ClubOrlov: Peculiarities of Russian National Character

Recent events, such as the overthrow of the government in Ukraine, the secession of Crimea and its decision to join the Russian Federation, the subsequent military campaign against civilians in Eastern Ukraine, western sanctions against Russia, and, most recently, the attack on the ruble, have caused a certain phase transition to occur within Russian society, which, I believe, is very poorly, if at all, understood in the west. This lack of understanding puts Europe at a significant disadvantage in being able to negotiate an end to this crisis.

Whereas prior to these events the Russians were rather content to consider themselves “just another European country,” they have now remembered that they are a distinct civilization, with different civilizational roots (Byzantium rather than Rome)—one that has been subject to concerted western efforts to destroy it once or twice a century, be it by Sweden, Poland, France, Germany, or some combination of the above. This has conditioned the Russian character in a specific set of ways which, if not adequately understood, is likely to lead to disaster for Europe and the world.

Lest you think that Byzantium is some minor cultural influence on Russia, it is, in fact, rather key. Byzantine cultural influences, which came along with Orthodox Christianity, first through Crimea (the birthplace of Christianity in Russia), then through the Russian capital Kiev (the same Kiev that is now the capital of Ukraine), allowed Russia to leapfrog across a millennium or so of cultural development. Such influences include the opaque and ponderously bureaucratic nature of Russian governance, which the westerners, who love transparency (if only in others) find so unnerving, along with many other things. Russians sometimes like to call Moscow the Third Rome—third after Rome itself and Constantinople—and this is not an entirely empty claim. But this is not to say that Russian civilization is derivative; yes, it has managed to absorb the entire classical heritage, viewed through a distinctly eastern lens, but its vast northern environment has transformed that heritage into something radically different.

Since this subject is of overwhelming complexity, I will focus on just four factors, which I find essential for understanding the transformation we are currently witnessing.

Complete story at - ClubOrlov: Peculiarities of Russian National Character

Russian news: Just How Civilized Is Western Civilization? - Russia Insider

Edward Lozansky is President of the American University in Moscow

Those who witnessed - and especially those who helped bring about - the momentous changes in the Soviet Union in the late 1980s and Russia in the early 1990s, remember only too well the overwhelming euphoria of those times. The dark years of totalitarian communism were receding into the past, and the peoples of Russia were ready and eager to join the great family of the Western civilization led by the United States.

Twenty five years ago in April 1989, a delegation from America arrived in Moscow to investigate Gorbachev’s radical social and economic reforms, perestroika and glasnost. Was it genuine reform or just a sinister KGB ruse to fool the naive West? The group included Members of Congress, exiled Soviet dissidents, foreign policy experts and scholars with strong anti-Soviet and anti-communist credentials. The group had come, as they told Gorbachev’s right hand man Alexander Yakovlev, in order to help the Russians understand the “values of the Western civilization.”

Human rights, the rule of law, democracy, freedom, market economy -- these were and still are the buzz words associated with Western values. Fresh from the yoke of communism, Russians were eager to embrace all of these ideals, and confidently expected them to materialize with help from the United States.

A detailed report about how all this could be done was personally delivered to President George Bush, Sr. in the fall of 1990 by Paul Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation. Weyrich later claimed that the report was dismissed by Condoleezza Rice, who was present at the meeting.

What actually came about was somewhat different. Russia’s economy crashed worse than in World War II. Millions lost their jobs and the means of earning a livelihood. The freedom of pursuing economic prosperity morphed into the freedom of banditry. Bandit capitalism became the prevailing economic order.

Complete story at - Russian news: Just How Civilized Is Western Civilization? - Russia Insider