Mr. Gessen---- You say as soon as you turn on TV in Russia you get total paranoia…aggressive, ill-informed arguments about geopolitics…the political atmosphere is poisonous.
But what does that remind you of here? The powerful American media monopoly Fox News.
See Headline:
CNN CEO Jeff Zucker said that “Fox News Is State-Run Propaganda: TASS Has Nothing On Them”.
So, lets compare America vs Russia today.
In America, land of the Free---- a rw extremist party headed by an authoritarian now dominates our 3 branches and most states.
Our dominant party uses its own monopoly media to set political norms and sway voters with self serving propaganda.
It entrenches its power by using voter suppression & gerrymandering, staying within laws it designed.
It's financed by our own American oligarchs whose campaign mega donations our highest court has legalized as ‘free political speech’---an Orwellian concept---which overpowers the input of ordinary citizens on US lawmaking. This forces the other party to compete for big $$ in a big money arms race. weakening the opposition's ability to represent the mass of ordinary citizens. .
It sends down an Orwellian memory hole the evidence of our better past that once strengthened, not weakened its middle and working class.
It manipulates GOP voters to take pride, no matter what, in a ‘strong man’ leader who can insult racial/religious groups and dominate other countries.
Please discuss in your next op ed. Thanks.
67
it makes sense that putin should prefer dostoevsky to tolstoy. the former was a notorious promoter of anti-semitism and fake news, the latter a serious pacifist, a dedicated promoter of non-violence, and an authentic christian.
22
The latest "russianness" is a plot by trump and putin to switch the moral standing and credibility of the United States with Russia on global matters. The goal seems to be making the US look like a dumb, bully threatening unreasonable aggression on immoral policies and to make Russia look like they are compassionate, reasonable leaders who care for nothing more than supporting human rights and multilateral-ism. It's topsy-turvey time.
Today, in the NYTimes article on, of all things, a breast-feeding resolution at the WHO this became clear to me.
Read is and this quote to judge for yourself what you think is the strategy:
A Russian delegate said the decision to introduce the breast-feeding resolution was a matter of principle.
“We’re not trying to be a hero here, but we feel that it is wrong when a big country [the United States] tries to push around some very small countries [European Nations?], especially on an issue that is really important for the rest of the world,” said the delegate.
........do any of us really think that Russia cares about moral high ground while Putin is murdering his political opponents who simply engage in free speech? Murdering journalists and lawyers?
So, why would Russia suddenly care and why would the US suddenly, shockingly and strongly oppose such a seemingly positive resolution? I don't think the answer it as simple as "corporate greed".
It's coordinated; it's treason.
30
I just visited Russia for the first time. I encountered varying opinions among the Russians I met about Putin. I learned how many millions of Russians died during WWII and how many more died under Stalin. I saw the mass graves in St. Petersburg of the Russians who died during the siege of Leningrad by the Nazis. In Yaroslavl, a city guide with a dry sense of humor pointed to the statue of Lenin in the city square that city officials decided to leave standing because it would cost too much money to remove it, and said, "There's Lenin - always pointing to the future. We followed the way he pointed for seventy years, and found he was pointing to nothing." Some, though, are nostalgic for the Soviet days of guaranteed housing and employment. Others are happy to be able to practice their religion again. I learned about the toilet paper "necklaces" people wore down the street after the collapse of the Soviet Union and 2600% inflation meant you bought what you could when it was available. I passed a Bentley dealership in Moscow and saw the luxury stores in GUM, as well as fallapart houses out in the countryside. My impressions are that the Russian people are pretty much just like us, except they have a much longer and more painful history of slavery, oppression by autocrats, economic struggles, famine, and invasions. They may be quite willing to overlook autocracy and freedom of expression in order to just have a measure of security. Warm people, great culture - hope to return.
31
Mr. Putin's poisonings are as innocent as obscure band's album?
7
Trump's meeting with Putin after the NATO meeting?
We must watch carefully. NATO has held Russia in check (except for Crimea and Ukraine) since the end of WWII. Trump has bashed NATO and cozied up to Putin. Why? Russia is a source of money for Trump's businesses. Trump admires dictators.
Seven Republican Senators visited Moscow over 4th of July for "this and that" with Russians. Who else is drinking Trump's cool-aid?
28
Who would have thought that when the Republicans picked red for their color at conventions and on bumper stickers in the 80s, they would become the RED Party, the Party of the Red Russians and the Democrats would now be the truer BLUE party?! No Democratic Senators went to kowtow to the Putinistas!
25
Ukraine conflict? Would it have happened if the US State Dept., with its hooks into NATO, had evolved its thinking as the Soviet Union made the decision to abandon its European perspective? And dissolve itself? The inability for the US to extract itself from the WWII Cold War has had its consequences. Pushing NATO around like a shopping cart should have ceased.
7
I thoroughly enjoyed this as the writer's perspective's authenticity kept me rapt with interest. He certainly has
Putin pegged! If only Trump did.
10
Moscow might be thriving but it would have been interesting to hear about how the rural areas Russia are doing under Putin.
12
Better than they were doing before Putin that's why the support for Putin is greater in rural areas
9
I relate to Keith Gessen's interest and confusion. But the country of my interest is India. I am now a proud naturalized professional US citizen, the model immigrant. But I was born in India disdainful of only it's real ugliness but never looking at the entire tapestry colorful and beautiful. But visiting India after 10 years shows the great sea changes and strides made, playing catch up. Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi are the Indian Silicon Valleys. Fast modern trains with new railroads now connect more cities and villages. And they run on schedule! India is a young country with a young, intelligent, English- speaking citizenry who are in a big hurry, very competitive with no patience for corrupt politicians and bureaucracy. They help themselves, not wait for corrupt politicians to get anything done. There are no more 'Servants'. Bazaars are full with patrons and wares.The young don't believe in the archaic caste system. Marriages are a meeting of minds, not caste nor horoscopes! India is in a big hurry with an 8% growth. Yes, the population explosion is real but now the young want only one child or none. Besides, India is nuclear with a large, sophisticated army. But it is not Pakistan nor North Korea. Most important, it is a real, working Democracy in the truest sense. There is yet a lot to be desired like civic sense and pollution. But this young ambitious, restless generation are changing all that. They just do not want to be left behind. Period.
11
"At the same time, as soon as you turned on the television, there it was: total paranoia about NATO bombers; aggressive, ill-informed arguments about geopolitics; bad movies about World War II. The political atmosphere is poisonous. Mr. Putin is in charge for six more years and has convinced himself and those around him that the country would collapse if he left. Russia has entered another dark period in its history, and there is no end in sight."
You know what I find really depressing? When I read this paragraph, I thought about how much it resembles what I see happening in this country. Of course, you might need to exchange "illegals" for NATO, but we won't know for sure until next week, will we? No matter, we have now have an assortment of enemies who are "killing us", like Canada. Who needs bad movies about WWII when we have websites devoted to "American Carnage" and congressional hearings filled with toxic propaganda? Or if you prefer some heartier fare, you can turn to the coverage of caged babies and children.
Trump seems certain that his term will extend a little longer than Putin's---another 6.5 years. Is it paranoid to think that that's more than a coincidence?
I don't see our multitude of mayonnaise and cereal brands disappearing. I just see our most important brand, democracy, disappearing in our own dark period.
23
The world is a dangerous place thanks to its leadership. They exist on greed. The new SCOTUS will also help expedite our demise. I think if we survive a nuclear catastrophe that it wouldn't be enough to learn from it. There is something inherently wrong with the human brain. For all the good we can muster, evil seems is winning out. Sorry for being a bummer, but if the only good news lately was that lions killed rhino poachers, then we are in deep trouble.
13
Readers of this excellent article will almost certainly have interest in the one at this link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/08/health/world-health-breastfeeding-ecu...
It describes how US officials stunned UN delegates -- in a debate on whether to encourage breast-feeding -- by blackmailing countries dependent on US aid into supporting their motion against doing so, and how Russian delegates stepped in to make sure the debate took place.
18
In the era of Donald Trump and Theresa May it may seem hypocritical or just obtuse for any Anglophone to say that Russia is only consistent in the inadequacy of the desperately poor leaders it "selects", or tolerates.
Putin is the worst, but just so much incompetence and selfishness from so many czars, such craziness from Bolshevik revolutionaries, such thuggery from Stalin, idiotic, Canute-like inflexibility from Brezhnevs and Andropovs, even just the drunken buffoonery of Yeltsin. Pick a century, pick a decade and you find the Russian people being let down by their leaders - howsoever selected.
I have never had anything other than brilliant, amusing, heartening interactions with Russian people in England and on my occasional travels there. I just can not fathom how the Russian people can have allowed themselves to be led by the series of obviously inappropriate kleptocrats, absolutists and reprobates who drag Russia down in to the mire.
13
Any foreigner (except American tourists, of course) visiting Russia in the last 15 years has returned back home with a positive view of the Russian people and the country's infrastructure modernization process.
The World Cup was an effective propaganda instrument to show a forward-looking Russia now increasingly integrated into the global economy.
Obviously, the Russian population is far from reaching the standard of living of a Germany, for example. However, there is a sense of optimism the country is finally on the right track of history.
For the first time since the disastrous Perestroika, Russians can feel good and proud of their country.
Russia's football team reaching the unprecedented semi-finals of the World Cup is, no doubt, a huge moral-boost.
13
There are a lot of problems in you well-written but, I think, misguided essay. First, if Russia did help elect Trump, then he is not our president, and we have lost our democracy. Your assessment of the US response to this travesty seems to minimize the gravity of the situation:
"Some of it was perfectly understandable anger at Russia’s role, however marginal, in electing Mr. Trump; but much of the Russia talk threatened to crowd out an examination of all the other reasons Mr. Trump was elected."
Of course, that Trump, against _all_ our intel services continues to deny any Russian involvement in the election gives the distinct impression that Russian influence over Trump is on-going.
Second, as has been well established, Putin has worked up rather involved plans to disrupt NATO, the EU, and the US -- from hacking into energy grids, to turning political systems against themselves, to funding extreme candidates. W/out mentioning the on-going attacks on Ukraine, Putin is already waging a low-level of warfare on "the West," so it hardly seems time to be trying to soften Western images of Russian power.
Third, it seems that Trump really isn't just enthralled by Putin, but rather is working for him. Look at nearly every action Trump has taken since coming to office: it's heavily in favor of Putin. But why? Why does Trump turn on our allies, while regularly praising and defending Putin? It's pretty clear we have a Manchurian Candidate.
27
"Look at nearly every action Trump has taken since coming to office: it's heavily in favor of Putin."
Look again. You have it backwards.
