Kamil Galeev Profile picture
Jan 20 13 tweets 5 min read
Moscow liberal's logic:

1. There were (allegedly) hundreds of thousands Chechens willing to be a part of Russia
2. Yeltsin bombed them to ashes Mariupol-style
3. "Not clear what was an alternative"

How exactly are these guys different from Putin? Same crazy, murderous mindset Image
Fact

Modern Russia is more of a product of Chechen Wars than of Putin's personality. Remilitarization, buildup of security state, they all started due to the First War. By the late 1990s Yeltsin was actively looking for a KGB heir. All his three last PMs were from state security Image
Moscow liberals want to portray Putin as an "accident". He was not. The system chose Putin, not the other way around. Yeltsin elevated Putin from nothing, started another war to facilitate his succession and used the lowkey nuclear blackmail when Clinton tried to argue Image
Putin's brand became too toxic. He made too many mistakes and continuation of his rule puts the entire system under risk. So @navalny's succession became the hill to die on for the entire little Moscow race of overlords: "liberals"/nationalists who benefit from empire's existence Image
@mentions@navalny Moscow liberals and nationalists do not support @navalny because they see him as a "candidate for change". It's the other way around. They stand for him because they see his succession as a "return to normality". Pretty disgusting normality I must say Image
Facts:

1. Global narrative on Russia is shaped by the major Western media/scholars
2. Both journos and scholars are (mostly) clueless. Most have no other sources in Russia other than the Moscow establishment
3. The Moscow establishment is interested in minimal, cosmetic changes
4. Moscow establishment is mortally terrified of the system being dismantled. It would undermine their privilege
5. They provide Western media/academia with facts selected and interpretations constructed to justify the minimal change narrative. They must be cosmetic, they argue
6. Since most of the Western media/academia have no other sources than the Moscow establishment they form their opinion based on facts selected and interpretations constructed by the latter. Respectable Western institutions do perspective laundering for the Moscow establishment
7. Since the narrative promoted by the mainstream Western media largely amounts to the laundered perspective of the Moscow establishment, the Westerners are genuinely astonished with either Ukrainians/Russian minorities/regionalists questioning the said "objective" narrative
8. Hence the differing views on @navalny's imperial succession. Those who see the imperial system as an asset will fight for him till the last breath. That's their only chance, realistically speaking. Those who see it as a liability or threat tend to hold very different opinions
9. @navalny'st platform is the platform of the cosmetic changes. Since the Moscow establishment interested in only cosmetic changes hold the monopoly of representation, their perspective becomes the mainstream Western perspective. Nobody else is given voice, for the most part
@mentions@navalny 10. The question of @navalny's succession is the question of cosmetic vs fundamental changes of the Russian sociopolitical system. If you don't get it, you won't get why so many Ukrainians/Russian minorities stand against it while the Moscow "liberals" - for it
11. In my next thread I'll show how @navalny and his team are weaponising the "anti-corruption" rhetorics (mixed with factual lies and the wildest claims) to buttress the imperial system. I will also show their strategy of putting the blame for Putinism on minorities

Cheers

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More from @kamilkazani

Jan 19
Old and more comprehensive thread of threads. Here you can find my earlier texts relating to this war. Starting from Jan 2022

Yes, and there is a book I strongly recommend for the better understanding of *modern* Russia and its origins

"The Time of Berezovsky" by Petr Aven

Absolute, absolute gem. Unfortunately, I am unaware of any translation into English

Shame Image
The Time of Berezovsky is not really a narrative. It is a collection of interviews on the 1990s, centred around the figure of the most flamboyant of the oligarchs. Interviewer (himself an oligarch) talks with politicians, businessmen, journalists

A great glimpse into the era Image
Read 6 tweets
Jan 19
This requires a long response. But I'll start with dropping few theses:

1. Revolutionary changes proceed iteration by iteration, agenda and goals mutating on each step

2. Many (most?) independent movements do not look like one on iteration 1. Think about the American revolution
3. Many independence movements (including your own), did not start as such. They aimed for very moderate goals. Or at least we nowadays retrospectively see them as moderate. Their agenda was pronouncedly loyalist. There was little open separatism except for a handful of radicals Image
4. Many independence movements (including your own) were not led by some cartoonish "regime fighters". They were led by the moneyed, landed, influential individuals who had been *successfully integrated to the previous regime*. Think about Washington or Franklin
Read 9 tweets
Jan 18
This is correct. When forming your opinion about @navalny movement, consume as much of their *external* propaganda specifically directed at foreign audience (=you) as you can. Do not look at their *internal* propaganda though

It was not meant for you!
@navalny @k_sonin's comment is very telling. Notice that he directs you to the content (Op-Eds, movies) constructed specifically for the foreign audience by the largely clueless Western media:

Moscow cultural establishment -> Western media -> You

That's just perspective laundering
The power of the imperial capital is not based only on force. It is also based on the *monopoly of representation*. Verified facts about Russia are being constructed by the Western media. But these media are largely clueless, drawing their opinions from the Moscow establishment
Read 5 tweets
Jan 13
To be fair it may also mean that court politics >>> military considerations

And Shoigu is really good at court politics. Uniquely good, I'd say. He's been serving in central government since 1991 surviving plenty administrations and plenty purges. That's absolutely unprecedented
* I know that between his two ministries he's served as a governor of Moscow oblast. Not the point. The point is him never ever being ousted, a singular, unprecedented case. It seems he's just got rid of a potential competitor and returned back to the pre-invasion power balance
I really want to write on Shoigu vs. Serdyukov one day. "Do your job well and ignore the court politics" formula doesn't work in reality. You'll end up vilified, ousted, universally hated and despised. Absolute destruction - that's the normal price for ignoring the court politics
Read 4 tweets
Jan 13
Great example of totally irresponsible behaviour by someone too sheltered from any consequences. Mr. Röpcke is doxing the exact coordinates of Ukrainian solders, putting them at risk of a strike

But when his *personal* safety may be slightly compromised, he’s acting shocked
1. Enjoy personal safety in your home in Germany (?)

2. Disregard the safety of others, putting them at risk of a violent death

3. Act shocked when getting a negative “he must be shot for it” comment

Röpcke’s problem is that he’s too sheltered from consequences of his actions
Unfortunately this may be a very typical pattern in the media/NGO class. Many First Worlders act with the total disregard of the consequences they are inflicting on others. At the same time, they expect to be personally sheltered from any consequences of *their own* actions
Read 4 tweets
Jan 11
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
Read 8 tweets

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