answer the details of Mearsheimer’s case against the West. The news reporting is particularly ignorant and superficial in Australia. It’s as if the reporting on Russia and Ukraine has been handed to cub reporters who can do nothing but reel off the narrative of the Cold War years.

If Russia does end up invading Ukraine they must know they will look like people nobody could trust, but their case will remain valid. On the other hand, I wonder what the response will be if Russia does not invade Ukraine. The conclusions will be more devastating for the US and NATO – that they are a bunch of clowns who don’t know what they are doing.

NOTE: I posted most of the above in the comments section of an article on the ‘Russian threat’ in the Australian newspaper. I ended the comment with, ‘Now print this if you dare.’ The comments editor didn’t dare. He (or was it a she?) knocked it back, as is usually the case with my comments. My comments stray too far from the Australian‘s allowable range.

History, Law, Politics

Who is establishing a pretext – Putin or Biden?

One rule for all

The Biden administration claims without any hard evidence that Russia is seeking a pretext to invade Ukraine. Why not the other way around? Biden could just as easily be establishing a pretext for NATO to go to the help of Ukraine. One should not automatically swallow the claims of Biden’s girls and boys.

Russia’s insistence that the US and NATO not expand into territories which have been traditionally in their sphere of influence is reasonable and justified. If the US can create a Cuba principle and a Monroe doctrine, why cannot Russia create the equivalent? The threat of a senseless war which will reverberate worldwide is on present evidence coming from the Biden Oval Office.  

History, Political, Politics

Is Russia the baddie?

Has power-hungry Putin fixed his lustful eyes on Ukraine?

Commentary in Australia says ‘yes’. Vladimir Putin is just another Russian dictator about to crush a weak defenceless country – a country without the protection of the US and NATO. But this a stereotypical unresearched (even self-serving) view of President Putin. There is far more to the story and it could be the US and NATO who are at fault.

Professor John Mearsheimer provides a compelling case that the West is responsible for the explosive situation on Ukraine’s border in his hour-length video, Why Ukriaine is the West’s fault. If one wants to stick to the case that Russia and Putin are showing their characteristic lust for power, one has to answer the extensive detail in Mearsheimer’s case.

I have been taking an increasing interest in Russia and Vladimir Putin since the Oliver Stone interviews in 2017. Until then I thought of Putin and Russia in the way most in the West think – a communist dictator in a different dress, the Soviet Union in a different uniform. The interviews changed my mind, as they must have with many people in the West who saw them.

First, Putin was open, candid, and endeavoured to give straight answers all to Stone’s questions. Second, and this is what impressed me most, he argued with much verifiable evidence that the West had gone back on promises made to Russia. If Putin was right, then the West was playing a dirty game of shameless lies and deceit.

What? I thought. It’s the communists who are the liars, not us. We’re pure, innocent, keep to our undertakings. No, in this case, if Putin is right (and it’s easily verified), it’s the West who fits the image we have had of the communists.

Since the interviews I have been following developments and viewing the many youtube videos on Russian history and culture. Particularly informative are the Russian vloggers who give a fascinating look at ordinary Russians and Russian culture. As regards Professor Mearsheimer’s presentation, he has merely confirmed and filled out my own conclusions about the Ukraine problem.

The US and NATO are the problem and as of today, it looks they are prepared to unleash a senseless war which nobody wants.

Culture, History, Uncategorized

My ongoing reappraisal of Russia

Russia has a rich culture – literature, music, ballet, Orthodox Christianity, and more. My introduction was exclusively with its literature – Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekov, at university level. The rest came much later. In recent years I have come to appreciate Russia’s dance tradition which is second to none.

The Soviet Union suppressed much of that tradition. The arts from the time of the Bolshevik revolution was under the control of Communist commissars. That control resulted in mutilated works, now only of historical interest. Until recently, my knowledge of Russia was limited to its literature. I knew little about the Russian people and their daily lives.

For all I knew, they could have been living in mud huts and spent their time hunting and foraging in the forests for their food. The internet has brought a big change. One can find many youtube videos which give a picture of contemporary Russia. I have a few favourite youtubers.

At the top of my list, as entertainment, is a foursome of charming unaffected young women who sing Russian folk songs against a rural background. They call themselves Beloe Zlato and regularly post on youtube. Their latest is a dreamy song titled, ‘Thoughts.’ (1699) Beloe Zlato – Думы // Thoughts – YouTube

I follow three vloggers who provide a fascinating picture of Russian society. Surprise, surprise, the ordinary Russian is not much different from people in the West. Indeed, the townscape of an ordinary Russian town differs little from those in the West. One difference is the state of disrepair and dilapidation of some rural towns. That contrasts sharply with Moscow which appears clean and super modern (see links below).

