Posted originally on the CTH on May 1, 2024 | Sundance

Aleksandr Dugin is the most famous political philosopher in Russia. His ideas are considered so dangerous the Ukrainian government murdered his daughter, and Amazon won’t sell his books. Tucker Carlson talked to him in Moscow.

Watching this interview while sitting in a kitchen in Russia is a little odd, however, what Dugin explains does seem to lineup with my perspective as an American in Russia.  The explanation for why leftists (progressives) in the USA seemingly reversed their entire worldview about Russia in a decade does seem to make sense.

I have shared that modern Russian social society is much more traditional than the expressed Western value system you find embodied in progressives.  Russia is far more nationalistic and less globalist; meanwhile, the USA has moved far closer to globalism and is less nationalistic.  Within this shift, the change in democracy also reconciles.

As Dugin notes, Western democracy is no longer about the majority of the citizens; the national identity has been erased in favor of governing rules by a minority.  The commonality of sex (two genders) has been erased in favor of multiple-gender identity, expanded individualism, which is simply a reflection of the fractured bond of commonality.  It is an interesting conversation.  WATCH:

It should be noted before people in the USA and English speaking “West” start running around with romantic images of Russia, that the Russian people do not think about such issues… AT ALL.  The average Russian thinks about social politics about as much as the average American, which is to say – not much at all.

However, all of that said, someone asked me about COVID-19 in Russia and what was the general sensibility of the issue.  I have had some rather fascinating discussions thanks to that question.

I never thought I would find a population more cynical about COVID-19, the “pandemic of ’20/’21” and the vaccine protocol than Americans on average.  I was wrong.  In my conversations with Russians about it, the average person in Russia was far more cynical than the average American.

I’m not sure why, but a larger than 50% group of the Russian people did not buy into the fear and hype.  From the conversations I have encountered, more than half the population didn’t trust the claims by the Western medical establishment.

Additionally, fewer than half the population of Russia appear to have accepted the vaccine.  We are told the vaccine compliance rate for the first injection in the USA was around 65 to 70%.  It does not seem like 70% of Russians took the vaccine; it seems that Russia had a much lower compliance rate based on responses to the question.

I’m not exactly sure why the biggest segment of the Russian population didn’t fall for the COVID-19 pandemic hype; perhaps their cynicism against “institutions” of a totalitarian state helped them on this subject, I don’t know.  However, the most frequent response is the average Russian just didn’t believe COVID-19 was as dangerous as the various health agencies were saying it was.

The government of Russia pushed the vaccine, perhaps not as aggressively as the USA and other Western countries, but they did push it hard.  However, it appears much less than half the population followed the govt advice.

I’ll have more later on some granular Russian dynamics as they appear to present.

It really is bizarre being here in Russia.  There are zero Western tourists or travelers in this country.  The only tourists and/or foreigners Russia has seen for over two years are all from Asia (mostly China).   When the average Russian hears my American voice speaking English, the immediate reaction is shock, followed by extreme curiosity – it’s wild.

There’s nothing to be fearful about or worried about.  Everywhere seems to be safe, orderly and exceptionally well cultured; maybe even a little annoyingly so.  The polite and unwritten social rules are followed by everyone with a general compliance unlike anything I can remember seeing in the USA.   Everything from how you cross the street to obeying social standards on subway travel is extraordinarily polite and mannerly; factually it’s a little weird.

Do not romanticize Russia in your mind’s-eye; there are major issues here, and the quality of life in the average USA neighborhood is much higher.  However, on the cultural part of polite social norms, most Russian social life is like a step back into the 1950’s USA with perhaps a bigger dose of visible counter-culture evident.

The USA boomer generation would recognize the shallow coldness behind the eyes of Russians who avoid eye contact and appear to be task oriented in life.  Oddly, if you grew up as a USA Gen-Xer, socially current Russia is probably more like the place of your fond memories, and going to a large shopping mall is like stepping back in time 30 years.  If, however, you have a gen-Z or ‘zoomer’ in the familial crew, they would think modern social Russia is backwards and too regimented.

From what I can tell, those Western (generational) viewpoints are entirely due to the speed of transition that Dugin notes from the rising of Vladimir Putin to the leadership of Russia.

There ain’t no welcoming room for Barack Obama, Bill Ayers, Cass Sunstein, Samantha Power and/or any of the progressive crew here.  Russian patriotism is probably at the highest generational point in a long time, and I doubt President Putin is going to miss the opportunity to perma-ban all the Western corporations that exited Russia after the sanctions came along.

The reality of the Western sanction regime is really going to take an entire series of articles to explain.  T-mobile cell phone service works here (go figure, no blocks at all), as long as you don’t interface your device with Russian internet wifi, which is really funny.

Yes, you can connect to all the banned Western stuff through the cell phone network (value of a yellow phone in Russia), and simultaneously you can connect and access all of the banned stuff the USA government controls and stops Americans from seeing/using if you have a grey zone originating phone and cell phone number.  lolol

It really is bizarre how an individual person can operate, in this fragmented communication world, once they teach themselves the tools and techniques.   Perhaps the most stunningly obvious difference between Yellow and Grey – anyone with a passport can open a bank account in Russia. The RU banks even have their computers set up to plug in to your device and upload apps, because the Apple/Google app stores don’t permit it (sanctions).

There is a lengthy learning curve, but it is well worth the time figuring out how to navigate the financial matrix the West has constructed.   The sanctions against Russia are stunningly irrelevant, and were not designed to keep Russia out of the western financial system. The Sanctions were created to keep Americans, Canadians, AU/NZ, Japan and EU locked into the West.