A lesson from the Russians

PiP shorts #8

This video is a short discussion of the state of the economy in Russia today. It reminded me of one of my favourite books, Solzhenitsyn’s First Circle.

It was the second book I read after leaving communist Hungary. Since my own stint in jail as a political prisoner was only a few years behind me, I was very much able to relate to it.

Russian is a fascinating culture with a psychological depth that takes some time to really understand.
Reading Solzhenitsyn, Dostoyevsky, Gogol and Bulgakov can help. My favourite part of the book was an extended conversation, taking place over several days, between Nerzhin, the protagonist and his friend Sologdin about the virtuous value of hardship.
Sologdin is making an argument for the character-building value of hardship that shouldn’t be avoided, not even just confronted, but embraced. Hardships, trials and tribulations make us better people. They make us stronger; they build character and they strengthen our morals.
The book is worth reading just for that conversation alone.

If you choose to immerse yourself in Russian literature, you will find this attitude everywhere.
Russians are at their best under duress. The corrupt and decadent Western world with their virtue signaling Karens and Soy-boys in their safe-spaces cannot understand it.

The Western sanctions were designed to scare the Russians into submission.
The sanctions proved to be a gift to the Russians. They made them stand up and realize their potentials.
The Americans were looking for an enemy, now they got one. With the emergence of a new, multipolar world order, they got a lot more than they bargained for.

The Russian economy, as discussed in the Duran conversation above, is just one element of it. Watch it!

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