Putin's Sense of Russian History
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- Опубліковано 24 кві 2022
- A long view on the sense of Russian history that Vladimir Putin has inherited and draws from culturally. Looking at the roots of Russian anti-westernism, its response to Europe during the Enlightenment and Peter and Catherine the Great's modernizing projects. From Rousseau and the influence of the Romanitics through to Dostoevsky, Carl Schmitt's influence, and Ivan Illyin today.
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Sources:
Pankaj Misrha, Age of Anger: A History of the Present
Timothy Snyder, The Road to Unfreedom
Liah Greenfield, Nationalism: Five Roads to Moderntiy
David Lewis, Russia’s New Authoritarianism
Credits:
Snyder photo, Frauemacht, CC BY-SA 4.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/..., via Wikimedia Commons
Putin Photo, Kremlin.ru, CC BY 4.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/..., via Wikimedia Commons
Script & sources at: www.thenandnow.co/2023/05/25/putins-sense-of-russian-history/
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quite honestly, I have no idea how most of your videos end up averaging 15k, your production, narration and insight is all on point. They should all be blowing up to well over 100k. Keep up the good work.
his production value is insane I wonder this myself
Maybe not this one. ua-cam.com/video/U0-mAF4RIO8/v-deo.html & ua-cam.com/video/vaU58lYt0Dk/v-deo.html. Russia isn't in Ukraine.
The content is getting better and better. Just a matter of time before the channel blows up.
@@priapulida I found him quite common, quite "popular", quite main stream; not niche or innovative at all!
He doesn’t play the algorithm well, he puts Putin in his titles and talks of wars and other words that lead to the algorithm burying his videos
I see a lot of comments about this channel not getting enough viewers, which I agree with, but sometimes it isn't HOW MANY people see your ideas, but WHO sees your ideas. The number of patrons you have relative to your viewership is incredible. Keep doing what you are doing - I can speak personally - You are making a difference in the way people see the world.
Too bad UA-cam is not monetized according to WHO sees your ideas. Until the masses wake up to the value of his channel, we gonna have to subscribe on Patreon. Pay the man!
You miss the whole point, buddy, this time. You should check out philosopher *Alexander Dugin* or the so-called *brain of Putin* if you wanna understand whats going on in Russia, & its certainly not fascism, shame on you for this gross liberal error/projection of yours.
*Alexander Dugin* has been calling, for example, for a *4th political theory* beyond liberalism, fascism & communism, & these ideas resonate with many parts of the non-western world *who are fed up with the global*
*Eurocentric liberal fascist order that*
*has been imposed to the whole planet*
Get real....
@@trojanhorse860 I have to think he’s familiar with Dugin, though I too was surprised he wasn’t mentioned. Timothy Snyder, who he cites for this video goes into detail about him in Road to Unfreedom. Doesn’t paint a pretty picture of Dugin, arguing that he imported nazi concepts into Russia, citing certain writings when he was operating under the pen-name “Sievers.” He comes off as a fascist to me but I haven’t read his writings first-hand. Snyder even quotes Dugin directly calling for “fascism, borderless and red.”
@@trojanhorse860 I have to think he’s familiar with Dugin, though I too was surprised he wasn’t mentioned. Timothy Snyder, who he cites for this video goes into detail about him in Road to Unfreedom. Doesn’t paint a pretty picture of Dugin, arguing that he imported nazi concepts into Russia, citing certain writings when he was operating under the pen-name “Sievers.” He comes off as a fascist to me but I haven’t read his writings first-hand. Snyder even quotes Dugin directly calling for “fascism, borderless and red.”
@@natacee566 That was addressed to this liberal fascist maker of the video above, *not to you.*
This idea about how resentment leads to the rejection of the most powerful and the choice of a counter-model is a bit similar to a phenomenon that was reported in segregated underclasses.
Never being able to attain the upper class only by changing their behavior, many people of the underclass embrace a counter-culture identity that defines itself in opposition to the upper class. See "American Apartheid" by Massey and Denton for a discussion.
It struck me just now how close this is to Nietzsche's slave/master analogy. This is also close to postmodern warnings against the essentialization of identity politics.
These ideas come up very often, it seems.
Any one of Marx's theoretical workers would take a raise in pay and a foreman's job over his 'comrades'..If you want the truth, follow the money. You will believe anyone for the right price.."yours"..Marx never labored..He lived in libraries off of Engels' dime...What happened to the Communists? The Trotskyites?...ah "socialists' now, is it? wink...
"It wasn't reason or divine truth that drove world history: it was resentment". Wow!
At the 24 minute mark, yes. Time for me to reread the Notes from Underground. This gives me a lot to think about my country's history, too.
‘Notes From Underground’ is by no means Dostoevsky’s FIRST major work. He had published at least two novels and many other extensive pieces of writings before it.
Just to let you know :)
Yes
Да
It's his major work after the shift of his thought, distancing himself from his early utopian socialist, central and ocidental-europe driven ideas among his literate colleagues, to a reinterpretation of russian orthodoxy and euroasiatism being.
From the outside it’s hard to tell whether the nationalist-essentialist philosophy or the individual ambition came first. Both surely compliment each other.
I was raised on a Western perspective in which the superiority of liberal and capitalist values was pretty much seen as fact. Before the War on Terror which started when I was just in my teens the expansion of said values seemed almost inevitable - we had won already and everyone else just had to catch up.
Now, in the aftermath of 9/11, the Arab Spring, the Financial crisis… I was incredibly naive and ate up the arrogance because it was so very comfortable. There is no inevitability in history and as much as I may despise autocrats like Putin and Jinping or religious fanatics like the Taliban - they hate us for a reason.
