On The Muscovite/Russian National Mentality:

Why Muscovites/Russians Are Not Like The West

Muscovites/Russians do not value freedom, cooperation, prosperity and rule of law - they believe in raw strength, fatalism, xenophobia and domination.

Sviatoslav Pidlubniak, Saturday, February 22, 2025
https://www.CatholicAmericanThinker.com/

What prompted me to write this article is the fact that so many people still say that the Ukraine-Muscovy war is "Putin's war", in a sense - that if you remove the "bad ruler" and his "bad directs subordinates", the "ordinary native people" will, "naturally" want to lay down their weapons in favor of 21st century living and lasting peace. This couldn't be further from the truth - so, to familiarize people with the true nature of the Muscovite threat, I will reveal the prevailing national mentality of the Muscovite people in this write-up.

This "native Muscovite" mindset is not very well known to people not from Eastern Europe originally - those, who mainly interact with the Westernized educated minority of Muscovites in Western countries are prone to thinking that Westernized Muscovites the same in mentality as the Muscovites in Muscovy. This is not so. This mindset is most perfectly encapsulated by the low-educated, common people of Muscovy - those who live outside the biggest cities and do not aspire to rise above their stations. This mindset can also be called "imperialistic" or "chauvinistic". It's a uniquely-Muscovite type of great-power chauvinism, unusually resilient due to being in place in Muscovy over more than 800 years. Propaganda instills this mindset into a human being - and people with such a mindset are already more receptive to propaganda. Being a "native Muscovite" has nothing to do with ethnicity or religion - it is upbringing and indoctrination in the propaganda/cultural sphere of "Russkiy mir"/"Muscovite world" that creates it. A "native Muscovite" is not necessarily wholly stupid or unable to pretend to be civilized - such a mindset can be combined with a cunning, manipulative mind that searches for opportunities to steal things or attack others. So, these things are what define the "native Muscovite" mindset:

1). Moral/logical relativity.

There is no objective standard of what is "good" and what is "evil". There is only "us" and "them". What's "us" is usually Muscovy itself, but can be narrowed even further down, down even to personal interactions between individual people, decided solely on stuff like where the people are from or what job (i.e. status - Muscovites believe in "fixed" hierarchies) they have. The "logical" part of it is what George Orwell meant by "doublethink", through the conceptual translation between the two is somewhat imperfect. To a "native Muscovite", the same statement can be BOTH true and false (or even multiple mutually exclusive statements could be true). It always depends on the circumstances, on who is speaking and to whom it is addressed, and what is the motive. As such, there is no "truth" - to the "native Muscovite", it cannot be objectively established and verified, so there are only points of view. An obvious consequence of this is widespread lack of critical thinking and willful ignorance. A "native Muscovite" views education and anything that challenges the paradigm of the "native Muscovite" mentality as hindrances.

2). Collectivism.

A single life in Muscovy means nothing. An individual must conform or is an enemy. In fact, a lot of "native Muscovites" say "we" in place of saying "me" or "I", always implying this collectivism. As such, sociology in Muscovy DOES NOT WORK. If you ask a question to a "native Muscovite", they always try to "guess" the “correct” answer - that will satisfy or insult the one who asks the questions, depending on their "status" in the eyes of the "true Muscovite". To get true answers, the questioner must choose questions carefully and cross-examine answers with precision that's usually afforded to a criminal investigation. However, if one knows the mindset of a native Muscovite, actual answers (such as if whether or not they approve of the war in Ukraine) become very predictable, because native Muscovites do not usually deviate from this mindset. This also has the horrifying consequence of rendering Muscovites - and the Muscovite state - especially compatible with totalitarian ideologies.

3). Avos'.

