Extreme Imperialsim at the Highest Levels in Russia

[barking_iguana]

The long term fantasies of the likes of Mikhail Yuryiev are so unrealistic as to not be much of a worry. (see map) But his initial step, reconquest of the Baltics, is a cause for concern. Yuriev is the former chairman of the Russian Government’s Council on Economy and Entrepreneurship (1993-1995) and formerly a deputy speaker of the State Duma (1995-1999). His outlook is increasilngly common and respectable among the Russian elite, as well as other classes of Russian society. Here's one undertandabel reaction:

“Just a couple of months ago, a former vice-chancellor of the Russian Duma Mikhail Yuryev published a best-selling novel “The Third Empire.” (…) The present advisor to president Putin, Alexander Dugin, states on the back-cover of the book: ‘This is Russia that one should kill and die for’. It is clear to anyone who lives near the border of this former bloody empire that we are dealing with the real sentiments and attempts at the resurrection of the ‘Third Russian Reich’ . So please don’t tell the Balts about forgetting ‘their historical garbage’. Putin’s Russia is a threat to all the democratic world.”

For more info, see http://strangemaps.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/20070309map2053.jpg

Comments

[tayefeth.livejournal.com]

Can you translate the Russian on that map?

[shirleym.livejournal.com]

Blue: American Federation
Red: Russian Empire
Green: Islamic Caliphate
White: Indian Confederation
Orange: (not sure, something like Related or Homeland) Republic

[shirleym.livejournal.com]

Ah, got it: orange is "Republic of the Earth".

The whole map has the feel of those maps you get in science fiction novels, or alt-history, that aren't meant to have any relation to anything real. I mean, Central America is part of the American Federation, but Israel and Britain are part of the Russian Empire? Doesn't seem like anyone's plan, or at least not anyone's realistic plan.

Which is not to say that the man doesn't want to restore the Russian empire, nor that his popularity isn't creepy. Just that this map isn't evidence of anything.

[barking-iguana.livejournal.com]

Someone else had trandlated it as Celestial something.

[chemoelectric.livejournal.com]

It’s thinking in terms of territory, like a dog. Hitler thought strongly that way.

[tayefeth.livejournal.com]

Toddler thinking? "Anything I want is mine."

[chemoelectric.livejournal.com]

More like a wolf armed with nuclear missiles, I think.

[shirleym.livejournal.com]

So somehow in this world, Russia has taken over 3 nuclear-armed countries, yet Moscow and Saint Petersburg still exist. It's a game board, a fantasy. It's not evidence that anyone thinks the world could actually look like that.

Also, thinking of your enemy as an animal? Nice.

[chemoelectric.livejournal.com]

Who is thinking of someone as an animal? On my side, I’m only likening behavior to that of an animal.