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The two-faced nature of the Russian state isn’t about the mysterious Russian soul or the complex national character, its dark violence finely counterbalanced by a soaring intellect. There is no balance between the thugs and the intellectuals: There is a clear hierarchy, an unambiguous understanding of who works for whom.
The thugs are the ones who run the country by stifling dissent and providing the force behind corrupt networks. They also make Russia’s key political choices — the decisions to attack neighboring countries, poison opposition activists and defectors, hack foreign political campaigns. Putin is with them in all of this, his smirking defense of all these insolent, often foolhardy moves falling neatly within the dominant gopnik culture. Even when Putin talks like Nabiullina — and he knows how to — he’s only paying homage to the support crew, the economists and managers left to clean up the messes, work out how to live with ever tougher sanctions and maintain macroeconomic stability for a regime with unstable impulses.
These economists and managers have long since made a pact with the devil: They know what kind of system they’re serving, and they’re part of it. Their greatest fear is that their magic won’t be enough to keep Putin’s Russia together at some point, that the gopniks will go too far and make a mess that can’t be swept under the rug. Zolotov’s outburst and the Salisbury fiasco are signs that things are moving that way.
Read More ›››
Russia’s Thugs May Be Too Much for Its Technocrats | Bloomberg LP
Don’t be fooled: The slick professionals in Putin’s regime serve a thuggish state.
↱www.bloomberg.com
The thugs are the ones who run the country by stifling dissent and providing the force behind corrupt networks. They also make Russia’s key political choices — the decisions to attack neighboring countries, poison opposition activists and defectors, hack foreign political campaigns. Putin is with them in all of this, his smirking defense of all these insolent, often foolhardy moves falling neatly within the dominant gopnik culture. Even when Putin talks like Nabiullina — and he knows how to — he’s only paying homage to the support crew, the economists and managers left to clean up the messes, work out how to live with ever tougher sanctions and maintain macroeconomic stability for a regime with unstable impulses.
These economists and managers have long since made a pact with the devil: They know what kind of system they’re serving, and they’re part of it. Their greatest fear is that their magic won’t be enough to keep Putin’s Russia together at some point, that the gopniks will go too far and make a mess that can’t be swept under the rug. Zolotov’s outburst and the Salisbury fiasco are signs that things are moving that way.
Read More ›››
Russia’s Thugs May Be Too Much for Its Technocrats | Bloomberg LP
Don’t be fooled: The slick professionals in Putin’s regime serve a thuggish state.
↱www.bloomberg.com
