Share this page!
Maybe Scrolly?
Kamil Galeev Profile picture
Twitter logo
13h • 8 tweets • 3 min read
We, the People

During the Ottoman coup of 1913 Enver Bey demanded the Grand Vizier (Prime Minister) Kamil Pasha to write a letter of resignation

- At the suggestion of the military… - Kamil Pasha started
- … and the people, - corrected Enver
- … and the people, - added Kamil Image
“The People” = an abstraction legitimizing the will of an interest group. Enver just can’t walk around giving orders by the name of sweet himself. No, he will be giving orders by someone else’s name

“The People” will suffice Image
Someone else could be speaking on behalf of God...
... Or a dead ancestor (a more Lindy choice, I think). Consider Kadyrov. The current ruler of Chechnya Ramzan is building a massive cult of personality of his father Ahmad, rather than of himself. The posters with Ahmad are everywhere. Everything is named in honour of Ahmad Image
Speaking on your own behalf = weak
Speaking on a dead ancestor's behalf = powerful

The ancestor is dead, won't say or do anything, so he is nothing more than an abstraction legitimising whatever you do

Build an ancestral cult -> Then borrow a symbolic power from it

Very smart Image
Legitimising your rule through the appeal to something larger than yourself is a necessity. Unless you wanna be hated

As Guizot pointed out, the despotic monarchies or theocracies were often popular among their subjects. Whereas the feudal despotism was always universally hated Image
A man exercising power by the name of idea (monarchy/theocracy) can be often acceptable or popular

A man exercising power by the name of himself (feudal) is always hated

Therefore, a rational ruler will find/create an abstraction to speak on its behalf

gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt… Image
Histoire de la civilisation en Europe / par M. Guizot Histoire de la civilisation en Europe / par M. Guizot -- 1870 -- livre https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k432075c.texteImage
I quoted the Enver Bey vs Kamil Pasha dialogue by memory, but it is basically from this book, which I absolutely recommend. Enjoyed it very much Image

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Kamil Galeev

Kamil Galeev Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @kamilkazani

Kamil Galeev Profile picture
Feb 17
The biggest Western delusion about the regimes like Russian may be that they can be successfully challenged by some sort of “opposition”.

Reality check:

The King is most likely to be successfully challenged by the people who grew rich and powerful on the royal service (not 🧵)
That’s easy to explain. You see, to do anything in the real world, you need resources (financial, administrative, guns), etc. Ideally, to endeavour anything big you should already command a small empire of your own. A large business for example can qualify as a small empire
People with no resources present little to no danger. People with some resources can present some danger. Now a coalition of people with private empires of their own can present a very significant danger, including to the authoritarian regime
Read 13 tweets
Kamil Galeev Profile picture
Feb 16
This remark may sound as an exaggeration but I find it astute. Russia is more personalist than the (post-Stalin) USSR. It is also in many respects more centralised. For example, a separate Siloviki hierarchy unanswerable to the regional authorities is the post-Soviet innovation
In Russia all the people with guns/badges are answerable only to Moscow. Police, Investigation Committee, Prosecutors, FSB and the National Guard of course. All the law enforcement/warrior cops are 100% centralised, governors have no authority over them

Not the case in the USSR
In the (post-Stalin) USSR nomenklatura hold a tight grip over the ppl with guns and often did it on the regional level. Not only were the regular cops answerable to the regional/republican Party committee, but even the military commanders could be integrated into the latter
Read 8 tweets
Kamil Galeev Profile picture
Feb 13
With all due respect to Yashin, I think that framing the situation in terms of "Putin vs Russia" dichotomy would be disingenuous. Putin is not a foreign conqueror. He is a legitimate heir, appointed by the previous monarch. Putinism is an organic continuation of Yeltsinism
Once you agree that Putin is not an external force, but rather an organic element of the Russian system, you start seeing overfocusing on Putin's personality ("it's him! he's the only one who's guilty!") as disingenuous. As an attempt to save the system intact, basically
"Ruler vs people" argument can be made for Chechnya, where Kadyrov's rule was imposed by the bloody foreign invasion. Kadyrov is largely an external force for most of his subjects, so his reign is based upon the continuous mass terror. Putin however, is *not* an external force
Read 4 tweets
Kamil Galeev Profile picture
Feb 11
Astrologers declared a new round of donations for the Ukrainian troops. I would be grateful, if you have a chance to contribute 🧵 Image
1. Anton Lubiy and 9th special infantry mortar battalion collecting money for pickup car to deliver ammunition

PayPal: aartym@gmail.com

Card payment: send.monobank.ua/jar/E5CvAp4DX
2. Bulletproof vest producing workshop. An individual set of a vest + a tactical belt costs $544

Wire:
Name : Serhii Marchenko
Beneficiary: IBAN UA153348510000026207116880688
SWIFT/BIC: FUIBUA2X
FIRST UKRAINIAN INTERNATIONAL BANK
Details of payment: NON-COMMERCIAL TRANSFER Image
Read 19 tweets
Kamil Galeev Profile picture
Feb 10
FYI: When you see Russian elite members "acting mad", be aware they are acting 100% rationally. It's smart to play mad. Mutually exclusive, collectively exhaustive, you can:

a) Play the "voice of reason" -> Putin destroys you
b) Play "mad" -> Putin keeps you
c) Keep silence🧵
You won't get why Medvedev is "acting so deranged" without taking into account the consequences of not acting deranged

"Nazi drug addicts"
"Pigs"
"We'll retaliate using weapons of any kind"

This is not a signal to you. It is a signal to Putin:

"I am not a danger. Leave me be"
Same with Lavrov's "Jewish Hitler" remarks. I think it is very smart and well thought behaviour. He is purposefully playing "antisemitic" to maximise the damage to his personal reputation in the West. The worse, the better. Non-terrible standing in the West = liability in Moscow
Read 14 tweets
Kamil Galeev Profile picture
Feb 8
American discourse is "anthropological". Broadly speaking, you are classified according to how you look (White vs Black)

Russian discourse is "culturalist". Sharing the common cultural memes, having a Russian first name and speaking without accent pretty much makes you Russian
This is the first approximation of course. Both discourses are in practice idiosyncratic. In America very anthropological "White" and "Black" coexist with a 100% culturalist "Hispanic" category. Add to that a geographically defined "Asian" and you get a total idiosyncratic mess
On the other hand, culturalist Russia also has the racialised discourse which can be weaponised whenever deemed necessary for reasons that have nothing to do either with race or with culture. The most obvious example is - political disagreements. They are constantly racialised
Read 19 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Send Email!

:(