I do still believe in democracy and think that going back to nationalist zero-sum games will and does royally screw us but I cannot assume that everyone else will eventually agree with me automatically.
careful, you are wrong, what you are confusing with liberal and capitalistic values are the images cosmists and Heideggerian claim it to be the 1st political theory while they enforce geopolitics.
Capitalist democracy is an oxymoron
@@richhornie7000 Different parts of society vary greatly in levels of democratic structures. But to say any capitalist state can‘t be democratic in any way just takes all the nuance out.
I won‘t pretend that corporations as they exist now are democratic but there is a difference between a leader who can be voted out and one who wins with 99%. There are jokes like the electoral college and lobb… sorry, advisors but with a system of proportional choice voting can at least do something. And obviously democracy doesn’t end with the electoral system.
Yes, I do think capitalist democracies exist. Countries in which opposing ideas can be discussed and platformed on the political stage are at least partially democratic in my book.
…
Maybe I shouldn’t respond to one-liners… Too late!
@@btarczy5067 You are right that there's definitely a difference between a capitalist democracy and a country where you dont even get to have the hope that through overwhelming odds you'll change your leader. But I don't believe at the end of the day they're that much different, instead of an oligarchal class you have a masked oligharcy that's somewhat legitimized and acts with much of the same impunity. Instead of a leader which you dont get to choose you have a leader which is most of the time supported by a media narrative through soft power and which pretty much guarantees a winner. Instead of open police brutality and state apparatus suppresion you again a more legitimized and on the surface trustworthy for the common citizen police organ. Instead of state censorship you have guided narratives, state censorship still in the form of now in europe banning russian aligned media, state censorship in silencing dissent (think the leftist who recently got arrested and sent to prison in the US for saying leftists need to be armed or the protester who in effect got executed by trump by sending a police death squad after him). You also have these moments now in the past of "democratic" nations which are forgotten like especially in the US but I imagine you can find analogs of them in other places, say kent state shooting by the national guard, bombing of us cities by the us government, suppresion of leftist movements (cointelpro).
Nationalist and individual ambition are not complimentary. One encourages people to be self sacrificing while the latter encourages selfish behavior.
I cannot explain how refreshing, enlightening, and frightening this video essay is. Thank you so much for your hard work.
Excellent video, great writing, well researched and interesting topic as always. You are one of my favorite creators on this website!
Very enlightening perspective. Thank you for the effort you(and your team) put into this work.
I find this to be a very idealistic view of cultural and philosophical history, one that barely acknowledges the role economic conditions play in the spread of conservative nationalism. The best we get is a reference to the dire state of Russia in the 90s
Interesting. I think the most important figure in Putin's ideological transformation was Vyacheslav Surkov, who has taken the ideas of Russian exceptionality by Ilyin, Dugin & others and incorporated them into the reality of Russia of 00's (with Putin moving away from the initial course of trying to establish a closer relationships with Western leaders & booming economy due to the rise of the oil & gas prices). He has invented, at least in its current meaning, the term "sovereign democracy" - which had a lot of sovereignty and a pinch of democracy. The "better way" of ruling which was basically the modernised enlightened absolutism that was facing the past instead of the future.
I'd probably mention the role that the Great Patriotic War (the part of WW2 that starts from Hitler's invasion of Soviet Union) had played in the reappearance of this pan-slavic sentiment. Every nation needs a nation-defining moment and post-Soviet Russia didn't really have one as the fall of the Soviet Union was exactly that in public's perception - the end of the big country, not the beginning of the new one. The August Coup also didn't really qualify in the way that the Great October revolution did for USSR... so Putin chose the Great Patriotic war and the Victory over the Nazi Germany as the starting point of his ideology. And it was, sadly, a brilliant move - the trauma of war was never fully processed by USSR as a country, so it was easy to transform the greatest tragedy of the XXth century into this fairy tale of Russian (Soviet) exceptionalism. The Victory over the Nazis was the crowning moment of Russia & USSR, you don't even get to hear about the role that the Allies had played in all of that... an entire world went against Russia and Russia prevailed - that's how the sentiment goes. Russia saved everyone from the greatest evil that this world has ever known so the world should be forever grateful - but it isn't, hence the ressentiment.
This is partly the reason of why Putin's propaganda is so effective in Russia when it talks about the invasion of Ukraine. There's clearly a fascist state in this war, but Russians can't quite believe that it's them in this case, so they are quick to believe about those unspecified "Nazis" that rule over Ukraine, forcing Putin's hand into engaging in yet another Great Patriotic War - to save itself, Ukraine and the world from the virus of nazism. Dugin had this figure of Katechon in his philosophy if you can call it that, taken from the Bible - the one who would stand up to the Antichrist at the verge of the Apocalypse and at this point it looks like Putin truly believes that he is one. Spending so many years with Medinskiy on one shoulder and Volodin on the other can't be healthy for the psyche.
are you american
@@axelz2953 Looks like England
Interesting. Well stated. But I disagree
@@axelz2953 Russian (at this point I’d add “sadly” to that)
@@edoedo8686 what exactly do you disagree with me on?
Excellent all round production - thank you.
Very interesting video, thanks alot from Russian.
But I have to add few remarks:
- Mentioning middle class during times of Catherine the Great is wrong,she did everything for the benefit of nobility. Solely. Bc they were her source of power.
Khomyakov and slavyanofils weren't preaching what they themselves didn't practice - unity with other classes. While their direction of thinking of unique Russian path had some good points, they lacked intellectual flexibility to reach more sounding conclusions. Their misconceptions were solved by Lenin, more or less.