Putin recently said that US-Russian relations could not be worse.
Contrary to his inane tweets and your bogus "Putin's puppet" narrative, Trump has hit Russia hard on every front.
Let us count the ways:
1. Trump reversed Obama's Syria policy and has killed or wounded hundreds of Russian mercenaries and soldiers in Syria.
2. Trump reversed Obama's policy re. sales of our most potent missile defense system to Poland and Sweden. Putin fears this military weapon more than any other in our arsenal.
3. Trump reversed Obama's policy of refusing lethal military aid to Ukraine, and approved (4/30) selling the extraordinarily effective Javelin anti-tank missiles to Ukraine.
Trump has also
4. ... tripled defense initiatives to deter Russian aggression in Europe;
5. ... staged maneuvers on Russia's borders;
6. ... increased the budget for military spending in Europe by ~50% over Obama.
7. ... urged NATO partners to increase their military spending - most of it directed against Russia - by hundreds of billions overall;
8. ... sanctioned ~40 oligarchs & Russian officials
9. ... expanded the Magnitsky sanctions list
10. ... closed 2 consulates and many annexes
11. ... expelled 60 diplomats
So much for your "Manchurian candidate" hoax.
In fact, this is the most aggressively anti-Russian administration we have seen in 30 years.
12
I don't doubt that the majority of the Russian people are good, hardworking, peace loving individuals who don't pay much attention to politics. However the same can be said for Americans, and we ended up with a thoroughly corrupt mafia don for a president as well.
22
My interest in Russia began in a Soviet law class, led by an un-humerous professor whose demeanor suggested a person who would haul you off to the Lubyanka prison with no questions asked if you got out of line. His nickname became Gulag. What came out of that class was that the Russian state controlled everything, the political and economic structure and through their dictator and party leaders did whatever they wanted and enriched themselves. The place was run like the Mafia with endless corruption,( comparable to even when Chekhov was around) a country stuck in the past overrun by bribery and nepotism. Trump, even before he became president and unlike Chekhov has never been repulsed by the diseased state of the body politic of Russia, doing extensive business with them. Now he is under the spell of Putin. Hopefully, when Mueller is finished and the pending criminal cases run their course, we’ll understand why.
17
I live in Canada, and I can see the same thing happening with the United States, especially with the waves of mass shootings. Even though Canadians are really not very different.
8
Just remember, when you think of waves of mass shooting, that the U.S. population is 10 times that of Canada, meaning that if something in the U.S happens numerically 10 times that of Canada, the population adjusted occurance is the same.
2
It would mean that if the figures correlated, but they do not. It's not the number of murders that sets the US apart from the rest of the developed world, it's the murder rate.
Perhaps there's an argument to be made that given the number of firearms per capita, the murder rate is not out of line, but the question remains, why all fetishizing of the guns?
2
There is no doubt that there are many good Russian people. That does not mean that Putin is all of a sudden a great freind of the US people or the people of the world.
It seems like a lot of people wonder what the heck Trump sees in Putin. I think that without Russia’s interference in the 2016 election that Trump would not have been elected president. It’s crazy that GOP members of Congress went to Russia around the Fourth of July. The Russians who met with the members of Congress seem stunned that our Congress was so meek during the meetings.
Something mysterious is going on between Trump and Putin and it does not look good.
18
Perhaps the best article I've read on contemporary Russia. Now I'd like to see something comparable written on Israel. All we see are the crazy headlines, including the sniping massacres at Gaza. What do rational Israelis want?
7
I enjoyed reading Mr. Gessen’s piece, if only for the refreshing honesty in admitting that “For years the only reliable way to sell an article about Russia was to focus on someone who had been killed or arrested...”
It reminded me of the insightful comment (and I am Russian) made by someone from Finland to another NYT article about Russia about 4 years ago. I reproduce most of it below.
“I spent a week in the Russian hinterlands, traveling in a riverboat. Russia is an Africa with snow and it cannot be governed according to the cardboard stereotypes.
Putin, as all rulers of Russia, is not inventing jamesbond schemes in an underground high tech bunker. He is just herding cats and trying to keep the place from falling apart. Whatever his unknowable short term plans are, they have roots that are beyond his power.
Putin didn't invent Russian nationalism, corruption or societal gangsterism. Putin is not free to act according to whims or pipe dreams, but instead he is driven by colossal societal forces that have been churning for centuries.
American "experts" should give some useful analysis about these forces or stay quiet.
If you don't believe me, take a riverboat couple of hundred of miles beyond Moscow. Somewhere over there is an abandoned monastery and I bet you that in the middle of the court yard there is still the same human skull that was lying there during my visit. Nobody had had the energy the pick it up for decades.
This kind of country is not easy to govern.”
12
That is utter nonesense, which is fashionable among the Russian emigrees to eventually justify their leaving the country of their birth. You do not have to apologize or explain yourself, Ma’am; you went for better economic opportunity. Why trash the Old Country? People aren’t people everywhere: when they come to America, Russians, Mongols, or Ethiopians aspire to the same goals (98% of them): work hard, achieve success, etc. in fact, Russian immigrants are more successful as a group, than the American average. There s no such thing as Russian laziness, or Italian gangsterism, or Ukrainian prostitution. Those are stereotypes far from reality.
3
Dear AK, I know for a fact that hundreds and hundreds of remains from unmarked graves have been excavated and buried with dignity all across Russia in recent years - in memory of those who died in WW2 (including, by the way, the remains of the German soldiers) and also those killed by Stalin (e.g., in Butovo). Many new churches were built to commemorate these events. You can google this and see for yourself, about groups of mostly young Russian volunteers doing this work. I would not rely too much on memories of one foreign tourist who was who knows where and saw who knows what to write about this with who knows what motivation (and perhaps after a good drink or two? :-))).
4
Anna, thank you for your reply. What you say about the effort to bury remains from the War and Stalin's purges is true. My hat is off to guys doing that. Makes me think of two of my great-grandfathers. One went missing in action in the Battle of Kursk in 1943 (his third war); the other was shot by execution squad in 1937 for reading the Bible to his co-workers.
My point in quoting the Finnish tourist's comment is not that Russia is ugly. Russia is Russia. It has beauty and it has some ugliness, and I love Russia as it is. The fact is, improvements in major cities notwithstanding, Russia is not a first-world country. That's the main reason I left. (I also struggled through some hard time in Russia and thought that the country with pursuit of happiness written into its founding documents was worth a try.)
My (and the Finnish commenter's) point is that there are deep reasons for why things (and country leaders) are the way they are. This is as true for Russia as for any country. For example, I do not like Trump, to put it mildly. But I think it's important to look beyond superficial "reasons" (like Putin's help) to understand why Trump became the US President. (I live in a state where Trump won in a landslide.) It's important to try and understand what is happening under the surface.
2
Russia has oligarchs; so do we.
Russia's are tiny by comparison to ours. They go for metals like nickel or aluminum.
The truly dangerous oligarchs are the US tech titans who dominate more and more of our commerce, our news and information, and our culture.
It's a sad symptom of our age that no one who reads the Times even notices - let alone condemns, or protests - our recent president's sweetheart deal with a tech firm that has pending business before Congress and federal regulators.
Obama like Al Gore, like Bill and Hillary, has scored a nine-figure fortune thanks to cosy ties to oligarchs.
Netflix - a company that depends crucially unfavorable regulatory treatment - is paying an ex-President 1,000 x the median household income to "tell stories."
Does that not bother anyone at the Times?
Why do our elites keep pretending that our rotten politics is the fault of one man? Consider:
- Clinton Foundation.
- Gore (Google; VC funds).
- John Edwards (hedge funds).
- Donna Shlaka (United Health).
And now, Obama and Netflix.
Again and again, our leaders preen and posture and signal virtue as they collect 8- or 9-figure payouts from companies that never would have attained 1/10th their size were it not for favorable laws and regulations. Google/YouTube should have been broken up years ago.
Americans are being trolled.
Both parties are in on the game.
The itch to cash in on our oligarchic economy infects pseudo-progressive Democrats as much as Republicans.
12
This response is just what the Kremlin likes - their propaganda is aimed at convincing people the West is a corrupt as Russia. Every society has some corrupt people - but here (at least until Trump succeeds in destroying our institutions) prosecutors can still go after corruption at every level, the press can report on government corruption without fear of reporters being killed and ordinary people can post their opinions about it on social media without risking arrest. None of that is true in Putin’s Russia.
18
I don't care whether "the Kremlin likes" the facts - in reality, Putin is deeply worried about the current administration's sharp turn toward confrontation with Russia on every single front, from Syria to Ukraine to Poland, Estonia and even Sweden (see my recitation above of some of these many points of conflict).
We can't rescue Russia from oligarchy, but we can and must, without delay, rescue our own
Start by calling out our increasingly frail democracy for what it is: a Latin American-style oligarchic system with weak rule of law; rampant insider-ism across most of our major institutions; preening, clueless, out of touch politicians; and an economy in which a tiny handful of well-connected controls most of the wealth. (Note: the tech giants are now the biggest D.C. lobbyists by annual spending.)
While you attack Russia, each of your two political parties Is led by incompetent and wealthy politicos who compete with each other to signal virtue to a fast-growing and massive, soon-to-be majority underclass augmented by tens of millions of immigrants from Mexico and Central America.
This is not American democracy.
This is LATIN American shambolic, banana-republic democracy.
Does this bother you?
If so, why attack Russia instead of cleaning up your own house?
1
But in Russia they are also going after corruption every year, it just doesn't make a sent in corruption.
2
The key concept here is this, that while certain circles in the US insist on endlessly demonizing Russia, they seem to have a blind spot when it comes to self awareness or introspection. As Gessen says, the US has been the leading force behind many toppled governments, tainted elections and worse, for many decades. Americans need to take a closer look at themselves, ugly as that exercise might be, before criticizing and damning others, and perhaps work on correcting our own flaws. I know plenty of people who've lived in Russia recently, as well as many who have visited there, and have come away pleasantly surprised. As Pres. Trump says, it's much better for the US to have Russia as a friend, than a foe. While I disagree with much of his policies and approaches, on this point, he's right.
15
For as long as Russia is run as a mafia family, it is impossible for any truly democratic country to be friends with it. Try to be friends with a rat, a crocodile, or a hyena - same difference.
7
Seems to me, the US is very adapt to do so. It was friend with Suharto, with South Vietnamese Government, it is still a friend with Saudi.
5
When I was growing up (1960s and 70s), we had under-the-desk drills, everyone was learning about Russia and the Russian language. It was not an obscure country at all.
I have, as an adult, met many Russians who came to this country for freedom and opportunity, two things not available in Russia, then or now.
