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Nations Everywhere Are Becoming More And More Like Russia
How the enduring appeal of simplistic lies guarantees populist triumph
Most people would probably imagine themselves fortunate not to live in Putin’s dysfunctional death-centric Russia. It’s a nation from which its most talented young have fled. It’s a nation in economic decline. It’s a nation in which most people feel little or no hope for the future, yet feel powerless to do anything about their predicament. It’s a nation in which people have a much shorter life expectancy than in more advanced nations. And Russia is clearly corrupt, with most of the nation’s wealth concentrated in a tiny number of grasping hands.
And yet a great many nations around the globe are doing their very best to emulate Russia in all of its dysfunction.
The USA, as is so often the case, is an exemplar that points toward a general future. Just as in Russia, power and wealth are concentrated in the hands of a tiny percentage of the population that grows richer and more powerful with every economic setback. Just as in Russia, the rule of law is subordinate to the interests of those who wield political power — so much so that the previous US President committed treason on three separate occasions yet will almost certainly return to the White House in 2025, while many of those…