As for Iliyin, hewas a known fascist sympathizer, and the reason why he's so loved by Vlad is his concept of "feeling of rank", meaning that lower classes should know their place and obey their "superiors" , ie nobility and wealthy. So that we, Russians, should shut up and accept living in poverty in one of the richest places on this planet
Wow, this is such an insightful comment! Thank you so much for taking the time to share your perspective. I’m sorry for the hardship you are going through and I hope you and those close to you are doing okay. I really appreciate getting to read your thoughts. Please take care. 💙
@@juneshay608 you welcome, friend. Thanks for your kind words. You too stay safe.
Russia have been sanctioned for 500 years by the West because to them we are "the other", we are an alternative that they cannot accept, always were, kind of hard to thrive materialistically when you being constantly attacked by "civilized" nations, and when we play ball with them like in the 90s, they still seek to destroy us.
We are here to struggle, suffer, serve God and eventually try to have a meaningful death, Russian liberals are here to eat and poo. Eat and poo ;) .
I would say that Gumilyev is Putin's go to philosopher and his passionarity theory,and the whole eurasian bs that putin preaches is just an excuse to opress his own people and prolong his stay in power
@@vojdanradevski16zyzz We have more freedom in Russia than let say in Latvia or UK... lol
This was an awesome introduction to the idea of 'reading' history in different ways... love it.
Actually insane that you have this few views. Insanely underrated! Keep up the fantastic work!
One thing I'd add: Russia and Ukraine had very similar post-Soviet experiences in the 90s, but both ended up in a place with much of their population fervently supporting opposing ideals. It suggests much of history is based on small chances and imponderable factors.
Comparing Russia and Ukraine and finding them similar is understanding neither. Russia is not similar to Ukraine in either character or ideals. Most cruicialy, Ukranians never felt themselves being inferior to anyone. They quite honestly don't care what great thoughts Voltaire or Niche had and do their own philosophers scale up to them. Ukranians also lack the collectivist mentality that Russians have, they don't like each other all that much at all, their favorite thing to do outside fighting someone is to bicker among each other over the most petty things imaginable. They do not take pride in their own things simply because they have things that are indeed their own, the only time when they do that is when someone attempts to take them away. Ukranians are fiercely independent and do not see unity as a virtue in a vacuum. Authoritarianism doesn't work with them for that reason, they are simply too unrully to be made to obey for long, not even Stalin and Lenin could force them to be quiet for long and they went to some very impressive lengths to that end
Most Population on both sides supports the same ideals, it's the capitalist governments who oppose eachother.
Ukraine is a Region that has been fought over by Empires for centuries.
To call the area a Nation seems to ignore Polish Bandera supporters in Lvyv, or the Citizens of Donbas who send Christmas Cards to Relatives in Rostov.
Ukraine is not a Nation, it is just a Battleground that has been fought over by Empires for centuries.
The heritage that the Humans reflect in the area, creates Music and Food that demonstrates all the influences from Vikings, Mongols, Greeks and Romans.
Those 4 influences barely scratch the surface.
Welsh influence in Donbas was something that developed industry in that area as the resources showed the potential the area offered.
The Greed of Capitalism was avoided as the area created the materials to support the Citizens, while the exploiters were held out of the area.
The Iron Curtain prevented the approach of Greed.
Now the BRICS Wall seems to appear and prevent exploitation.
That is why the former Colonial Powers fight to overcome that BRICS Wall.
@@danielhutchinson6604 "the greed of capitalism" - aka the reason you are able to communicate via this website instead of living in a medieval hovel.
@@forthrightgambitia1032 Shall we compare Hovels?
My Social Security Check seems to be challenged by the Greed of Capitalism.
But I do understand how few are served by the Greed that Wall Street exploits.
The coming crashing noise will be the Greed falling like Fabvrege Eggs off an expensive display case,
or Beer Bottles into a Dumpster behind a Bar at Closing Time.....
We will see how this economic event plays out?
Bernanke and Paulson are not around to come up with a solution to the mess that Greed has created, as their plan only delayed the inevitable?
Capitalism might be among the victims this time?
US Debt at $32 trillion.....
Consumer Debt at $16 trillion......
"Could be Bad." ..............Troy Tschudi
As usual. Outstanding, thought provoking and beautifully crafted. This you so much.
I recently found you through your Mr. Beast video and I must say, I love your work. Your candor, your ability to tie in history, philosophy, and psychology into a nice neat little bow, and your superb graphic design make you one of a kind. Keep up the great work.
Great writing and research, thank you for putting this together
Very well narrated and insightful! Also beautifully written. Thank you
Just wonderful. Loving your work
Brilliant presentation. So much food for thought in here that I think I'll have to watch it again tomorrow!
Income inequality is the killer of innovative societies.
I think the cultural and spiritual mindsets of people are greatly influenced by geography and history. But that history itself is so strongly molded by geography that it's the predominant factor. So I think discussing Putin's views without mentioning the geographical disadvantages Russia has from a defensive standpoint makes this analysis lacking. It was very well written and enjoyable to watch nonetheless.
Yes, being easily invaded and having aggressive neighbors and having to deal with a killing climate every winter gives you a more realistic view of the world than living behind an almost impenetrable water barrier on all sides and having a mild climate where you can live with the fantasy that the world is hospitable.
I love your videos and perspective! Is there a general reading list you'd recommend?
Just found this channel. Really great work, man.
Thank you for an excellent video.
