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August 13, 2022

Russia’s bloody and senseless war against Ukraine has been going on for almost six months. Instead of the original goal of quickly seizing Ukraine and turning it into a puppet state or a province (the name “Ukraine” is derived from the Russian word for “outskirts”), Russia has suddenly encountered an impenetrable wall of resistance.

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Two questions logically arise: 1) why did Russia attack Ukraine? and 2) how and when will the war end?

Today’s Russia is the heir to two political formations: feudal and then capitalist tsarist Russia, which died in 1917, and the communist Soviet Union, which lost the Cold War and disintegrated in 1991. Throughout its millennial history, the Russian Empire and its successor, the Soviet Union, have always aimed at expanding their territory at the expense of foreign lands and establishing control over other countries. At the same time Russia never paid the slightest attention to the development of its internal infrastructure and improving the lives of people. Hence the popular Russian saying: “There are only two problems in Russia: bad roads and fools, where the fools tell people which road to take.”

In the peasant country of Russia (until the mid-16th century it was called Principality of Muscovy) there has always been slavery (serfdom): from 11th century till 1861 under the princes and tsars, and then under Bolsheviks from 1928 to 1974. A lack of individual freedom gradually formed the passive slave mentality of the Russian people (I must note here — in Ukraine there never was slavery, so the mentality of the Ukrainian people is very different).

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A slave does not want freedom, a slave wants others to become slaves — this miserable idea is engrained into the flesh and blood of the Russian people. They are very tolerant, obedient and ready for endless deprivation and suffering — if only “not to get worse.” For its ability to tolerate any misery, Russia cannot be defeated from the outside, especially since it has nuclear weapons. The good news is that under certain circumstances (as discussed below) it can slowly decay from within, dying on its own without external force.

Of course, there is always a small number of active selfless people who want change, but their activity under the Soviet rule and in our time has been brutally suppressed with the silent approval of the masses. The level of repression under Putin can only be compared to that of Nazi Germany. For example, the invasion of Ukraine is ordered to be called a “special operation,” and anyone who uses the word “war” is arrested and sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.

Russia’s ruling elite is used to living by imitating the West and enjoying imported things. Just two hundred years ago few of the Russian nobility knew Russian language (they spoke French or German), and absolutely all quality objects, from clothing, to weapons, to machines for factories, were imported from Europe. In the 1930s, almost the entire heavy industry of the USSR was built by the American firms. One could say that Russia has been embedded into the world economy for centuries: it exported raw materials and imported everything else. Today, Russia produces no manufactured goods (except old-fashioned weapons) and is completely dependent on the import of end products.

Several years ago I was invited to give a lecture on modern electronics at a Russian university, my alma mater. During my presentation I noticed the total indifference of the students: no one took notes, they yawned, looked not at the slides, but at the ceiling, etc. After the lecture, everyone left without asking a single question — and these were the grad students from the radio-electronics department! I asked my friend, the head of the department: “Weren’t they interested? Maybe they didn’t understand?”

He answered: “They did not want to understand! The main idea for them is to get a formal degree as quickly as possible and become officials, so they could live happily off bribes.”

That same evening my former classmates (we were all in our early seventies), whom I had not seen for almost half a century, invited me for a dinner. I asked: “Guys, how do you live in your retirement?”