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Is Russia a Western country?
Definitely not. Russia is an Asian country.
While Russian language is Slavic, Russians are whites by their race and Russian religion was Christianity before Communism killed it off, Russia is first and foremost the spiritual and societal heir of the Mongol Khanate. Russia slid irrevocably off the Western cultural sphere after 1237 and the Mongol Conquest, and the last vestiges of any Western heritage were obliterated in 1471 when Muscovy crushed Novgorod and destroyed it for good. The 243 years of the Mongol Yoke from 1237 to 1480 did Mongolicize Russia thoroughly. The irony is, of course, that today’s Mongolia is a rather nice and civil place, and would be one of the Economic Tigers if there wasn’t the widespread alcoholism problem.
It is far harder to define “what is Asian” rather than “what is Western”, but Russia definitely is not a Western country, and Russia relates to anything Western with utter hostility.
Let us inspect what makes Russia a non-Western country:
- Authoritarian Patrimonialism. This is a form of government which has never really existed in the West, but is extremely common in Asia. In Authoritarian Patrimonialism, all power, both violence, economic and societal, are concentrated to one man, and everything radiates from him, and the country is considered to be his personal property. The ruler is above the law. This is an astonishingly stable form of statehood, and immune to any attempts to reform it. It really doesn’t matter if we call the ruler as Czar, Emperor, Premier or President, the system is just the one and the same.
- Never having had either Feudalism nor Capitalism. Russia has never had either Feudal nor a Capitalist society. Russia has never experienced a form of statehood where the aristocrats or the entrepreneurs are independent from the ruler and being independent and self-standing. There has never been any checking power to the ruler and his power. There has never been anything like Magna Charta in Russia.
- No rule of law. The ruler and his cronies are above any laws, and there is no independent jurisprudence. The judges and prosecutors exist solely as tools of the ruler to punish anyone who protests against the ruler. The law exists solely to prop up the state apparatus. Russia can be best described as an anarchotyranny - anarchy for crooks, tyranny for law-abiding peasants.
- No civil society. Everything is dependent of the ruler, and there can be no independent organizations of individual citizens. The control of the state is total - it extends from the top of the society all the way to the peasant level.
- Totally corrupt from the bottom level to the top. This is a part and parcel for all Authoritarian Patrimonialisms, but Russia has turned the knob up to eleven. As the only ways for the ruler to keep the cronies in control are punishments and favours and there is no rule of law, it means eveyrone steals and embezzles. Punitive measures follow only if someone steals too much or from a wrong person.
- Macho honour culture, toxic masculinity and adoration of violent behaviour. While Westerners usually consider a violent fist hero as a dork, the Russian ideal of muzhik, “good man”, is of someone who cajoles with his higher-ups and keeps anyone below him in control with fists. Russian men display all the properties of machismo and toxic masculinity, and family violence is a non-issue as it is considered “keeping up home discipline”.
- Widespread alcoholism and drug abuse. How do they drink vodka in Northern countries? In Sweden - with water. In Finland - without water. In Russia - like water. Alcohol is a coping mechanism, in Sweden and Russia because the winter sucks here, but in Russia because everything sucks.
- Abject poverty aside astonishing opulence. The ordinary Russian has always been poor as a church mouse, while the cronies of the ruler have always been rich beyond any measures - because they get the opportunity to steal. Since the lack of the rule of law and lack of the civil society and total societal rottenness make any long term plans to get wealthy impossible, the Russians appreciate conspicuous consumption above all - to display you’re on a lucky streak now. No use to save anything because all your assets can be seized at any moment.
- Ethical bigotry. No tolerance for sexual or gender minorities, no tolerance for Hippies or similar alternative lifestyle, no tolerance for Liberal or Libertarian mindset, no tolerance for independent opinions or any dissidence. A nail standing up gets beaten in.
- No middle class. The ordinary Russian has always been a peasant and poor as a church mouse, while those in favour of the ruler are opulent beyond any measures. One of the features of Feudalism was the rise of independent cities and city bourgeoisie and middle class. There has never been a middle class in Russia - just the dirt poor peasants and filthy rich upper class. Instead there has been a lot of middleman minorities - Jews, Armenians, Georgians, Latvians and Finns.
- No independent media. Independent media - the watchdog of the rulers - is an integral part of the Western society. It is an absolute no-no in Russia - everything is controlled by the state.
- No human rights. None. Full stop. The Russians consider the concept of human rights as a devious plot to weaken the sacred fatherland and limit the omnipotence of the ruler, and demolish the power structure based on subjugation and physical violence.
- Total blend of state, businessmen and organized crime. Russia can best be described as a mafia which has its own state and peasantry. The government sets a blind eye on the organized crime as long as it can use it to perform dirty operations both home and abroad, and the line between mafia bosses and Russian businessmen is one drawn on water.
- Concept that Russia is perpetually in war with West. This is an important feature. For Westerners, there is war and there is peace. For the Russians, there isn’t. There are only various stages of conflict, varying from coerced armstice to all-out bang-bang war. Russia experiences it is perpetually in war with West, and relates to West with hostility, enhancing it with dirty operations, state vandalism, assassinations, sabotages and cyber assaults - all the time poking where West might be weak.
The Western world is the heir of Greek philosophy, Roman jurisprudence, Christianity and Enlightment.
Russia is the heir of Genghis Khan.
