You have to read subtitles but this is an excellent presentation. Finnish Intelligence Colonel, university teacher and researcher Martti J. Kari on why Russia does what it does. All sorts of timestamps on various topics in the videos description box.
Robot voice Audio overdub version
Follow up on what’s happening in Ukraine right now.
Update: There’s a transcript. h/t Caligula Jones
” … why Russia does what it does …”
Simple answer?
Because it can. Ditto for China.
If I wanted to understand what goes on in Russian minds I would at least go to a Russian. What’s next, CNN doing an expose of the inner workings of the Canadian mind.
Just another “expert” (from Finland for Christ’s sake) yelling folks what they want to hear.
Do you need map, son?
Give it a read, if you didn’t learn anything, then I’d be impressed:
https://ricochet.com/1214468/finnish-intelligence-officer-explains-the-russian-mindset/
After reading in the introductory paragraph; “…why Putin was pushing forces to Ukraine’s border, then why he launched such a massive attack, and now why on earth he’s reducing cities to rubble and pushing civilians into mass graves.”
I then read the essay expecting bias and propaganda but was pleasantly surprised how even handed it was. However, having said that, I found far more fluff and far less meat that I would have liked.
“If I wanted to understand what goes on in Russian minds I would at least go to a Russian.”
Wrong, russians are cynical pathological liers. No point to ask them anything. Fins are good people to ask about russia. so are Ukrainians, Georgians, Poles, Czechs, Latvians, Estonians, Lithuanians. They will all tell you the same thing: russians are cancer than never stops spreading.
Canadians are just plain liars.
Just reading that Putin is meeting Belarus duce Lukashenko in (of all places) Blagoveshchensk which is in eastern Siberia and nearby to the Jewish autonomous oblast (it’s a place not a rock band). That sounds handy for China or North Korea to attend. Is this the Tojo moment?
Be smart, get mucho food and iodine tablets.
“Jewish autonomous oblast”
Heh. Just learned this was an actual thing last week during a trivia game…
Wasn’t that the Arab response to the creation of Israel? “Jewish? Autonomous? Oh, blast!”
Or…:
https://ricochet.com/1214468/finnish-intelligence-officer-explains-the-russian-mindset/
Long read…
But shorter than listening to him speak.
This guy just said that Russians are genetically predisposed to authoritarianism. It be nice if he included a pubmed article to explain the mechanism.
” … Russians are genetically predisposed to authoritarianism … ”
Okay, but do you suppose that servile tendency is as high as that of Canadians: Ninety-four percent?
Dunno what explains Canadians . They bow to central government like no others on the planet. Someone here once mentioned Canada’s Presbyterian past as having an impact. I’d love to explore that
Also heard it explained as a hangover from the bow-down-and-kiss-the-pope’s-ring legacy of Roman Catholicism.
Whatever the reason(s), it’s pretty evident that the majority has the servility bug.
Meaning we’d make great subjects of the Tsar. Well, not me, but the rest of the limp-dicked morons.
“Dunno what explains Canadians . ”
Mass immigrations from shitholes where totalitarian rule is a norm.
“This guy just said that Russians are genetically predisposed to authoritarianism.”
Had an hour long taxi ride from LAX to Burbank to attend a conference a number of years back. The driver was a Russian immigrant. He’d been in the States around 15 years, since the 90’s. We spoke at length about Russian politics, communism, etc.
Told him I couldn’t figger out why the Russian people hadn’t risen as a group & hanged a number of their leaders over the years. His reply: “Russian people like strong leaders.”
My reply was incredulous. “Even if they’re killing you?!”
“Da.”
Wow, an honest russian, does not happen often.
“This guy just said that Russians are genetically predisposed to authoritarianism. ”
Culturally. Possibly genetically, certainly culturally. They are Siberian Mongols, they have been shaped by Mongols and retained basic Mongol ways. Abuse of power and acceptance of abuse is normal at every level of Russian life.
They retain those ways at work. The worst possible boss in the world is russian. Russian secretary on the other hand will take it anywhere you want to put it and smile.
They retain those ways in the family. That’s why they abort more than they give life births to. In russia rape is a norm. In russia “consent” translates as “did not run up the tree”.
They worship their tyrants: Ivan the Terribl, Peter the Great, Catharine the Whore, Stalin, Pootin all tyrants all worshiped. Because a russian mongrel will accept any humiliation and extent of subjugation, will willingly lick the master’s club, if only the master does one thing: unleashes the beast from time to time on its neighbors. So the beast will get to rape pillage and slaughter. They’re Mongols. They’re vile.
The only good things about them are worlds highest abortion and alcoholism rates.
People who watch legacy media have assured me that Putin wants to restore all historical Russian territories back to Russia and he is willing to bomb railways stations full of women and children to do so because “reasons”. They momentarily seem surprised at their inability to regurgitate any of these “reasons”, but then double down on the religious zeal and quickly forget that uneasy feeling of doubting their conviction. I’d hate to have a contrary opinion so I’m just going to watch what happens.
