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I'm curious: other than a will to power, is there any philosophical or principle-driven reason for Russia's actions? In other words, why don't Russians want Wes

I'm curious: other than a will to power, is there any philosophical or principle-driven reason for Russia's actions? In other words, why don't Russians want Western liberal democracy for themselves?

unfunco 9y ago
A similar question, but specifically related to "…in order to forge a new empire for the explicit purpose of ethnic Russian domination of the world." – what is the purpose of this in this day and age, it would take generations by which time the people initiating change would be dead, is it just an archaic form of racism?
codedokode 9y ago
In Russia the word "democracy" has some negative meaning. After Soviet Union collapse there was a period (1990-2000) of "freedom" with economic downturn, poverty, hyperinflation, corruption, raise of criminal activity and a war in Chechnya. By the way, Wikipedia says [1] that ecomomic problems might be a result of reforms suggested by American economists. Russia began recovering only when Putin became a President. Putin likes to remind about this saying things like "Do you remember what the country was before I became the President? You don't want to return to that time, don't you?" People in Russia want higher salary (median salary is $500/month) and reasonable mortgage interest rates (now it can be as high as 12%), not more democracy. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Russia#Transition_to_market_economy_.281991.E2.80.9398.29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Russia#Transition_t...
dragonwriter 9y ago
The Russian regime doesn't want Western liberal democracy because it's incompatible with the self-sustaining kleptocratic autocracy that they are running. Individual Russian people may or may not want Western liberal democracy for any of a variety of reasons (they “not” side in part driven by regime propaganda), but those preferences are not controlling regime actions.
baybal2 9y ago
No, double digits of KGB and CPSU staff had bank accounts abroad just like Chinese CCP members do now. And more power, means more money for them, just like usual. To disrupt Russian political establishment, you do same things you do to disrupt criminal gangs. Plain and simple. Gathering all of NATO's paratroopers and sending them to Moscow will work too, but at a bigger expense

I'm curious: other than a will to power, is there any philosophical or principle-driven reason for Russia's actions? In other words, why don't Russians want Western liberal democracy for themselves?

unfunco 9y ago

A similar question, but specifically related to "…in order to forge a new empire for the explicit purpose of ethnic Russian domination of the world." – what is the purpose of this in this day and age, it would take generations by which time the people initiating change would be dead, is it just an archaic form of racism?

codedokode 9y ago

In Russia the word "democracy" has some negative meaning. After Soviet Union collapse there was a period (1990-2000) of "freedom" with economic downturn, poverty, hyperinflation, corruption, raise of criminal activity and a war in Chechnya. By the way, Wikipedia says [1] that ecomomic problems might be a result of reforms suggested by American economists. Russia began recovering only when Putin became a President. Putin likes to remind about this saying things like "Do you remember what the country was before I became the President? You don't want to return to that time, don't you?" People in Russia want higher salary (median salary is $500/month) and reasonable mortgage interest rates (now it can be as high as 12%), not more democracy. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Russia#Transition_to_market_economy_.281991.E2.80.9398.29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Russia#Transition_t...

dragonwriter 9y ago

The Russian regime doesn't want Western liberal democracy because it's incompatible with the self-sustaining kleptocratic autocracy that they are running. Individual Russian people may or may not want Western liberal democracy for any of a variety of reasons (they “not” side in part driven by regime propaganda), but those preferences are not controlling regime actions.

baybal2 9y ago

No, double digits of KGB and CPSU staff had bank accounts abroad just like Chinese CCP members do now. And more power, means more money for them, just like usual. To disrupt Russian political establishment, you do same things you do to disrupt criminal gangs. Plain and simple. Gathering all of NATO's paratroopers and sending them to Moscow will work too, but at a bigger expense