*Just a reminder, Kustanovich is an old friend of my father’s and professor emeritus of Russian at Vanderbilt University. Their connection goes back to their parents during the Siege of Leningrad. Remind me to tell you about it sometime.
I have so many stories to share! Looking forward to having the time to shaping them into something, maybe with my dad's help. Maybe even with audio since Substack allows that now :)
"What about the attraction to authoritarianism and xenophobia?"
It's been a while since I read Secondhand Time, but one of the monologues sticks with me to this day. The woman was pining away for the old Soviet Union as if things were so much better back in the days of Brezhnev. It seemed the woman was oddly content having all the decisions made for her.
Thank you for that! Very astute, and jives a lot with what Greg Yudin, a sociology professor at Moscow State University (though I doubt he has that job anymore) has written about Putin (https://www.akweb.de/politik/putin-war-in-ukraine-a-fascist-regime-looms-in-russia/). I heard an interview a while back with an author of a book about the 90s in Russia and Eastern European countries and the nostalgia for communism, and she made those points also, that it sucked but at least people's needs were met and their overall material quality of life was better than it became in the 1990s.
I see that contentment with decisions being made for them in people around me all the time, oddly from the people most loudly objecting to government control.
The last sentence in your reply - No kidding, screaming about restrictions then writing legislation, ordinances and rules to do exactly that - restrict. Makes your head hurt!
Just finished reading the AK article, freaking scary on many levels.
"Putin is an ultra-neoliberal; he eviscerated all solidarity in Russia and replaced it with unbridled cynicism. That is why he is sure that no one will really interfere with his military plans and all sanctions will eventually be lifted, for capital only cares about profit. He has enough evidence of this, and Merkel’s Russia policy is a textbook example of how greed dominates political power in capitalism."
I am hoping that the plan at the US Treasury to force a debt default by the Russian government, if successful, is something Putin can't possibly hide from the Russian people and could provoke an uprising against him. The AK article is not reassuring.
Time is long and the earth frequently reminds people of the things they've forgotten.
For a bit of a tangent inspired by your words, I don't really know what it's like to be a part of a culture with real, actual history. A lot of folks in America don't (particularly ones that look like me) and it seems like that plays a part into why so many people here absolutely cannot comprehend a life that isn't based on American-style personal isolationism. It's why I think that Western thought cannot comprehend Russian culture and soul.
I also wonder what the earth is trying to remind me of.
That is very insightful. I wonder about all of that, too -- both what the earth is trying to remind me of (I'm trying to do a better job of listening to that these days), and how difficult it is for white Americans to actually comprehend different cultures.
Thank you, Antonia, for mentioning my short essay. You have my gratitude!
The gratitude was all mine -- I really loved it!
I'd love to hear this story sometime, Nia:
*Just a reminder, Kustanovich is an old friend of my father’s and professor emeritus of Russian at Vanderbilt University. Their connection goes back to their parents during the Siege of Leningrad. Remind me to tell you about it sometime.
I have so many stories to share! Looking forward to having the time to shaping them into something, maybe with my dad's help. Maybe even with audio since Substack allows that now :)
Ian Bremmer has an interesting take on the West's missed opportunity during the dissembling of
the Soviet Union.
https://www.gzeromedia.com/quick-take/russia-ukraine-war-how-we-got-here?utm_source=Eurasia+Group+Signal&utm_campaign=1931369b8d-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2022_04_05_11_03&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e605619869-1931369b8d-170145313
"What about the attraction to authoritarianism and xenophobia?"
It's been a while since I read Secondhand Time, but one of the monologues sticks with me to this day. The woman was pining away for the old Soviet Union as if things were so much better back in the days of Brezhnev. It seemed the woman was oddly content having all the decisions made for her.
Thank you for that! Very astute, and jives a lot with what Greg Yudin, a sociology professor at Moscow State University (though I doubt he has that job anymore) has written about Putin (https://www.akweb.de/politik/putin-war-in-ukraine-a-fascist-regime-looms-in-russia/). I heard an interview a while back with an author of a book about the 90s in Russia and Eastern European countries and the nostalgia for communism, and she made those points also, that it sucked but at least people's needs were met and their overall material quality of life was better than it became in the 1990s.
I see that contentment with decisions being made for them in people around me all the time, oddly from the people most loudly objecting to government control.
The last sentence in your reply - No kidding, screaming about restrictions then writing legislation, ordinances and rules to do exactly that - restrict. Makes your head hurt!
It does! What boggles my mind is both the eagerness for legislation AND the thirst for corporate overlords to dictate so much of our lives and work.
Show me the money politicians, disengaged electorate = bad outcomes.
Seriously.
Just finished reading the AK article, freaking scary on many levels.
"Putin is an ultra-neoliberal; he eviscerated all solidarity in Russia and replaced it with unbridled cynicism. That is why he is sure that no one will really interfere with his military plans and all sanctions will eventually be lifted, for capital only cares about profit. He has enough evidence of this, and Merkel’s Russia policy is a textbook example of how greed dominates political power in capitalism."
I am hoping that the plan at the US Treasury to force a debt default by the Russian government, if successful, is something Putin can't possibly hide from the Russian people and could provoke an uprising against him. The AK article is not reassuring.
Time is long and the earth frequently reminds people of the things they've forgotten.
For a bit of a tangent inspired by your words, I don't really know what it's like to be a part of a culture with real, actual history. A lot of folks in America don't (particularly ones that look like me) and it seems like that plays a part into why so many people here absolutely cannot comprehend a life that isn't based on American-style personal isolationism. It's why I think that Western thought cannot comprehend Russian culture and soul.
I also wonder what the earth is trying to remind me of.
That is very insightful. I wonder about all of that, too -- both what the earth is trying to remind me of (I'm trying to do a better job of listening to that these days), and how difficult it is for white Americans to actually comprehend different cultures.