This piece reads to me as someone who wants us to be ok with giving up our customs and cultures, our freedoms because it's not so bad in Russia and, hey, the president and putin are buddies.
My family left Russia because of persecution. That's where this president is leading us to here. I do not want to be like Russia, the country. Not at all.
26
Good article. It is nice to read a somewhat balanced view even if it is only very brief. However, equating American influence in overturning communism or conflating it with Putin's utter disregard for democratic values is misleading at best. The general American mistrust in most things Russian stems from its sordid history of having butchered millions of its own people during the communist years and invading Eastern European countries almost at will. The music, literary and scientific output from Russia is and always has been considerable and outsized compared to the size of its population but that does not mitigate the many ugly actions of Russia. Putin is one leader the world can do without.
9
Thanks for your perspective. While I understand your confliction, I don't understand your confusion. Acts of aggression and violence always cause notice, even celebrity, in all walks of life. The Russian people give up a lot for that notoriety.
2
United States history and that of the Russian empire could not be more different. Anglo-Americans emptied a continent of its natives in the process of occupying it, and (with the help of slavery) grew a small, agrarian republic into a mighty capitalist empire, fighting innumerable wars, both continental and overseas, in the process. Russians, too, fought many wars of annexation, but they could not exterminate whole populations, and had to keep this heterogeneous empire together with an army, bolstered by religion and emperor-worship. A republic of laws, much less a democracy, would have been impossible in a vast region that included Muslims and several sorts of Christians, and scores of nationalities that do not speak Russian and whose only common history is of having been conquered. Russia has all the land mass it can use, and more, although it has a nationalistic urge to reclaim parts of the empire that it recently lost, like Crimea and Ukraine. (Imagine if the U.S. had just lost Texas, or California. We'd want 'em back!) Russia feels weak, and pushed around. It's in a defensive posture, while America has gotten used to calling all the shots, and feels threatened when its international arrangements are threatened. Russia's only hope of survival in this world is in a strong central government ruled with an iron hand - i.e. an authoritarian czar, or president for life, adored by the rank and file. This was true under Communism, and will be true for the foreseeable future.
9
"Anglo-Americans emptied a continent of its natives in the process of occupying it"......... Before you fall all over yourself trying to justify Russia, you should consider that the Tartars who originally occupied Crimea were shipped to Siberia so that Crimea could be inhabited instead by ethnic Russians.
5
The key word here is occupied. Like former Yugoslavia or Palestine, that place has beem occupied and reoccurred for centuries, sometimes millennia. Who is right and who is dead there is determined by who is in power today...
Mr Gessen, Some of your assertions reminded me of Trump's attempts to temper criticism of Putin by pointing out that The United states is not guiltless, "There are a lot of killers. You think our country's so innocent." True or not, I do not expect my president to be saying that to defend an adversarial head of a foreign government. Also, I not sure that it has been determined that Russian meddling was "marginal" and have seen much examination in our press as to other factors that have brought us this President, but no, the press didn't point out that because of our own history of meddling we are not so innocent ourselves. Really, should they have? Would that imply that it was deserved and, therefore, have made the meddling more acceptable?
It seemed to me that you have a conflicted relationship with Russia, that is somehow made less so by pointing out this country's shortcomings.
8
The argument to which you refer, if the U.S. does something than Russia is therefore to be held blameless for doing something similar, most be part of the Russian, as opposed to American, thought process, as that type of argument is typically employed by the Russian propaganda trolls.
7
What a jumble of ideas, and superficial at that. Yes, Putin and Novichok are in the news as newsreaders still struggle to say Vesel’nitskaya’s name correctly (stress on the “nits”, by the way.) Media coverage of Russia is pretty superficial. There used to be much more in-depth features in the NYT during Soviet times.
I’d like to know what course Russia is teaching. I doubt it’s in Russian, which is hardly taught in the U.S. these days. As for the richness of Russian culture, which was Gessen’s mother’s milk, many cultures are rich, but that doesn’t equate with life on the street. That’s just like here, by the way.
Gessen’s immigrant experience is very different from that of a native born American’s pursuit of an understanding of Russia. I know because I studied and worked there. It’s not all Tostoy and Bolshoi. It’s a tough place. It’s complex. It has beauty, poverty and a lot of intolerance. Just like here, but in a different way. I have to say one big difference is that Soviet Russia suffered millions of deaths from war and totalitarian oppression in ways from which Americans could learn profound lessons. Russia also had serfdom. We had slavery. These are parallels too often ignored, including in this piece.
11
"...the story of the Soviet immigrant who burst into tears the first time she saw an American supermarket with its mind-boggling abundance...How could a place have so many brands of mayonnaise?"
Having six different brands of mayonnaise is NOT abundance, it's inefficient redundancy. Further inefficiency is added when advertising enterprises are enlisted to convince consumers that their brand is best, often through deceptive means or appeals to irrational urges - car advertisements that tell you will be sexy if you buy this car.
An economic system based largely on deceitful advertisements creates a pessimism and cynicism among the public and, as polls clearly show, a public that finds the means of production - corporations - untrustworthy and hostile.
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/09/quantifying-america...
When only 36 percent of Americans feel that the enterprises that provide their material goods are a 'source of hope' for their economy, then you have a dysfunctional system.
When you realize that the Russian mistook multiple brands as a sign of abundance in a country that now has 1 in 5 children living in poverty, a country in which up to 80% of the public now live in a state of precarious existence resembling the realities of life in a developing country, you are then able to see capitalism for what it is.
Capitalism surely looks good in comparison to gulag communism, but surely we can do much, much better.
20
this is the best comment of all, by far.
4
I am Canadian and my Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland was an economic journalist who spent most of her career as THE Russia expert. Freeland's books Sale of the Century and Plutocrats: The Rise of the Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else pretty well explain that the GOP and the Russian plutocracy are on the same page. I am continually frustrated by American obfuscation that the GOP platforms from 1964 onward and the Russian geopolitical platform are matching bookends and Russia now having Russian Orthodoxy as its state religion we in the Western Democracies now face the tag team onslaught of Russia and the USA seeking to destroy 100 years of democratic advances.
Americans are focused only on their own country and have failed to understand that Putin is not manipulating the USA he is the leader of a country that long ago adopted the GOP platform lock stock and barrel and Donald Trump simply provides a convient distraction.
Every day I see America becoming less a Western Democracy and more Russian Oligarchy with wealth and power more concentrated, the judiciary increasingly corrupt and State Media more and more less able to communicate what is happening. Cynicism is the existential foe of democracy and in the USA cynicism rules.
75
T,
I know Evanston. I love Evanston. I love its University, I love its downtown. I love its diversity and I love its middle-class values. its intellectualism and I fear that is the society the GOP and Russian oligarchs seek to destroy.
Evanston is the American dream and although I am not a vegan, pro-legaslization and heterosexual and have children and grandchildren in Evanston what I fear is not liberalism but the fascism of the GOP and Russia.
Your comment tells me the polarization of America is complete I cannot imagine a better place to raise a family than Evanston and you have explained very well that it is a GOP Hell.
"Russia has been in the news a lot lately". -- Bah!
With all respect and sincere sympathy to Mr. Gessen, I would recommend the reading of Boris Akunin's (né Grigorii Shalovitch Tchkhartashvili) series on the history of the Russian State. Akunin also penned one or two historical novels on each period, for those who love gruesome endings.
2
A Russian, an Irish and a Pole working at resort find a genie in a bottle. The genie grants them each a wish of they release him. The Irish without hesitation says, "I want a crack of gold!" The Pole, scratches his chin and says, "I would like a mild winter this year." The Russian leans in and snarls, "I want my neighbor's cow to die."
26
We have heard numerous jokes in this vein from Russians over the years, and there's a kernel of truth: we were told of people being reported by their neighbors for trying to supplement their diet by keeping a pig without turning it over to the authorities.
Alas, this spite and vengeance is not unique to Russians. Dear Leader's base is resentful of non-white people being given a leg up after centuries of slavery and discrimination, fearful in their zero-sum calculations that the success of minorities means their own relative loss of prestige. The women in that base have yet to realize that their own status has taken a deep dive now that we live in Trumplandia.
9
Mr. Gressen should have studied anthropology instead of history. The mundanity of human existence is something we all take for granted. History tends to focus on the grand and the epic. Personalities are a particular area of interest. Most of human experience though exists somewhere on the perimeter of historical events. For 200,000 years, humans have wandered around the earth doing and thinking what they do. Not everyone had enough foresight to stop and jot down a few notes.
When we compare Russia to the United States or Bolivia, or wherever, we tend to see these vast gaping discrepancies. However, when you compare any two individuals from anywhere, the similarities will vastly outweigh the differences. As my archaeology professor used to say "everybody poops." Oddly enough, coprolites are an amazingly useful artifact. They'll actually tell you more about a population than any document. Why do you think people cry over grocery stores? Everyone needs to eat.
6
Keith Gessen writes that he “was depressed... by the news coverage [of Russia} in the United States” after the 2016 election.
Most US news coverage of Russia in recent years has neglected not only the history of US “meddling in the internal affairs” of other countries, “including Russia itself” (as Gessen says), but the long history of external US provocations of the World War II ally without whom we could not have defeated Nazi Germany.
This coverage has also neglected the complex, difficult history of the relationship of Crimea and Ukraine with Russia.
For example: news stories on Russia since its annexation of Crimea in 2014 almost never mention that Crimea was a part of Russia from 1783 until 1954 when Soviet Premier Khrushchev handed it off to Ukraine.
Or that (according to Noam Chomsky, citing James Warburg, an adviser to President Roosevelt) “the Russian notes of March-April, 1952 … proposed unification of Germany under internationally supervised elections, with withdrawal of all troops within a year, if there was a guarantee that a reunified Germany would not be permitted to join a Western military alliance.”
Or that in early 1990 US Secretary of State James Baker, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, and Kohl’s foreign minister Hans Dietrich Genscher misled Mikhail Gorbachev and Genscher’s Soviet counterpart Eduard Shevardnadze when Genscher assured the latter that “for us, it stands firm: NATO will not expand itself to the East.”
12
I don't recall that the U.S. hacked Putin's e-mails and published them on WiKi leaks.
9
"....almost never mention that Crimea was a part of Russia from 1783 until 1954 when Soviet Premier Khrushchev handed it off to Ukraine..."
This is a fair observation, but the Russian Federation agreed on the Ukrainan boundaries when Russia acknowledged its sovereignity in 1990 and again as part of the Budapest Memorandum ...
http://www.un.org/ga/search/viewm_doc.asp?symbol=A/49/765
... whereby Ukraine gave up its nuclear arsenal in exchange for security guarantees and territorial integrity.
