8 Comments

Moments say, that Kronstadt happened. The Yuogo that was the VW bug for 6 months in 1996. Prior to that the 8 or 10 or more years the women really the babushkas of the Union fed their relatives from pirate gardens. Yeltsin going with the flow of conscience outside the besieged congress, like a cruise director on a damned Danube. Images of Russian women in A Day in the Life of the Ussr published 1988. A democratic people by any net of factoids. Image muddied when 4 billion Us D $ were transferred carte blanche to Kremlin accounts. A people more ready for CIA style regime change you could not ask f or. Instead of which...dear Sam Kahn. I think you have not been the subject of a vodka party. The reason for Clamato. The assembled guests are promised a picnic given vegetables celery and cl amato to go with their vodka. And the wife and man the imprimateurs in 30 minutes descend to exploding each other's worst history. It was the last excuse for having a central intelligence th a t is one way of looking at it. We could have helped these fools, but yankeedom got in the way is another way of looking at it. My vote this upcoming US election is going to set it alright. US policy hails from the Eisenhower admin. They are more than good people, they are cold country suffering people, still could be the first extra nationals we take a shine to, give generously without strings. Politics is bunk, man , it is like being offered pictures with your words.

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God bless him. His example may yet be his most powerful contribution. We’re still in the middle of the story.

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“Russian society is amoral.” — What does this quote mean?

Is American society moral? Or Mexican, Israeli, or Palestinian?

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Gudkov is referring to a poll he conducted showing that only 1.5-2% of Russians evince any interest in or compassion for Ukrainians killed in the "special military operation." I know that Gudkov is putting it brusquely. That you can't "properly condemn an entire nation". And that other nations have their own issues. But I also do know what Gudkov is talking about - an emphasis on materialism and security within the contemporary Russian psyche; and disdain for "humanitarian concerns." There are all kinds of ways to analyze where this strain comes from - if it's the trauma of the '90s or deeper traumas from the USSR or the steady diet of state propaganda from Channel 1, etc - but Russian society as a collective has gotten into a very unfortunate place, and reformers like Navalny have been determined to shake Russia out of the lethargy of Putinism. That's not at all to say that Russia can't come out of it - some of the Russian protestors and opposition figures are braver than just about anyone you can possibly imagine - but this psychic block that Putinism represents is really something to contend with.

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Thanks for your reply. Generalizations are the mother of xenophobia, and Russophobia is a form of xenophobia. I don't believe in evil people, but maybe it's a question of faith. This is my faith.

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Well, to be honest, I think we’re beyond that now. Putin has dedicated his entire society to a brutal war of aggression in Ukraine. That’s not “Russophobia.” That’s fact. He has done so with the overwhelming complicity of Russian society. That’s not saying anything against Russian people, but, between various historical traumas and state control of media, Russian society (and this is something I hear from Russians all the time) gotten to a very toxic place. This is something that has to be contended with in our political understanding.

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no Nivalny dont rest in peace. Stay and make them sweat. Be what you have always been in life and in death.

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I read that he said: "If I die, you are not allowed to give up". What courage.

Thanks for giving more context and honouring his memory too.

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