“The emperor only values his throne and will do anything to protect it, while all others are mere resources to be exploited,” writes Aleksandar Đokić, a Serbian political scientist and former lecturer at RUDN University in Moscow. “In other words, the Russian empire is knowingly throwing its own people, people of its own nation, into a meatgrinder, a virtual abyss.”
In Putin’s Russia, there are no citizens, just subjects
This is how Russia has operated from the times of Ivan the Terrible, when the backs of princes and their princedoms were broken, ushering in an era of never-ending despotism.
Imagine living under such a political system, generation after generation, century after century, knowing that your own existence means nothing to lords, Bolshevik commissars, and finally, Vladimir Putin’s cronies.
“And then things got worse.”
Russian Empire stopped its existence in the year 1917, what is that article about? 😂
Reading an article is a good way to avoid posting garbage.
Officially it did, but in fact Russia is still very much an empire with colonised lands and never stopped being one
Yes, already in the title we can read of " Putin’s empire" and it’s clear all over the analysis that the author doesn’t refer with “empire” to the Russia before 1917. I guess @Johnny Wild misinterpreted the text (maybe intentionally? Unfortunately there are some people here on Lemmy who are intentionally misinterpreting some content, although recently this is becoming more and more better imho).
Having lived in Russia for more than two decades, and having ancestors who lived in Commie times and Empire times I can say said labeling the current tyrannical regime with “Empire” is a misinterpretation. With the same level of success almost any country in the modern world, even if it hides behind the words “republic” or “democracy”, can be labeled as an “Empire” too.
The word imperialism refers to the practice of a country’s extending its political power, especially through the acquisition of conquered territory. Such a country and the lands it controls are called an empire.
How does it not fit for you?
I can say said labeling the current tyrannical regime with “Empire” is a misinterpretation.
My brother in Christ, your government is forcefully annexing territory into itself and making the conquered people culturally assimilate at threat of being tortured if they don’t comply. That’s literally the definition of imperialism.
I believe that such actions on the part of an empire are in one way or another aimed at the prosperity of its citizens. Putin’s regime is even worse - it does not care about its citizens and therefore I cannot even call its regime an empire.
Well that’s not what ‘empire’ means.
Don’t see too many “modern world” countries, as you put it, attacking neighbors in a land grab. Russia has done so several times over the last couple decades in a very colonial way. Calling it an Empire might be glib, but isn’t incorrect based on their expansion
I dunno how many people would take issue with that, I think a fair number of people here would agree that America is an empire too for example
Yeah and america does still have colonies like Puerto Rico where people are citizens thanks to an act of congress but dont vote for president, and we have colonies with american nationals that arent citizens like American Samoa. Thats not even going into all the military bases we have around the world and the way we infiltrate other countries with our corporate interests.
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Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and all the other territories can vote to apply for statehood or leave at any time they want. They stay territories because, as of the most recent referendums held in those places, the majority of the population are happy with the status quo. (From what I understand, they get tax breaks and exemptions from certain federal laws as territories which they’d have to give up as states. I don’t get it either, but it’s what they’ve chosen so far.)
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Yes, we have military bases all over the world-- at the invitation of the host countries, which can kick us out any time they want to. They chose not to, not because they’re being puppeted by evil Amerikkka, but because they genuinely want the troops there-- much cheaper to have America pick up the tab for your nation’s defense than to have to build out your own armed forces yourself.
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What do you mean by “infiltrate other countries with our corporate interest”? Multinational corporations running amok and exploiting vulnerable people for their own gain isn’t a uniquely American phenomenon, it’s a problem with corporations based in countries all over the world. And the current faction in charge of the US is at least trying to reign them in.
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America’s done some fucked up things in the last 20 years, don’t get me wrong, but absolutely nothing comes even close to the horrors of the genocidal war of imperial expansion Putin’s currently waging in Ukraine. There’s absolutely no moral equivalency between the modern US and Putin’s Russia.
Absolutely, America has done some fucked up things in the last 100 or so years, but there’s no way to justify one crime with another which is what some posters here on Lemmy often appear to suggest. I feel such attempts to portray moral equivalency is another insult to the victims of these horrors.
Exactly. America has done some truly horrific stuff in the not-so-distant past, and there’s no moral equivalency between the modern US and Russia. None. Both statements can be true at the same time.
I’ve seen a few commenters back on Reddit argue that it’s unfair to focus on Russian war crimes when Ukrainian soldiers have also committed war crimes. The whataboutism that some people use to defend these empires are truly mind boggling sometimes.
absolutely nothing comes even close
I would definitely not go that far, but I also find that comparing atrocities like this is unproductive at best and in really bad taste at worst when it comes to most online discussions. The conversation should be about the terrible genocidal acts Russia is currently committing, not become a pissing contest of which major empire is the worst out of all the major empires. Especially when such contests belittle the victims of those empires. Russia needs to put an end to this cruel war and take part in some reasonable peace talks already.
Okay, here’s why it upsets me so much when people call the US an “empire”. There’s a cold civil war in this country right now about who we’re supposed to be. Should America be a multicultural, inclusive democracy trying to atone for the sins of the past and build a better, kinder future, or is it an imperialistic ethnostate built on white supremacy?
When people write America off as always having been the latter, and act like it’s doomed to always be the latter, they’re effectively giving up on the fight. They’re basically saying they agree with the far right, their vision of the country is correct. Which gives them more power.
There’s so much good here, mixed in with the bad. This country has made incredible progress towards becoming a more perfect union. Sure, there’s still huge, glaring ways we fail to live up to that promise, still a huge amount of work to be done. But looking back at how far we’ve come, I really do believe we can make it.
But that’s not going to happen if the far right smothers democracy in its crib right now. And so that’s why I push back against people writing America off as an “empire”: because it could easily become a self-fulfilling prophecy. And I really don’t want to live in that world.