Natasha of Yeah Natasha is the star of the three. She has had a meteoric rise from a small basis a year or so ago to 240,000 subscribers. How has she become so popular around the world? Three factors, I think. She gives an engaging view of social life in Russia, her English is good, and perhaps most of all she is disarmingly natural. No affectation at all. A recent video (below) is of Vladivostok in Russia’s far east. Natasha is from Spassk, a small town north of Vladivostok,


Vladivostok, the capital of the Russian Far East | Chinese quarter, Japanese cars & Russian samovars

Next is Eli from Russia. Eli is older and from Moscow. Like Natasha, she aims to show the social and cultural side of Russia. She’s very professional both in delivery and production. Her English is very good. She covers what dating people would find interesting in Russia, particularly in Moscow. A representative video of her work would be:

Who wears the pants in a Russian family? | Gender roles in Russia

There is Viacheslav of Russiaplus who ‘makes videos about places from around the world.’ He speaks good English with an American accent. Representative is his video comparing Moscow with US cities. He gives a fascinating view of modern Moscow. This video in particular forced me to adjust my assumptions about Moscow – and Russia.

What US сities сan learn from Moscow. My Impressions After 2 months in the US.

Let me end with a delightful video of Natasha taking a walk in Moscow with Viacheslav of Russiaplus. They begin in Gorky Park. Another fascinating view of Moscow.

Walking in Moscow with Natasha. Talking about Russia’s Pros and Cons

POSTSCRIPT
There is also Dari Step. She’s young and new to the Vlogging business. She needs to develop her presentation and improve her English. But she’s enthusiastic and no doubt will improve over time.

(1730) ONE DAY OF MY LIFE \\ That’s How People Live In Moscow, Russia 2021 – YouTube

Christianity, Conservatism, Culture, Philosophy

Is Vladimir Putin a Burkean conservative?

That would seem a weird question to ask. After all, how could a KGB officer of the former Soviet Union hold to a political philosophy, the core of which is ‘prescription’ – the prescription of custom, tradition, and settled, proven ways of social and political organisation? Prescription underscored by the natural law is Edmund Burke’s political philosophy in a nutshell. But President Putin is a Marxist-Leninist, surely?

Well, Marxists would already be looking askance at his efforts to reestablish the Russian Orthodox Church. Those efforts have included the building or rebuilding of hundreds of churches and a fair number of monasteries. That’s not very Marxist, is it? Remember Marx saying religion was the opium of the people, meaning the proletariat?

But, as a Marxist, one would have one’s hair standing on end listening to Putin’s advice to the West on how to deal with non-Western countries. Whatever the Russian President has said in the past, the advice in this youtube video is pure Burkean: BREAKING! Putin: NATO Created A Mess In Afghanistan But Entire World Must Now Deal With Consequences . Indeed, he seems to applying this approach in Syria.

Conservatism, Politics, Religion

Vladimir Putin – the man to watch 2017?

Against the advice of his formidable Foreign Minister Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov, Russian president Vladimir Putin declined to take retaliatory action in response to Obama’s expulsion of 31 Russian diplomats for Russia’s alleged cyber attacks during the US presidential electioneering. Instead, Putin issued the conciliatory announcement below. The tone and content is hardly in the style of the former Soviet Union. What are we to think of this? Is it a sincere honest attempt to lower the temperature between Russia and the US. Or is it a cunning political move to boost a perceived ally in President elect Donald Trump or to give Barack Obama a kick in the bum as a send-off out of the White House by making him look politically immature – or both? The coming year will reveal more of Putin and his motivations. Conservatives around the world are taking an increasing interest in Putin.

Statement by the President of Russia
December 30, 2016

We regard the recent unfriendly steps taken by the outgoing US administration as provocative and aimed at further weakening the Russia-US relationship. This runs contrary to the fundamental interests of both the Russian and American people. Considering the global security responsibilities of Russia and the United States, this is also damaging to international relations as a whole.

As it proceeds from international practice, Russia has reasons to respond in kind. Although we have the right to retaliate, we will not resort to irresponsible ‘kitchen’ diplomacy but will plan our further steps to restore Russian-US relations based on the policies of the Trump Administration.

The diplomats who are returning to Russia will spend the New Year’s holidays with their families and friends. We will not create any problems for US diplomats. We will not expel anyone. We will not prevent their families and children from using their traditional leisure sites during the New Year’s holidays. Moreover, I invite all children of US diplomats accredited in Russia to the New Year and Christmas children’s parties in the Kremlin.

It is regrettable that the Obama Administration is ending its term in this manner. Nevertheless, I offer my New Year greetings to President Obama and his family.

My season’s greetings also to President-elect Donald Trump and the American people.

I wish all of you happiness and prosperity.