H/T Sam
You might be interested in this, from quora--
Q: Why is Russia a brutal and evil country?
Daniel Botvinnik
Studied International Relations at Sorbonne Université
Updated Feb 20
Question Originally Answered: Why is Russia such an evil country?
1 of 81 answers (more answers at the link)
It must be immediately said that besides the 8 negative socio-political and psychological generalizations mentioned below, Russia has the unexplainable paradox of millions of wonderful exceptions, which for the most part suffered persecution, jail or exile (think of most writers like Dostoevsky or most political or religious dissidents). As Dimitry Likhachov said about his own people, “Russians can only be explained through their extremism”
Russians feel good and strong when they can aggressively control others
It is in their DNA and you see this desire for control today at every level of their society, whether it is parents with their grown-up children, bosses with employees, government with their citizens, or even pastors with their churches! Russians never had a time in their history where they experienced genuine freedom and democracy. All they had is centuries of mutual oppression (They abolished serfdom only in 1861!) In other words, the only political and psychological model they have is control. So the idea that Ukraine can choose a different path, outside of the political control of the big brother, is totally foreign to them.
Russians only understand the language of force and intimidation.
They absolutely do not respect the language of win-win and mutual compromise. It is only when your opponent is on his knees that you can start to negotiate, doing this before is showing yourself to be weak. Therefore, the idea that Ukraine can have its share of the cake, we have ours, and everyone is happy is totally foreign to them. This is why this war was inevitable. I am glad that some politicians in the West have finally stopped being intimated by Moscow and they now use the language of force. Reagan did exactly this and this is why he won.
Russians have an insatiable psychological need for imperial conquest
Why did Putin say that the demise of the Soviet Union was the biggest geo-political catastrophe of the 20th century? Why would the largest and potentially richest country on earth constantly attack ALL their neighbors? Because Russians only feel great as a nation when they can be huge and dominating. In other words, the invasion to Ukraine has nothing to do with its land or resources; it is all about the glory and the greatness of Russia. And now there is the one billion dollar question: why do you think that people from Baltic countries, Poles, Czechs and Hungarians all immediately joined NATO as soon as they could? (I give you a little hint: they were all brutally invaded by one nation, I let you guess which one) Now the two billion dollar question: If you asked Chechens, Georgians or Ukrainians if they would want to be part of NATO, what answer do you think you would get? (I give you a hint, they all had more than 20% of their land occupied by one nation, I let you guess which one) And of course my bonus question, this one is easy: why do you think that Finns and Swedes want to join NATO today? (These three questions are for the anti-globalists who naively believe that Russians are the innocent victims of NATO and western globalists)
Russians easily and gladly submit to forceful and controlling leaders
This is in their DNA and their history. Since Putin has brought some economic prosperity and restored national pride after the disastrous chaos of the 90’s, they are more than willing to follow him at any price. Whatever he says, they will blindly trust him. (But this heavy control will not last too long. Eventually most Russians will no more be able to tolerate it, and then they will be ready to make a revolution again. This time the different regions of Russia will want far more autonomy, instead of the heavy centralization towards Moscow. I predict this will happen within the next 20–30 years). Russians always go through the same historical cycle of 2-3 generations of oppression followed by a revolution that give them a few years of freedom and chaos. During this short period they seek strong leaders to escape their social chaos and once they have found him, they fall back again in the same pattern of oppression. (the revolutions of the Decembrists, 1905/1917 and 1991)
Russians refuse to learn anything painful from their past, on the contrary they constantly idealize it.
Chekhov, the Russian writer already said a century ago “Russians fear their future, they hate their present but they idealize their past”. Or as Nina Khrushcheva, the niece of Nikita Khrushchev said: “Russians never learn from the past, they just repeat it. History for Russia is not a teacher, but a haunting ghost”. Just read the school books of today: they see nothing fundamentally evil with the Tsarist regime, the Soviet Union or even with Stalin! On the contrary, they want to restore the “greatness” of those regimes, which partially explains why they want to invade Ukraine)
More than half of the Russians have an addiction to alcohol
This damning fact, which has plagued the Russian society for centuries, explains why Russians so easily accuse other countries for their own problems instead of taking responsibility for themselves (Denial and blame shifting are the hallmarks of alcoholics). Additionally, alcohol explains as well their “DARVO” behavior (Deny, Attack and Reverse Victim and Offender). Just hear how most Russians explain their situation today: they have never done anything wrong with Ukraine, instead, they are the innocent victims and the whole world is to be blamed.
The difference between truth and lies is never clear and always dangerous
In Russia, to seek and proclaim the truth has always been dangerous. Under the tsars it meant exile, under the communists death, and under Putin prison. If you add to all this alcoholism, where the reality is always denied, you create the Russian world where lies, deceit and half-truths all perfectly coexist.
No other country has suffered more than Russians! This explains their vicious circle of deep insecurities and brutal violence
Proportionally, no other nation has suffered more at the hands of their own leaders than Russians themselves! (Between 80 to 100 millions killed during the 70 years of soviet oppression). As such, Russians are extremely resistant to suffering, and this is why human life in Russia is worthless and they will treat other nations in the same way. |
