I would not underestimate this man, or his ideology. I have been reading about him, and the new Russian ideology.
This is not an insignificant crackpot. Nor is what is playing out a replay of the twentieth century, with the Russians still as the communists, and us as the freedom loving democracies.
This new ideology is a not a recreation of communism , but a reaction to criticisms of the weakness of western society. Just as we won the cold war by allowing communism to fail on its own internal contradictions, this ideology predicts the same for us. It sees us as the new communists, something conservatives would agree with.
American conservatives are in the awkward position of agreeing with some of their criticisms of western society, but still trying to support our country, even if it means supporting the society with which we have so much to disagree with.
What new Russian ideology have you been reading about? Dugin’s seems like an obvious fake: (1) he’s a political opponent of Putin, (2) his plan hinges on a Turkish-Orthodox alliance, (3) his comments are timed for exactly when they will instill the most anti-Russian paranoia by those he expects to be pro-Russian.
My guess is he’s not actually a fake, but a complete nobody dredged up by the West. If you need an idiot to say something stupid, you can always find one.
Dugin’s influence was within the National Bolshevik Party, a party which adored Stalin, and borrowed heavily from both Soviet and Nazi imagery. It was aligned initially with Zhirinovsky’s National Salvation Front, but came to oppose them too, because the NBP was too pro-national-socialist. It was banned by the Russian Supreme Court in a move that was interpreted as being pro-Putin.
Dugin wasn’t from any wing of the NBP which was less radically opposed to Putin. In fact, he left the NBP for the even more rabidly hate-filled National Bolshevist Front. the NBP established allies with other ideologies to oppose Putin, but the NBF sought insurrection.
Dugin argues for a Russian-Arab yet also his claim to authority is that he is supported by members of the Russian Orthodox Church. This is similar to a klansman claiming to be supported by the AME Zion church.
... In summary, the evidence suggests that Dugin is not a pure fake, but he is someone who would love to see Putin’s “moderate assertiveness” replaced, even if by leftwing or “Atlantic” interests, if only because Putin’s downfall would create more of a vacuum for his ideologies.
He is utterly insignificant, being aligned with political parties with vanishingly small support, and having no significant role even within them. In short, he is made significant only by the Western media, because he fills their need for a villain.