5/10/2008 10:01:49 PM Charles Hale
Russia does not share in the great traditions of the West. She has seen a transition from one political party to another, peacefully, due to the vote of the people. Russia is today, as it was during the Cold War, run by a bunch of thugs that will do anything to stay in power. Sure, they killed the Czar, just so that they could live like kings themselves.
Is Russia an anomaly? We often hear of her position spanning East and West, but we have seen liberal democracies in the East, just as we do in the West.
I think that it boils down to whom was running things during the great cultural revolutions of the 18th and 19th centuries. It was not until 1861 that Russia abolished serfdom, about the same time that the US went balls-to-the-wall against slavery (Civil War). What's the difference? Well, heck, Russia was majority serfs, while the US was majority free men. The road for minorities has not been a perfect one, often living in pseudo-slavery for many periods, but aside from the victimhood that some show today, they are doing well.
The same cannot be said of Russia's peasants, reliant on the state to keep them alive. The Russian people, with the exception of the early-mid 1990's, have never seen true freedom. They are still fed propaganda about how the West is out to get them (thanks to France and Germany for creating that one), and have nobody arguing the other side of the case.
There is a great fear to go against the state in Russia. In a country where the gangsters have been running things for 90 years, it is commonplace to eliminate anyone complaining. It is much easier to kill someone than to organize a debate to share ideas. Russia has constantly decimated its highly-skilled and highly-educated groups. I can only imagine that by becoming more educated, it leads men to yearn for freedom. And desire of freedom is not something that the gangster state will put up with.
Of course, freedom is a relative term. Absolute freedom probably equals anarchy. Some sort of law and government is required to keep the society in good health. The West is fortunate in that we have God's laws as a building block. Russia also had this, until relentless persecution of its church during Soviet days.
Russia is also a late bloomer. Many states had already defined their approximate boundaries by the 1600's, while Russia did not complete (so to speak) their European expansion until Catherine II reign (-1796). Russia had room to grow to the East, outside of organized European armies standing in their way. But European expansion was blocked by Poland, Prussia and Finland; at least until they were defeated and Russia took advantage of the situation.
But Germany was also a late bloomer. Since the fall of the Holy Roman Empire, Germany was a hodge podge of many smaller states. In the 1800's, they joined in federation, creating a Greater Germany. This new nation status led to rapid expansion, resulting in the wars of the late 1800's and the horror of the first half of the 20th century.
What's the difference? Is it tradition (remember Martin Luther was a German), proximity to free neighbors (France), religion (Protestant/Catholic vs. Orthodox), or isolation? .
I think that it would be the isolation of the country. Being at the periphery of civilization, the peoples of Russia had little contact with the ideals of the scientific and other revolutions occurring in Europe. This left them with nothing more than: that's how it was yesterday, that's how it is today, and that's how it will always be.
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