As a russian, I was sorta dreading it since the announcement, because there's a lot of really bad takes about culture, literature and philosophy floating around. But, have to happily admit, I was wrong.
Great work, looking forward to seeing more of your videos
Thank you for the outstanding content!
Absolutely riveting. Helped my understating of this period of history so very much.
It's not true that 'nobody knows what Putin's thinking'. He was clear in his Munich speech in 2007; he's given lots of interviews since. He's a straight talker
Straigh talker?? The man lies all the time! He is a trained liar. Lies are at the base of gis power. What kind of naivite makes one think he ever spoke tge truth? Hasnt this war teached you anything about him?
I just came across this channel, as as someone who teaches social theory at university, I am very impressed. I would push you on a couple of points, however. You substantially take an Irving Berlin tack of creating a sort of German-based "counter-Enlightenment" as a foil for Enlightenment Universalism and Rationalism. This is done at the cost of some violence to both sides of this seeming divide. Locke, for example, is a hero of the Enlightenment, but one of his best-known work is a long Essay on the limits of Reason, limits that existed in human particularities of language, history and habit. At the same time, Herder did indeed argue that "national difference" was infrastructural for human beings, but he also had a strong species consciousness. The fact was that one could only be human in the particular, as it were, but since all such differences were created by humans, they were all accessible to understanding by other humans.
Putin, for all his invoking of Russian history, strikes me as much more shallowly-rooted philosophically and historically. He exists as part, and is a product, of the kind of state machinery that emerged under Louis Napoleon in the 19thC -- a competent, if cumbersome, internal security apparatus, combined with a regular army which is simultaneously valorised and rendered ineffective through rampant corruption. If his leadership places him in a "state of exception" then it is a very 19thC one, where the machinery, rather than the person running it, is considered essential. While Putin has toyed (hilariously) with Mussolini-type imagery, throughout his career, he has presented himself mostly as an arch-bureaucrat, the only guy who can keep this state machinery in working order. and hence, chaos at bay. Yes, he has looted to his heart's content along the way, but the sort of cult of personality that defined 20thC Fascism has not formed around him, thus many of the philosophers you mention (even the ones he quotes) don't seem to apply to him or his thinking. He has, for example, occupied multiple positions in regular changing constitutions -- very unlike the sort of Leader Schmidt imagines. Unlike current leaders who channel this kind of Fascist style (such as Trump), Putin even seems uncomfortable at rallies, as if such crowds might well turn into the sort of forces he so fears.
Russia, for Putin, it seems to me, is not so much a distinct "culture" in the way that I, as an anthropologist, would use the term, but more an entity embodied in a particular bureaucratic configuration. This state is being threatened from without by hostile forces (which recently forced it from its natural borders) and within by a tendency to anarchy, a tendency that is encouraged by those same hostile forces.
Anyway, great job.
You make a good point, from what we can tell, Putin is a less than confident strong man. Although paranoia is a necessary part of the role, it seems to be his defining characteristic. Also, from what we can see from Russian troops on the ground in Ukraine, the instillment of unity and faithfulness to the motherland is hardly ingrained. The view of a united Russia and a pan-slavic history and destiny falls apart outside the Kremlin.
Just wanted to say, someone asked me yesterday if I had a favorite UA-cam channel. In 2022 it's not an easy question. But for me, it's easy, its you! Love the videos
Wow, thank you!
Thank you for sharing all your Knowledge 💐🙏🏼❤️🌎✌🏼
Great video, really enjoyed it.
About the first 3 minutes and Marx /communism: it is true, that marxists believe in the inevitable fall of capitalism. However we influence the timetable and the outcome through our actions. If Marxism said that we have to do nothing to achieve liberation from capitalism, why would so many people be willing to fight a violent revolution? Just something I wanted to say.
the problem is that putin's view of history - the one you explain here - is directly in conflict with our long term survival. And more importantly it isn't universal - you can't explain everything with it. Rationalism and scientific discourse CAN explain nationalism, But you can't twist it round - nationalism CAN'T explain everything that rationalism can.
My favorite quote about this is in 'who speaks for earth' in cosmos's last season. Sagan - talking about nuclear war - "In our tenure of this planet, we have accumulated dangerous, evolutionary baggage -- propensities for aggression and ritual, submission to leaders, hostility to outsiders, all of which puts our survival in some doubt. We have also acquired compassion for others, love for our children, a desire to learn from history and experience, and a great, soaring passionate intelligence -- the clear tools for our continued survival and prosperity." This explains in a very distinct nutshell why we have the problems we have with nationalism in rational terms.
And in short if we listen to our nationalist side, if we follow our tribal instincts, we are doomed. If we listen to our rationalist side we'll get through this. Putin is ALL dangerous evolutionary baggage, and frankly I'm more worried about the prospect of nuclear war than I've ever been. But there is hope - if this great soaring passionate intelligence can do anything it can domesticate our id. We've seen this in the past 500 years as wars have become rarer, people have become more prosperous, and we've increased our lifespan.
People like putin endanger all that. Anti-rationalist movements endanger all that. We could easily give up 200,000 years of progress at a touch of a button. If that happens, I sincerely hope that I'm incinerated in the first milliseconds of that strike because knowing that we destroyed our civilization right at the cusp when we could have gone to conquer the heavens and provide abundance for all on this planet would just be too much heartbreak for me to bear.
Well said!
Overall, good video. I question, however, your final analysis, which seems to indicate that romanticism and a romantic critique of liberalism inherently leads to political fascism. If this is the case, we are in a very dark place indeed, given the obvious problems, from worldwide-ecological to the psychological health of the average person in the West, to the oligarchic structure, etc etc etc. You seem to thereby tacitly endorse liberalism despite a well researched and well spoken explication of why some countries have rejected it.
