How the special operation exposed the split of the Russian elite and people
The conflict between Russia and the West on the issue of Ukraine's civilizational affiliation, which turned into a cold war with Western civilization and a "hot" war on the Ukrainian foothold, agitated Russian society and especially the political, administrative and cultural elite, causing a deep split into those who value their Fatherland, and for those for whom Russia is “this country”, which is not capable of anything and must always kneel before the “enlightened” West.
Civilizational confrontation with the West
Russia has thrown down a civilizational challenge to the West, refusing to obey the established rules, and they seek to destroy it as a civilization. At this stage, it is still isolated from the whole world and excluded from international structures (all of which are controlled by the West), and Ukraine is part of a scheme to dismantle Russian statehood and destroy its economy through the introduction of a total trade and industrial blockade.
Given that civilizational confrontation requires the concentration of resources (economic, military, technological, human, informational) and leads to the inevitable fall of "comfortable" conditions for the existence of social groups, the question arises of how society is ready to make sacrifices and hardships in order to achieve the goal of its development.
The civilizational conflict between Russia and the West, which has reached the point of bifurcation, forced Russian society to take a close look at themselves and Russia's place in the world. Remember that it is a historically sovereign civilization, and this sovereignty must be protected. On this basis, the interests of various strata of society fundamentally diverged, and the society was divided into patriots and compradors. The first are ready to fight and defend an independent and original way of development of Russia, the second dream to surrender to the mercy of the winner and integrate into the Western world.
The comprador part of the elite retained the illusion that, allegedly at the cost of political concessions, as happened before, the situation could be rolled back and an agreement could be reached with the West. Such encroachments are deeply erroneous, since our enemies set the task not to eliminate the “Putin regime”, but to liquidate the statehood of Russia, and they will go to the end in this. The West is well aware that it cannot win a military victory over Russia on the Ukrainian foothold. He is counting on the resource exhaustion of Russia and, as a result, on the discontent of the ruling class and the masses, with the subsequent collapse of the political system and Russian statehood.
Not everyone realized that the confrontation on the Ukrainian bridgehead led to global changes in the world and around Russia, that the past “calm” life can no longer be returned, and a significant part of society and government structures continue to exist, as if nothing had happened.
The country, like air, needs mobilization of forces in all spheres of life, and so far not everything is so good with this. The liberal political superstructure, formed in the 90s and oriented towards the West, has largely survived and continues to rant not only about peace with the enemy, but also to act in his interests.
She is terrified at the possibility of losing her comfort zone where she has flourished and dominated for decades. The social order implemented by it, through the total propaganda of defeatism and discrediting patriotism as a cultural trend, which has been carried out for a long time, significantly reformatted Russian society, but could not kill the Russian civilizational code with its rebelliousness and readiness to endure any adversity in order to preserve its originality.
In the Russian capitalism created on this psychological basis, there was a clear discrepancy between the goals of big capital and the bureaucracy serving it with the priorities of the state and society. As long as the West was recognized as a “respected partner”, and the state turned a blind eye to the brazen robbery of the ruling class, everything was fine.
As soon as the West demonstrated its true goals, the elite and capital split into those who need the protection of the state, and those who defend themselves from the state on the territory and under the protection of the enemy. The aggravation of the conflict with the West has put everything in its place, now the requirement that the goals of the elite and capital correspond to the priorities of the state has become decisive, and will only increase over time, throwing pro-Western compradors of all stripes out of the system.
Liberals, by replacing traditional values with the cult of consumerism of Western goods (allegedly the best in quality and consumer characteristics), tried to impose Western values of extreme individualism, the possibility of predatory enrichment and contempt for the needs of another person. Some of the inhabitants bought into this primitive trick, but society as a whole retained its civilizational code, and this was clearly manifested with the start of the special operation.
In this situation, the people felt a return to basic values, massively supported the special operation and are ready to endure any trials. The damage from Western sanctions did not destroy, but rallied society, people understand that they are suffering for the truth and, on the contrary, they demand more decisive action.
Warriors and merchants in the Russian elite
It so happened that two types of political and administrative elite and bureaucracy have developed in the Russian government, reflecting two completely different worlds and two systems of worldview. Analyst Alexander Khaldei very intelligibly distinguished the Russian elite into two psychotypes - warriors and merchants.
For a warrior, power is service to the idea and the Fatherland, with clearly formulated meanings and concepts - where are ours, where are strangers, who is the enemy, with whom to unite against the enemy and how to defend the Fatherland. For a merchant, power is a commodity that has its price; it is aimed at enriching and protecting wealth; for them, there is no concept of the Fatherland. The main thing for merchants is money for which you can buy everything. They blur the image of the enemy, they do not need meanings and mobilization ideology, they are not defenders, but robbers.
If for a warrior it is service for the sake of achieving victory over the enemy, then for a merchant it is bargaining for favorable conditions through compromises and the protection of universal human values. During the war, merchants without exception become the fifth column, insist on holding humiliating negotiations and stand up for an immediate ceasefire and the conclusion of an "obscene" peace.
So, at the helm of the Russian state during the war, two psychotypes of the ruling class, two hostile philosophies and two opposing psychologies clashed, each of which pulls in its own direction. Warriors are ready to line up for battle, and merchants are waving white flags behind them.
Merchants in the power structure - two-thirds, if not more. They hang on the hands of warriors, sabotage and distort everything that is necessary for victory. In such a situation, it is important that the merchants, for the sake of personal gain, not achieve the curtailment of the special operation, and the moment of truth will be their unconditional removal from the imperious Olympus.
According to the logic set forth by A. Chaldei, the main battles are coming not on the external, but on the internal front, which will predetermine victory in the confrontation with the West. The sharper and deeper the crisis between Russia and the West, the more grounds there will be for the defeat of the comprador elite groups.