As there seem to be good arguments for the Crimea belonging to Russia, Russia could have brought the case to be settled in the International Court of Justice, for instance, instead of one-sided use of military force. Now there is a general feeling that treaties with Russia perhaps are not be trusted, as Russia may be considering them 'bad deals' (to use Trump vocabulary).
5
They just was not able to do so, but Panama papers were published
4
I like the Russian style of writing in this article where personal emotions are expressed about politics. The photos tell a story too. Love the one with Trump and Putin - Putin's expression tells you everything! Plus what little hair Putin has left looks real and probably was once naturally blond! Trump of course has his dyed blond wig on
and is wearing a Red tie!
5
Your description of Russia may suggest that life goes on 'as usual', as long as you stay away from politics and mind your own business...while the state-imposed horrors in trampling human rights and muzzling a free press, even killing the opposition with impunity, is looked at with indifference (a 'killer' in and by itself). This may be perfectly O.K. if you choose to be a robot or troll, where solidarity, let alone justice, are not in your lexicon. But if you have feelings and the 'golden rule' makes sense, getting involved is a must. Putin is as ugly a beast as Trump, both despots trying to maintain power...to abuse it, for their own enrichment and stupid megalomania. For those that think this is just the 'new normal', think again. And Ben Franklin comes in handy: " Those willing to surrender freedom for security deserve neither". And that is the rub.
32
Wow, of course Russia is not a perfect countries, but it is not a reason to exaggerate the problems. There are plenty of free press in Russia, plenty of opposition. And yes, there are The human right violations that happened in any countries including the US. And killings? Didn't recently 5 people from newspaper were killed in the US? Does that constitute war on press in the US by the Government?
2
In answer to your last questions, yes and yes; but still an amateur compared to the old/ex Soviet Union's expertise. I wonder where did Trump learn to lie with so much dedication, likely a combination of his turbid real estate dealings and wheeling...and the lessons of a master abroad. Did you notice that, in spite of Putin's Russia invading the U.S. with cyber attacks (and giving Trump the presidency), Trump has never ever complained about it, believing an ex-KGB agent's denials and not his own "Intelligence agencies?"
This is a well written nostalgic piece and for a nano second I remembered my fondness for Russian culture.Quickly, however, I could see the Russian tanks rumbling into Ukraine, and picture the bodies of Russian journalists being moved for burial and mostly the photos of Russian Oligarchs with bundles of stolen money visiting the US to see whom they could buy.Trump likes Russia, Russia likes Trump- I find them both dishonest and despicable.
23
As an American, I view the Russian as capable of deep analytic thought, coupled with an ability to master technologies to perform incredible feats.......Draining the entire Aral Sea in order to grow cotton comes to mind. Do I dare mention Chernobyl here?........In other words, the russian is his own worst enemy. He will do everything to incredible excess. Just do to YouTube and type in "russian dash cam". Why are we so peaved at the Russian ability to use internet media, supposedly for "mind control"? Well.....didnt the USA attempt exactly the same thing earlier in several Ukranian Elections?? yes we did.
3
"Russia is never so strong nor so weak as she appears" - Talleyrand
It would greatly help if our journalists, pundits and political elites were to do what Mr Gessen almost does here and admit that Russia's _dezinformatsiya_ and other tricks had utterly no bearing on the 2016 election outcome.
Not "however marginal" but ZERO. Nichego. Zip.
Putin is a nasty character. He's also standing up for his country, and paying pensions, and resisting the extreme foolishness of suicidal western globalist one-worldism and virtue-signaling.
These stands have made him, despite his obvious brutality and corruption, hugely popular in his country.
He is viewed there in more or less the same way that our own president is viewed by most Americans outside the identity politics-obsessed coastal enclaves.
Like Trump, Putin is seen as crude clown who is vastly preferable to his constantly apologizing, "kick me please" predecessor.
Obama like Yeltsin talked a good game but did nothing to stop the creation of an oligarchy and the erosion of self-government and rule of law.
Russia's oligarchs have rougher manners than ours, but Messrs. Bezos, Page, Zuckerberg, Jobs (pace), Gates or Musk are no less cynical in their attitude toward democracy, the people's representatives and our democratic laws.
These are differences of degree, not kind.
Russia and Russians are much better, and our own elites are much worse, than our coastal sophisticates' self-serving caricatures would have us believe.
7
Nah. I don't buy that at all.
6
Ordinary Russians, in Russia, have always settled for less and refused to hold people accountable. If they demanded more, someone like Putin would have never ascended to where he is now.
Law enforcement is not governance. Neither is espionage. Neither is the military. Anyone from either of these backgrounds should be forbidden from holding power in Russia. Maybe then the ordinary people there would not settle for less.
4
Its easy for you to say... regimes are not easily overthrown. It may change generations for change to come. It doesnt mean that people settled for less, they are simply doing the best they can.
2
No, it means they settled for less.
Now Lenin, he didn't settle for less, wanted it all, and took it. Unfortunately for him it wasn't long lived. And we know the rest of the story: Meet new boss who is same as old boss. Only this time he is worse.
When your regime can't make a toaster, let alone other consumer goods, as the USSR proved it could not, it wouldn't have been difficult to topple. In fact, the "West" just let it implode, and inevitably it did.
A woman we knew from our time working in the Soviet Union married an American engineer and was finally able to join him in the States in the summer of 1980. She had gone first thing to an American supermarket in the DC area and was impressed but blase--after all, a showcase in a big city. What knocked her socks off was a visit to the tiny IGA in the village of Aurora-on-Cayuga, New York, with a population, including about 500 undergrads at Wells College, of less than 700. She had known that Moscow and a few other big Soviet cities were Potemkin villages when it came to presenting Soviet quality of life in general, but she had assumed that the American government was putting up the same sham.
Now, almost 40 years later, folks in the provinces there can buy whatever they want if they have the money, but I wonder about the local stores: are they stocked like the old IGA? Ah--the IGA. The Aurora IGA has become an upscale market with local arts and crafts, beers, and produce, and take-out food prepared at the Aurora Inn next door. Lovely, but spendy. The nearest actual supermarket is several miles away in the next small town up the road.
6
Fascinating. Thank you.
3
I spent several months in the USSR in 1977. Even during the Cold War, most Russians went about their daily lives and didn't think that much about their country's problems. They were incredulous that in the US you could lose your job or not have health care. They knew all about the Civil Rights movement, and when we talked about freedom of the press, the response was always, "but you beat blacks."
6
But Russians beat every non-Russian on entire periphery of Russia.
3
In the 1960s, people at a technical fair in Moscow were more interested in a display of ballpoint pens than in a space station.
http://members.efn.org/~hkrieger/ballpoints.jpg
Their interest today is still on items of daily life rather than in worldly affairs.
1
Interesting thoughtful piece. However, I take exception with the following sentence: "Some of it was perfectly understandable anger at Russia’s role, however marginal, in electing Mr. Trump...." Trump's election victory was razor-thin and, if Russian meddling made the difference, it was far from "marginal." It will end up having monumental historical consequences, most of them profoundly negative.
44
It could just be a difference of language. That is to say, yes, « marginal », maybe right. But that « marginal » difference, it made all the difference in the overall result. That is what you are saying, I think. And that would be correct.
But he is right too. The bulk of the problem was that so many Americans were not even at the margins, and voted for a hideously awful candidate, Trump.
But Hillary wasn’t so great either.
Et cetera.
We all know and remember.
1
Two thoughts, no mention of the 2008 Putin invasion of Georgia.
And I can give many, many examples of bad things the US government has done. The 1953 coup in Iran, supporting Saddam Hussein use gas against Iran, Chile, Argentina, supporting dictators in Africa, etc.
But I would still rather live in the US and the US has a free press that Russia does not.
Having said that, Fox News is turning into RT all on their own without the US government even doing it.
8
US has rule of law (mostly, but more for some rich people) and Russia has none.
3
If the free press is only criteria for you, you could live in Russia just fine. You can read much more diverse opinions in newspapers than in the US.
2
"Having lived in Russia, I know in my bones how complicated a place it is." English is one of my mother tongues.I read this sentence a few times and remain confused. As I am with this almost-Ode to...I too was born in an American city- one of NYC boroughs- educated there, married, raised a family and began my complex professional life there.A bit less than half of my life a New Yorker.And a bit more than half of my life, a Jerusalemite. And just as some of us were gifted with the semantic caveat that "a map is not the territory" which it graphically is designed to represent, New York is not America, and Jerusalem is not Israel. And "complicated" is not "complex." And wherever one lives, works, studies, loves, laughs, leisures, plays, prays and preys, eats and drinks, sleeps, etc. all of US are still part of an enabled, toxic, WE-THEY culture which violates, daily, selected, targeted "the others." In Moscow and in NYC. In cities and communities in Idaho. Utah. Nebraska. Alaska. Wisconsin. Georgia. Texas. In which I lectured, as a NY "foreigner." As I read this article's descriptions I didn't understand what I was being helped to know. To understand. About... Quite different processes and outcomes. I wondered how many New Yorkers have ever been to Staten Island. Or how many have ever visited that part of Central Park that was Seneca Village;home to free Blacks?
1
Guess Keith's point is notwithstanding Putin's Dictatorship and Trump's treason there is some normalcy everywhere. Won't argue that, but that does not mean one should ignore nor accept their evil. Their wrong doing must be brought to justice. And yes Keith we are currently living in a time of emergency.
12
Some of us have been paying very close attention to Russia for some time, particularly since Russia led by President-for-Life Putin is not only a grand kleptocracy but one hostile to the United States and democracies around the world. Those who have not been watching Russia so closely should be doing so now because we have a president who appears to be doing Putin's bidding at every turn while destroying all our traditional alliances. And we have a Congress that has abdicated its oversight role and not only allows but enables high treason in the White House.
8
Here in the Land of the Brave, on those rare occasions when we escape our sorry condition of "all-emergency-all-the-time," we call it "Canada."
All kidding aside, however, President Trump was right when he was once challenged by Bill O'Reilly on his apparent insouciance about Putinesque brutality. Trump responded, “Well, you think our country is so innocent?”
Ouch! The truth hurts. Ask any Greek over the age of 70 or any Iranian over 40 about American innocence. This hardly justifies the unseemly Trumpian pandering to Vladimir Putin. Nor should we confuse current geopolitical conditions with yesteryear's grim realities.
Mr Gessen is correct in suggesting that more important factors than Russian meddling accounted for Donald Trump's election. The most important two factors were a woefully out-of-touch Democratic Party that rigged its nomination process in favor of a woefully out-of-touch presidential candidate who tolerated a husband who almost single-handedly thwarted her precious ambition, not once but twice.
