The Russian soldier who was charged with a killing a civilian has been found guilty by a court in Ukraine and sentenced to life imprisonment. Interestingly, this has been widely reported in the Russian press. Strikes me that this is extremely awkward for the Russian public. No matter what way the Kremlin spin this, stories of soldiers murdering Ukrainian civilians is not something they are supposed to be hearing about. The fact that he is only a a young lad and looks like a Leaving Cert student doesn't help either (conjuring up images of the young of Russia being used by the regime as cannon fodder).
As angry as the atrocities of the Russian military in Ukraine will make us, it's best to always try not to conflate said atrocities with the country's people in general. If nothing else, then for strategic reasons - demonising all Russians only gives Putin a handy propaganda tool to amplify hatred and keep their war effort going. It's important to light fires at the foundations of what Putin is trying to achieve, and one case of that is surely the hearts and minds of the Russian people at large. I must hold out the hope that the Russian people in general would not do harm unless to defend themselves and would be equally horrified as we are, if unavoidably confronted with what is happening in Ukraine.
I like those Tarkovsky films you mentioned and yes I agree they're very "meditative" and not the kind of thing that'll be on show in multiplexes around the world. Not that that says anything about quality.
The later Zvyagintsev films however, especially Leviathan, are quite pacy and a bit more mainstream in style. Quite different to The Return and a really brutal critique of Putin's Russia and top to bottom corruption. Needless to say, culture ministry attacked him for it after being stupid enough to fund the film without checking what it was about.
I'm sure people were saying the same about Germany (which committed far worse crimes on a far larger scale) in 1945.
So maybe, 'if we lost the current horrible Russian regime' would be better phrasing. We'll still have to live with Russia long after Putin is gone.
I will say this: if the world would be to lose Russia altogether the world will surely miss the russian culture, but indeed it will be a better place nevertheless.
Must have been fun trying to keep up with the airbrushing of Soviet films in the 1930s.
"Wasn't Comrade Trotsky in this before? I'm sure I remember a scene with him giving a speech to the Red Army troops. Very patriotic, very good!"
"Ssssshhh Igor, are you trying to get us killed? We'll be sent to the gulags!"
"OK, no more about Trotsky. At least the scene with Kamenev is something to look forward to."
"ehhh, I don't know how to tell you this but..."
Kind of sums it up for me.
Their army is the same. When they do manage to advance, it's usually at a contemplative pace where they can ruminate over the futility of it all.
Some of the stuff that was produced in the Soviet era is eye-popping, not necessarily always in the good way! I think Channel 4 used to show the odd one back in the day and I do remember sitting on my sofa in absolute befuddlement looking at these 'masterpieces' of Soviet realism. A bit different to Die Hard and Police Academy. 😏
Although Battleship Potemkin should be watched once by everyone.
Oh yes, democracy has taken a battering in recent years - massively driven by state-sponsored (gee, I wonder by who) online disinformation campaigns seeking to divide us. Brexit and Trump being the two most obvious 'successes'.
I'm hopeful though. I think one of the few positive things to come out of this war is that unchecked, malevolent online BS is now being called out far more than it ever was and the gatekeepers of the internet are being put under pressure to actually be somewhat responsible in what their algorithims allow in front of our eyeballs.
I've watched a few Russian movies of the critically-acclaimed variety like Solaris, Stalker and The Return and they're slooooooooow. The Russians really have a thing for the meditative drama genre where the cinematography is more important than the story. It's fine if you're in that kind of mood, but it's never really going to capture the world's attention.
The Russians have been on the outskirts of Toshkivka for over a month now with no movement.
If you are saying the russians should retreat and fight another day then I would partially agree...they should retreat and go home and dream of fighting another day
The films of Zvyagintsev are first class and the equal of any other European cinema of this century. Also highly critical of the contemporary materialism and corruption of Russian society, state and church.
But yeah, when you think of Russian culture it is still generally the big hitters of the 19th and early to mid 20th century that come to mind, not an awful lot since
Which is why they also need protecting. The idea of there being no truth or it being unknowable is a big part of the Russia psyche now. I hate seeing it seep into Western discourse. At home we see a certain crowd have almost completed their long march through the institutions and have all the hallmarks of a certain kind of banana republic but I'm just worried about nothing.
