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Kamil Galeev Profile picture
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Jan 11 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
To be fair, I think that "Russian people are not at fault, they can't do anything" argument has an *element* of truth in it. I just don't see how it is compatible with the "Russian empire should continue to exist" argument. I think these two ideas inherently contradict each other
First, if a nation is helpless and bears no responsibility for its own fate, this nation may not be *so* great as it claims to be. You are either great or helpless. Choose one. At this point pro-Russian writers choose helplessness thesis. That's ok. But this may exclude greatness
Second, if a nation got to this sorry, helpless condition as described by its own advocates, then it may bear responsibility for having fallen to this condition in the first place. There was no foreign conquest, so it's probably a chain of your own poor choices. You choose badly
Third, if you have fallen to this helpless condition through your own poor choices, you probably have poor judgement. So the broad set of assumptions that guides your judgement and actions (= culture) is not so great either. If you are where you are, it's probably overrated
I don't believe in Russians being inherently inferior argument. I think that's just racist. What we observe is the learnt helplessness before the all-powerful Tsar. As it has been learnt, it can be unlearnt. But for that to happen, the Russian empire must be broken apart
If the Russian people are helpless and bear no responsibility for their own fate, then they must be rehabilitated to assume responsibility for their life. Disintegration of Russia is not to "punish" the Russian population. It is a necessary condition for their rehabilitation
Counterarguments against the Russian disintegration addressing economic concerns miss the point. It’s almost certain that life in many post Russian states will be poorer for years to come. But that’s not the point here. Assuming responsibility for your own fate is
Counterarguments addressing the nuclear proliferation risks make more sense. Unified Siberia that inherits all the Russian nuclear arsenal could be the best potential answer. The end

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More from @kamilkazani

Kamil Galeev Profile picture
Jan 6
Great question. Let's open the original video. Notice how @albats formulated her question:

"I was told but I could not find this later in the Internet that you had called the Gastarbeiters cockroaches somewhere. Yes or no?"

Her description is (intentionally?) inaccurate
@albats First, @navalny did not technically "call" anyone cockroaches. When making an argument about "too big cockroaches" he illustrated it with a photo of Chechen rebels. This can and will be understood as a reference to generalised Muslims, but (technically) not to "Gastarbeiters"
Second, @albats framed it as an occasional verbal remark, almost accidental "called somewhere". But there was nothing accidental about it. Verbal narrative, visuals, a TV tune, everything was intentionally dehumanising
Read 13 tweets
Kamil Galeev Profile picture
Jan 5
What you should know about @navalny?

1. Far right politician, promoter of hate propaganda
2. Never disowned his extremist agenda or assumed responsibility for it. When being called out, he lied and smeared his critics
3. Enjoyed thorough whitewashing by Moscow & Western media🧵
@navalny started his independent political career in 2007, co-founding an ethnonationalist "Narod" movement and launching the Radio of the Thousand Hills style propaganda. Remember this video, we'll need it later to judge integrity of:

a) @navalny
b) journalists whitewashing him
For context:

The 2000s were an era of the mass nationalist violence in Russia. The golden age of "White trains" with nationalist gangs entering the public transport and attacking those who didn't look sufficiently white. The far right wave was real and @navalny aimed to ride it
Read 41 tweets
Kamil Galeev Profile picture
Jan 2
1. Language gap -> Most Westerners do not consume content in Russian

2. So, Westerners form their opinion based on what their own media/cultural establishment told them

3. Western cultural establishment forms their opinions based on what Moscow cultural establishment told them
Western discourse on Russia is being formed by the Western cultural elites. And the Western cultural elites rely on the facts selected and interpretations provided by the cultural elites of Moscow. As a result, it's the upper class of Moscow that defines how the West sees Russia
Perspective of the Moscow cultural elites is wildly overrepresented in the Western discourse. Since the Western cultural elites hardly even interact with anyone else, they fully depend upon the former as the source of both "facts" and interpretations to base their opinions upon
Read 7 tweets
Kamil Galeev Profile picture
Dec 31, 2022
And that’s why you shouldn’t trust the reputable sources blindly. Many of them tend to distort facts when it suits their political agenda. The very systematic whitewashing of @Navalny by the media establishment is a good example

I’ll post a thread on the first week of Jan
Consider a “good and balanced” account of @navalny politics quoted by Grozev. This is Masha Gessen’s article in the New Yorker. Notice how this reputable journalist is describing one of Navalny’s debut video clips:

“One was a forty second argument about gun rights”

Seriously?
Watch it yourself and make your own judgment on whether the “forty seconds argument on gin rights” description fits well to this video. You can make your own conclusions on the impartiality and trustworthiness of the quoted article
Read 10 tweets
Kamil Galeev Profile picture
Dec 30, 2022
How to write boring?

Writing boringly is a powerful skill that moves you up many, many professional hierarchies. Life is unfair though. Some were blessed with a natural gift for writing unreadably, others should learn it

The first concept we need is the level of abstraction🧵
Three principles of boring writing:

1. Stay on the same level of abstraction
2. Stay on the same level of abstraction
3. Do not give reader any explicit or implicit hints he could use to get to another level of abstraction on his own. Lock him on his level and throw away the key
Imagine you are describing empirical evidence. Give one example, two examples, three examples, give as many as you can. But never include any hint or clue on how these examples may reflect more general and (God forbid!) nontrivial patterns. Lock the reader and throw away the key
Read 12 tweets
Kamil Galeev Profile picture
Dec 25, 2022
Every theory has its limits of applicability. "Kremlin guys are crooks" theory, too. This narrative is so successful, because it appeals to the meanest humans instincts, in particular - to the envy. Envious people tend to overuse this idea far, far beyond any reasonable limits
Like, ok, I understand that you're poor, constantly stressed about money and necessity to pay the bills. I also understand that you're envious about yachts and villas. That doesn't mean that "they're crooks" theory is all explaining. If they were, this war just wouldn't start
"They're just crooks" narrative is not successful, because it is so true. It is so successful, because people are obsessed with their unreflected envy and cannot distance from it. If this war is going on, it means they're not *just* crooks. They're something else, too
Read 7 tweets

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