Add together the Democratic Party, its presidential candidate, the candidate's entourage, Russian meddling and James Comey's self-indulgent sanctimony and, voila! We now live in the dystopian Principality of Orange!
But we can change this if we will.
4
Nor should we confuse current geopolitical conditions with yesteryear's grim realities.
Yea, like when the US pumped MILLIONS into Greek partisans to beat back the Communists in the civil war after WWII?
1
Putin is not good for Russia but a percentage of Russians support him.
Just like a percentage of Americans support Trump.
Russians have their oligarchs.
The US has our billionaires.
We are a long way from being Russia but we have been going in that direction since Reagan trickle-down economics and dog whistle politics.
28
not such a long way
1
Russia is an aging shrinking nation of 145 million people. America's annual nominal GDP is 15x Russia's. America annually spends 9x Russia on it's military.
But Barack Obama's America failed to deter, detect and defeat Russian hacking and meddling in the 2016 Presidential campaign and election. While Trump has failed to punish Russia for it's past malign acts while rewarding them with Trump's gratitude and praise to and for Putin's past and future help.
2
The hacking and meddling were detected. Check on the meeting of the so-called “gang of eight” in August 2016.
3
Gessen’s concern about our lack of introspection about our foreign policy sins is badly timed. The free world is in a knife fight with Russia. Putin is working hard to engineer the collapse of the free world. He foments racial conflict in the United States, sends spies into our country to undermine our democratic elections and actively seeks the breakup of the EU and disrupt NATO.
What’s the definition of an act of war?
Meanwhile our Republican leaders seem hopelessly naïve in their denial of the obvious facts. In a climate where it is reasonably suspected that the administration is compromised and under active criminal investigation, they thought it would be a good idea to have a tea party with Russian leaders on the 4th of July. This level of malpractice borders in the criminal.
When the president meets privately with Putin, he’ll be with a man of twice his intellectual capacity and half his moral standing, if that's possible. Putin murders political opponents with poison on the streets of foreign capitals and steals land the size of New Jersey from neighboring countries without consequences. Is Trump’s real estate experience adequate to protect us?
18
Autocracy is significant to Russian history. The only saying I remember in Russian goes something like this: Tzar Nicholas proclaimed that the living shall be slaves and the dead shall be free. I'm glad that both sides of my family left from 1890 to 2012. A good place to be from!
5
We were all conditioned to think that the Cold War was about Communism, not about Russia. Now Russia has transitioned from Communism to crony capitalism, but the cast of characters is much the same, having changed politcal colors almost overnight.
One thing that has not changed is the hostility to western values, which are now being attacked more effectively than in Communist days. But lo and behold, the political representatives of the capitalist class in the United States now embrace Russia as kindred spirit. The are not paying attention, despite Mr. Gessen's belief that "everyone" is paying attention.
18
Most articles in the NYTimes about Russia, and certainly about Mr. Putin, tend to be negative to very negative. This article borders on normality.
Yes, of course, Russians, like anyone else in the world, go about their daily lives. No surprise there. There is also the usual mix of perspectives on political matters that one finds anywhere. Most Russians respect Mr. Putin for having brought order to Russian life after the unbelievable chaos that the dissolution of the soviet system caused. The Putin government, as I understand it from those with relevant expertise, has done a poor job of boosting economic performance. That is a significant responsibility. The government should be criticized for failure to "exploit" the enormous natural and human resources of the country. Similarly the acceptance of oligarchization of the country's resources and soviet assets can and should be severely criticized. That fact, theft on-going on a massive scale by the few, can and should be countered.
Regarding Mr. Putin as intentional manipulator of other countries' affairs, that is nonsense, a continuation of the still prevalent neo-conservative anti-Russia, anti-Putin propaganda efforts.
Also, as I usually note on this topic, most soviet citizens, i.e. those who were born and raised in the soviet system, legitimately praise that environment. Many positives to it, along with negatives, not unlike the characteristics of the USA, which is a far cry from paradise.
6
Thank you for the reminder that we too have been involved in all aspects of trickery with regard to other nations and their elections. I really dislike the way Trump treats autocrats, versus our allies but I conveniently forget our history of nation building.
9
Many Americans realize that we have a history of meddling in other countries’ affairs. That doesn’t mean we should condone chemical attacks on civilian populations in Syria, or former spies in the UK, followed by bald-faced lies. Just as our law recognizes degrees of harm, we need to avoid simplistic arguments about our own lack of perfection. The land of the perfect is uninhabited. We’re living in the world of shades of gray. Any graphics designer can tell you there’s a difference between gray and black.
5
Other than its great literature and great musical compositions and composers, there is little I know about Russia and its people. What I have learned in a lifetime of Russian politics is that it is all bad, bad for the people, and bad for the rest of the world. Nothing good has come from Russian politics ever.
Trump and the GOP have been bought by Putin mobsters and oligarchs which is why they are behind Trump's great love for Putin who helped make him the first 'Russian' president America ever had.
Then as another reader pointed out, Putin does have lots of emails outing these people, the Trumps, and their advisors as well. It will all come out in the wash and I don't mean money laundering this time. Trump will be taken down by his contact with Putin alone never mind the fact that he is a horrible caricature of a leader or even a man.
18
"Mr. Putin is in charge for six more years and has convinced himself and those around him that the country would collapse if he left. Russia has entered another dark period in its history, and there is no end in sight." I'm surprised the author did not make the connection with Trump's behavior.
8
The photo is super great. Very colorful subway car. The words are fine too.
Oddly, I sometimes think that the two “peoples” that have the most in common are the Russians and the Americans.
Cousins, separated at birth, or something like that.
Good points and bad points, both of them. More good points than bad points, let’s hope. :-)
4
the two peoples have struggle in common-one of subsistence the other of excess and gluttony
1
No
Mr Gessen writes well and should make us all think a bit about the dichotomy that often exists between the ruling oligarchs and the population at large. Whether Russian or American.
Oligarchs, whether motivated by good or evil, view the world through the prism of power; they prefer they wield the power. Doesn't matter if they're named Putin or Trump, theirs is too often a one dimensional view of winners and losers.
Make no mistake, oligarchs do not intend to be losers and too many of them will take no prisoners and will not hesitate to throw grandmothers under the bus in order to protect their interests.
While many of the population at large share these tendencies, their circumstances by and large do not permit them to affect too many lives outside of their family or social circles. Given the circumstances of surviving or thriving in their social segments, most people are more concerned with their quality of life than they are in nationalist or globalist ambitions.
Why does this matter?
Leadership matters. For any transformational event of material magnitude, history suggests that it takes a long time to build something of value and a short time to destroy something. True of nation-building, true of economies, true of businesses.
Right now Putin and Trump are short timers and pulling their reluctant peoples along with them. At least Americans have more or less open elections which will allow us to throw the bum out. Russians are not so lucky.
8
Maybe this is article is one way for the NYTimes to gently say: "we were wrong to endlessly peddle the Russia interference story to the neglect of other important stories and news; to sow anti-Russia sentiments without making distinctions between the Russian people and the Russian state; to not provide coverage of alternative positions such as by Noam Chomsky or Stephen Cohen; to not disclose nuances about many aspects of the story such as Crimea, its history and what its people want etc. - all because we chose Russia to be the political strategy of getting at Trump". At least in this article there is a modicum of nuance, very modest and ambivalent as it is.
13
Amen.
1
Mr. Lessen has not failed to adjust himself to the American view of Russia. First, does he not remember that Presidential Bush promised Gorbachev that the anti-Russian military alliance NATO would not move one inch Eastward? Now NATO is building up military forces right on Russia's borders. It must be the final triumph of propaganda over reality that this situation has been successfully presented to the American public as "Russian aggression". Or do we no longer teach elementary geography?
Second, the democratically elected government of Ukraine was deposed by a fascist coup engineered by American "advisors" which the people of East Ukraine have every right to resist and every right to Russian aid in resisting.
Finally, a scholar with Mr. Lessen's Russian background should know the gross absurdity of the charges of a Russian "take over" of Crimea in 2014. This territory has been Russian since 1783. The Tsar had his summer palace there. Tolstoy was stationed in Sebastopol in the 1850s. The people there speak Russian and consider themselves to be Russian, not Ukrainian.
Perhaps the American generals, dreaming of succeeding where their French and German predecessors failed, should ponder these well known words:
"If they love our Russian earth so much, let us give them six feet of it!"
2
It’s nice to see that Keith Gessen inherited the wry Russian sense of humor. But Russia did not only reappear in the post-cold war news in 2014, as suggested. Perhaps Mr. Gessen hadn’t heard that Vladimir Putin ordered the London murder of Alexander Litvinenko via poisoning with radioactive polonium in 2006? Or perhaps Mr. Gessen was simply distracted when news broke that Putin supervised the torture and murder of Sergei Magnitsky in 2009, a Russian lawyer who dared expose Putin’s extreme financial corruption? No, nobody will confuse Moscow for Paris. For Tripoli or Kabul, maybe.
16
If I was grading this paper I'd take 10 points off for a hurried, and vague conclusion. Curious.
And, is Putin to be commended for supporting a culture where people can just go about their days, looking for parking spaces, going to the gym, dating, etc?
I do agree the US has been as meddlesome as the Russians, though our nerve gas program seems not to exist ... or at least, our trail of victims aren't poisoned.
But Trump and Putin collaborating on a new world order? Heaven help us.
28
Actually, it does exit. Contrary to Russia, the US failed to destroy its chemical weapon as it promised. So there are could be tons of the victims, we just dion't know about that yet. After if not Snowden, we would still believe that the US doesn't spy on its own citizens.
1
A large number of people from many countries
are visiting Russia to watch the world cup
and support the teams from their home countries.
By all reports they are having good times.
Russian people havemade welcome to their
country and make their experience positive.
Most of the reports on western media are
from political standpoint and focused on Putin,
another Saddam Hussein or Ayatullah. We have
a penchant to pick on a foreign leader to demonise if he opposes our policies. Shah of Iran
was good , though cruel to his own people,
but Ayatullah is bad to replace Shah because
Ayatullah opposes our policies. Iran is bracketed
with Russia and China as the top adversaries.
North Korea is now in flux, may join these three
countries if Mr. Kim refuses to denuclearise
unilaterly.
