War rages in Ukraine as the natives fight heroically while the Russians do what they always do, overwhelm the enemy with numbers. Sun-Tzu stressed the importance of knowing the enemy. Putin is portrayed as a madman, tyrant, and even Hitler in some circles. It is so human to turn such foes into cartoon characters. Such thinking is sloppy and often ignores reality. Well, the world suffered because the few who read Mein Kempf failed to take it seriously. In the same vein, it might not be a bad idea to become familiar with Alexander Dugin. Some call him the most dangerous philosopher in the world. Others call him "Putin's brain."
There are plenty of videos of the Russian philosopher on Youtube debating his philosophy. He is both an anti-communist and anti-Enlightenment. A student of Heidegger, he combined Nazism, fascism, and some Bolshevism into a Eurasianism creed that de-emphasizes the role of the individual and sees the West as an adversary that must be destroyed. He sees Eurasia in a death struggle with what he calls the Atlanticists, i.e. the American Empire.
Dr. Michael Millerman provides a quick primer on Dugin philosophy in a 2014 on Canadian public television. He earned his PhD at the University of Toronto studying the philosopher, thus providing a window into Putin's brain. It's not quite Being John Malkovich but it's a good start if one wants to go down into this rabbit hole.
While Dr. Millerman somewhat admires Dugin, National Review called his philosophy an "evil theology." Robert Zubrin penned these words in the conservative publication in 2014:
Most Americans don’t know anything about Alexander Dugin. They need to, because Dugin is the mad philosopher who is redesigning the brains of much of the Russian government and public, filling their minds with a new hate-ridden totalitarian ideology whose consequences can only be catastrophic in the extreme, not only for Russia, but for the entire human race.....
What Russia needs, says Dugin, is a “genuine, true, radically revolutionary and consistent, fascist fascism.” On the other hand, “Liberalism, is an absolute evil. . . . Only a global crusade against the U.S., the West, globalization, and their political-ideological expression, liberalism, is capable of becoming an adequate response. . . . The American empire should be destroyed.”....
This is the ideology behind the Putin regime’s “Eurasian Union” project. It is to this dark program, which threatens not only the prospects for freedom in Ukraine and Russia, but the peace of the world,...
It is on behalf of this program that the Putin regime has created a bloodbath in eastern Ukraine, which, following Dugin, it now terms “New Russia.” It is on behalf of this program that Dugin, with massive support from the Russian government, has organized a fascist international of European fringe parties, and on behalf of this program that the Quislings leading those parties are willing to betray their nations to Kremlin domination. Without Ukraine, Dugin’s fascist Eurasian Union project is impossible, and sooner or later Russia itself will have join the West and become free, leaving only a few despised and doomed islands of tyranny around the globe. But with Ukraine underfoot, the Eurasianist program can and will proceed, and a new iron curtain will fall into place imprisoning a large fraction of humanity in the grip of a monstrous totalitarian power that will become the arsenal of evil around the world for decades to come. Article
If you want to get a heavy dose of the ideological force behind the Russian assault, check out Dugin's seminal work is The Fourth Political Theory, published in 2012. It definitely causes problems with the earth's gravitational force.
39 comments:
I wager the average American knows no less of Dugin than they know of NATO expansion post Soviet collapse...and the implications thereof.
1984 was looked at the same.
Those who would destroy a country’s way of life always seem to consider themselves the true patriots.
10:38, Why does everyone have to kiss Russia’s ass in order for it to feel secure?
Dugin’s Foundations of Geopolitics is Putin’s playbook.
When Ukraine stopped leaning east towards Russia and not was not neutral but pro west the invasion which started in 2008, 2014 got real and now was assured. Russia has the economic footprint of Spain; second largest trading country is Netherlands. (Surprised me). No pushed t be closer with China. Russia holding Ukraine has massive economic and defensive benefits. Can a small country in population (Russia) pull it off? I do not know. Ukraine is winning the propaganda war.
I come here for the Jackson gossip. Not for your asinine, kosher takes on geopolitics, Kingfish. Stay in your lane, midwit.
11:34, was America telling the world it needed its butt kissed by refusing to accept offensive measures placed in Cuba?
I think not.
Looking for multi-polar stability is hardly kissing up to anyone.
I enjoy this blog and KF's work on it, but any article on the Ukraine that omits Maidan and its "sponsors" - in the parlance of a word salad technician, "Come on man!"
