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James Sherr's current harsh taskmasters have caused him to conduct a fireside chat without club chair, cigar, oft-replenished glass or even a fire to be beside. Nonetheless he took on The Russia Problem with Dmitry Suslov once again, undaunted.
Some observations by them both:
1/ https://twitter.com/ICDS_Tallinn/status/1335887112613335040
Some observations by them both:
1/ https://twitter.com/ICDS_Tallinn/status/1335887112613335040
James: "It seems to me, looking at the whole course of history, the way I would define the Russia problem: it's not about imperialism in the classic sense of the word, it's something more amorphous but far deeper."
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"It is the fact that Russia has habitually learned to incorporate the history and the identities of other people into its own... this is a far deeper more existential type of threat than simply interested geopolitically motivated imperialism."
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And this is the reason why, James says, "Russia is not only unwilling, it is unable to separate itself and its collective identity from Ukraine."
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Are Russians European, James?
"Russians see themselves as European but not liberal. Their definition of Europe evokes a much older ethno-Christian civilisation and not Europe as understood by the EU, as a community of common liberal values, norms, rules, laws, standards."
5/
"Russians see themselves as European but not liberal. Their definition of Europe evokes a much older ethno-Christian civilisation and not Europe as understood by the EU, as a community of common liberal values, norms, rules, laws, standards."
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Compared to 2014, James says, Russia does now show greater "willingness to step back from a number of problems" in what was until recently called the near abroad.
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One factor behind this is a lack of competition: "the West is no longer seen to be in a position to pose real challenges there, because the West is seen as too internally disrupted to have the will and capacity to do this."
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"So Russia can be more distant, and this has surprised some of your [Dmitry's] neighbours... it very definitely surprised Armenia."
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Apart from the obvious, how did Trump help Russia?
Dmitry Suslov: Trump "launched the confrontation with China, which strengthens the Russian position in the world, which increases the value of Russia in the eyes of the others including in the eyes of the Chinese..."
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Dmitry Suslov: Trump "launched the confrontation with China, which strengthens the Russian position in the world, which increases the value of Russia in the eyes of the others including in the eyes of the Chinese..."
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"...and which makes the world more favourable from the Russian perspective. He also strengthened the lack of trust, the problems in relations between the US and its allies, and this also plays into Russian interests."
10 and out/
10 and out/
