The Mastermind Dugin theory is interesting for two reasons:
1. Those who know Russia consider it false 2. Those who don't know Russia presume it's true
Dugin had never been the Kremlin's brain. But he launched a successful PR campaign to persuade the outer world that he is
The thing is: we don't really understand other societies. We don't really understand their realities, balance of power or mechanics of functioning. There is always a cultural barrier preventing this understanding. We tend to assume that a foreign society works just like ours
Smart PRmaxers can leverage this assumption to brand themselves abroad more successfully than at home. Consider a Ukrainian (pro-Russian) oligarch Medvedchuk. In Ukraine he is always styled as Putin's "kum". If A baptised B's child, A and B become "kum" after that
Indeed, Putin baptised Medvedchuk's daughter. And a PRmaxer Madvedchuk leveraged it to the fullest for PR purposes. I'm the Putin's kum, the Putin's kum I am! Very important!
In reality he leveraged a cultural barrier. Because in Ukraine being kum matters. In Russia it doesn't
Russia and Ukraine seem to be very close culturally. They can speak the same language, share the same cultural memes, profess the same religion (mostly). So most Russians and Ukrainians often assume that things in their countries work alike
But they don't. They're very different
In Ukraine being "kum" is very important. The term for nepotism "kumovstvo" must be understood literally. In Russia the same word must *not* be taken literally. When discussing "kumovstvo" nepotism networks, Russians do not mean they are actually kums. That is just unimportant
Medvedchuk weaponised the cultural barrier between Ukraine and Russia. He became Putin's kum. Russians do not take being kum seriously, but Ukrainians do. So he persuaded the Ukrainians that he is super close to Putin, has influence on him, represents him
That backfired
I agree that Medvedchuk is Putin's agent of influence. But I will also argue that the Ukrainian public opinion tends to exaggerate his importance. Why? Because Medvedchuk himself successfully exaggerated his own importance weaponising the cultural barrier between two countries
I do not have any evidence of who organised the yesterday's attack, but the factor of Dugin having successfully exaggerated his own importance on the world arena might have played a role. He made his surname a global brand, far more successful abroad than in Russia
His daughter Darya weaponised the dad's brand and tried to act as an intermediary between:
1) Kremlin and the European far right 2) interest groups in Russia
Both of which could have had her killed. The first one, for financial reasons. The second, for political ones. The end
The younger guy on the previous photo is Akim Apachev, a Wagner-connected musician. Both Alexander and Darya Dugina took pro-war stance and were very active in the Z-movement. Neither of them was innocent
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
Some are asking, why should even care about Darya Dugina's assassination? Because:
1. It is almost certainly the FSB false flag operation 2. Most likely, it will be used as a pretext for strikes that had been already pre-scheduled for the Ukrainian Independence Day this Thursday
Once again. Strikes later this week are highly likely, they have must been prescheduled long ago. Most probably, on Thursday-Friday. It's quite probable that Putin wants to scale up and sacrificed Dugina to needs justify future strikes as counter-terrorist action or sth like that
Assuming this is true, why was Dugina chosen as a sacrificial lamb? Presidential plenipotentiary Schegolev's speech on her funerals gives some idea:
1. Alexander (and Darya) Dugina were nobody in the Russian system of power 2. But the West believed they were somebody
Let's be honest, what Yeltsin did in 1991 certainly had an *element* of military coup, to say the least. Yeah, it's kinda nice he had crowds on his side. But the fact that a few army regiments and lots of KGB joined him didn't hurt either. Peaceful protests are hugely overrated
In fact, it was the coup element of 1991 that determined the face of the Russian army leadership till around 1996. Upstarts with no relevant experience, credentials or network heavily dominated the military command. Why? They just happened to switch to Yeltsin in August 1991
I see why media and academia tend to wildly exaggerate the power of peaceful protests. But honestly I'm sick of that BS. For a regime change to happen you need at least few regiments to switch sides. If that doesn't happen, regime not gonna change. Army always beats the "people"
Disclaimer: I consider anyone who genuinely feels sorry for a "kid" (= 30 y.o. war propagandist and a war crimes advocate) while the Ukrainian residential areas have been under bombing and shelling for months to be an absolute disgrace
That's well understandable though. An interesting thing about the pornocephals is that you could show them a young woman and they gonna support whatever agenda/ideology. Propagandists use this weapon so often cuz it works, that's it. Wankers gonna wank
Pornocephalia levels in the internet are truly astonishing. Perhaps, I underestimated how common this diagnosis is, while Putin got it correctly. That's why he chose a young woman rather than her old grey dad as a sacrifice lamb. It absolutely works, apparently
I find emotional reaction to the last🧵 interesting. Hundreds of people try to outscream each other about how impossible would be for a father to kill his child or even consent to such a murder
Well, criminal statistics says otherwise. It's very common. So why are you screaming?
Emotional denial "It's impossible!" of something that is not only possible, but indeed very common suggests that:
1. You are defending. And you are not defending Dugin. You are defending the positive image of *yourself* 2. You know perfectly well there is a reason to defend
If the outraged audience did *really* think that the described scenario is ridiculous, they would just pass by. Your aggressive reaction suggests you do not find it ridiculous after all. You find it very plausible. And that's exactly why you are screaming
Darya Dugina's assassination was almost certainly organised by the Russian FSB. Assuming this is true, then:
1. Order must've been explicitly/implicitly given by Putin 2. It was Darya, not Alexander who was the target 3. Alexander knew it ofc. He's just making show for a public
If Alexander was notified about the impending assassination of his daughter Darya, that explains the strangeness with changing cars. Alexander took *her* car, while she took his one. Why?
Most probably the plan was to present Alexander Dugin as the real target of assassination
That had an additional benefit. If we make the world believe that assassins targeted Alexander, but got Darya, the entire operation looks clumsy. It looks as if it is done by someone who does not have full control over the situation and over the territory. Not by Russians
Darya was an ambitious young woman. She leveraged her father's *international* brand to build herself a network in Russia. She was indeed smarter than an average golden kid and viewed herself as a potential national leader
In the last months she would not shut up about bad Russian military performance. She constantly criticised Shoygu (privately) and insisted that if *she* was a minister of defence, it'd be alright. For some reason, she was trying to pitch herself a a minister of defense, Idk why
Becoming a minister of defence was a new topic that emerged only recently. Previously to that, she was obsessed with Le Pen. She constantly talked about how great, amazing and misunderstood Marine Le Pen is, boasted how well she knew her and clearly viewed Le Pen as a role model