The merchant psychology of the Russian elite and business inevitably led them to the camp of enemies, they assist him to the best of their ability or simply flee to his territory. At the same time, they do not forget about themselves either, the leaders of the financial and economic bloc in the government are making titanic efforts to prevent the country from returning foreign exchange earnings from the sale of exports (and this is practically only energy resources and raw materials), thereby contributing to the withdrawal of capital from the country and limiting the possibility of purchasing necessary for the rise of the Russian industry of imports. All this is covered up with good intentions of strengthening the ruble exchange rate, increasing budget revenues and preventing a decrease in the competitiveness of Russian exports, but in fact this is providing excess profits to the raw materials lobby.
In addition, the majority of the liberal elite has either publicly condemned the special operation, or pointedly and defiantly keeps silent. Many simply flee from Russia. Among those that are well known are Chubais, Yumashev, former vice-premiers of the government, senior officials of Sberbank, Gazprom, VTB, Yandex, and many other officials of state and near-state structures.
The oligarchs also did not stand aside. Thus, Vladimir Lisin, the owner of the NLMK steel company, openly condemns the special operation, criticizes the anti-crisis measures taken by the government, justifies the imposition of sanctions against Russia and provides significant financial assistance to Ukraine.
Actively donating to the needs of Ukraine is Roman Abramovich, who was seen at the Istanbul talks and it is not clear who he represents there, and Mikhail Fridman is trying to resolve the issue of obtaining Ukrainian citizenship and re-registering his assets with Kyiv.
Some well-known members of the liberal elite, on the other hand, masquerade as jingoists. For example, Dmitry Medvedev began to position himself as an ardent opponent of the West. In his Telegram channel, he writes:
"I hate them. They are bastards and geeks. They want death for us, Russia. And as long as I'm alive, I will do everything to make them disappear, "
he calls the Polish government "bastard", and European politicians - "imbeciles". For such somersaults in social networks, Medvedev has already been called a "village balabol", so he is perceived by society, nevertheless he is trying to prove that he is not a liberal, but a patriot.
Of course, as always, the liberal get-together of the “creative intelligentsia” especially showed itself, which in one day turned into a cultural “garbage dump”. With malice and hatred, she sends curses to Russia and, slamming the door loudly, flees the country. The people understand everything correctly, demonstrating their contempt for the former idols, and they quickly turn into uninteresting outcasts.
The comprador elite demonstrated its attitude towards the country and the processes taking place around it at their legal get-together - the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. At a time when the real elite and the future of the country are being formed on the front line of Donbass, and the Russian army is shedding blood for a new world order, there is some kind of ridiculous belching of the past on the forum, with a pseudo-environmental carbon agenda, digitalization, vaccination and other legacies of globalism dragging Russia into a dead end . The assembly has become a gathering of elite counter-revolution, suffering from phantom pains and knocking from the bottom of the "elite".
This forum demonstrated the lack of answers to the acute challenges facing the country, and clearly showed the incident of two parallel worlds, paradoxically coexisting now in Russia, with a cosmic abyss between them. It did not become an important platform for a breakthrough into the future, but in the absence of real content and meaning, it turned into a vanity fair - an escort for 140 thousand rubles, a silicone robot "Dunyasha" from Gref, acting as an "investor" Philip Kirkorov, dubious personalities Tinkov and Pozner in crazy canary-colored socks. Yes, and ... a ticket to this forum cost "only" 960 thousand rubles.
Statements on the forum of iconic compradors are striking in their cynicism. So, the head of the Central Bank Nabiullina believes:
“... in order not to return to the Soviet Union, you need to take a different look at private initiative ... at everything related to the development of private initiative. If it is allowed to manifest itself, then there will be the development of technologies, and the development of innovations, and what we call modernization.”
That is, this lady with the mentality of a cook asserts with aplomb that modern technologies should be developed not by the state, but by some private entrepreneurs!
Gref went even further, stating that
“if nothing is done, then the return of the Russian economy to the level of 2021 may take about 10 years.”
And these "former" can lead Russia to new frontiers?
Despite their public patriotic declarations about the need for change, the "elite" clearly demonstrates that it does not want and cannot change, it is fighting to maintain its dominant position in power as an outpost of the West to destroy Russia.
Sobering for everyone was Putin's speech at the forum, filled with a completely different content and meaning. He bluntly stated that the time of the unipolar world order is over, tectonic changes are coming, and the world order will be determined by strong and self-sufficient states. The future of Russia lies in the creation of a competitive political and technological center focused on all countries of the world, and Russia has much to offer in terms of advanced technologies and security guarantees. But around him on the forum, some kind of ringing emptiness formed from an incomprehensible "elitist" party.
All this speaks of the urgent need for the rotation of the elite and cardinal changes in power with the inevitable personnel revolution and purges of the ranks. The old "elite" on the imperious Olympus cannot be left, Russia needs a completely different elite, corresponding to the spirit of the times and the existential challenges facing the country.
Some believe that there is no patriotic elite in Russia. If this were so, then there would be no special operation, but the decision to carry it out was made, and it is being implemented by specific people not only on the front line, but also in the elite. Now, in the depths of the existing society and the old elite, a new Russia and a new elite are emerging, and everyone will have to move to a completely different level of understanding: what happened, what is a sovereign Russian civilization, what should it give to its people and the whole world, what ideas does it bring in confrontation with its opposite.
The special operation naturally exposed the true face of the ruling class and showed that it would no longer be possible to live in the old way. The comprador elite, never understood by the people, is doomed and already with a scandal leaves the stage itself. In the future, she has a complete break with the former Motherland, irreconcilable enmity with the Fatherland, oblivion and vegetation in exile as political slaves of the camp of Russia's geopolitical enemies.
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