@kravietz
That is precisely why I've been telling you that you should never let them apply anti-colonial agenda to Russia as is — they don't seem to realise that "priviledged" Russian man is just as disenfranchised in his own country as any member of a minority — unless he's a cop or a government official. Yep, there are ethnic minorities in Russia — and yes, their culture is often being erased, but this doesn't mean that most Russians ever benefited from it as serfdom pre-dates all that.
@kravietz
I'm against using it not because I want to present Russians as victims, but because it doesn't describe the true nature of what's going on, once you start using anti-colonial vocabulary familiar to the western audience, their line of thinking falls into that groove that it can't get out of: they start thinking that being Russian means being privileged, as if Chechens or Buryats fight in this was for their Russian masters — but it's not even remotely like that.
@kravietz
Russians from poorer regions die in this was just as Buryats do — with nothing to gain from it. Whose fault is that is a different question.
Just as US conservatives seem to believe that Pooteen claiming Russia having "traditional" society implies that being male means having some privileges, and they don't seem to realise that you can't… e.g. have divorce rates like that in any traditional society (in their sense).
@kravietz
Russian propaganda and disinformation campaigns use words having completely different meanings in Russia and to the audience in developed countries, and I think this is being done on purpose.
@notsoloud
Well, I think it makes sense to discuss every particular case separately, but I do think that Russian Empire was empire in name only — Peter the Great liked the idea being an emperor, that is why he slapped the word over without any underlying meaning. Were citizens of "metropole" ever benefitting from "colonies" — no, most of them weren't even citizens legally.
@notsoloud
I can only recall one period from Russian history when just being Russian granted you any privileges — right after the fall of Kazan, over Tatars.
Otherwise political and social system in Russia predates that of nation states (I think using the word "nationalism" to describe anything happening in Russia is misusing the term) and even empires. So what is it then? I think it's something from earlier ages — feudalism!
@notsoloud
A good example of this is the news from two weeks ago: Pooteen have written off 20 billions (!) of debts of African states. To a left-leaning western person it might even seem that Russia is anti-colonial, but let's look at this closely: would most people in these African countries get any of that? I seriously doubt that, this money was taken from Russians by Pooteen and given to the groups in power in these African countries — he's buying himself vassals in Africa.
@notsoloud
Neither colonial, nor anti-colonial fits Russia, but feudal — these describes the nature of processes perfectly.
This also explains why Russia can maintain ties to other autocratic states, but can't tolerate democracies — because that is unacceptable in feudal system: serfs weren't allowed to choose their lords. Russia itself is becoming a vassal state of China — this also works in feudal system.
@notsoloud
There's no need to go for any higher-level concepts — for Russia it's middle ages all over again.
Even USSR wasn't much different — I have a long post in which I elaborate on that, but it's on my instance, which is currently under heavy load, I don't think you would be able to access it, I can send you a link later.
@m0xee
Wow, thanks, that's very interesting! Feel free to send a link 😃
For me one interesting part of Russian feudalism has been the concept of service nobility compared to the land holding nobility more common in Western Europe. Seems to match the current oligarchs, as far as I can tell (not that I know that much)
@m0xee
I don’t have any problem with applying the “anti-colonial agenda” to Russia, I just strictly separate the beneficiaries of this system, the “siloviki”, Kremlin-linked elites, and everyone else :)
And the usual disclaimer - Russians are today disenfranchised in Russia exclusively because they did nothing to prevent Putin’s circle from tightening the collars on their necks consistently for 20 years, and many actually welcomed it.