Brother None said:
That said, Russia has indeed used Europe to leverage a self-view since Peter the Great, a logical move since you never constituted much of a nation state. But I would put some question marks to whether or not this ever actually amounted to understanding.
If I look at the skewed way Russia views the Ukraine in history and present I'm thinking quite a lot of things get skewed that way. True, Ukraine is more a part of the pan-slavist discourse, but the whole window to the west thing has always been subject to several pressures, not the least from the Slavophile philosophers.
Russian views of Ukraine? Nation state?
Understanding? The modern Europe has yet to produce something that would be a challenge to understand. The European politics and cultural advancements were picked apart and apart and apart for such a long time, that, well, Europe isn't by any means a New World, it's a Good Old One. (
Jerks).
Or are you talking about some sort of European mindset? The good question here, is if there is something special or even admirable about it, since the best things about Europe are valued because of their simplicity. Democracy, Liberal government, Free speech, Free market. I guess, the point I'm trying to make is that any normal Russian thinks in association with these concepts and did so for a while now.
Any serious move against it will probably mean a political death for a cretin that approved it. Of course, since it's Russia we a talking about here, we have all sorts of political entities making all sorts of insane statements. Those people are enjoing their 5% approval ratings.
Brother None said:
The fact that your politicians can so easily abuse the views of Europe for populist means usually tells of an inaccurate world-picture. A real world-picture tends to be too complex to be used for political means; no politician could actually sell the hard truth of things as complex as - say - Islamist terrorism or global warming, especially since both subjects have so many question marks surrounding them. But you can't sell that. Truth doesn't sell.
Role the European symbolism plays in Russian political and everyday culture is a critical, yet rather simple one. It's something that became fundamentally important to how we perceive ourselves and our future, beyond the daily political currents. It isn't something you
sell to somebody. It's like fueling a car; it just won't go on anything other that gasoline*.
I don't know if Peter the Great is relevant here. Europe was probably associated with different things in his time.
* I actually don't know how the cars operate, because I hate the damn things (also Jeews).
