Some of the greatest minds of our time are struggling to make sense of the recent events in Russia -- an apparent coup, followed by a video from the Putin Fuhrer Bunker denouncing the "heroic rebels", followed by a sordid deal, and then a "nothing to see here" approach to follow up.
My own "insta take" was that Prigozhin was no mug and that once he pierced the façade of Kremlin power, he would face much less resistance than expected, which, I have to say, hasn't held up too badly. But what are we to make of the outcome?
First of all, nobody seems to know exactly how this mess was resolved. Was it a deal, and if so, what kind of a deal?
My own "insta take" was that Prigozhin was no mug and that once he pierced the façade of Kremlin power, he would face much less resistance than expected, which, I have to say, hasn't held up too badly. But what are we to make of the outcome?
First of all, nobody seems to know exactly how this mess was resolved. Was it a deal, and if so, what kind of a deal?
Is it true that Prigozhin "won" and that he will get what he wants -- the head of Defence Minister Shoigu and removing the core of the Wagner group from the hamburger factory of the Ukrainian war? Who knows?
Then there is a whole level of conspiracy theories that say that Prigozhin was putting on an act with the full approval of Putin himself for "reasons", and that Putin's image as a strong ruler, while it temporarily flickered, can just be airbrushed back into existence by the "post-truth," Wizard of Oz society that he has created in Russia. Just drop a few more memes of him riding a horse with his moobs out!
In short, it's a rat's nest of truths, half-truths, lies, lies-that-seem-true, truths-that-seem-false, fake news, disinfo, bad memes, blatant contradictions, logic streams that lead nowhere, etc., etc.
If you are caught up arguing the detail of any of this, shifting in and out of the shadows of belief and disbelief, then you are part of that rat's nest. Maybe someone wants you in there.
In cases like this, I am reminded of some liars I have encountered in my life, especially the sincere ones, who have countless reasons and details to back up why "this" happened or why they fucked "that" up.
My standard response to people like this was always the same -- don't get sucked into the detail. Don't be subsumed in the mirco. It will waste your time and energy. Notice who they are, ascribe to them an accurate character that puts them in a nutshell, and leave them there like so many uncounted beans.
In other words, when the micro doesn't make sense, when it's rough, turgid, or clotted, simply step back and go macro.
What we see in modern Russia is a society that has no reliable truth, no sense of shame or honour, no rock at its base. It is, as our long-lost Varangian cousins found when they glided over its shady, meandering rivers more than a thousand years ago, a shapeless wasteland of swamps and shifting sands, peopled by creatures that avoid eye contact.
Where truth, facts, logic, honour, and the other building blocks of the West are concerned, Russia is a cancer of all these things. We have seen enough to never take any of it at face value or seriously again, to consign it all to some shadowy dream world.
This leaves the question of ultimately what to do with that nebulous, murky space to the East of Europe. It has already partly poisoned the otherwise noble East and spread much of its filth to America and Europe, so it is not something that can or should be ignored.
The question, the big question, the macro question, is do we try to set up not a cordon sanitaire, but instead a cordon réalité to keep its lies and toxicity at bay, or do we seek somehow to colonize that vast shadowland of untruths and distortions, and if so how?
Then there is a whole level of conspiracy theories that say that Prigozhin was putting on an act with the full approval of Putin himself for "reasons", and that Putin's image as a strong ruler, while it temporarily flickered, can just be airbrushed back into existence by the "post-truth," Wizard of Oz society that he has created in Russia. Just drop a few more memes of him riding a horse with his moobs out!
Is Putin just a glove puppet with his hand up his own arse?
In short, it's a rat's nest of truths, half-truths, lies, lies-that-seem-true, truths-that-seem-false, fake news, disinfo, bad memes, blatant contradictions, logic streams that lead nowhere, etc., etc.
If you are caught up arguing the detail of any of this, shifting in and out of the shadows of belief and disbelief, then you are part of that rat's nest. Maybe someone wants you in there.
In cases like this, I am reminded of some liars I have encountered in my life, especially the sincere ones, who have countless reasons and details to back up why "this" happened or why they fucked "that" up.
My standard response to people like this was always the same -- don't get sucked into the detail. Don't be subsumed in the mirco. It will waste your time and energy. Notice who they are, ascribe to them an accurate character that puts them in a nutshell, and leave them there like so many uncounted beans.
In other words, when the micro doesn't make sense, when it's rough, turgid, or clotted, simply step back and go macro.
What we see in modern Russia is a society that has no reliable truth, no sense of shame or honour, no rock at its base. It is, as our long-lost Varangian cousins found when they glided over its shady, meandering rivers more than a thousand years ago, a shapeless wasteland of swamps and shifting sands, peopled by creatures that avoid eye contact.
Where truth, facts, logic, honour, and the other building blocks of the West are concerned, Russia is a cancer of all these things. We have seen enough to never take any of it at face value or seriously again, to consign it all to some shadowy dream world.
This leaves the question of ultimately what to do with that nebulous, murky space to the East of Europe. It has already partly poisoned the otherwise noble East and spread much of its filth to America and Europe, so it is not something that can or should be ignored.
The question, the big question, the macro question, is do we try to set up not a cordon sanitaire, but instead a cordon réalité to keep its lies and toxicity at bay, or do we seek somehow to colonize that vast shadowland of untruths and distortions, and if so how?
Whatever...
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