4
And it did, according to international norms that were established to that time. Invasion? By that time it was a norm. America invaded Serbia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lybia with little consequences. Support of anti-Government forces? Check. The West supported anti- Government forces in Serbia and Lybia. Meddling in the other countries affair? Check. It was perfectly demonstrated during Ukrainian uprising that was supported by American Senators and by the state department. Annexion of territories? Check. Armenia annexed 1/3 of Azerbaijan with no big consequences. NATO annexed Kosovo. So, hypocrisy was a reasonable explanation to the negative reaction to the Russian acts, that just convinced Russians more that the West is Russophobic and bent on ruining Russia, and therefore, the Western reaction should be ignored. And that definitely got attention of the West. Sure, some people get arrested, tortured and killed in Russia. And that is bad and should be a concern, but don't pretend that only Russia get such problem. People in America got arrested, tortured and killed as well. And it is not less bad. And it will be much more constructive to discuss the problems in the respectful manner rather then vilify Russia or America with holier than Pope attitude.
10
"don't pretend that only Russia get such problem. People in America got arrested, tortured and killed as well.".....Right, and the next thing you will tell us is that in the U.S. the President's political opponents get killed, opposition press is arrested, and the state controls all the media outlets.
5
Wasn't Derwin Brown killed in 2000? Wasn't Tommy Burks killed in 1998? Wasn't James Davis killed in 2003? Were American politicians shot in Arizona in 2012?
1
33 journalists got arrested in 2017 while covering protest, according to. US Freedom trackers. And control? Why do you need control when the press voluntarily toes political establishment lines, as it was evident by publication on the WMD before the invasion of Iraq.
2
It's gratifying to note inside Russia, like its fabled matryoshka dolls, people live even routine lives. Perhaps we can learn under human skin of all colors the same lesson and break from the xenophobic chains we continue to forge day by day in America. Whether in Irkutsk or Central America or Iowa, we are all fundamentally the same. We all wish to find meaningful work, raise children to carry on for us and have some small measure of happiness along the way.
15
Putin was probably always too manic to read his own country's masterpieces, but his penchant for creating chaos within rival nations certainly reads like a Dostoevsky novel to me. Tolstoy would have given him a supporting role as a villain, but Dostoyevsky would have written a whole book about him.
8
Mr. Gessen writes "we have learned in the past year and a half of the Trump presidency ... that people do not exist in the political atmosphere constantly, or even most of the time" and states the same is true in Russia.
Perhaps this is true in Russia because the Putin regime is only the latest of many like it. Russians have learned to cope.
The U.S. is different: Trump is a radical change from everything we have known. His divisiveness, irresponsibility, lack of self-control, disregard for the constraints of law and custom, and abusive anger, all funneled through his constant demands for attention, are an unprecedented use of the "bully pulpit". Like it or not, we are constantly subjected to a pervasive "political atmosphere" dominated by his vapors.
A cloud has descended on the American mood. Some people are expressing more overt anger than in the past. Others are depressed. It is no accident that there is an explosion of advice in the media on how to help oneself feel happiness and be resilient.
9
Some of us - and some in the media too - were certainly paying attention to Russia before 2009.
5
The best of pieces. The worst of pieces.
A couple examples of the sin of omission.
Gessen shows serious concern about the screaming US coverage of Russian misdeeds, especially the Ukraine intervention and the Crimea invasion and annexation.
Good start, but then he focuses on the swamping of substantive analysis by nationalist hype. Small point.
He surely knows the main missing point of the Ukraine story, but hides it.
This is that the victorious Maidan uprising turned on the third of its countrypeople who are Russian speakers: the first act of the liberated parliament was to ban Russian for official business, even in the area where it is the primary tongue.
This is like banning French in Quebec.
Ominously, it replicated the first step of Latvian racists' cleansing of Russian-speaking Latvians.
Probably, Putin used this Ukrainian atrocity as a cover for an imperialist invasion. But, even a Western-type regime might well have threatened Ukrainian racists with "serious consequences".
And sure, there are outrageous flicks about NATO bombers. But, here too, Gessen fails to mention Original Sin.
In the first years of self-liberated Russia's reaching out to the West, 1992-1994, the US took advantage of the Russian upheaval to shove NATO's missiles against the Russian border. So much for the prospect, at last, of peace.
That action exactly replicated the USSR's moving missiles to Cuba.
Hey, Gessen! Show America real reporting. Give us the US, warts and all.
8
“ Having lived in Russia, I know in my bones how complicated a place it is.”
These days, many Americans feel this same bone-deep emotion about the United States. The US reaches from one ocean to another, encompasses deserts, prairies, mountains, frigid and tropical weather, and all the communities that have adapted to their locations. But now, thanks to venal Donald Trump, his obedient, greedy dwarves, his adolescent foreign policies, and thanks to Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, and friends, our nation is viewed as a grim threat, a world power dominated by its citizens’ hatred, ignorance, and incipient fascism.
It hurts to think about one’s own beloved country in times like these.
Time to change leaders.
37
Well stated. Russia's people are guilty of no wrongdoing towards America. Their leader looks more and more like the evil genius who helped our beloved leader Trump cross the presidential finish line in 2016. It may no longer have the attention of TV news producers, but I re-read the Steele Dossier regularly and marvel at how much of it is playing out as true. No wonder the pit bull Giuliani has launched an aggressive campaign to discredit Robert Mueller.
Soon, Russia will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the murder of the Romanov family by Bolshevik criminals. This is an appropriate time to honor Russia's contributions to the arts and literature. Tolstoy resolutely believed that love was the essential cornerstone for individuals and societies. Russia will survive Putin. America will survive Trump.
3
Good to know Putin has allowed some of Russia's wealth to go to subways, that it doesn't all go to himself, other oligarchs and into manipulating western elections.
6
Says a lot about human nature.
As long as its not you or yours, life seems to go on.
Activist an outrage is a hard row to hoe. Lots of time and energy. In the mean time, the hoi polloi try to feed themselves and their kids. Do their work and hopefully spend a few hours at home or such and then do it all over again.
All the while, our gov. is snatching people off the sidewalk. Civilians go missing. Machinations go on behind our backs to profit and impoverish others. Millions of connected and lobbyists bray for attention and dollars. While our Republic is sold to favored crony's and bidders.
Russia sounds just as bought and sold as America does.
Not sure which is more sad.
Keep you head down and nose to the stone.
Maybe your kids will do better.
5
I just watched "Four Corners, Trump/Putin" an Australian 3-part series, and a definitely a must see for anyone who wants to know more about the background of the undermining of democracy of DJT.
We should all admire Rosenstein, Mueller and all these brave Americans who are trying to save democracy in this country.
It is shameful what has happened and still is happening.
Just FTM!!
39
A basic need a bogy man who would we fear if not Russia – China never so spinster.
Keith Gessen sees more an affection in the Age of Trump.
Must read his book.
I have one question. If you were still a Russian citizen who would you vote for and why?
3
I happened to pick up a book about 20th century Russian history one day. Not sure why I bought it. Perhaps the zeitgeist nudged me to it. So glad I did. It interest grabbing, beautiful writing. Author: Anne Applebaum. I keep hoping to find her name on the NYT editorial page. We can use all the insight we can get.
4
For a second I questioned the validity of Mr Gessen’s clams of Russian modernization and then laughed slightly at my own absurdity. Proof of the confusion and doubt sown by propagandists?
1
What I would most like to know about Russia is do the Russian people really believe Putin is good for their country? My daughter is currently studying Russian history in high school and she finds it hard to believe what a sorrowful history Russia has had in the last 100 years or so. It just seems like a never-ending parade of dictators who ruthlessly oppress and murder their own people. Surely the Russian people are tired of that? How has Putin managed to so successfully hoodwink them. Or are those ludicrously high poll numbers purely manufactured propaganda like so much else?
4
I can answer that. Majority of the Russian people thinks that Putin is best that they were offered. It doesn't mean they adore him or think that he is the best leader ever, but they do believe he is better than any other candidates. If there is a better candidate, he didn't show up yet. All other candidates don't offers anything new, and very often sound like they want to come back to 90s or at least don't explain why their program (that looks like the program of Yeltsin) will be smashing success now despite being a miserable failure in the past. And although in Russia there were bloody pages (many countries do), but in general it was just an usual countries with its problems, with dark and bright sides.
1
"All other candidates don't offers anything new,"....Because they are either dead or in jail.
Sounds like the dissonance of Cubans in Miami. Someone said: They remember Cuba the way it was AND the way it used to be...
10
Trump was elected for the same reason Putin was elected and reelected. The same reason Orban is elected, and reelected. The same reason why nationalists and xenophobes are in the line light.
Fear.
Fear of change. Fear of fear. Fear played everyday on our screens and on the internet. And in all this fear we forget that what we fear is what we become.
Just reading the comments from NYT now vs. few months ago. The hate and xenophobia is getting very quickly normalized. The xenophobes and racists calling themselves not racists - they just want to protect their nation from the elites and animals trying to get in...
And since fear is like alcohol or other addiction, we'll not stop until majority realises how perverse and ridicules it's becoming.
So where do we stop this time? War? Is MAD strong enough deterrent to prevent war, again? More ethnic cleansing in Europe? Only few years since Yugoslavia, but most would say "can't happen here". But it will.
The difference is whether only few million die, or if war after next war will be with stick and stones.
Blaming Russia for Trump is as much failure of America, as blaming migrants (legal or otherwise) for perceived lack of jobs or money or future whatever is a failure of humanity and rational thought.
11
"But it can’t be an emergency all the time, not even in Mr. Trump’s America, not even in Mr. Putin’s Russia. "
Sooner rather than later this plot to blend Putin's Russia and Trump's America into a white supremacist, anti-moslem kleptocracy will occur. There are always winners, but the overall bent of society will be totalitarianism and war and further exploitation against the non-white population. I'll take liberal democracy and our US Constitution with a focus on humility and humanity over Putin's America any day!
5
Mr. Gessen has written a book called "A Terrible Country." Which one does he refer to, the U.S. or Russia. They're both poor places these days.
2
The big issue is about the Russians oligarchs, Putin's money plus nefarious evil behind the scenes, and in Trump's released financials. Where are the power plays in this article? They are there but perhaps outside the boundaries of Mother Russia.
1
I wonder what trump will say when he leaves the meeting with putin, and what putin will say.
If it’s anything like the meeting with Kim Jong Un, where trump thought it was great, and Kim now says trump’s call was a “unilateral and gangster-like demand for denuclearization” and that the suggestion was “deeply regrettable,” then we should all be worried. Very, very worried.
Maybe the president and his flunky, jim jordan, can discuss it and tell it’s all just “locker room talk.”
4
Jim Jordan and locker room talk, well said!
