I started this blog at a heady time. The special military operation had just begun and Liberals in Russia were absolutely losing their minds. In panic, prominent Liberal lichnosti packed their bags and fled to Georgia, Turkey, Latvia and Israel, of course, among other countries. The celebrity class was the first out the door. Many prominent Liberal pro-Western media projects were then shut down. The nationalists were stunned and didn’t even know what to say - Putin had just fulfilled their deepest-held wish to take back Ukraine and confront the West head-on and so found their position outflanked by the President from the Right, as it were. COVID then disappeared from the news and everyone joked that Putin had militarily defeated the virus. Within the Orthodox Church, Liberalizers were stripped of their positions and the military community saw a huge surge in interest in their writings. The public statements of members of the Russian government suddenly took a sharp rightward turn and milquetoast public intellectuals were suddenly speaking in the language of revanchist ethnic nationalism.
Ah, what a time.
But this Russian spring hasn’t turned into a full-fledged Russian summer, despite all indications that this thaw wouldn’t be false like so many before it.
Here are some of the predictions that I made in February either in written form on this blog or on my Russian podcast or in my head.
That the firings and reforms would reach the highest echelons of the government
That Shoigu would be replaced by a proper military hardliner
That at least a partial mobilization would eventually be declared
That the Kremlin would create a popular movement to shore up its support among the population and combat any oppositionist pro-Western movements
That the state media apparatus would be reformed
You get the gist of it - I expected Russia to continue taking the hard measures necessary for a nation preparing to confront a larger, more populous and militarily superior power bloc.
Sadly, I’ve not had anything positive to report on this end since, well, since summer began. To be fair, the changes that occurred in the spring were still monumental, and no one has “repealed” any of the positive measures that were taken then. We are still in a better position internally than we were before the operation started. And, should the situation with the West escalate, there will be more and more pressure for Russia to continue reforming and distancing herself from the Liberal, Western-imposed system of the 90s.
But where is the follow-up? Is this the best that we can expect? Surely, the Russian people deserve better from their so-called elites?
This is a view shared by the patriotic community, which is perhaps best exemplified by the Katyusha media project run by Tsiganov, a guy I interviewed.. An op-ed from August 11 writes:
Liberals rejoice - Russians retreat. No, not at the front where our guys thwarted the offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Kherson and, step by step, are liberating the Donbass. The party of traitors scored a victory in our rear, getting their man Vladimir Mau out, who is accused of fraud in the amount of 41 million and who is one of the ideologists responsible for the surrender of the country in the 90s, an accomplice of Gaidar and a friend of Kudrin, and who is suspected of preparing militants for a color revolution at home. Despite the collected evidence in the criminal case against him, Mau was not only released on bail, but was also reinstated as the rector of the RANEPA, so that he would take part in the opening of the temple of Liberalism - the Yeltsin Center - in Moscow, and so that he can continue to help feminists and pederasts further promote the agenda of the globalists in our country. Things will continue in the same vein until the question: “why do we need such an elite that spits in the backs of soldiers and dreams of surrendering the Motherland again,” is not asked louder and more forcefully by our people.
Yeah.
Basically, the Katyusha people are saying that too many 90s legacy Liberal gangsters still have their posts in the government and in various globohomo institutions within Russia. Vladimir Mau is one of the founding fathers of the modern Russian state alongside Yeltsin, Gaidar, Kudrin, Chubais and others as well as the “Big 7/8” oligarchs.
Vladimir Mau - a face you can trust.
When I say that these are the founders of the modern, Liberal Russian project, I mean that quite literally. If Russia is to move away from the government that these people imposed on the Russian people when they were prostrate and helpless in the 90s, it would make sense to do something about these founders.
After yesterday's liberation of Mau, unfortunately, all the talk about how "the SMO has changed the country" and about how "we are waiting for the nationalization of the elites" can be forgotten. None of this will happen while the patriots are at the front and are gathering their own to the front, while the pro-Western "elite" took a breather and now continues to build up the West within Russia, despite the refusal of the West itself to consider us as people. Unsurprisingly, the liberal media and others like them have begun to complain about fascism - but, the supply of weapons to kill Russians is not a critical matter to them. Neither is the fraud perpetrated in the millions - just think, for a small sum, such a person could at least be kept under house arrest.
I’ve often talked about how the key for the future “basification” of Russia lies in the military and the vets and the patriotic community riding a wave of popular support to start demanding changes.
