Russia Is At The Center Of World Politics

 Even before Biden was elected, Russia has been at the center. Even if Russia didn't have troops at the Ukraine border and was not planning to invade, Russia is at the center of world politics. In 2024, Russia will be at the center of world politics.

How is it that Russia  has been, is, and will be at the center of world politics? For one thing, thanks to its nuclear arsenal, Russia never stopped being a superpower. For another thing, Russian society is even more authoritarian than American society. Religion in general, and Christianity in particular, is the reason why American society is authoritarian. That is not to say that we still have a religiously conscious society that we use to have. But American Christianity's authoritarianism rubbed off on liberals and leftists just as it did on unbelieving conservatives. In contrast to us, Russia owes its authoritarianism to its past of autocratic leaders. What set the stage were the Tsars and their authoritarianism rubbed off on the leaders of the Bolshevik revolution.

Of course there is an obvious difference between Russia's authoritarianism and that of the US. That difference is that Russian society has been, at various levels, ok with overtly authoritarian leaders. In contrast to that, American authoritarianism has to wear the veneer of democracy and reason. After all, how can an authoritarian society be the champion of democracy in the world? Tribalism is the answer. Even before the second President Bush, those who were not with us were treated as being against us. That is what tribalism does to a society. For one possible summary for tribalism is that of group authoritarianism.

Back at the ranch, Russia has been the center of world politics because of its influence on the US. Earlier in this century, despite Russian laws the prohibit churches other than the Russian Orthodox Church from openly evangelizing in Russia, many conservative evangelicals lust for the relationship between Church and state that Putin has with the Russian Orthodox Church. They openly applaud, and are jealous of, Russia's stance and policies against its own LGBT community. That is because many of my fellow religiously conservative Christians have reduced democracy in America to that of voting and a 51% dictatorship--something they would not do with some other nations like Iran or Iraq under Saddam Hussein. 

Like many of my fellow religiously conservative Christians, Putin is not fan of democracy. This isn't my opinion alone, but it seems to be the view of Mikhail Gorbachev who at first approved of Putin's authoritarianism in order to accomplish certain tasks. But Gorbachev, who was looking to remake Russia in the image of the Scandinavian nations when he was Russia's leader, also believed that those days of authoritarianism were to be short. That those days were to be followed allowing for opposing political parties to form and give Russians real choices during elections. But Putin has not allowed real political freedom of choice in Russia. And Putin seems to have added to his authoritarian leadership style a Russian version of Latin America machismo to his personal image.

Now, Russia seems to be commanding center stage attention from the world because of its possible invasion of the Ukraine. But regardless of what happens there, Russia's efforts to destabilize American society and to install a kind of proxy leader in 2024 like it did in 2016 will keep Russia at the center of world politics. Our society's own authoritarianism makes Putin's efforts in America somewhat easy. And the only way to resist Russia's gravitational pull on the nations that are circling its orbit is to replace authoritarian confrontations between our opposing political parties and those who passionately embrace their pet ideologies with rational debates and to replace authoritarian attempts to put minority groups "in their place" with real democracy where the equality of these groups is vigorously defended by all. The failure to replace our own authoritarianism with rational dialogues and real democracy is to ensure that today's Russia will be America's future