Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Grundvilk's avatar

I don't think it is a unique quality of the Russian elite at all, but a global human characteristic:

"A unique quality of the Russian elite is that it not only refuses to admit its mistakes, but also does not wish to be aware of the existence of objective problems (particularly those problems generated by its own actions). Instead of recognizing problems, the authorities only see threats, and they react to these threats in only one of two ways - by either lying on TV, or repression. The one, of course, is inseparable from the other."

Expand full comment
Erik Pritchard's avatar

The author suggests that the Ukraine war was a trap. If true, what was its nature and how would Russia have avoided it?

The US response to the Cuban missile crisis was swift and severe. Yet after decades of NATO (a hostile military organization) encroachment, Russia only uses diplomacy. Even after the 2014 coup in Ukraine, whose purpose was to continue NATO's advance, Russia continued to use diplomacy.

So this trap: was it not acting earlier? Was it failing to accept a hostile military force on your border? Was it not resisting the calls for help from the persecuted ethnic Russians in the donbas?

Educate me.

Expand full comment
15 more comments...

No posts