Katyusha and the patriotic community have all the means and tools at their disposal to start a populist movement to deal with the problem in their own way. The Kremlin isn’t diametrically opposed to the interests of the Russian people and neither is Vladimir Putin. You cannot compare the current Russian situation with the one that Westerners face with their own occupation governments. Yes, there is legacy rot in Russia and the system struggles to put away rich, connected Liberal gangsters like Mau. No, that doesn’t mean that nothing can be done.
The ball is entirely in the hands of the patriotic community.
It is time to organize and to demand that the reforms continue. The government, in a precarious position and dependent on the goodwill of the people, will almost certainly meet the populist-patriots halfway.
That’s what Katyusha is driving at anyways:
The same truth is apparent in the refusal [of the media class] to comply with the President's demand for the creation of cultural events, films and events dedicated to the exploits of the heroes of the SMO. It's good if something is held in the provinces, but at the state level it is as if everyone is laughing at the "old man" and then continuing to promote the "tolerant repertoire" - all according to the Western training manual.
As a result, the country is finally split into people who have lost money for the sake of the independence of the Motherland, collecting pennies for drones, body armor, sewing stretchers. A people who have entered into a battle for their survival. And the elite, for whom this war of civilizations is an unfortunate mistake, because there is no Russia for them. They lived in the West, considering us stupid rogues and savages, and continue to mentally live there. True, they do not understand one thing - the surrender of the army, the betrayal of the people, the continuation of playing the "newsletter" leads to only one thing - the question will arise: “do we really need such an elite”? If we are all on our own and at our own expense, then why do we need "gaskets" in the form of oligarchs, traitors like Mau and his friends, feminists and pederasts and their patrons.
So, now you know where the patriotic community stands on the current situation within Russia.
Political history tells us that it is exactly when a population feels that it has been promised something that hasn’t been delivered on that the unrest starts. But, as the Katyusha author believes, all the patriots are at the front at the moment. When they come back, though, as heroes, well …
Let’s hope that the opportunity isn’t wasted.
Speaking of Katyusha... Did you see this?
https://t.me/rocknrollgeopolitics/4540
«intellectuals were suddenly speaking in the language of revanchist ethnic nationalism»
It is important to note that V. Putin uses the language of "nationalism" but it is not "revanchist", but forward looking, and most importantly is is multi-etchnica, not ethnic. He is always careful to use language that makes the point that the Russian Federation is multi-ethnic, as is the RF military, even if because of history it is a russophone world.
This is very important for the RF because it one way to fight "prometheism", the attempt to break up the RF along ethnic lines.
«distancing herself from the Liberal, Western-imposed system of the 90s»
It was not quite “Western-imposed»: in the 1990s the collapse of the USSR economy was so enormous that ex-USSR member states were willing to try anything, from murderous medieval tyrannies (in some of the stans) to fascist gangsterism (Ukraine) to Pinochet style ultra-neoliberalism (baltics).
In political terms the "Washington Consensus" is all about the USA "supporting" and protecting the upper and upper-middle classes, and for them being so "protected" is a pretty good deal, they want it quite voluntarily.
Those who reject USA "protection" are the lower-middle and lower classes, see Bolivia, Venezuela, Cuba, which are left-wing on the economy.
«the key for the future “basification” of Russia lies in the military and the vets and the patriotic community riding a wave of popular support to start demanding changes.»
In the RF case right-wingers need to be careful as to their positioning: if they want to be right-wing on values, they must be left-wing on the economy, because the upper and upper-middle classes are right-wing on the economy and for them that is more important than any values. BTW the Donbas are an example, where they are patriotic and traditionalist on values, and leftist on the economy.
It may really annoy some RF right-wingers, but if they want to fight the neoliberal elites they need to fight neoliberalism, and adopt at least part of "sovok" politics, and be at least social-democratic and a bit socialist on the economy.
«And the elite, for whom this war of civilizations is an unfortunate mistake, because there is no Russia for them. They lived in the West, considering us stupid rogues and savages, and continue to mentally live there.»
Again, it may look like that it is about culture and mentality, but it is really about interests. They regard the lower classes of the RF not so much as “stupid rogues and savages” but as economic rivals and want USA "protection" against the threat of social-democratic and socialist policies arising from below (the same as the "Washington Consensus" elites).