The irony of all this is that the US wanted to turn Russia in a US like country after the end of the cold war. Turns out it is now the US that’s turned into Russia.
As someone who has lived for many years in both the US and russia (I also speak russian), I think the root cause of the challenges in both countries is a shallow belief in exceptionalism. It really allows the average person to make bad decisions and thugs to manipulate society.
I would speculate this is true for China as well, albeit I’ve never lived there and I don’t speak Chinese. But from my understanding, imperial revanchism is very prominent in Chinese society.
I really think you hit the nail on the head. Authoritarianism is predicated on a false sense of exceptionalism and a foreign (or domestic, nsdp created one) enemy to distract from domestic issues.
The irony of all this is that the US wanted to turn Russia in a US like country after the end of the cold war. Turns out it is now the US that’s turned into Russia.
Excellent point.
As someone who has lived for many years in both the US and russia (I also speak russian), I think the root cause of the challenges in both countries is a shallow belief in exceptionalism. It really allows the average person to make bad decisions and thugs to manipulate society.
I would speculate this is true for China as well, albeit I’ve never lived there and I don’t speak Chinese. But from my understanding, imperial revanchism is very prominent in Chinese society.
I really think you hit the nail on the head. Authoritarianism is predicated on a false sense of exceptionalism and a foreign (or domestic, nsdp created one) enemy to distract from domestic issues.