Avos' is a uniquely-Muscovite philosophy of behavior and attitude that deliberately ignores possible problems or hassles and, at the same time, expects/hopes for no negative results or consequences for the problem. It is an attitude that treats life as inherently unpredictable and holds that the best one can do is count on luck - it is contemptuous to any attempts to plan or alter or calculate the future or consider the consequences in full. It's a peculiar kind of nihilistic, apathetic fatalism (an equivalent to Islamic "inshallah"/"will of Allah") - it underpins the entirety of the Muscovite society and it's negatives are what hinders the effectiveness of the Muscovite state and army the most (rulers hope that no negative consequences for decisions will reach them, commanders hope that just sending troops without fully-working on a problem will work out, ordinary people think that gambling or a "get-rich-quick" scheme will work out and so forth). This is coupled with superstition and propensity for allegorical/actual personification of events. A lot of "native Muscovites" tend to personalize natural or societal phenomena, to believe that everything is caused by some kind of will - some very powerful person or entity, usually. Since everything is pre-determined, a person cannot change their fate - since this discourages planning or thinking, this stifles innovation and creativity of the entire Muscovite people, dooming Muscovites to forever be mimics and plagiarizers in all things. Such encouraged lack of thought - while developing obedience to the tyrant/the state - ensures that "native Muscovites" are often unable to understand the precise mechanisms behind most things they intend to harness or copy for themselves. Such as Christianity - copying the aesthetics and learning Church Slavonic (and forcing it onto native Finno-Ugric people) didn't make them into Byzantine Empire despite them building churches by the dozen. Or Western prosperity - as dollars and Euros alone don't make a prosperous society (gotta have some actual rule of law and religion for that). As such, "native Muscovites" tend to accept - and voluntarily reduce - themselves to the cog of the state in sayings like "we are just little people". This is a form of acquired helplessness syndrome, as well as a vicious attempt to deflect individual sins and blame towards some "higher" structure - such as the state or God or fate or whatever. One particular outcome of this fatalism is the concept of paternalism. A "native Muscovite" depends on a myth of/actual strong father figure, typically represented by the national leader - to feed them, to provide them with everything, to be responsible for everything. The state is not just an arbitrator who sets the rules and enforces them, but the ultimate master. A "native Muscovite" is considered born to serve a master. When a leader is not a tyrant, he is despised by their subjects as "weak". And the "native Muscovites" typically make leaders who fail into scapegoats for issues that are not caused by the individual, but are systemic ones (when Putin loses the war, he will be blamed for it all - this also prevents any change whatsoever in the poisonous Muscovite foreign policy or government, because all the failures must've "obviously" been the fault of a singular leader and him alone, not the state itself or the people). Another consequences of this poisonous philosophy is "living in the moment" - you won't find a "native Muscovite" that's truly willing to plan anything in the long run, preferring petty short term gains instead of plentiful long term benefits. The war in Ukraine “to prevent Ukraine from joining the EU and the NATO” is a hallmark of sacrificing long term benefits (peace, prosperity, respect, reputation, wealth) for short term gains (plundering Ukraine). Generally, "native Muscovites" prefer to have a small, but regular pay instead of an ambitious well-paid job that requires more effort (such as addtional training). Or even coming to your boss and saying “I want to do that!”. In the extreme, it results in people prefering one-time jobs to permanent employment: why bother with the interviews, if you can unload that truck and get the money right away (and get drunk/waste the money immediately afterwards).

4). Zero-sum thinking.

"Native Muscovites" are typically unable to fully comprehend and actualize the concept of mutual benefit. If they are offered a deal which looks profitable for both sides, they will still look for a catch - and, usually, try to cheat, both so they would "save themselves from inevitable betrayal" or, even worse, just so that their partner loses (and derive pleasure from someone else losing). Even if the partner’s loss eventually backfires on them. If such a person is caught cheating and is brought to court, their sincere reply would be: "Because I wanted to win, not to lose!" This is also a culturally-pervasive phenomenon, to the effect of warping perceptions of other cultures in Muscovite media (which will assume - and portray - the Westerners/outsiders as equally zero-sum-game-oriented people) - and it's prevalence precludes the Muscovites from understanding, implementing and benefitting from genuine free-market competition. "Native Muscovites" always treat the Western concept of free-market competition as a form o hostility at best - ruthless fight till death at worst. This is reflected in their movies and stories about the West. In Muscovite business environment/culture, such warped interpretation of competition is in place - they always fight till they have no competitors. They fight to hurt the competitor directly, in order to force more customers into a monopoly (the ideal outcome for the business in the Muscovite mind), not to outcompete the competitors fairly. As such, the main Muscovite business tactic is reliance on corrupt officials and government regulation tailored to crush the competition. Since the Muscovite state is very powerful no matter the era, this approach is default for "native Muscovite" traders and merchants. This also results in contempt for innovation (since zero-sum thinking is unable to see genuine benefit that doesn't come from someone's suffering, all innovations thus must be traps) and rules (as things meant to stop your ideally-unstoppable growth, not constraints meant to stop all-destructive practices) - and, in the end, stops the Muscovite state, society and businesses from being competitive and innovative (that's why Muscovy will eternally lag behind the West in technology and all kinds of development, provided all other conditions are unchanged). Worst of all, this warped idea of competition applies to all spheres, including non-competitive ones - from sport to even pop culture to international politics. Muscovites have a general contemptuous disregard of creativity, innovation and arts - since these things do not come from barbarism or treachery or any other kinds of viciousness. Muscovy has always been technologically backward and relied on espionage rather than innovation. This is reflected in the Muscovite literature, art and culture - Muscovites are remarkably uncreative and prone to plagiarism (copyright does not exist and Muscovites see no qualms with stealing the works of others if the others cannot immediately retaliate for the theft with physical violence). If you've passed a copyright law in Muscovy and somehow enforced it, I guarantee you that you'd obliterate most of Muscovy's pop scene (the Muscovite pop artists rip off the styles - and even lyrics! - of most popular Western ones).

