5 p. INDEX FILE, National attitudes, and how they differ (guest post)

I propose tracing what potential leaders think, by what they say. If they are already leaders, by what they do, or the results under them. FIRST UP, Russia. What are the possibilities after Putin?

In Russia there are 13 political parties:

Party name                                    Share of the 2022 vote
United Russia (Putin)                             49.82%
Communist KPRF                                  18.93%
Liberal Democratic LDPR                      7.55%
Just Russia for Truth                                7.46%
New People                                               5.32%
Party of Pensioners                                  2.45%
and 7 other smaller ones   

Can we get a reading on how these parties would run the country in a different way? I doubt it, and I doubt they will ever have the growth in popularity to do it. Then what we are looking for is a successor to Putin and Medvedev in the United Russia party.

Who could that be, and how can we discover their mind-set about current events and what Russia needs? There is a wide range of thoughts in many countries, and I believe in many regions, (including Russia), people have flexible attitudes. If they convince themselves long-term best scenarios are difficult, maybe short-term personal advantage is enough for now. You could just call these people "vipers", or wiggly snakes, but let's leave that aside, and just call it "real-politic".

These groups hasten to join the general consensus, that what matters most is ME - RIGHT NOW. I'm pretty well off these days, and I deserve it. Theirs is a land of shifting sands, but no matter, just stay on top and surf the waves (the dunes). Besides, to go against it is forbidden, unless you want to destroy your career and destroy your life. Actually I know of no one in America that is not content to just play a round of golf tomorrow. (Or whatever.) There is nothing deeper than that. Just don't touch my lifestyle.

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I am going to refer to an author in Russia, Dmitry Olegovich Rogozin. He has the Russian bad habit: to call the villain a villain, and the hero – a hero. He describes what he considers important and what makes him think about our future and the fate of our Motherland. Rogozin is not the voice of the Kremlin, but he is not a reactionary contrarian either. He sees where contradictions exist and calls them out. As a young man he was intimate with leadership in the collapse of the Soviet Union, and a first-person witness to that tragedy. He knows who the crooks were; and are.

With the Special Military Liberation Operation, objectively inevitable, given the threats emanating from the Kiev junta for the extermination of the Russian population of Ukraine, and the approximation of NATO military potential to our borders, little has changed in our «elite». It's the so-called «cream society». With such «friends of the people» we do not need enemies. What can this «elite» offer the people of Ukraine, (after freed by our army)? Why are they better than the Kiev «elite», which brought Ukraine to the cattle of Russophobia? How can you pretend that nothing happened in our country and continue to drink champagne and eat eclairs at fireworks events, at the very moment when tens of thousands of our soldiers are risking their lives to perform combat tasks?

The war with Ukrainian radical nationalism and Russophobia – is not a confrontation between armies and military technologies, but the response of our country to an existential threat to all of our people, and the entire Russian civilization. This is the restoration of historical justice. This is a common cause in which the unity of the army, society and its political class should manifest itself. This is a chance to kick out of the country (and not let them back in!) the fifth column of traitors and compradors. The war in Ukraine – is a war FOR Ukraine and FOR Russia. It is a sacred war for the right of the Russian people (in both countries) to exist and reunite in their tribal territory. This is a war against a much stronger and dodgy enemy, a war to force the collective West, manipulated by the Anglo-Saxons and German revanchists, to recognize Russia's right to a safe and independent future, and for our children. Therefore, in this war, for us there should not be any simple «red lines». As V. Vladimirovich Putin once said:  «Why do we need such a world if Russia is not in it»??

I consider it fundamentally important to constantly show universal solidarity with our army. It is impossible to maintain the illusion that the army «is doing its job out there somewhere», and we continue to live as before. The scale and historical significance of the tasks solved by our army required the partial mobilization, announced by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief on September 21, 2022. But if they demand the interests of Russian affairs, the enemy must know that we will go to full-scale mobilization. And woe to the one who gets in our way! Now the fate of all of Russia, and Europe, is being decided. «And that means we need one – VICTORY, Once and for all – we won’t stand back at the price». A country and a society must live the interests of the front. The one who is ready to go all the way to the end, always wins. And our people are ready to go into battle only for a clear goal for them. Not for the money. You can learn to kill for money, but you cannot learn to die for money. Our army in Ukraine is fighting for the homeland. We have no right to lose. This is our army and our destiny.

This book is about our big mistakes and our first little victories. And this is the story of my life, which is so dramatically connected with the life of my people and my country. This how some Russian people think.

COULD DMITRY ROGOZIN END UP AS SUCCESSOR TO PUTIN? Not by the current design of the Kremlin though.

ROGOZIN is a famous politician, emergency and plenipotentiary ambassador of the Russian Federation, doctor of technical sciences and doctor of philosophical sciences, chairman of the executive committee of the Congress of Russian Communities (1993 – 1999), chairman of the State Duma for International Affairs (2000 – 2003 < State party «Deputy Prime Minister of Russia» – Chairman of the Board of the Military Industrial Commission of Russia (2012 – 2018), General Director of the State Corporation for Space Activities «Roscosmos» (2018 – 2022). Since October 2022 – he is the head of the group of military advisers to the voluntary units of Donbass.

I PROPOSE UPLOADING SOME IMPORTANT CHAPTERS FROM HIS BOOK:

The Hawks of Peace, Notes of the Russian Ambassador

You’ll find them here. Let’s get to know this man.

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