Putin's Useful Idiots and More

Broadcasting various ideas and concepts favorable to the authorities of modern Russia is unsurprising for Western states. The narratives do not necessarily have to be in support of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin or his policies, but they may relate to doubts about the need to support Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression, a desire to understand Russia, or intimidation by a "nuclear war" that could happen if you do not "listen to Russia." Not all those who spread narratives convenient for the Russian authorities believe that they are working in the Kremlin's interests. Some may be sincerely convinced that they are simply defending their own opinions, although this may play into the hands of Moscow's authoritarian regime.

Russian culture is still popular in many countries. Even if it is fragmented, a considerable number of cultured people in the West have read Leo Tolstoy or Fyodor Dostoevsky. It is also easy to find fans of Russian ballet, sports, or science. Or we can simply talk about an abstract romantic image of a distant snowy country where harsh people live. This image has been shaped by Western mass culture for a long time, and someone may well like it. And official Moscow regularly tries to use all this in its propaganda.

The peculiarity of the situation is that the Russian Federation is constantly trying to identify the current Putin regime with the romantic and imaginary Russia of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, ballet, and hockey. And it works to a certain extent. From time to time, Western discourse suggests that a country of such great culture cannot be ignored, and Pope Francis has even expressed doubts about the possibility of war crimes being committed by those who have read Dostoevsky.

All of this is an example of deliberate manipulation. It should be clear that the cultural heritage of the past cannot justify the actions of politicians and the military of today. They have nothing to do with this heritage. There can be no "collective prizes" for literary or artistic works and all the more reason to transfer all this to criminal political regimes. Just as German classical philosophy cannot justify Nazism, so Russian literature cannot come close to influencing the perception of Putinism's crimes.

The Hope of the "Left" and "Right"

Paradoxically, the current Russian government in the West often evokes a positive attitude from the holders of directly opposite political ideologies: both the extreme left and the extreme right. Numerous modern Marxists, socialists, as well as conservatives and neo-Nazis, admire Putin and modern Russia. Of course, they have different reasons for this.

For the "left", Russia is a direct continuation of the USSR, in which they see an attempt to build a classless society of social justice. Such sentiments are reinforced by the newest enmity between Moscow and Washington, as well as the cult of Soviet leaders like Joseph Stalin, which is now being revived in Russia. All of this, of course, is self-deception. Since the 1990s, the Russian Federation has undergone a large-scale privatization that has ended state ownership of the means of production. Therefore, the Russian Federation can be called different things, but it is not a socialist state. Capitalism has been built there, and it is a rather tough capitalism, typical of the West a century ago. It is a capitalism in which huge amounts of money are concentrated in the hands of a small "elite" and the social gap between the richest and the poorest is simply unimaginable for any developed democratic society.

The war that Russia is waging against Ukraine is a typical colonial war for "spheres of influence" and has nothing to do with liberating anyone or achieving social justice. The presence of Lenin's monuments, the Mausoleum, and other attributes of Soviet communism should not mislead anyone, because they are preserved for one purpose only - to claim the heritage of the entire USSR, and thus all the territories of the Union.

As for the right, they often see Putin as an opponent of the globalized world and the spread of modern values in the West. Such an impression is created by the fact that homophobia is being actively promoted in modern Russia, and the Russian Orthodox Church is becoming, in fact, the state church. For "insulting the feelings of believers," one can get a real prison term, and all religious holidays are celebrated at the state level.

However, even this "conservatism" is completely demonstrative, and it does not prevent Russia from being among the leading countries in terms of divorce, abortion, and sexually transmitted diseases. And even at the state level, they are forced to recognize this by initiating a complete abortion ban, because the regime needs many potential soldiers.

The Russian regime has managed to create an attractive image for many "non-systemic" politicians and thinkers in the West, relying on anti-Americanism and building a fictional image of Russia in the public consciousness, both "left" and "right", which is supposedly an alternative to something.

The Power of Fear

A separate topic is the power of intimidation generated by the Russian authorities and reflected in the minds of many Western politicians. We are talking about the threat of "World War III" or a nuclear war between Russia and the West. This is constantly mentioned by numerous experts, politicians, and even businessmen (including Elon Musk). All of them constantly say that Russia can use nuclear weapons, and therefore "we will have to negotiate with it."

The logic of such reasoning is clear. No one seems to be openly siding with Russia but promotes theses favorable to it, allegedly out of fear for the future of humanity. However, there is a fundamental logical problem here. If the Russian government is ready to start a nuclear war, it means that it is ready to go completely beyond rationality, to put itself on the brink of existence to achieve goals that are not related to the defense of Russia. After all, the aggression against Ukraine does not affect Russia's fundamental interests at all and can be curtailed at any time. So what would prevent such an irrational actor from using these weapons at another time? Then, it turns out, we need to think not about how to negotiate with him, but how to deter and stop him.