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To be the USSR again. Thus is not hard - trying to ascribe any other rationale is just trying to rationalize supporting Putin.

by olliej 4y ago

nimbius 4y ago
If they are, they could take a page from chinas belt and road effort. The ussr was dissolved by a coward who didn't want to put in the effort to maintain glasnost and wasn't competent enough to engage satellite states for reforms and concerns. Not that you could blame him, as Brezhnev was keen on nuking the most unruly satellites as a solution and Yeltsin was a nationalist looking to russify the whole continent or isolate the nation entirely. At the end of the day Russian elites were too disconnected and disillusioned to care about the Union. Putin's nostalgia for it, while admirable, is bumbling desperation at best.
- visarga 4y ago
  > Putin's nostalgia for it, while admirable ಠ_ಠ
boomboomsubban 4y ago
Just ridiculous. I can oppose Russia's invasion while still understanding the national interests that led them to make the move.
- olliej 4y ago
  their "national interests" are the desire to be an empire again.
  - scyzoryk_xyz 4y ago
    They never stopped being an empire. They just stopped being and feeling treated like one. This lies at the very center of Putin’s frustration with the US and this has been thoroughly documented and reported on. That being said, “They” are not trying to “be” USSR again. That would be missing the entire story behind how the Union was dissolved and the (contrived?) ideology that held it together before that. The USSR was a completely different animal. “They” just want influence and domination in a sort of neo-medieval mobster-capitalist sort of way. That’s all they have known since the 1980’s and that’s how they think the world really works. When they see nearby countries opting into the Western system, they think it is a conspiracy that must be countered. They have a very hard time understanding that much like the USSR, the US is oriented around actually pursuing the tenets of the ideology it is founded on.

To be the USSR again. Thus is not hard - trying to ascribe any other rationale is just trying to rationalize supporting Putin.

by olliej 4y ago

To be the USSR again. Thus is not hard - trying to ascribe any other rationale is just trying to rationalize supporting Putin.

nimbius 4y ago

If they are, they could take a page from chinas belt and road effort. The ussr was dissolved by a coward who didn't want to put in the effort to maintain glasnost and wasn't competent enough to engage satellite states for reforms and concerns. Not that you could blame him, as Brezhnev was keen on nuking the most unruly satellites as a solution and Yeltsin was a nationalist looking to russify the whole continent or isolate the nation entirely. At the end of the day Russian elites were too disconnected and disillusioned to care about the Union. Putin's nostalgia for it, while admirable, is bumbling desperation at best.

visarga 4y ago
> Putin's nostalgia for it, while admirable ಠ_ಠ

boomboomsubban 4y ago

Just ridiculous. I can oppose Russia's invasion while still understanding the national interests that led them to make the move.

olliej 4y ago
their "national interests" are the desire to be an empire again.
- scyzoryk_xyz 4y ago
  They never stopped being an empire. They just stopped being and feeling treated like one. This lies at the very center of Putin’s frustration with the US and this has been thoroughly documented and reported on. That being said, “They” are not trying to “be” USSR again. That would be missing the entire story behind how the Union was dissolved and the (contrived?) ideology that held it together before that. The USSR was a completely different animal. “They” just want influence and domination in a sort of neo-medieval mobster-capitalist sort of way. That’s all they have known since the 1980’s and that’s how they think the world really works. When they see nearby countries opting into the Western system, they think it is a conspiracy that must be countered. They have a very hard time understanding that much like the USSR, the US is oriented around actually pursuing the tenets of the ideology it is founded on.