Maybe there are other possible critiques of liberalism than only the romantic critique
There's a long list of attributes offered in the Romantic critique of liberalism, ranging from attachment to the land, to collective identity, to emphasizing "feeling" and spirituality over money-counting rationality, etc., but I don't think it's necessary to package-deal all of them.
I wonder if Putin could have told the Russians, "We don't need to fight with the West, or even compete with them. Doing so only forces us to become more like them. We have our nuclear deterrent, and our land itself and its climate to defend us. Trying to beat the Westerners at being Westerners, and the neoliberal Capitalists at being neoliberal Capitalists was a grave error. It is better for us to be Russians, to live in close relationship with our land and follow our own course."
Then maybe he could have crowned himself Tzar and created a splendid yet charming fairy-tale monarchy as an expression of Russian Romanticism and PR tool presiding over a functional-ish representative democracy of some sort (seems to work well for the British), and chose a path for Russia that didn't involve trying to take their little Italy-equivalent GDP and go toe-to-toe with the rest of the Northern Hemisphere in a contest of dominance. Maybe put an emphasis on making Russia a leader in eco-technology ("close to the land") and other things the Capitalist West can't do, like aesthetics.
Some of the reactionary elements of Russian culture (such as State religion and anti-LGBTQ politics) would be hard to uproot though. I dunno, I hope Putin's successor(s) will be able to find some better way of expressing Russian identity and "soul" than brutal authoritarian imperialism.
He said it can lead to polticial fascism. Not that it's inevitable. It's up to us to make sure that doesn't happen. Right?
Romanticism isn't *the only* critique of liberalism, you know.
"from worldwide-ecological to the psychological health of the average person in the West"
You forgot to add that its miles better than the rest of the world
Wow! Huge kudos. Great video
Very good work 👍
Thanks! Please keep the good work! By the way may i ask what is the cello tune you used in the video twice?
Holy S**it This was EPIC. Well done, a really really good video!
Amazing insightful analysis as always.
Excellent video !
Great video, once again.
I would love to know what is the music you used at the end. Like the soundtrack.
Also, awesome video. A few things I disagree though, but it's great.
most underrated channel on youtube literally no one doing philosophy like you
I am skeptical of narratives that posit a flawed human nature, including an emphasis on envy, as responsible for the current state of human ill. These read to me as bourgeois handwavings of deeper criticisms of structure, that leave us to sit and wait for history to unfold cynically. We can and should educate people out of these inclinations where they exist.
Russian structure is deeply flawed to be sure. At least back in the old days the bureaucrats were in control of the (not sure of the English term for this) entities-allowed-to-use-force. Nowadays, with these entities running the show, the way they lead the country is marked by the human flaws common in such people. Yes, you can look at the structure and say it's bad, but I think that's obvious to anyone. However very few westerners understand why Russian leaders have a vastly different worldview than them. I think there's more value in analyzing this, and I feel that while this video isn't perfect, but it's a good attempt.
But human nature IS flawed.
No matter where you are on earth, no matter the culture or any other influencing factors, people behave in similar and predictable ways. The existence of universal archetypes proves this; these represent a Jungian collective unconscious of the entire human race.
We use these archetypes as ideals to live by and thereby lift ourselves into a state of being higher than our flawed human nature. Nietzsche's depiction of the Übermensch is a good example of this.
To be specific, modern society (with all its Dos and Do Nots) itself is a method by which we constrain ourselves into acting in very specific ways, none of them 'natural'. For example: suppose you are in a heated verbal argument with someone that you are physically superior to in every way. The chances are that you will not resort to violence as a result of a verbal altercation, although your body prepares you for exactly that outcome by producing adrenaline in expectation of a fight.
Remove any rules we have constrained our nature with, and the result should be pretty clear; "Homo homini lupus".
@@king-george-V watch her videos she is quite based
It ought to be clear that middle grounds exist between borrow _everything_ from abroad and borrow _nothing_. And that sense of proud, absolutely unique Russian exceptionalism and demand for recognition ought to look hauntingly familiar for those of us in the U.S. too.
It's EVERYWHERE. All nations are sitting upon a base of nationalistic exceptionalism. Everyone is "Proud to be..." There's very little room in any nation's dialogue/rhetoric for espousing international/global brotherhood and unity through interconnected goals and objectives. We only play at it and give lip service with international agreements on things like climate change with little actual consideration for the opinions of and effects upon everyday people. As a middle aged American living in the UK I have seen first hand this societal malaise epitomised by corporate greed supported by corrupt governance while screaming "We are the pinnacle of a democracy!" as the people of both nations lose homes and go hungry, yet ignore the impending doom because they continue to believe the lie that they, downtrodden and exploited as they are, are somehow the GREATEST.
I really hope recent happenings coupled with four years of Trump will open at least some eyes to the fact that everything that prevents the US from having an all-out fascist party is the lack of actually charismatic and competent leadership.
Beware, peeps. Repeating "Never again" isn't gonna cut it.
@@georgearnold841 This is a universal feature of all people. We all believe that our customs are the best and wouldn't change it for anything. You can see it at the earliest form from Herodotus retelling a story of a Persian king Darius that observed that neither Indians nor Greeks wanted to change their funeral rites, quoting Pindar: "Custom is king of all." It seems like you're fighting against reality itself.
