Russia’s Political/Pandemic Update: Fahrenheit 451 and a 360-Degree Turn
As the coronavirus pandemic is coming to an end, the geopolitical pandemic keeps spreading and contaminating more and more brains. Even though Russia suspended its participation in the Treaty on the Reduction of Strategic Offensive Arms (START), February was a routine month for Russian politics as the mutual exchange of barbs, insults, and accusations between Russia’s and Western talking heads became a new normal. Meanwhile, it was the last remaining in force agreement between Moscow and Washington on global security. Recent geopolitical developments and how they affect domestic policies in many countries (Russia including) to some extent remind the society described in Fahrenheit 451, a novel by Ray Bradbury written back in 1953. Nowadays, the modern guardians of unshakeable principles often do not differ much from Bradbury's "firemen" as Russia and the West get increasingly separated economically, culturally, socially, and mentally. People with dissident thinking become strangers even in their own countries as guardians of social stability and political purity ban alternative information flows and brand these flows as propaganda coming from the other side.
As Russia and the West cultural and economic disconnection deepens, the former tries to find some other “friendly” jurisdictions, which appears not an easy task as most of these jurisdictions have business with the West. Therefore, their relations with Russia can be at best pragmatic.
Amid such developments, the absolute majority of Russian people support their president, the PM, and the government. Respondents also believe that the country goes in the right direction. Looking at various opinion polls, one may conclude that quite a big part of Russian society has negative feelings to those who have fled the country recently. Some remain neutral, and a minority express support. In this regard, the society became more consolidated than several years ago.
Now read on...
Register to sample a report