Analysts claim that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is stalling due to (a.o.) the legendary Russian corruption. As an example, they use pictures of (broken) Chinese tyres on Russian military vehicles (eg, Express, source). This raises my title’s question: Why does a kleptocracy believe in its superiority?
In my recent blog, We need a common enemy to unite us, I mentioned that an observational bias and a tunnel vision may ultimately be responsible for starting the Russian invasion of Ukraine. That only explains the second part of my question (ie, superiority).
While China and Russia are both autocracies and even authoritarian, there is a huge difference. China has an implicit social contract with its population: more wealth in exchange for less freedom. Russia is like a reverse Robin Hood: steal from everyone and hand the money to a few wealthy people (ie, oligarchs). Examples:
- Putin’s Palace of c.$1 billion;
- Putin’s (alleged) $700 million yacht;
- Guardian-2021: “Pandora papers reveal hidden riches of Putin’s inner circle”.
The answer might be in a folktale by Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875): The Emperor’s New Clothes.
“Similarly, Vladimir Putin has clad himself in a fictitious political costume weaved out of disinformation and lies and is pompously pretending that the war in eastern Ukraine is not of his making. According to Putin, there are no Russian military units in the Donbas area of Ukraine, which in his mind, is not even a real country. However, unlike the credulous emperor in Hans Christian Anderson’s fairytale, Putin knows full well the truth and that his fabricated political “regalia” – contrived of deception and deceit – is fully transparent to all. But he also realizes that he will not be critically challenged by Western media nor the West’s political elite. After all, in Putin’s mind, Western leaders and their media are hopelessly naïve, stupid and incompetent and will behave similarly to the emperor’s subjects in the fairytale and will consciously ignore reality.” (U.S.-Ukraine Business Council in 2015)
Hence, the rather common reasoning that Putin made a major miscalculation by invading Ukraine, and one that will probably end his reign since 2000. On 19 March 2022, Dr. Yaroslav Hrytsak, a Ukrainian historian and a professor at the Ukrainian Catholic University, wrote a New York Times guest essay:
“Mr. Putin miscalculated in two ways. First, he was hoping that, as had been the case with his war against Georgia, the West would tacitly swallow his aggression against Ukraine. A unified response from the West was not something he expected. Second, since in his mind Russians and Ukrainians were one nation, Mr. Putin believed Russian troops needed barely to enter Ukraine to be welcomed with flowers. This never materialized.” (NYT-2022: Putin Made a Profound Miscalculation on Ukraine)
Ultimately, (t)his “profound miscalculation” can only be explained by having a belief that is distorted from reality. Please also see my 2015 blog: Belief systems – known unknowns.
A kleptocracy and a supremacy are both examples of belief systems (eg, my 2016 blog on white supremacy). The 7 Belief systems (ie, my 2015 original concept and 2019 update) are defined by:
- the willingness to sacrifice your own life for a greater Cause (eg, Ukrainian patriotism), and/or
- the willingness to sacrifice the lives of others for your own cause (eg, Putin’s invasion of Ukraine).
Stand and Deliver (1981) by Adam and The Ants
artists, lyrics, video, Wiki-1, Wiki-2
[Chorus]
Stand and deliver
Your money or your life
Try to use a mirror
Not a bullet or a knife
Note: all markings (bold, italic, underlining) by LO unless in quotes or stated otherwise.
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