Loved the video and ... actually loved the comments as well.
this is a mind blowing video - fantastic context
Amazing! Thank you for the a different perspective on history
I really cannot add much to what has been said already. It is all too prevalent that we logically beg the question regarding our national identity, politics, history, etc. - things will BE exceptional because we ARE exceptional. Likewise, we cannot be bad BECAUSE we are good. So on and so forth.
Thank you for this production. You truly deserve more views than you've received.
This was really nuanced and expansive all at the same time. Very well done.
Very, enlightening. Your imageries are moving.
I'm glad to see this video has 56k views at this point- but it still deserves more
Putin called the American's NATO bluff. Its called 'current state of affairs' and its not a lot to do with navel-gazing over ancient history with advanced hypersonic missile and drone technology and nuclear power plants/ weapons
Top notch. Thank you.
you are keep getting better!
History is based on “national identity”, maybe a dialectic, and proceeds in a straight logical line? How about national identity being based on a collective grasp of “don’t take our stuff” and “don’t insult our mothers”? I listened to half of this waiting to hear about Putin (as the title said) and found that our lecturer was still context-setting after 20 minutes.
Outstanding content. You join the dots well
I am dissapointed with the conclusion. It kind of boiled down to "Russia is turning fascist and Putin is literally Hitler". The video feels unfinished and did not mention Russia's geopolitical problems and how putin must deal with these problems both internally and externally.
Agreed. It was almost western propaganda like..
Above my head but I've liked and subscribed. I'm going to listen carefully and learn. Thanks!
Does anyone know what the music playing at this point 12:01 is? Amazing piano solo
Update - I Shazammed it. It’s Gnossiene, possibly number 3 😊
Outstanding analysis!
12:00 always enjoy the soundtracks for your videos.
Nice to hear some Satie that isn't *that* Satie for a change! 😄❤️
(I think this number is from the "Pieces Froids" if anyone wants to hear more)
Okay, calling nonsense on the 14:10 bit about Russian and Old Church Slavonic. OCS was (and still is, in religious settings) an early Mediaeval hold-over from the Christianisation of the East Slavs, by Greeks (that's the source of the opposition to Latin, nothing to do with Russians). The language is essentially a dialect of Old Bulgarian, and it dominated Russian literature until late 1700's. The period you're talking about there is notable for its rejection of the alien OCS, and the acceptance of the real Russian vernacular in non-religious writing.
Great vid
I have only just discovered your work tonight, 9 v '22 & myself a follower of Spengler & John Lukacs in particular, let me say, thank you.
The reason I believe not many people view these videos. Is because they don’t deserve to. Your work is beautiful and deservingly so.
you are brilliant. ❤️
Exceptional. You have a long way to go. Much Much better than university professors who run on sensationalism of media...
I hope this gets a lot more views
Do you have a source for that poetry quote at 19:55 : "among us, orthodox, however work is like fire under our hands."
I'm at the beginning of the video still, but what you seem to be describing about how we view history as a teleological view. We assume things are going in one way, and they will hit a certain point (The best example I can give is a musical one, the English "Semi-Opera" was given that term because it was viewed to inevitably end up in real "opera")
I love your stuff but can you please put the music in the credits of your videos? I've had it happen multiple times that I found a song in your video so amazing that I wanted to find it but couldn't. why don't you put them in the description underneath the credits? I'd say the music is worth being credited
An interesting presentation on an interesting perspective. The politics of resentment is a powerful thing.
🔎 Just discovered this channel.
👍🏻 I came, I saw, I liked, and SUBBED! ✌🏻
Thanks
Really well done, feels like watching a well funded documentary.
This is excellent
I feel it's worth noting that Russia isn't the only country with similar ideology. Most of Eastern Central Europe developed a mindset based on resentment, almost religious exceptionalism blend with self-loathing and a desire to belong. I'm Hungarian, and we had a similar line of events following '89. We were forced into the Soviet sphere, then in '90s capitalism came and all its problems and benefits (tho the situation wasn't nearly as bad as in Russia), however a sentiment of Westernization was ruling. It changed in the 2010s, when Viktor Orbán got elected, and slowly moved the country away from western liberalism to a hybrid form of authoritarian parlamentarism. It included strenthening the ties to the East, mostly Russia and Central Asia, also building an. EU-skeptic block with Poland, Slovakia and Czechia (which came to an end last month). Hungary had a similar historical problem of never belonging to west, with a group of thinkers pursuing to be, and an other group that purposfully wanted go away from it. Because Hungary always had an eastern bond as well (coming from steppe nomads, then influence of the Ottoman Empire and being basically colonised by the Habsburgs the national idea stem from the difference to the West). No wonder that Hungary is the most indifferent country to the Ukraine War right now, with a huge amount of people supporting Russia out of sheer spite against the West.
Yup, I feel many ex-WP countries suffer from the same inferiority complex. Not sure what it was like in Hungary, but in Romania, our Dear Leader massively promoted a certain brand of fake history that ironically outlived him. Even now, you'll hear people that strongly believe the fake history that was promoted through books and movies back then. Why? Well, currently we are a small player, struggling with corruption and our own flaws. But in that fake history, we were a true power, and all of us were genuine paragons of nationalism and virtues. It's copium at its finest.
That's a bit of a spin-off on your comment but me (a Russian) and some of my friends from various Slavic countries (Bulgaria, Poland etc.) share the feeling that there's this general "Slavic people are, like, white and of the West, but N O T Q U I T E" attitude which makes you feel confused and less than. A lot of assumptions are made about our cultures - and it's seemingly "okay" for these assumptions to be left unchallenged, no matter how wild they are. Not to mention that cultures and languages often tend to be seen as one and the same, even though they are quite diverse.