1
And the point of this piece is...what exactly? Keith, unlike his older sis Masha, seems to not have figured it out by the ripe old age of 42. Moscow has many small affordable restaurants? It is bustling with life? Well, how about going to any other of Russia's thousands of small towns or even to a city like Nizhny or Ryazan, or Rostov, and stepping two blocks off the main street? Heck, go to one of smaller towns just outside of Moscow - to Khimki or Pavlov-Pasad, or Tver: people are subsisting on salaries equivalent to $400-500/month (pensioners get much less), and that is with precises of good above those in America (services, understandably, are much cheaper). In short, Putin has squandered 20 years of relative economic prosperity and has not invested into the human capital or, for that matter (aside of several political-based projects, nee the Crimean Bridge) to infrastructure development. To be fair, neither have this country's politicians, but this is for another article. What about the complete dumbing down/brainwashing of the average Ivan, what about the State having taken absolute control of everything (78% of working populous are Govt employees vs. 13% in the USA), what about rampant drunkenness, the lack of any political discourse, the "no future" mentality of the Russian youth, the hollowing out of every city but Moscow and St. Pete? Keith, you should know better. Much better.
12
And before Putin? Chimki was Russian Paris? Or maybe Russian people drink less? Although it is difficult to believe, considering they had a drunk as their President, who was actually supported by the West. Yes , the Government involved heavily in the economy, but when it wasn't the economy was crushed. No wonder people do not trust the private business and prefer to work for Government. With all criticism, Putin did restore the economy, he does try to fight alcoholism but it is not problem that could be easily solved, and Americans should know that considering opioid epidemic in America despite the "bright future" mentality of American youth and booming private business there.
2
Sadly, sir, the Americans know nothing of Russian literature, and thus cannot fathom how the hackers can spin such lurid tales as successfully as to steal a Presidency.
4
Anyone who reads Russian history completely can only have great sympathy for Russians of all stripes. The great irony for me is that even in 2018 they are the only ones who transport our Astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
21
Russia was also implicated in shooting down a passenger jet over Ukraine in 2014.
6
Just because it implicated it doesn't mean Russia did it. And even if it did, it clearly was an accident in the war zone, that did happen with other countries. Remember, Iranian passenger jet hit by the US, or passenger jet hit by Ukraine during military exercise?
1
. "Remember, Iranian passenger jet hit by the US"......Remember that the U.S. acknowledged responsibility.
Most people were pursuing ordinary lives with new stadiums and airports opening in Nazi Germany too until 1939 (disregarding the occasional state-organized boycott, pogrom, or concentration camp).
What does that prove?
And the same can be said of Trump's America, of course.
Is the path to hell paved with everyday ordinariness?
5
"Is the path to hell paved with everyday ordinariness?"
As Hannah Arendt called it, the banality of evil.
5
Should we not refer to Russia and China as competitors rather than adversaries?
1
Keith Gessen writes: “There are many aspects of Russian life, Russian thought, even Russian politics, that are not under the purview of Vladimir Putin.”
What a relief! But shouldn’t Putin be worried? He, who rules Russia with an iron grip? Doesn’t he see himself as inextricable part of Russian life?
It’s true that Putin became a ubiquitous sight in international politics since the 2014 annexation of Crimea, and the meddling in the 2016 election that helped elect Trump. This has ushered in a golden age for Putinology.
In a February 2017 commentary in The Guardian, Keith Gessen laid out the various myths of Putin – “Killer, Kleptocrat, Genius, Spy”.
He says, “the production of commentary and analysis about Putin and his motivations, based on necessarily partial, incomplete and sometimes entirely false information – has existed as a distinct intellectual industry for over a decade.” But in the last two years - due to Crimea and Trump - “Putinology has outdone itself.”
Gessen even maintains that “at no time in history have more people with less knowledge, and greater outrage, opined on the subject of Russia’s president.”
But since February 2017 much has come to light. Doesn’t it change his mind?
4
Despite an uncanny parallel to RAS-Putin.....Putin wont last forever.... Stalin was poisoned. The Czars was shot. Lenin died early. Kruschev(a ukranian, interestingly enuf) created the Soviet Bureaucratic stability that only lasted about 30 years...during which US wheat shipments famously kept the Soviets from starving and turning on each other...... The days of another violent, shocking power struggle in Russia are near........ But we do not want to film our US boys marching westward from Moscow and Leningrad, bloody, starving, defeated in the Russian Winter.....dont get arrogant.
1
Most people want to go about their lives without regard to what their government is doing, at home or overseas.
Russians are not much different in this regard than Americans, Turks, Syrians, or Chinese.
When government actions intrude too much into the daily routine, then people are forced to take notice. The smart government makes sure that those intrusions are necessary and as minimal as possible. The evil government makes sure that the intrusions are small enough to be negligible and often enough to have the cumulative intended effect. The proverbial frog in the slowly increasing boiling water. Or, Hannah Arendt’s, “The Banality of Evil”.
It is always important to separate the Russian people from Putin and his Oligarchs. Putin is on a mission and that mission requires destabilization of Western democracies and economies. The fact that the US government has engaged in behavior similar to Putin does not excuse Putin’s behavior. Nor does it mean that the US should ignore Putin’s attacks and not defend itself.
46
Putin's mission is to protect Russia, and if this mission requires the destabilization of the West economy and democracy, he won't hesitate. But why should he? And he does need an excuse for that. Looking after your people is an universal understanding of any good Government. After all, the West happily destabilized the USSR.
5
Russia is not the same as the USSR.
And? How does that make wrong for Putin to destabilize the West?
Thank you for this clear & balanced essay on a complicated place! It gives such a good look at everyday life in this enormous country. I too have been fascinated by Russian culture (ballet, literature, music etc) and have visited (alone in 1969) as a non-Russian-speaking tourist under the supervision of Intourist. My guides took me to Tolstoy's house, the location of Lermontov's
duel and to the great art galleries. But we also snacked at small everyday places & the people were mostly curious & friendly -not unlike us Americans... Mr Gessen you make an excellent BRIDGE between our cultures -again thanks!
6
After reading this article, I am led to wonder just how much Russia interfered with the 2016 election. Certainly, they tried to help. So did the Adelsons, Mercers and Kochs. The only thing that makes me beleive that the Russians/Putin are the biggest players is Trump's reaction to the suggestion that Russia interfered. If Trump had a "clear conscience", he would laugh off the Russian angle. He does not and in fact has tried to interfere with the investigation as often as possible. I ask myself, "Why?" and I ask often. I hope Mr Mueller can give us the answer.
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If you read David Cay Johnston the other day, you would be aware that Trump probably laundered "dirty" Russian money through real estate deals. The Trump Crime Family (e.g. Jared Kushner) now prowls the world for deals to bail out their real estate misadventures. Democracy be damned!
2
"After reading this article, I am led to wonder just how much Russia interfered with the 2016 election."....I would make two points. First, Russia hacked the DNC and released the information to Wiki Leaks just at the most opportune time to blunt the "Access Hollywood" tapes. Second, just read this comment section, and then think about how many of them are directed by the Russian propaganda machine. Hint, look for things like Russia is not guilty because the U.S. does those things too, and any mention that the Ukraine government is fascist.
3
@toom.....Russia has it's oligarchs and we have ours.
It's the American oligarchs who legally 'interfere' in our elections more than any foreign power could.
The Adelsons, Mercers and Kochs and corporations are allowed by our own high court with the excuse of $$ as Free Speech, to use their fortunes to vett, pick, market and invest in our lawmakers. They work for their profit and our loss.
That's why we the people of the USA are still waiting for universal health care that other democracies achieved generations ago. No accident. It's off the table here.
Many of the candidates we stand in long lines to pick have to stay within the policiy limits the biggest donors set up. Else they don't get funding, and someone else does.
Compare to other democracies that at least use some regulations against total dominance by special interests.
Very well written. I grew up hiding under my desk during drills if the Russians came. Later when living in Florida we experienced the Cuban Missile crisis, without of course knowing very much of what was going on. The author is no doubt well informed of Mother Russia. As a student of WW 2, my take is the final curtain has come down on those post WW 2 world bodies, and the so called cold war. We have supposedly two adversaries Russia and China. Both of course have their leadership cast in stone we don't, we have pending impeachment. Again it seems obvious Putin has his people behind him to put back together the prior Soviet Union. China so far pursues thru state run enterprises to have the worlds largest economy. How or what they have planned for Asia is un-clear. So as I was taught feed the bear don't aggravate it.
1
On the long odyssey I dedicated myself to completing by reading as I did from the first to the last word of this op-ed, I kept looking for the point. It never emerged. Then, it came to me: this was a REMINSCENCE. When was the last time any of us read such an odd artifact that once was offered frequently, merely to entertain and inform, rather than flog some worldview? For me, it’s been ages.
I’m conflicted. I was entertained and informed, which means that Mr. Gessen accomplished his mission; but I’m left with no perch from which to COMMENT meaningfully on the incandescence or foolishness of an idea.
I can’t even figure out whether or not I WOULD have preferred a V-8!
31
Mr Luettgen couldn’t come up with anything meaningful to say, yet he commented anyway. Sure, why not? It has never stopped him before.
5
but you did get to listen to one whose feet have been in both worlds... maybe a person like yourself, who cares and is left wondering as the strands of meaning float in and out of reach...
1
I share your recognition, Mr. Luettgen, of intriguing value in a balanced article. Thank you, Mr. Gessen. For me, it confirmed my experience as a young man in England that most Russians are extraordinarily warm, just like most Americans. What a tragedy it is that, today, oligarchs are proliferating all over the world -- because, in addition to being behaviorally authoritarian, oligarchs seem to be distinguished by being unable to communicate without destabilizing the societies formed by adulatees of competitive oligarchs, and eventually destabilizing their own adulative society too.
2
Ironically, or not, people pay attention to the "enemy", not to "friends".
Keith Gessen is only 43. If he were a little older he would remember that during the Cold War, US colleges and universities had large departments of Russian Studies. The political scientists who moved to the government were often specialists in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. The languages of these countries were studied.
When the tension abates, the need dies. Pashto and Arabic and Persian become more important than Russian.
But times are changing again, thanks to Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump. As Mr. Gessen writes, he finally has students registering for his classes.
63
The Strategic Language Programs and Monterrey Language Program should be complemented with high school programs taught by native speakers. In peace we're better in business, in conflict we're better at the task at hand.
Mr. Gessen and his editors should credit Paul Mazursky, director and co-screenwriter of the 1984 film "Moscow on the Hudson" for the story that, according to Mr. Gessen, "people we knew told" about a Soviet immigrant who burst into tears upon visiting a U.S. supermarket and seeing its abundance. In a brilliant and much-discussed performance, Robin Williams played that character -- a fictional man, not a real-life woman, as this piece suggests.