5). Might makes right.

This is coupled with contempt for virtue/civilization in general, condemnation of all virtue/civilization as naivete/block to success/foolishness (which it often proves to be a society dominated by "native Muscovites")). Generally, this manifests as worship of power (particularly the state) and willingness to use that might to hurt people solely to remind them who has the might. "Native Muscovites" only respect physical power (and cunning, to some degree). This is why there are so much casual manslaughter in Muscovy - caused by a drunken brawl gone badly or father-son fights. Any formal agreement (such as a law or a rule) is only respected if there is some physical enforcement directly behind it - and the punishment for violation is both severe AND immediate. As such... Crime - as a defined societal evil that's wrong conceptually on it's own - does not exist (this is fed by the aforementioned moral relativity). "Everybody cheats/steals" is a genuine "native Muscovite" saying and belief. And, in that belief, if the criminals are successful, they are lucky and they deserve the riches and benefits derived. If not, too bad for them - unless the victim is a "native Muscovite" that thinks that they can fight back, in which case, they'll try to overpower or punish the perpetrator somehow. Same for murder. This is also why exposing the corruption of their elites - while very revealing and eye-opening for the Westerners - has no effect on the "native Muscovites". They simply do not see it as bad. Their typical response is: "If you were in power, you'd also do it!" This belief is actualized in the next elites to take charge, usually - all "native Muscovites" treat jobs and government posts primarily by the amount of power, money and status these position afford. And they do so by treating the most abusable positions as most prestigious - in that warped line of thinking, the President can steal more from the country and hurt more people than a schoolteacher, so the President position (and someone who uses it "according to instruction" - that is, abuses it for personal benefit) is treated more prestigiously. This has the effect of "native Muscovites" being contemptuous of honesty, diligence and most kinds of virtue by themselves - as well as contemptuous of almost all kinds of honest work. As such, in Muscovy, criminals and criminality are so admired that the criminal subculture is treated as something truly Muscovite - it's always admired and considered a valid social elevator. Same with the army - ESPECIALLY when there's a war (and, thus, there's an opportunity to hurt innocent people) or a government action against someone. This is one of the cornerstones of the Muscovite viciousness, their imperialism towards other peoples and cultures (whom they view as weak for being more peaceful or honest-working). In general, "native Muscovite" attitude can be summed as contempt for non-violent societal interactions. Since early childhood, most Muscovites boys physically bully one another, until some sort of social hierarchy establishes. Then they usually concentrate their bullying on one or two smaller ones who cannot fight back and quickly become total outcasts. If you ask a bully why do they behave like this, they usually answer "Because I can" (meaning that they do not get a punch back in their face). This explains Muscovite imperialism and foreign policy, too - Muscovites attack nations that are perceived to be "weak"/unable to withstand Muscovite strength. The more bloodthirsty a nation is, the more Muscovites respect it - they are more willing to listen and deal with an imperialistic, successful warmongering nation then a virtuous, economically-inclined one despite any and all other geopolitical circumstances or considerations. In context of family and intersexual interactions, this results in rampant male aggression towards women and children - since women and children are all physically weaker then men, they can be expected to get the short end of a stick in the "native Muscovite" society. A woman has no say in anything, she'd better watch the children - that defines it all. But the "native Muscovite" women, too, are part of this mindset - and bring up children in it. Few cultures hate women as much as the Muscovite one does - there are Muscovite proverbs, like "strike a woman with a hammer and she'll be "golden" (in the meaning of "well-behaved")". This is also the root of Muscovite usage of mass rapes in every war they've been in - since women are "weak" in general and foreign women are even more "hated", the rapes are an expression of Muscovite domination and viciousness. Since this crime is the most degrading and hurtful to the victim that can't fight back, rape is often the go-to behavior of the "native Muscovite" against both their own and foreign women. This also results in the Muscovites engaging in homosexuality (again, despite their contempt for the practice as effeminate, they do so to non-Muscovite people as a form of domination and power over them).

