As relations worsen, US must realize Russia will not soon, if ever, become a liberal democracy.…
Carried away by ahistorical reasoning, the U.S. believed its victory in the Cold War meant that Russia, like all other countries, had little choice but to adopt the liberal democratic free-market order that had brought prosperity and peace to the West....
The real problem is viewing this as problem. Probably no non-Western state will become a liberal democracy because it is not in accord with the culture and temperament of the people. This is not a problem; it is a fact of history. Wanting it to be otherwise results in wishful thinking and, worse, magical thinking.
The problem is assuming that Western liberalism, and worse, Anglo-American liberalism, are based on eternal truth. This is the kind of dogmatism that liberalism was born in opposition to, and it is the basis of justifying tyranny, for example, as the divine right of kings.
The problem is assuming that Western liberalism, and worse, Anglo-American liberalism, are based on eternal truth. This is the kind of dogmatism that liberalism was born in opposition to, and it is the basis of justifying tyranny, for example, as the divine right of kings.
The obvious solution to the pseudo problem is multilateralism and multiculturalism, which is actually more faithful to the principles of liberalism than dogmatic liberalism, which is an oxymoron.
Note that the problem with Graham's policy analysis is that while encouraging pragmatism, it ignores Russia's bottom line and is therefore unrealistic from the outset and will not work. Graham is therefore guilty of what he argues against.
Note that the problem with Graham's policy analysis is that while encouraging pragmatism, it ignores Russia's bottom line and is therefore unrealistic from the outset and will not work. Graham is therefore guilty of what he argues against.
Politico
The problem isn’t Putin, it’s Russia
Thomas Graham, managing director at Kissinger Associates, was the senior director for Russia on the U.S. National Security Council staff from 2004-2007
4 comments:
Einstein, eternal truth and the laughter of gods: Albert Einstein Quotes)
'Most people say that it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character'.
'Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind'.
'I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones'.
'You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war'.
'The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophe'.
'The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one'.
'We cannot despair of humanity, since we ourselves are human beings'.
'I am not only a pacifist but a militant pacifist. I am willing to fight for peace. Nothing will end war unless the people themselves refuse to go to war'.
'As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality'.
'Mozart's music is so pure and beautiful that I see it as a reflection of the inner beauty of the universe'.
'Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods'.
It feels like an eternal truth, to be fair to others. Now transgender people are gaining rights because they can't help the way they are born - they have not chosen to sin. As long as they don't harm another person, or themselves. Gays in many countries are hated, and that is a sad. Even in Russia they are tolerant of gays - except in some Muslim parts- they just don't like to see it on open display.
Gorbachev said Russia was ruled by Mongolia for centuries so democracy doesn't come easily to them.
Jung had an interesting view on democracy and individualism. He said people years ago identified with their tribes and felt less individual. In the Old Testament it was Israel that had sinned, not so much the person. And God would speak to Moses rather than the individual. But in the New Testament every individual was important to God, and their was a banquet in Heaven when a lost sheep was found, and God knew every hair on your head. But people still went through the collective catholic church to relate to God. In the protestant reformation the Bible was converted to English and everyone could read it. Then people had more of a personal relationship to God, and they didn't need to confess through a priest, etc. As we became more individualised people demanded more democracy and women got equal rights too.
Carl Jung considered the Bible to be myth, where myth to Jung was mankind's way of understanding divine truth because God cannot be perceived directly. Jung created his own myth, which means you mustn't take it literally, that God was becoming conscious through man, that the unconsciousness of the universe was becoming conscious. It didn't catch on much outside of Jung circles, but Jung's and Hegel's theory of individualism is interesting, and they explain the Western path towards individualism and democracy and tolerance for individual preferences, so much so, that now we have the raging right who believe we should have no government or taxes because it encroaches on their liberty and free will. You can have too much of a good thing. But anyway, this path to liberal democracy might be a uniquely Western, but let's hope it catches on.
Carl Jung also believed that west went outward considering the inner world do be unreal, and that solid reality that can be measured is what counts, and so Western science was born. But the East went inward and considered the outward reality to be illusion and the inner world to be real, and so they developed the theory of the mind, mindfulness, and meditation, the inward life and the great truths it can unfold.
Jung believed the East was introverted and the West was extroverted and prised the individual ego. The East believes in the mind becoming one with everything at death, and with no opposites, there is only unity and no more suffering. But for individuals in the West the loss of the prised individual consciousness is terrifying and so in our religions the ego survives death.
Jung believed that as the East and West interact they will combine to create wholeness. And so Western psychology is embracing mindfulness to help heal people's lives, and mindfulness is taught everywhere. And the East have taken on science getting better at it than us in some cases. And so the collective and individualism will become whole so that the individual thrive in independence within the safety of the collective, which is social democracy.
This was written on my tiny mobile phone, and it's difficult to see the mistakes in the box that I have to write in.
Once Putin gets term limited out it will probably swing back towards a liberal democracy...
Once Putin gets term limited out it will probably swing back towards a liberal democracy...
No one that knows anything about Russia is saying that. It is traditionalist country for the most part. Western liberals are a small minority and are found congregated mostly in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The Russian Federation also has a large Islamic population. Russia becoming democratic in the Western sense and voting for a a Western-style liberal government is wishful thinking anytime soon.
Post a Comment