23
The experience doesn't crib from tthe movie. Immigrants I've met from post WW2 Europe, the former Soviet bloc and Africa commented on the magical abundance of US supermarkets and noted their first reaction was to cry. They include my mother and two co-workers, one from Somalia and another from 1970's Moscow.
2
Oh, Keith Gessen, how I wish you'd ended this fascinating piece with some sort of explanation as to what's happening today.
Instead, you grab our attention with the promise of your insights, but only leave us with the observation that your native land "has entered a new dark period."
I would have loved to know your real thoughts--as someone who surely has them--as to the meaning of and connection between Putin and Trump.
Yes, America suddenly has interest in all things Russia but not because we're suddenly interested in the Bolshoi or Tolstoy. Of course, it's because of our politics, and the fact that an entire political party, with a long history of hard line views of Russia (lefty Democrats are supposed to be the real traitors, no?) has suddenly followed Trump's lead, falling under Putin's spell.
Oh well, maybe I'm giving you some food for thought and we'll get another piece from you. Surely, as someone who has straddled two countries--not to mention knowing the language---you could offer a unique perspective on all these upside down alliances.
At least, I hope you will, while you still can--here, or there.
178
"At last! Nuclear combat! Toe to toe with the Ruskies!"
--General Jack D. Ripper "Dr. Strangelove," Stanley Kubrick 1965
Could this e, perhaps, the real root of America's international problems? Instead of capitalizing on Her reach ethnic make-up and employing well-wishing patriotic American people of respective cultures (Russian, Chinese, Indian) to understand and to shape America's foreign policy towards their respective countries, you have chosen (from the beginning of times, really, in this country's history) that you know better and that the so-called "American values" will be exulted indiscriminately upon the poor "wild natives". People like Keith, who are associated w/ Russia in name only, having left at 6 (I can just imagine what he is teaching the next generations of the American student ignorami about Russia, talk about a blind leading the blind) do a lot of harm to this country by projecting their unrealized desires and reminiscences upon the unsuspecting nation. shame, really.
1
So things are not so bad there?
But here good things are spare.
Trump is servile to Putin
For whom he's always rootin'.
So Oligarchs rule Russia?
Our crew lives no less lusher
Despoil water and air
And climate change? Don't care.
The voting meddling? Nu?
This year little ado,
Midterm is just a trifle
Russ hackers are not shy full.
A fuller class? How nice
Me it does not entice
A dictator named Putin
Our Bill of Rights is lootin'
67
Olies rule here, too. The whole world over in fact.
What is to be done...
2
Fascinating column.
17
As a dyed in the wool Russophile, I sympathize with the author's disorientation. I probably was born a decade too late to make a practical living from my obsession, but the time I have spent living in Saint Petersburg, as well as my graduate degree in Russian and Old Church Slavonic, have allowed me to see recent events for what they are. There is a well documented affinity for authoritarian leadership in the Russian culture, traceable to the fear of the Golden Horde. Putin is able to exploit this affinitty for limitless wealth and power. But make no mistake, he is a petty thug whose modus operandi is nothing more grandiose than self-preservation. Tragically, Trump is cut from the same cloth. If you ever wonder why the GOP doesn't put Trump in his place, it's because Putin has their emails as well. Inevitably though, the tyrant receives his comeuppance. The question of course, is what comes next.
103
I guess American people are not immune to pull of authoritarian leaders, especially in the times of trouble. Why else they elected Roosevelt four times, and didn't punished the American Government neither for lying nor for spying on its own population. Trump is just continuation of this pull.
Well said, I would like to recommend "THe Road to Unfreedom"
A great piece. Russia has always been an enigma. It gave socialism a bad name and now it has given capitalism a bad name. The irony is that America has done the same thing, with our own oligarchs and their servants, the Trump Republican Party. The author rightly noted that America has been just as guilty as the Russians when it comes to interfering in the affairs of other countries, including invasions. A true reckoning of both our histories would do both countries a lot of good.
107
So so clear aside from what we hear from CNN , James Clapper very early on testifying under oath remarked, "they spy we spy". Most key data concerning Russia as well as China is classified and Clapper used that term often. We invaded Iraq, Russia invaded Crimea . We support our Saudi friends in Yemen, Russia supports their Iranian friends in Syria. History is very clear of one issue and that us Russian counterintelligence has always been a very high sophisticated priority.
1
I have great memories of a brief visit to Russia in the mid-90s. Almost everyone I met was warm, welcoming, curious, and laughed a lot. I was accompanied by a Russian friend from another city, and any Muscovite we stopped and asked for directions was happy to help us.
I've often heard Russians tell me, "We like Americans. We just don't like many of the things your government does." I'm sure that the average Russian would be happy and reassured to hear an American make the same statement about their country.
49
Masha Gessen, the Russian-American critic of Putin, and expert on all things Russian, would tell you that the Russian people have no opinions of their own. They only know what Putin tells them. As long as Putin is ruling Russia, the Russian people are irrelevant to our relationship with Russia. What matters is his malevolent intent and our capacity to defend ourselves, or lack thereof.
3
After WWII in the USSR, it was gradually established that the armed forces controlled about 45% of the total Communist economy. After 1991, the Russian armed forces controlled about 45% of the economy. Now, with Eastern Ukraine back under Russian control, the industrial base of Ukraine has been added to the Russian military economy, so that percentage has gone up - who knows by how much.
The countries that Russia attacked and annexed starting in 1939, like Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, and the other nations like Romania, Hungary and Czechoslovakia that became puppets of the USSR after WWII, and the new nations in Central Asia like Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan formed from the remains of the FSU, have stories that are very different from Russia's.
Unfortunately, Gessen is right, Ukraine's invasion by Putin's 'little green men' was a starting point for sanctions, but all Russian government and military officials refer newly freed countries as 'the near abroad' of the FSU - and say they will get it back.
Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Chechnya, Moldova, Serbia, and numerous other locations on the periphery of the FSU have been invaded by Russian armed forces. The Russians want the rest of their territory back, and with Putin they have a plan to do exactly that.
22
You really know how to mix up things. Chechnya is a Russian republic, and therefore could not be invaded by Russia as Virginia couldn't be invaded by Americans. Abkhaziya, South Ossetia, Moldova are FSU and were not invaded by Russians. There are international agreements that justifies presence of Russian military, same as agreements with European countries justifies the presence of American military there. Serbia is not FSU and was not invaded by Russia , it was invaded by NATO
3
For the US to confront Russia militarily in Ukraine is foolish.......we just got a little pay-back, for our stupid meddling in Ukranian elections. For the US to send troops into Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuanian.....well......thats like setting up exactly the same situation the British created at Dunkirk.......a recipe forr disaster. US Foreign Policy and Military Strategy are disasterously out-0f-date for the 21st Century.........better for USA to take on a support role in NATO and let Germany lead the way in relations with Russia.........as bad as that sounds to the so-called "Greatest Generation" it is irreversibly the direction that we are headed in the 21st Century........
1
Recognizing the intent of Russia in the near abroad, and acting on that knowledge, are two different things. Militarily and directly, the US should do little or nothing directly.
I do agree that Germany should take the lead with Russia, because it seemed to go so well for both countries in the last century, did it not?
I seem to remember in that Molotov and Von Ribbentrop did an especially effective job of protecting people in Poland, Ukraine, Belarus and elsewhere. What could go wrong?
The US and Russia have had a complex relationship since John Adams sent his son to the court of Katherine the Great. That won't change. But it also means the US may have a clearer understanding of Russia than we let on.
The attitude author takes on Russia's coverage in US is well- argued. As I live in Lithuania, which neighbours Russia and has suffered so much from Stalinism and Russia's Bigbrotehrhood, here, in our media Russia always was and is a constant subject. It feels really unconfortable like a swollen teeth. Historically, Russian jackboot would always stamp out in our hearts the potentially beneficial influence of Russian language and culture . The infamous General Muraviov, who suppressed Lithuanian -Polish uprising in the sixties of the XIX century, hanged catholic priests and banned Latin-alphabet -Lithuanian books and newspapers, used to come to Lithuanian schools in uniform and with a volume of Pushkin in his hand to award with Eugene Oniegin or fairy-tales in verse students achievements in studies of Russian literature.
There is a lot of Russia coverage in local media apart from soccer World Cup. We know from experience: Russia is dangerous and unpredictable neighbour. besides, now, with the upcoming Trump-Putin meeting in Helsinki there is an uneasy feeling, that we, even with our NATO membership, may face another division of Europe and the World into the same old "spheres of influence." We really had of this more than enough.
80
I spent a total of 6 months in Russia, during 6 trips there in 2004 and 2005 working as a monitor for the HEU Transparency portion of the Megatons to Megawatts program. I spent most of that time in 3 closed "atomic cities", working with people who were our counterparts in the US Department of Energy national laboratory system. I got to know some of them pretty well and for the most part they were not all that different from Americans. I live in the Salt Lake City area, in which there is a considerable number of recent immigrants from Russia. Occasionally I mention my experiences there to one or another of them during chance encounters. Never has one of them been interested in talking to me about my experiences there. Its like they prefer not to talk about Russia. I don't know why.
17
I think they assume that you work for the CIA.
6
American amnesia. They want to become Americans, and to be accepted as such, if only because most Americans are prejudiced against Russians, and think that their cartoonish picture of life in Russia is an accurate one. They are "living down" the fact that they are Russians, just as Holocaust survivors hid their tattooed serial numbers, or tried to remove them. They are ashamed of coming from America's great foe, Russia.
3
You mistake the cause and effect, the chicken and egg relationships here. Those who left, who betrayed their motherland (myself included), prefer to become part of the new country, and not to stand out as Russians; otherwise, they d stay home. Like in the old days, the successful and gifted stay, the weak and unfortunate come To america. Hence the ashamedness of being ID’ed as Russians hence the reluctance to talk about the past.
1
I think that what you have missed (through no fault of your own) is what a large space Russia took up in the American imagination back in the 1950's and 60's. It was the complete boogeyman, the very picture of everything horrible and scary. It was inhabited (we thought) by robots programmed by Stalin and the remainder of the population sent off to Siberia. It was defined by its material poverty, famines, and lack of personal freedom. Aside from a few authors, we had no concept of Russian culture. It was nothing but a bleak wasteland and our most dangerous enemy. Even something like learning Russian made you suspect. When I wanted to take Russian in high school (my school had just started to offer it in 1960) my parents objected strenuously--and they were liberals. No wonder when I met my first actual Russian, I had no idea how you related to a person from such a strange and frightening place. As for the bad things the US has done, I had to wait until college before I had a clue.
20
A now-common strategy to distract from or diffuse criticism of the Russian goverment is to pretend it's criticism of the country, the people, the culture or something other than the Putin regime. As with this muddled meander of a piece.
31