Russia needs a strong state power and must have it. But I am not calling for totalitarianism.
Vladimir Putin
Russia Needs
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Reminds me of one of my favourite lines from Mystery Science Theater 3000:
‘Then I’ll ram my ovipositor down your throat, and lay my eggs in your chest. But I’m not an alien.’
Well, in his “defense” Putin isn’t a totalitarian like Xi, intent on controlling people’s every thought, but more of a rabid authoritarian, intent on controlling people’s significant actions, only. He’s perfectly willing to let people think he is a crook as long as they don’t say it aloud. Besides, it’s not as if he keeps entire concentration camps full of readily available organ donors.
That’s a step up from tbe soviets. At his pace, Russia will evolve into a proper free society in, oh, about a thousand years…
Right. He’s not a totalitarian like Xi. He’s merely a totalitarian like Mussolini.
There is a party in Russia called the National Bolsheviks. They used to oppose Putin, but came around to supporting him once they saw that he really was as dictatorial as they wanted their Great Leader to be.
Pretty much.
He is rebuilding the SU bit by bit.
Opportunistically. He took Crimea and eastern Ukraine because he knew nobody would resist him. He’s got Germany under control. The baltics are still in his crosshairs. Ditto tbe caucasus. He just hopes to live long enough to finish the job.
Mussolini isn’t tbe best comparison though. The Germans had to bail him out in Greece and had to take Italy to protect tbeir soft underbelly. Putin is working with China but he is aware tbey want to take Vladivostock and tbe rest of Pacific Russia. He is not going to end up subservient to Xi.
His plan looks to be to get Xi to overextend so he can move south to the Stans and finish restoring the empire of the Romanovs.
A bit smarter than Benny.
Oh, Putin is smarter than Benny and has a much stronger country at his command. I meant the comparison purely on the level of ‘both dictators are evil enough, but not in the Evil Dictator Hall of Fame like Hitler, Stalin, and Mao’.
Gotcha.
(Xi has a good case for the EDHOF. He’s closing on on Ivan the Terrible territory.)
I don’t trust the gerontocracy to properly manage the three way confrontation shaping up but long term Russia and China will have to settle who’s top dog in Asia: both have the same strategic imperative but different demographic and resource problems. Russia has everything China needs (land, resources, global access) but not enough people to properly exploit them while China has needs and bodies but also a closing window of opportunity.
Both are currently focused on the US but *when* the US goes full isolationist they’ll have to settle accounts. Should make for a whole bunch of technothrillers for those so inclined.
In the long run, I don’t see either China or Russia as top dog in Asia. India is putting on muscle rapidly, and unlike China, is not facing an imminent and self-inflicted demographic implosion.
The problem is the short run.
As for India, they need a big sociopolitical shift away from Dirigisme before they can truly rise. Until then they are a capable modern country of 200m held back by a 1.2B third world anchor. (They still have a form of slavery hidden away from the modern cities.) They have… issues.
There is a measure of truth in the meme that the people of India can succeed everywhere except in India.