They key is keeping up debate when it matters. All too often politicians and people fall into a trap of discussing nonsense for far too long. Even when it's something that matters in ends up getting boiled into some nonsense issue or other. It's how Boris and Trump get away with bare-faced lies, because some of the "ah sure they're all the same" cynicism has taken root that deeply. Economic issues, rampant inflation, housing shortages, massive immigration all taking place during it (but of course not allowed to talk about that) are all lining up to allow for big, quick changes across Europe. It wouldn't take much for things to take a turn.
At the higher ends that's very true but how many Russians does that really apply to?
Regardless of any claims to high culture, the Russians we're seeing in Ukraine and many of those in support of that particular "special operation" (sic) are little more than fooking savages.
Russian army conducted assault actions near Toshkivka town near Severodonetsk, - General Staff of Armed Forces of Ukraine says in the morning report
time to retreat, live to fight another day!
..
The other counterpoint to the argument is very practical; since the Ukraine war began, are previously non-aligned countries turning towards NATO and the EU, or away from it?
I would say that the rest of the EU or NATO would help, and help directly in the scenario you describe. I've had the same concern, and as has been explained to me, if those countries are not helped, then NATO is essentially signalling that it is not prepared to protect its interests or its dominion and it's therefore open season for any ambitious military force who wants to perform some hostile takeovers, thus the West loses the geopolitical chess match in one fell swoop.
Another way to think about that is how confident we are in the strength of our democratic institutions. We have such faith in our democratic institutions that we feel completely confident in criticising them and constantly analysing our failures. This is a good thing.
Autocratic countries by contrast have no such confidence hence why dissent and independent thinking is suppressed.
The one I was thinking of was actually sport, which they are very heavily invested in (to the point of doping their athletes up to the eyeballs).
Culturally, I don't know much about dance but my daughter assures me that ballet is at its pinnacle in Russia. Classical music too is heavily prized. Far more than we do.
I know a bit more about literature and Russia is definitely a heavyweight contributor; if you're looking for 20th century behemoths look no further than names like Akhamatova, Solzhenitstyn, Grossman.
Russians really do prize what we might call 'high culture', most of them can recite stacks of poetry off by heart. It's one of the biggest insults you can give to a Russian, to call them uncultured or nekulturny. So I do think that aspect of the sanctions hurts. Obviously its relatively trivial compared to everything else.
Aside from the rights and wrongs of Western meddling, there's a current through the West in some circles where everything is the West's fault. They study racism and racialism through what they apparently see around them. The shock they'd get about how much a lot of those different Asian people don't like each other and how they have their own racial purity memes through their culture would be a good one.
What's the last bit of meaningful culture that Russia produced? It's living on the fumes from the 19th and early 20th century. No loss to isolate them from the cultural community.
I wouldn't worry too much about what these goons say. (what a great word - 'goons'. I've been waiting a long time to use it in its appropriate context and I think I've finally found the right one.)
Isolating Russia in all aspects of economic, political and cultural life is not to be underestimated either.
@correct horse battery staple
when will European leaders learn that appeasement doesn’t work and only way out now is to crush Putin like the criminal cockroach he is
I don't think it's anything to do with appeasement as a policy, like they're going, "Let's do this thing which hasn't really worked in history and give it another go." I think what's interpreted as appeasement is more that leaders who stand to benefit from the world order as is are never going to go headlong into a confrontation which could undermine regional peace, economic stability and political stability. A lot of these people aren't really thinking of being great statesmen so much as they're thinking about the next election. They do not want to deal with a problem such as Russia's aggressions until it can no longer be ignored - until it becomes an existential risk such that confrontation's benefits outweigh the potential economic and political fallout, domestically.
And this effect amplifies the further you get from the problem. That's why Poland and the Baltics have been on the ball where countries further west have dithered at times.
Appeasement seems to be used when people don't like agreements. Problems with agreements tend to happen with untrustworthy partners with other agendas. The EU has appeased its members thousands of times with no ill effects In 1945 the aim was the end of the war, a far greater prize. Up to now with Russia it has been a reasonable geopolitical position as it has kept trade flowing and the world at peace. Putin has upset all of that and is being faced down. Apart from arming Ukraine there is very little else that can be done.
That's a balanced post.
Another way to look at it is to wind the clock back to late 2021 and consider how the political, energy and security universe has changed in ways that would have been truly unfathomable at the time.
Russian troops shelled Apostolove district of Dnipropetrovsk region with MLRS Uragan
The leader of the pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk has said that all prisoners of war from the Azovstal steel plant will be tried by a tribunal in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.
With a very fair "legal" process of course.
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