Dan S, you adopt a wise position. Unfortunately, in my folly, I have ventured possible reasons why Russia may be taking the course it has and even suggested that maybe these terrible massacres, how show we say? are exaggerated, propaganda or did not happen? I have been called a moron several times 🙂
There is a lot of truth in what that man says, but you must remember that he is a Finn – a people with a history that results in a consuming, and perhaps justified paranoia about Russia. His perspective is necessarily strongly colored by the Finnish mindset, but still far more accurate than anything you’ll here from the mouth of a mainstream “expert”.
Good points. I’m Finn – both parents – but born and raised in Canada. My mom hated the Russians and had horror stories about Stalin which, when I did some research, were borne out. So I don’t particularly like, or trust, the Russians. But I don’t trust or particularly like the Ukrainians, either. And while I like the USA, I don’t trust them, or believe their propoganda. But it is better to be a friend of the USA than to try and cozy up to the Russians. But neither can be trusted.
The U.S.A. is nicer enemy than Russia is a friend.
Wrong, Tooner. You speak of the past. The US has been captured by deological enemies.
Still right, and the difference is still several orders of magnitude.
“perhaps justified paranoia about Russia. ”
Perhaps? Anyone who shares a border with Siberian Mongols, shares this “paranoia”. Wonder why?
Very stimulating but I suspect a little simplistic and stereotypical. I can imagine a similar analysis of the British. Rememeber also, the Finns have always had a beef with the Russians, ever since there was a Russia. Before then, the Finns could roam.
I have always understand that Russia wanted, historically, to be accepted as a Western country, but resisted by the Western political powers.
However, who can deny the influence of Russian intellects on the Western scientific and humanist project. A project being ended, apparently, by the West.
“I have always understand that Russia wanted, historically, to be accepted as a Western country, but resisted by the Western political powers.”
Nothing further form the truth. Literarily you could not be more wrong than that. The exact opposite to truth. Russian identity is based on rejection of western values.
For those still confused and want to hear the actual sound of rocks grinding together as Russians argue, watch a few episodes of Stopadouchebag on YouTube and be amazed.
I am very sympathetic to both sides in the current mess in Europe but I am especially sympathetic to the Russian people. To a certain degree, I understand their mindset. They are creatures of war – as I am. I was born in London in 1939 and did not leave until 1945, when we moved to Canada.
My mother and I survived the bombings in London during WW2 while my father spent 5 years on the front lines. The war destroyed my mother and father permanently. At the end of the war they were only husks of human beings. As for me, I suffered the effects of prolonged malnutrition. My teeth started to fall out when I was very young. I had my first dentures when I was in my early teens. And I could barely walk a mile before exhaustion would set in. All of us suffered from weakened immune systems. You would not believe the diseases we suffered in our household. Our house was quarantined several times when I was a kid. But the effects of the war on my family pale in comparison to suffering of the Russian people.
I understand the Russian longing for political stability. While we in the west take creature comforts for granted, people who have gone through war are just happy to have confidence that there will be food on the table. I share with Russians a distrust of good times. If I were to tell you that I am happiest when I am sad, would you understand? A Russian would.
If you want to understand russia, read this:
https://russiavsworld.org/why-do-russians-support-putin/
“… To make it easier to understand: the population of present-day Russia has the same patterns of behavior as the population of the Soviet Union. Putin provided the Russians with the same old algorithm of self-identification – and they gladly accepted it. They have given up freedom in exchange for relative economic stability, and the quality of such stability does not matter to them.
Russians, except for Moscow and St. Petersburg, live in absolute poverty and isolated from the general economic reality of their country. Their worldview and current life circumstances do not seem to be traumatic for them.
….
Even if you are nobody, everyone in the world is afraid of you, despite your limited personal and professional achievements. You have gained power and authority over the whole world with very little effort: you have only supported your reliable tyrant. How can you not love a person who has just provided you with such a high level of self-esteem?”
That is really all there is to it. General Patton was right. John von Neumann was right. They should have been Daleked in late 40s.
Colonialista .. you are absolutely correct. Outside the two major cities and especially in rural areas there is abject poverty.
View some of the Russia videos on YouTube by … Bald and Bankrupt
“abject poverty”
… and counterfeit Adidas track suits. Will check the channel, thanks.
That channel is epic, thanks so much for recommending it. Allow me to return the favor: https://www.youtube.com/c/shiey every time the kid posts something I breathe a sight of relief that he is still alive.
Thanks Colonialista !
I do not see, or read, very much attention regarding the demographic situation in Russia. Any one under the age of 40 has no memory of the Soviet Union. People under the age of 40 have lived with the internet information age, not Pravda or Izvestia propaganda. What age group is most represented in the Russian military ? The average life expectancy for a Russian male is 68 years which means Putin has a shrinking support base of die hard types. The birth rate is so low the population declined by a million people in 2020. Mark Steyn had a thing or two to say about that.