Of course, this doesn't cancel out any of much better experiences. I've always had plenty of caring and respectful friends from all around the world, and not a single one chose to lump me together with Putin's delusions just because I'm Russian after shit dropped hard. But I do feel that there is a certain "social current" - and tbh Ukraine was subjugated to this way of thinking as well before the war broke out and suddenly all of the politicians decided to embrace how westernized it was all along.
Thanks much
nice soundtrack, is it yours?
Does anyone know what the music played in the background is, throughout the quotation of Dostoevsky's discussion of London?
Hello:
1. This message is to ask you what academic works can allow me to understand what factors explain the famines in the Soviet Union and Mao's China and why these experiments led to authoritarianism or totalitarianism. [Some philosophers would say that totalitarianism is an impossibility and that there is in any case a sacralization of democracy, a so-called "democratic fundamentalism", see the philosophical school of the Spanish philosopher Gustavo Bueno].
Regarding the famines: Were they deliberately caused or the result of other factors?
¿Why did the USSR collapse?
In other words: Are these phenomena the result of the "inherent" relationship of socialism-communism with "evil" and the "impossibility" of economic planning? (As the opposing ideological spectrum would say.) Or on the contrary: did these phenomena have causes that have never been explained in the dominant discourse? (external sabotage, isolationism, etc...?)
How can we understand the phenomena of Cuba and Venezuela?
2. I would also like to understand if there is evidence to link capitalism with the practices of imperialism and interventionism (in Latin America as in the Middle East, the phenomenon of military intervention by the United States and European Countries is clear)
On the one hand, these issues interest me because I want to be able to analyze history without ideological dogmatism (but always from a critical perspective that is not submissive to the hegemonic political, cultural and economic order, since I consider myself a person on the political spectrum). leftist) without giving more weight to politicians I disagree with (right-wing libertarians, new right, new conservatism, neoliberalism, Austrian economists, or pretty much anyone who says that capitalism and liberal democracy are the end of the story)
3. Since I began to study and become interested in politics, philosophy, economics, etc., I have been told that communism only means hunger, death, authoritarianism and misery. All political discourse is focused on the fact that there is nothing beyond capitalism and that anything that pretends to be different will result in the aforementioned elements. However, I see that Capitalism being the global system is leading us to an unprecedented ecological crisis, where phenomena of scarcity, conflicts and even authoritarianism are beginning to manifest (of course, in the IPCC or United Nations reports the problem is reduced to the aspect technician of greenhouse gas emissions, but no one mentions production and consumption patterns, growth and accumulation dynamics, etc.)
4. I understand that the concept of progress and development cuts across capitalism and the "really existing socialisms" for which Latin America has made proposals beyond development. An example of those who question it are the Colombian anthropologist Arturo Ecobar and his text "The invention of the third world" and "The invention of development" or the analysis of the ecological economy proposed by Joan Martínez Alier, the analysis of Eduardo Gudynas on the “ Good Living” and post-extractivist economies or the works of the various decolonial perspectives that deal extensively with the issue of colonialism, capitalism and dependency (political, economic and cultural) in the Latin American region (Rita Laura Segato, Anibla Quijano, Enrique Dussel , Walter Mignolo, María Lugones, Santiago Castro Gómez, Ramón Grosfoguel, Bolívar Echeverría).
Other Views on Russia Ukraine issue :
ua-cam.com/video/N7Z-D4eybZI/v-deo.html
www.patreon.com/posts/63111046
www.patreon.com/posts/63272793
anyone who tells you that free markets or privatization is good under all conditions is just lying or being an ideologue. same with those who say that countries that are underdeveloped have to institute a fully planned economy. despite the many critiques i have of the soviet system myself (authoritarianism, questionable wartime policies, dogmatic adherence to full planning, etc.), i cannot deny that it spurred economic growth (at least for some time) and most likely lifted millions out of poverty. cuba (despite the sanctions and all) achieved a great lot in healthcare and literacy and is still better than most of latin america when it comes to social indicators outside of GDP. yugoslavia (not really as planned to the extent of the soviet union, but was still a socialist economy with a mix of planning and markets) had rapid growth from around 1950 to 1980. romania (a less cited example, and for obvious reasons because of the atrocious austerity measures taken there) was one of the poorest countries in europe and had high-speed 8-10% economic growth from 1960 to 1980.
Sources (using gapminder mostly):
www.gapminder.org/tools/#$model$markers$line$data$filter$dimensions$country$country$/$in@=svn&=jpn;;;;;;&encoding$frame$value=1980;;;;;&chart-type=linechart&url=v1
www.gapminder.org/tools/#$model$markers$line$data$filter$dimensions$country$country$/$in@=rou&=ind&=hnd;;;;;;&encoding$frame$value=1980;;;;;&chart-type=linechart&url=v1
www.gapminder.org/tools/#$model$markers$line$data$filter$dimensions$country$country$/$in@=cub&=dom&=chl&=bra&=arg&=hti&=ven;;;;;;&encoding$y$data$concept=life_expectancy_years&space@=country&=time;;&scale$type:null&domain:null&zoomed:null;;&frame$value=2020;;;;;&chart-type=linechart&url=v1
www.gapminder.org/tools/#$model$markers$line$data$filter$dimensions$country$country$/$in@=cub&=dom&=chl&=bra&=arg&=hti&=ven;;;;;;&encoding$y$data$concept=se_adt_litr_zs&space@=country&=time;&source=wdi;&scale$type:null&domain:null&zoomed:null;;&frame$value=2018;;;;;&chart-type=linechart&url=v1
www.gapminder.org/tools/#$model$markers$line$data$filter$dimensions$country$country$/$in@=cub&=dom&=chl&=bra&=arg&=hti&=ven;;;;;;&encoding$y$data$concept=child_mortality_0_5_year_olds_dying_per_1000_born&space@=country&=time;;&scale$type:null&domain:null&zoomed:null;;&frame$value=2018;;;;;&chart-type=linechart&url=v1
@@no0412 I'll grant it to Cuba when it comes to public safety as well. There is hardly any violent crime there whatsoever. It is one of the safest countries in America. Right alongside Canada or Uruguay.
