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- cross-posted to:
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Summary
An incendiary device hidden in a DHL package that ignited in Germany in July was part of an alleged Russian sabotage plot targeting the UK, with intentions to test such attacks for possible future attempts on the US and Canada.
Disguised within shipments of massage pillows, the devices originated from Lithuania, with similar packages discovered in the UK and Poland. Authorities suspect Russian GRU involvement, aiming to cause “mayhem” in retaliation for Western support to Ukraine.
While Russia denies involvement, European intelligence warns these actions risk civilian lives, potentially causing plane crashes.
I really don’t see what Putin has to gain from this.
It’s a Russian mentality, they call it ‘escalation to deescalate’.
The Russian mythos is based on the concept that Russians are able to tolerate far more pain than anyone else.
So they might not be stronger, smarter, or better in any way, but they can always win a war because everyone else is weak when it comes to actual pain.
If they keep making the world more and more scary, the other side will have to give up whatever you want, because they need to go back to their warm, safe, decadent lifestyle, while you have nothing, therefore, nothing to lose.
It’s… Old… Older than the czars, it’s as deeply embedded in Russian culture as winter.
The problem is, after it works once, they feel they have to do it again, because we still have so much and it’s not fair that we’re so comfortable while they aren’t. So the cycle continues till:
I call if ‘aggressive victimhood’.
Edit: also they have to do it again because when you concede you proved you were weak and they were strong in the first place, and therefore they have nothing to fear by pushing more.
There is no real concept of compromise in the Russian psyche, it exists as an abstract concept, but… It’s like heaven, we all want to go there, we just don’t want to do what we need to to get there because we don’t entirely believe.
This is interesting. There are somewhat similar sentiments among anarchists in the US who think “burning it all down” is the only way to fix the system (rebuilding it from the ashes). In their fantasy, it’s worth it to them to just destroy any and all parts of the current system and spread fear and chaos. Not the same idea, but I can see some overlap in mentality.
It makes perfect sense as a threat if you believe you are the victim of the system, and therefore destroying the system hurts your enemy more than you.
We have similar things here, I grew up in rural communities who fantasized about the day all those spoiled lazy city folk would have to come down and beg the poor humble farmers for food, because then there would finally be justice.
Meanwhile all the federal and state funding was swallowed by the rich and powerful local authorities, while screaming about how the ciyfolk were all abusing them and never helped at all.
There is clearly injustice in the world, but we have a long history of exploiting this kind of hierarchical dissonance for personal gain.
There’s a lot of very specific language in this reply. Anything / anyone you’d suggest reading to substantiate the historicity of this “aggressive victimhood” as you’ve explained it here? Maybe this national inability to conceive of compromise?
Because I’m no Russophile, admittedly; but all this sort of sounds like waffle and drivel to me.
https://bpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/blogs.gwu.edu/dist/d/257/files/2017/06/Comparing-Cultural-Systems-Comparative-Analysis-of-Russian-and-American-National-Mentalities-xz17oa.pdf
This is neat, it even cites Dostoevsky and Ilyin.
https://theconversation.com/the-russian-victim-myth-heres-the-history-behind-it-179501
https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/russian-idea-revisited
https://source.washu.edu/2022/02/washu-expert-putin-is-using-victim-narrative-to-justify-ukraine-attack/
Have you read Dostoevsky? I highly recommend it, even Russians consider it an extraordinary view into the Russian psyche, and one of his major themes is the utter helplessness of the individual in society and nature, completely at the mercy of fate or his own bad impulses.
Crime and Punishment obviously comes to mind, but even the Brothers Karamazov is an excellent example, we see so many average Russians fall victim to circumstances or the structure of society, while others prosper based on nothing but the whims of fate.
Love his writing, but it’s cold and brutal, even Russian romance cuts to the bone.
Helping strongman and Conservatives generally come to power.
Which strongmen? I don’t see this helping Trump.
The Republican’s strategy is for there to be as much chaos on and after election day as possible to make claims that the election was fraudulent more plausible. Imagine waking up tomorrow and seeing planes falling out of the sky. The panic could be the wedge Trump needs, if not to win, to at least plausibly claim victory.