Short threads on Russia

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  1. Russians are by and large not protesting, and it’s not because they live in authoritarian state. China and Iran have far crueler regimes, yet both countries are seeing stirrings. Russians largely support Putinism, and this is the highest standard of living many Russians have ever experienced. Thread by Sergey Radchenko

  2. Kamil Galeev is gem. I’ve seen nobody with a more clear insight into modern Russian culture. A sample:

    Mobilisation in countryside is often nearly total - most able males are drafted. So these rural women are asking to return their local gynaecologist (and only him). Your son’s death is abstract. Your personal health risk is real

  3. Galeev about Europe:

    Idea that European countries should be sheltered from the consequences of their own choices at any cost is fundamentally rotten. European businesses profited handsomely from arming Putin, European governments did nothing (or worse). Now it’s time to pay the price

    Last time it was Syria who paid the price for the actions of European manufacturing companies. Now Europe itself will face the consequences of its actions. And even if this price is absurdly small in comparison with what Syria has paid, I still see an element of justice in it

  4. There’s already a movement afoot by Russian “liberals” to blame Buryats, Dagestanis, Chechnians, and other minorities for the war. As if they were some bloodthirsty savages that forced peaceful Russians into the war. It’s a similar narrative to the idea that NATO and the US are really at fault. Russians oddly have no agency and everyone around them is to blame. Thread

  5. I see a curious parallel between the border minorities of the Russian empire (especially the Kuban Ukrainians) and the Ulster Scots and wonder if any serious academic work has been done to compare them. Both were disenfranchised people inside their respective empires that were relocated to carry out the ethnic cleansing of other peoples. There’s also something similar in how moving to America these “Scotch-Irish” settled into Appalachia, remained poor and disenfranchised, were central to carrying out genocides against American Indians, all while having token representation in culture and power despite remaining on the margins of American society.