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The whole business of invading neighboring countries to grab their land seems a bit out of date these days. After WW2 most countries decided it was a bad idea a

by tim333 9mo ago

The whole business of invading neighboring countries to grab their land seems a bit out of date these days. After WW2 most countries decided it was a bad idea and signed agreements to not do it and there hasn't been that much since. Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait but that didn't work out well for him. The invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan didn't work out that well for the invaders. About the only one I can think of that worked ok for the invaders was China taking Tibet in 1950. I think Putin doesn't use the internet and was reading history books from a century ago before the invasion. I'm not sure the strategy works very well anymore.

pseudohadamard 9mo ago
He wasn't reading history books from a century ago, he was reading Aleksandr Dugin, a.k.a. Putin's Brain. A far-right crackpot whose ideology was about as grounded in reality as Alfred Rosenberg, although his ideas about destabilising the west, principally the US, have proven quite effective.
- tim333 9mo ago
  Not quite sure where I read that but from "What’s on Vladimir Putin’s reading list?" in the FT: >Putin, though, likes to present himself as someone who has thought extensively about the past. It was not just Trump who has been treated to the Russian leader’s analysis of the history of Rus’, the Christianisation of Prince (later St) Vladimir in 988 or the impact of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania on lands to its east in the late Middle Ages. I'm not much of a Putinist but in the couple of minutes of Putin Tucker I watched he was going on about that stuff and how Hitler wouldn't have had to do so much war if the Poles had just been reasonable about him taking over. I'm sure he's familiar with Dugin but probably regards him as a bit of a crank.
  - pseudohadamard 9mo ago
    It's Russian media who have labelled him Putin's Brain, and they're not likely to say anything disparaging about the Tsar. His work was allegedly required reading at the Russian General Staff Academy. However this is Russia, where nothing is true and everything is possible.
    - drysine 9mo ago
      >It's Russian media who have labelled him Putin's Brain, and they're not likely to say anything disparaging about the Tsar. I've seen that only in liberal opposition's media

by tim333 9mo ago

pseudohadamard 9mo ago

He wasn't reading history books from a century ago, he was reading Aleksandr Dugin, a.k.a. Putin's Brain. A far-right crackpot whose ideology was about as grounded in reality as Alfred Rosenberg, although his ideas about destabilising the west, principally the US, have proven quite effective.

tim333 9mo ago
Not quite sure where I read that but from "What’s on Vladimir Putin’s reading list?" in the FT: >Putin, though, likes to present himself as someone who has thought extensively about the past. It was not just Trump who has been treated to the Russian leader’s analysis of the history of Rus’, the Christianisation of Prince (later St) Vladimir in 988 or the impact of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania on lands to its east in the late Middle Ages. I'm not much of a Putinist but in the couple of minutes of Putin Tucker I watched he was going on about that stuff and how Hitler wouldn't have had to do so much war if the Poles had just been reasonable about him taking over. I'm sure he's familiar with Dugin but probably regards him as a bit of a crank.
- pseudohadamard 9mo ago
  It's Russian media who have labelled him Putin's Brain, and they're not likely to say anything disparaging about the Tsar. His work was allegedly required reading at the Russian General Staff Academy. However this is Russia, where nothing is true and everything is possible.
  - drysine 9mo ago
    >It's Russian media who have labelled him Putin's Brain, and they're not likely to say anything disparaging about the Tsar. I've seen that only in liberal opposition's media