Posted on 03/06/2022 3:53:32 PM PST by AdmSmith
2018 lecture in Finnish (subtitled in English), given by Martti Kari, a former Colonel working in military intelligence, with expertise in Russian “strategic culture”, and who is now at the university. Here he is explaining why Russians think and behave so differently from us in the West, which gives us some ways of guessing what they might do in the future. This has, for me, shed much light on the motivation behind the Ukrainian invasion and so much else that Russia has done.
Finland, of course, borders Russia, and at various points in history has been part of Russia, fought with Russia, and invaded by Russia. They held off the Russians in the brutal 1939 Winter War, when they invented the Molotov Cocktail, and have, of course, deep knowledge of their bellicose neighbor.
Here are my summary notes if you need to get back to the demands of work, doomscrolling or the exigencies of CNN.
3:09 Russia has many layers, which he will enumerate. The foundation of Russian society is Slavic culture. The Slavic people are seen as one, Russians are the most numerous and greatest of the Slavic people, and Slavic unity must be defended.
“The difficulty in understanding the Russian is that we do not take cognizance of the fact that he is not a European, but an Asiatic, and therefore thinks deviously. We can no more understand a Russian than a Chinaman or a Japanese, and from what I have seen of them, I have no particular desire to understand them, except to ascertain how much lead or iron it takes to kill them. In addition to his other Asiatic characteristics, the Russian has no regard for human life and is an all out son of bitch, barbarian, and chronic drunk.”
Reading this leads me to conclude that the world can never be a peaceful place as long as Russia exists.
Their psychology Removes any possibility of a peaceful world
I certainly have heard of Russians in America who figure out ways to sign up for every free program, even though they don’t qualify.
That may be, but its the cavalier “I destroy things as a mark that shows I(ego) can” thing that probably causes more problems than the risk averse paranoia thing, imo.
Probably because they are more realistic than Americans.
Most Americans live in an entitlement mentality world of make believe where everyone is nice and wants to do the right thing and wouldn't hurt anyone else.
A good approximation from the cold war was that Russia (= the Russian administration) was responsible for 80 % of the conflicts. However, the cliché is true; their leaders are crap, but the ordinary Russian is nice.
Putin and Xi are dictators, each aligned with their respective nations.
Globalism rejects nationalism/populism in favor of multi-nationalistic structures (a supremacy of multinational corporations over nation-states).
Globalism can take advantage of Putin and Xi insofar as Putin and Xi continue to weaken the remnants of existing nationalism— in particular, remnants of nationalism/populism within the USA.
You’ve got a lot of educated Russians that are ready to vacate the premises and come here, because Putin is screwing everything up. I don’t think, based on Russians and other Slavs that I know, that Putin’s horsecrap represents anybody but Putin. The guy is currently telling Ukrainians, the people he is currently invading, to stop fighting?! WAT?!! He’s BOMBING them! He’s gotten three members of a family that were only trying to escape being shot at, killed, during what was supposed to be a ceasefire! He’s nucking futs!! Most Russians are NOT nucking futs!! They just want to raise their kids in peace like the rest of us.
Russia is going to end up with a brain drain, for much the same reason that other nations have had brain drains in the past.
Oh, please.
I’ve been to Russia 4 times.
They are fully human.
They are not an alien species.
I adopted three children in Russia.
The only real difference is that they are more cynical and less gullible than Americans.
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Bravo. I would suggest these people read some of the Russian classics to get a better understanding, then again, why bother
This is true of popular or direct democracy in general. The populace will always vote in favor of consumption, rather than in favor of saving and investment. Eventually the rabble vote to brew the seed barley into beer, have a party, and starve to death the next winter.
A layered, representative republic system is designed to guard against this. Voters are supposed to vote on representatives with the intellect, judgement and character to decide on policy matters on their behalf.
Voters voting on policy matters are dangerous.
I’m not so much concerned with how the Russians think. Unfortunately, as I get older, I am increasingly mystified by how many of my fellow Americans “think”.
True, and the brain drain is a flood already. This is from 2019 https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-research-reports/report/the-putin-exodus-the-new-russian-brain-drain-3/
I liked the way Alexander Solzhenitsyn thought.
Slavs are barbarians.
Russians are products of Scythians, Slavs, and Mongols.
I don’t really view them any differently than the Mezo-Aztecs of modern Mexico.
But, if we give then Netflix and Billbord they will be normal as well. ;-)
ArenâÂÂt the younger generations becoming more westernized?
Yes.
I took an international business negotiations course once. Regarding the Russians, a handshake means nothing. A firm agreement is only a rough idea. The party that gives even an inch first is the loser, a Russian will continue to hammer for more concessions. You cannot be the first to compromise. Angry demonstrations during negotiations are considered merely a tactic.
Final analysis, only one party can be happy with the result.
So much childish emotion and ignorance on this forum, and by too many conservative leaders.
Putin is not a dictator. 1980 it is not.
Conflating Putin with Xi is stupid beyond belief. I can tell you have never watched a single speech by Putin. Just about the only leader on the planet calling out globalism has been Putin.
Russia took Crimea back because until Stalin it was always part of Russia and it was populated by Russians who wanted to rejoin Russia. It is also extremely important to Russia geographically.
Eastern Ukraine is populated by Russians, who want to rejoin Russia. Now that is an unfortunately legacy of Stalin again - but there it is.
Those people voted overwhelmingly twice to leave Ukraine and join Russia. One of the main drivers of that was the Western cultural leftism prevalent in western Ukraine.
NATO is an anachronistic organization created to counter soviet communism. It points guns at Russia. It engages in anti Russian propaganda. It promotes economic sanctions and other hard to justify anti Russian actions.
It has been constantly expanding and this concerns Russia greatly. Putin has been warning western Europe to stop for years. NATO ignores these concerns.
Then Butthead Biden leaks to the Chinese that Ukraine is going to be allowed to join NATO. This would allow NATO forces to base there and potentially attack with quick access into the heart of Russia.
If not for the NATO angle I would also condemn Putin. But this situation exists because of irrational and aggressive action by western Europe under the guise of NATO.
If the situation were reversed we would have invaded Ukraine 4 years ago and felt completely justified doing so.
Leftist, globalist, Western leaders are responsible for the current depressing state of affairs in Ukraine. And now they are baying for WWIII with the most dangerous nuclear power on the planet.
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