The real bottom line is authoritarianism. Putin simply embraces a philosophy that ignores the aspirations of the people and keeps all power in HIS hands
without calling him a dictator or recognizing himself as a tyrant. That's why Mr. Trump can identify with him as a "genius". This philosopher's half baked philosophy lends intellectual credibility to to a tyrant's ambitions, and is therefore useful. Philosophical bullshit.
@7:38 AM
Please give us some examples if Putins tyranny.
Because I am sympathetic to suppressing subversive, foreign intelligence backed groups like Pussy Riot. Because radical subversives and feminazi groups have caused enormous destruction in the West. We spend billions funding subversive groups in places like Russia. And the MSM was apoplectic when Facebook sold $100k in political advertising to Russian cut-outs. It rings hollow to call Putin a “meddling” tyrant when we do worse to them.
So you read Sun-Tzu? Really?
8:08 : Isn't it crazy that we are at this point in our history. The "bad guy" question couldn't be more blurred right now. I have to agree with you, the real bad guys today are those way out on the fringes of societal norms both left and right. Funding matters little ......as they have literally taken us all into hell with seemingly only one way out. Our own passive human nature could also take some blame . Idk, it's all so messed up.
I was gonna say this article is pure BS propoganda, but others have already said it more articulately.
8:51 - I agree. It's "Bizzarro World". And what I have issue with is the "societal norms" you mentioned are in question by those who will question as to who determines what societal norms are, and who says they have to be the same societal norms that we have known for decades.
8:08 Well, if you don't count the unprovoked violent overthrow of another sovereign nation costing thousands of innocent lives you might have a point. He's not a tyrant, he's just widely misunderstood.
"So you read Sun-Tzu? Really?" Yes I have. Required reading where I worked in the past. I've also read Dugin and believe he is molding minds of many of our Political leaders and future leaders.
Good grief!
So...
Putin isn't evil or mad , he just embraces an evil,mad philosophy and strategy?
He's a "dupe"?
Dugin bashes "liberalism"and wanted to propagandize the classic definition.
"Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed and equality before the law. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but they generally support individual rights, democracy, secularism, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion and a market economy."
Russian inference under Putin, succeeded to the extent that the principals of both conservatism and liberalism could be abandoned to loyalty to a group( party,political action group) or to one man (the eventual outcome).
Dugin simply studied Goebbels and the psychology of external enemies and threats and the appeal of "superiority" as a mean to unite humans in a common goal.
He's a psychopath and so is Putin. And, the dupes are the ones who bought what they were selling.
You want to blame somebody? Blame yourselves if you didn't see the flaw in the lousy "product" being sold.
You overlooked the real lesson of history in that your greed and self-interest at the expense of other in your society and your lack of civility and respect and willingness to discover WHY others disagree with you, is what got us here.
And, please know you have a real fear as a result. China didn't issue their caution to Putin today because they've suddenly embraced liberalism, but because the wind is blowing north and east from Ukraine. They know what that means. You don't want to know. You believed you live on an island and your tribe could control the island and control neighboring islands and make them be like you just as Dugin hoped you'd would.
It never occurred to you until now to imagine this kind of war in the future. You still wallow in stories of heroic soldiers and generals without WMDs whose battles won wars. You ridiculously entertained the idea that radioactivity could be " contained" and limited...the wind didn't blow and it would stay only in the air anyway...never landing on food sources or water. And, if it did, there would be no long term consequences. Money is everything and you need " stuff"and to be "right" to prove how important you are. You never needed anyone or any good fortune for your successes, you are " exceptional".
So were the Trojans Romans, Japanese, Germans who let their godlike leaders have absolute power and the bulk of the wealth.
Wake up! Being " woke" isn't bad when it's a call to deal with the reality that no everyone is just like you and may know things you don't haven't bothered to even try to see or understand or learn!
@9:41
How many sovereign nations have we invaded?
Iraq didn’t attack us on 9/11 and neither did Afghanistan.
Osama bin Ladin was a Saudi and so were most of the 9/11 hijackers.
Remember that he was killed in Pakistan and no actual evidence exists that he was ever anywhere but there.
We do worse.
Have no fear, joe biden speaks highly of the Uranian people.
It's gotta be all good.
Interesting how it always seem to come down to the preservation of the desired racial and ethnic profiles and the elimination of the undesirable racial and ethnic profiles. Hard to overcome that bent and broken nature, isn't it?
I’m just glad that Covid is basically over, the big push for battery operated cars is happening, and Ukraine is the hot new bandwagon thing to support. All this because of Russia!
