I'm glad you mention the idea of "manliness." The common term for these leaders, such as Putin and Trump, is "strongmen." I find that really offensive. The strong ones are the everyday people, including Babushkas and children, desperately struggling to stay alive and save their families and their homeland while bombs drop on them. Let's stop calling these these cowards and bullies "strongmen." They are anything but.
Thank you for this post that illuminates the uses of “Russian imperial language.” Your clear writing and deep understanding of the history and characters involved is greatly appreciated.
Russia's imperial ambitions have always been greater than their imperial capabilities, going back 500 years. This is their great frustration. Neither Peter the Great nor Alexander I was truly able to achieve what their imperial ambitions drove them to desire. And the same was ultimately true of the Stalinist state - they destroyed the Nazis and lost the Cold War.
You just confirmed what was in my heart, that Putin was incensed when Zelensky was elected. How could a Jew, a comedian, be elected by the Ukrainians? Why, it's an insult, a third finger, if you will, to himself! Putin just couldn’t understand that fact and it gnawed on him day and night. Obviously Medevev had those same thoughts. What these “men’ conjured up, while puffing out their manly chests (said in jest), were atrocities not only to rhe Jewish people, but the country, as a whole.
As the daughter of Holocaust victims, your magnificent piece just made me cry. Realizing this kind of thinking still exists in the demented minds of men, here in the US and abroad, has frightened me. It’s also encouraging me to do more. This is yet another perilous time on our planet. I wish for a miracle.
This is characteristically illuminating and polemically potent at the same time. On a related note your recent discussion on Ezra Klein’s podcast was also very lucid and I’d recommend it to anyone who’s interested:
I'm glad you mention the idea of "manliness." The common term for these leaders, such as Putin and Trump, is "strongmen." I find that really offensive. The strong ones are the everyday people, including Babushkas and children, desperately struggling to stay alive and save their families and their homeland while bombs drop on them. Let's stop calling these these cowards and bullies "strongmen." They are anything but.
Thank you for this post that illuminates the uses of “Russian imperial language.” Your clear writing and deep understanding of the history and characters involved is greatly appreciated.
Russia's imperial ambitions have always been greater than their imperial capabilities, going back 500 years. This is their great frustration. Neither Peter the Great nor Alexander I was truly able to achieve what their imperial ambitions drove them to desire. And the same was ultimately true of the Stalinist state - they destroyed the Nazis and lost the Cold War.
I appreciate the deeper understanding I gain from your posts. Do you also send this out in other languages?
You just confirmed what was in my heart, that Putin was incensed when Zelensky was elected. How could a Jew, a comedian, be elected by the Ukrainians? Why, it's an insult, a third finger, if you will, to himself! Putin just couldn’t understand that fact and it gnawed on him day and night. Obviously Medevev had those same thoughts. What these “men’ conjured up, while puffing out their manly chests (said in jest), were atrocities not only to rhe Jewish people, but the country, as a whole.
As the daughter of Holocaust victims, your magnificent piece just made me cry. Realizing this kind of thinking still exists in the demented minds of men, here in the US and abroad, has frightened me. It’s also encouraging me to do more. This is yet another perilous time on our planet. I wish for a miracle.
This is characteristically illuminating and polemically potent at the same time. On a related note your recent discussion on Ezra Klein’s podcast was also very lucid and I’d recommend it to anyone who’s interested:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/15/podcasts/transcript-ezra-klein-interviews-timothy-snyder.amp.html