6). Militarism.

Also an extension of "might makes right" - since, in Muscovy, police and army are de-facto prestigious criminal gangs that are used by the state. A "native Muscovite" can be counted on to mention their military service constantly, in obscured phrases like "you don’t know, you weren't there". In reality, the service is typically some drills and idle talks (but the vision of a "glorious" war is always there). But it develops subordination (at the pain of physical punishment) and kills whatever remains of critical thinking - an order must be always fulfilled, even if it is impossible, stupid or in breach with the law. "Native Muscovites" despise anyone who have not served in the army, although their own service all too often has little to do with proper army training. Also, the army is the glue of the Muscovite state (the thing that allows it to keep expanding) - and a primary outlet for "native Muscovite" sadistic tendencies. Dedovschina - horrific bullying of newer/less-ranked servicemen by the higher/longer-serving servicemen is a fact of life in Muscovy and was documented since the first formation of an organized army in Muscovy by Peter the First. This is part of overall Muscovite worship/glorification of physical violence over all things - artistry and honest work are viewed as things for the weak. Also, the army is specifically more admired than the police because of the chance to plunder foreign goods, kill and torture without restraint in a massive war or invasion of some other country - Muscovites consider these things to be "perks" of warfare and one of the reasons the "native Muscovites" all love war as a concept. Militarism is most perfectly-embodied in the "pobedobesie" (a pejorative name for the Muscovite cult of certain parts of World War II) - something developed since Soviet times to a new quasi-religion, one of the foundational imperialist myths of Muscovy. Because they are taught that Muscovy single-handedly defeated the greatest evil in the world - Hitler, WWII is labelled “Great Patriotic War” (and is considered to have lasted from 1941–45). This was done to hide the facts that USSR collaborated with Nazi Germany before 1941 and occupied other countries in the same fashion; as well as to allow to designate anything that hinders Muscovite imperialism as "Nazi" (hence, an irredeemable evil that Muscovites must destroy) - as such, the West, America and Ukraine are all "Nazi", both in folk designation and even in official Muscovite statesmen policies or speeches. This flows from moral relativity - "us" is USSR/Muscovy, "them" is Nazi Germany/Ukraine/America, etc.

7). Love for grandeur/spectacle.

"Native Muscovites" like to show off status/things when they believe their neighbors won’t harm them for doing so and/or their wealth comes "from above", i.e. granted by the Tsar or his subordinates. They'll build palaces, buy huge yachts, extremely large and useless limousines, etc. They'll decorate everything with gold and precious stones. They hoard huge amounts of cash in their vaults (they do not believe in investment - because in a society that spits on rules, the only rule is that when someone stronger comes, you won't be able to keep what you have anyway if they want to take it). They also like to hire servants - especially if they do not really need them - just to be able to show their higher standing over them. Domination - and hierarchy - is everything. A Muscovite can be either "rich" or "poor". "Rich" is considered "lucky", or "granted by the Tsar". "Poor" is the norm, how people are supposed to live. Anyone who tries to rise up from the poverty without the Tsar's writ is frowned upon (crab mentality) - through, once a "native Muscovite" is "rich", they start to resent their former poor friends, calling them names and separating from them. This can be considered a general "native Muscovite" resentment to personal achievement and merit. If an active person manages to achieve certain wealth or status, he is resented, if not openly hated. You can hear the usual retorts popularized by Marxism - such as: "no wealth can be obtained in an honest way", "he has cheated all of us", "he must share his wealth with the common decent folk", "he is Jewish, that is why he is so rich", etc. Having an opportunity not to be caught, these people will try to harm the successful one, even if it means to kill him. This is also why they resent the West the most - but this does not apply to the Tsar or his boyars. In short, this is a "status" thing.

8). Atomization.

As a consequence of paternalism, collectivism, fatalism and mutual hostility/zero-sum thinking, Muscovite society is very atomized, to the point there is no society as such - only a crowd of individuals. "Native Muscovites" do not establish horizontal connections easily, nor do they respect rules for the sake of respecting rules (the rule of law is impossible, as it requires acting in good faith). Even in horizontal connections, such as friendship, there is always a dominant and submissive partner. Having some work to do, "native Muscovites" tend to always rely on someone to tell them what to do instead of doing it themselves. This bleeds into a general lack of initiative/responsibility - any person who tries to take any concept of any kind of responsibility beyond their immediate family is frowned upon. As such, "native Muscovites" prefer having enemies (a familiar/semi-comforting state of existence - as well as connotations of being feared, important in society and respect) instead of having friends (a state of existence where "friends" could exploit you).