Meanwhile, places close to it, like Mexico, the DR, Jamaica, Haiti, PR, and even the US itself, well... You know.
@@PrimericanIdol cuba would be a bit safer without guantanamo, but that's kinda out of their control (at least from what i read online)
Great video, really makes one think the alternative ways in which civilizations develop. One thing though, and you might find this stupid but, the way you pronounced "ressentiment" really sounded like "resentment" and got me confused until the word was displayed in text. Maybe just me though.
He did say “resentment”. The captions are probably wrong.
bro the first five minutes of this video are amazing.
Thank you for your fine distillation of a great deal of history and philosophy concisely, backgrounded by great video clips. The prominent role of fascism in Putin's brutal miscalculation is especially worrying as it appears to be generating something of a mirror response.
Very strong video
Genuinely brilliant articulation of this very high level view of reality
This channel is amazing. I recommend it anytime I get an excuse too. Putin is a fascist and its annoying when people pretend he is the one to bring us into socialism, as if he hasn't always been a reactionary
Other than grifters, who thinks Putin is going to bring anyone into socialism?
Enjoy yeltsin
personally I think it's possible to overplay the historical mindset thing. it's true that Marshall Berman emphasizes the break between Occidental and Oriental in focusing on conceptions of modernity. However, Kossellik is surely right in seeing the birth of temporality in modernity, and a part of that is a strong executive over parliamentary/governmental procedure (one looks forward, the other back) in setting the store of what a potential future entails
Very good
What music have you got going in the background?
By far one of the most underrated video essay channels on UA-cam. Few channels historicize as well as this one.
The 24:00 mark, gave me chills honestly. I just learned about what schismogenesis meant from the book "the dawn of everything" by David greaber and David Wengrow, and the term reminded me of the pure resentment that the underground man felt. And then I hear it all put into a well made documentary like this. The Segway was amazing, it really does sum up recent Russian history.
thanks man
Or the third response in relation to some thinkers claiming that England is ahead of France economically, spiritually etc is to shrug their shoulders and say 'Who cares?'
Why do just assume that national identity is a necessary, useful or valid lens through which to view one's self. Why can't I, as someone born in England, look at France and take inspiration from the things I think are valuable and reject the things that I don't think are valuable.
We don't uncritically buy into every action that the nations we belong to commit as if our own ego is tied up with the nation. For example, the NHS is a thing of great pride for many Brits. But the way that our government are deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda is a source of shame for many.
Moreover, nations take inspiration from other nations all the time. The furlough scheme in the UK was inspired by a Danish policy. Thatcher's economics were inspired largely by the Austrian economist, Friedrich Hayek- as were many other neoliberal world leaders during that time.
We also live in an age of international trade, supranational organisations (such as the EU, ASEA, the WHO, NATO etc), the internet, international media, migration, easy international travel etc. All of these factors have further eroded the idea of a homogenous national identity, at least in nations which have high levels of international trade, migration etc.
I think there's an argument to be made about how the formation of large international trading and military blocs like the EU/ NATO kind of supersede nations and escalate competition. For example, if everyone around you is joining a club which you're not a part of, it can make you feel more isolated and under threat etc. But in reference to Russia, I've heard that they have been on pretty good terms with Western powers up until recently.
i wish the world worked this way
rationalist arguments simply don’t suffice to explain the history. It’s an ideal case scenario
The NATO thing is at best an excuse.
i think russia is fully aware that nato exists why it exists. they aren’t deluding themselves with the notions that NATO is on their borders threatening their sovereignty - they’re pretty aware why it exists and why it has the members it has.
It’s an argument MLs usually use to justify supporting russia in this conflict
but i feel like considering the wider philosophy of the russian rule is important
No one asks why countries are so happy to go to NATO. It is simple some understand threat and ambitions of Ruzzia. It is genocidal imperialistic cesspool which seeks to justify own existance with taking land from past colonies.
The mode in which we interrogate and divide history, reveals more about us the interrogator than the patch of history that we had begun interrogating. Oswald Spengler distinguished between two oppositional modes of approaching the world one which he termed Nature as the shape "in which the man of higher Cultures synthesizes and interprets the immediate impressions of his senses" juxtaposed against that of History where the imagination of men "seeks comprehension of the living existence of the world in relation to his own life, which he thereby invests with a deeper reality." History was in Spengler's view increasingly seen as Nature and treated accordingly, by interrogating it through the principles of causality, of law, of system neglecting inevitablity and neccesity of phenomena that "appeared just then, and there, in that form, and for that space of time.". It was assumed that a human culture existed just as electricity or gravitation existed, and that it was capable of analysis in much the same way as these. The habits of the scientific researcher are eagerly taken as a model.
Spengler's morphological vision of History reveals the essential character of the containment of the nascent Russian culture and its yearning for Byzantium through a slavophilic bent. besboshnik.wordpress.com/2013/02/09/the-two-faces-of-russia-essay-by-oswald-spengler/