Greatest minds within the last 100 years:
1) Farrakhan
2) Hitler
3) Marlo Stanfield
4) Kamala Harris
5) Kingfish
@7:38 AM
Two things:
1) There's no democracy in Russia, so it's not Putin's master plan to control the masses. Soviet Union conducts its business in this manner, PERIOD.
2) Bush committed war crimes. And?
@11:03 AM
Kingfish should be higher on the list, slightly above Harris.
@10:36 AM
"Uranian people."
Sigh.
What is even more bizarre ?
Reading comments from jackson area people about topics they have no idea about.
And expecting some divine words.
Waste of life
11:41 AM
We speak English, not Incoherence.
Does the government work for the people, or do the people work for the government? The answer to this question is the fundamental, irreconcilable difference between the United States and Russia.
Russia is bad actor on the world stage, intent on undermining any country that does not pledge allegiance to it. Russia not our friend, and never will be absent seismic change in the answer to the question posed above.
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits." Matthew 7:15-16
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." Galations 5:22-23
What does Putin's fruit look like?
Well done, 10:21.
I can still recite Thomas Jefferson (with slight variations, perhaps): "I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility toward any form of tyranny over the mind of man." We Americans may yet (or soon) be called upon, again, to defend that set of values, even to the death. I feel a little silly saying that, but the Tyrant never sleeps.
12:25 PM said…
What does Putin's fruit look like?
Russia builds three new churches a day.
Putin is rebuilding demolished Kremlin church and monasteries
Al Jazeera: Putin and the Rise or Christianity in Russia
I think God is well aware of Putin’s Fruits
1:46, Yes, He is, and the construction of buildings is not the type of fruit He is looking for. Nor is the demolition of buildings, which seems to be Putin's most recent and earnest endeavor.
-12:25
6:09 AM Quit hitting the sauce so early in the day.
I really hope that the FBI has taken notice of the Putin supporting traitors in our midst. To be honest, I do not feel safe knowing that these people walk freely among us.
@2:51 PM
Wait until you realize America's all in Putin's business and not the other way around.
BTW, it's "Putin-supporting traitors" not "Putin supporting traitors." You're suggesting Putin supports traitors which makes "Putin" the subject of the sentence when "traitors" is the actual subject.
Also, it's never too late to earn your GED.
1:46, is that you, Tucker?
So, he's building or rebuilding churches. All well and good, but he's still a dictator starting wars against non-hostile counties. Compare John D. Rockefeller handing out nickels to children. You may want to read back up on the Anti-Christ.
2:51 - Congress has not declared war against Russia, and first amendment still give freedom of speech. I am scared of people like you, Mitt Romney, Sean Hannity, and Lady G.
3:50 - Ukraine is no democracy either, and Putin is merely carrying out what he promised to do if NATO continued trying to expand eastward. Going back to Ivan III and the Napoleonic times, Russia has always feared western countries trying to expand to Russia's borders. Contrary to what our esteemed Roger Wicker has said, Putin is not Hitler trying to obtain Lebensraum. I hate wars and find them almost always senseless, but the U.S. is not innocent here. Did you shed any tears for Iraq when Colin Powell lied about weapons of mass destruction?
Thank you for the clarification, 5:50 PM
It is difficult to know when even Kingfish is referring to Putin and Russia as "The Enemy" in his headlines.
5:50, NATO is not a nation, and it is not attempting to swallow other nations and replace their government, unlike Putin's Russia. Also, NATO is not invading countries and bombing cities so they will request membership. Finally, NATO is not the United States.
Propaganda is nothing but political lies, and Putin and his regime is full of it.
5:50, I think it was Donald Rumsfeld and his neo-con posse that pushed the WMD lie. Gen. Powell was just naive enough to believe they wouldn't lie to him about it. Personally, I have despised Rumsfeld since I first learned his name, as well as many others from the George W. Bush administration. They are a stain on the morality of the United States.
In fact, the United States, as a whole, was so disgusted with that administration that we elected a young Constitutional law professor, even though he was black, which I didn't think would happen in my lifetime. After all, black people only make up about 14% of the country. We wanted change, and that was his campaign slogan.
8:05 pm, it was Cheney. Rumsfeld and Tenet went along.
That Tenet got the Medal of Freedom after it was obvious there were no WMDs is more than a little egregious.
It begs the question whether the lack of nuclear anything was kept from Bush or if he knew.
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