9). Xenophobia.

Bleeding over from atomization and zero-sum-thinking except applied to national cultures, "native Muscovites" all believe that they are a unique/supreme race, the one who inherited the empire all the way from the Romans (the "Third Rome") - and that it affords them special considerations and primacy (again, moral relativity and "us vs them" thinking). All other nations are considered inferior - and are called vile names (even if - particularly if - they militarily prove themselves. In the Muscovite language, there is a different and unique derogatory slur for every single nation in the world). This applies both to non-Muscovite ethnic groups who live in Muscovy (such as Buryats or Tatars or Kalmyks) and foreign nations. Since "native Muscovites" see themselves as superior and exceptional (also a result of historical inferiority complex expressed in the attempts to graft themselves to the history of Rus'-Ukraine and displace Ukrainians as the inheritors of Rus'), they subscribe to a version of the "historic right" concept. One of their main justifications for expansionism is that Muscovy owned something in the past - doesn't matter how exactly did they arrive or part ways with that land/property, they want it back simply because they have previously interacted with it. This is also the first facet of the imperialist Muscovite national mentality that all foreign nations will likely encounter.

Lastly... Bleeding-heart humanists and the actual "native Muscovites" that will decry this as "Russophobia!", be noted - me and my family have been living all over USSR and have had enough of personal observations and comparisons to other ethnicities that lived in USSR with which to deduce and understand all of this. If you're not convinced, simply see how many of the Muscovites you know demonstrate these precise traits and how well the Muscovite foreign and internal policies are explained by this - or ask most people from Eastern Europe whose countries were under the Muscovite yoke. They will confirm these words; as will recorded history and the words of the Muscovites themselves.

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EENS:  Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus
(Outside the Church there is no salvation)

With fear and trembling, work out your salvation--Phil 2:12

Seek the Truth; Find the Way; Live the Life.
Please God, and Live Forever.

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Sarcastic Acronym Hover-Link Footnotes: For the convenience of those readers using devices that lack a mouse, these footnotes are provided for all webpages, in case any webpage contains any hover-links. (If you don't have a mouse, you can't "hover" it over a link without clicking just to see the simple acronym interpretation. Click any footnote link to see the acronym and a detailed explanation; "Hover" the mouse over it just to see the simple interpretation.)

SLIMC¹ Secularist Liberal Intellectual Media Complex
GESGOEAEOT² Gradually, Ever So Gradually, Over Eons And Eons Of Time
PEWAG³ Punctuated Equilibrium's Wild-Assed Guess
TTRSTF⁴ Them There Real Scientifical-Type Fellers
TTRSPTF⁵ Them There Real Smart Perfesser-Type Fellers
TTRSJTF⁶ Them There Real Smart Journalistical-Type Fellers
SNRTACBT⁷ Surely No Right Thinking Adult Could Believe Today
STNSEACPB⁸ Surely Today No Serious Educated Adult Could Possibly Believe
WDN⁹ We Don't Know
BMDFP¹⁰ Baboons, Mongrel Dogs, Filthy Pigs and ...
HBAACOTE¹¹ Human Beings Are A Cancer On The Earth
ACLU¹² Anti-Christian Litigation Union
FLORMPORIF¹³ Flagrant Liar, Or, Mindless Parrot, Or, Innocent Fool
MEJTML¹⁴ Marxist Ends-Justify-The-Means Liar
IEJTML¹⁵ Islamic Ends-Ends-Justify-The-Means Liar
MPAV¹⁶ Marxist Principles And Values
WBESSWG¹⁷ Wise, Benign, Elite, Super-Scientific World Governance
TRMITM¹⁸ The Reason Man's In This Mess
IYI¹⁹ Intellectual Yet Idiotic
TTRSCBTF²⁰ Them There Real Smart Catholic Bishop Type Fellers
IACMPVND²¹ Illegal-Alien-Criminal Marxocrat-Party-Voting Nation-Destroyers
PEJTML²² Palestinian Ends-Justify-The-Means Liar
PSYOP²³ "Psychological Operation" Mind Trick
CDC²⁴ Covid Developmentally Challenged
LGBTQ+ Every Letter Represents A Serious Psychotic sexual Identity Disorder
HEJTML²⁶ Hedonist Ends-Justify-The-Means Liar
SEJTML²⁷ Scientistic Ends-Justify-The-Means Liar

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