To be clear: I don't believe Western liberalism could ever be imposed on Russia from without. A post-WWII style reconstruction, should events ever make it possible (unlikely), would indeed prove a dismal failure.
That being said: Russia is not Saudi Arabia. It has (or had, until February) a fairly large professional and creative class. It…
To be clear: I don't believe Western liberalism could ever be imposed on Russia from without. A post-WWII style reconstruction, should events ever make it possible (unlikely), would indeed prove a dismal failure.
That being said: Russia is not Saudi Arabia. It has (or had, until February) a fairly large professional and creative class. It also has a centuries-long tradition of cultural excellence in the arts, music, literature, and science that is neither trivial in its global reach nor insubstantial enough to suggest a nation hopelessly mired in tribalistic despotism. The obstacles to liberalization would be immense, and daunting — particularly, dismantling the klepto-state and extinguishing the vast corruption it imposes. But the ingredients are there in a way that they weren't in, say, Afghanistan, where no amount of Western money would ever have made a difference.
One final note: America has its own Dugins, and its own inbred tribalism. I've never been to Russia (sadly, I may not have a chance to go for many years). But I would imagine that the people one might meet in its vast rural expanses are not so different from those you'd find in parts of rural America: obstinately suspicious, conspiratorial, parochial, fundamentalist, and vapidly nationalistic. These are universal human traits, and they are distributed among peoples of every nation on earth. The difference between America and Russia is that we've (historically) done a better job of keeping our crazies on the margins — though that's certainly not the case anymore.
To be clear: I don't believe Western liberalism could ever be imposed on Russia from without. A post-WWII style reconstruction, should events ever make it possible (unlikely), would indeed prove a dismal failure.
That being said: Russia is not Saudi Arabia. It has (or had, until February) a fairly large professional and creative class. It also has a centuries-long tradition of cultural excellence in the arts, music, literature, and science that is neither trivial in its global reach nor insubstantial enough to suggest a nation hopelessly mired in tribalistic despotism. The obstacles to liberalization would be immense, and daunting — particularly, dismantling the klepto-state and extinguishing the vast corruption it imposes. But the ingredients are there in a way that they weren't in, say, Afghanistan, where no amount of Western money would ever have made a difference.
One final note: America has its own Dugins, and its own inbred tribalism. I've never been to Russia (sadly, I may not have a chance to go for many years). But I would imagine that the people one might meet in its vast rural expanses are not so different from those you'd find in parts of rural America: obstinately suspicious, conspiratorial, parochial, fundamentalist, and vapidly nationalistic. These are universal human traits, and they are distributed among peoples of every nation on earth. The difference between America and Russia is that we've (historically) done a better job of keeping our crazies on the margins — though that's certainly not the case anymore.