This man only states things that are obvious to any observer, whether pro-Russian, pro-NATO, or indifferent.
These are simple facts. For nearly 12 years now.
How is it that such remarks, which are altogether completely innocuous, have the effect of such a revelation and such a revolution in Russia?
Are Russians really that stupid or blind?
If so, there is no hope.
Personally, I rather read these remarks as a full-blown attack against the dreamers (or worse) who claim to be experts, namely all the fools from Valdai.
If Putin really wanted to do something for Russia, he should beg his pal Trump to find a lavishly paid chair at Harvard, Stanford, Yale, or UCLA for all those fools and close that nursery of incompetents.
To me, this former spy is furious and is throwing his sword into the balance of power, not to do just anything like Karaganov, but to bear witness before the Russian public opinion to the only possible choice for the country: either an endless, costly, demanding, painful struggle to ensure sovereignty, or surrender (the hidden wish of Valdai) and servitude.
Andrew, it is interesting to note that everywhere, in all eras, in every country, kingdom, republic or otherwise, suffering pressure from an apparently more powerful adversary — every time, business circles and, more surprisingly, academic circles are systematically in favor of surrender and collaboration.
For business circles, it's understandable — their only homeland is their money. But intellectual circles (I mean the circles, the intelligentsia, not the intellectuals themselves), what predisposes them so much to betraying their own society? A feeling of being of a superior essence to the rest of their people?
Your incapacity for betrayal, that scrupulous and loyal intellectual honesty, is perhaps what closes the doors of the Russian official intellectual milieu to you.
Thank you, Darras, I just see things differently than the Russian establishment as a whole as I've come to realize over the years. I understand the need not to "rock the boat" during an ongoing conflict, ergo the need to watch one's words, but I also don't believe in self-censoring either so I still convey my points in more acceptable ways.
What I've discovered is that not many members of the Russian establishment feel the same way. The cultural concept of "avos" --defined as "fatalism", which has been useful in helping Russians survive prior catastrophes, it's nowadays in my honest opinion more akin to carelessness, laziness, and irresponsibility -- still dominates.
In practice, people assume that someone else is going to do whatever it is that must be done, so they just resign themselves to hoping for the best. Few are also willing to risk career-related consequences by "insulting the intelligence" of their superiors by sharing "politically inconvenient" information, let alone unsolicited feedback.
Most don't want to take responsibility for problems either, instead preferring to patch up whatever it may be as opposed to substantively fixing it and ensuring that the problem doesn't rearise. The end result is that Russia's feedback loops are almost entirely broken and this contributes to the formulation of misguided policies at best.
That's not to say that Russia hasn't promulgated some good policies, just that the increasing number of setbacks over the past year of Trump 2.0 is due in my honest opinion to the lack of viable feedback loops and the US masterfully manipulating Russian experts and officials through cognitive warfare that exploits these problems.
Even if someone of relative influence wanted to fix the system, they'd struggle to have any effect on other bureaucracies beyond the one in which they work, which is due to what's been called "stovepiping" within Russia's "power vertical" whereby each institution only answers to the top and they rarely cooperate with each other.
There's a cultural tendency here among most people in positions of responsibility (whether in the public or private sector, much more so in the public one, though) to behave as if they were a mini-Putin and treat their area of responsibility as if they were a feudal lord presiding over a medieval fief.
This further reduces the likelihood of change, whether from below or above, with most people in positions of responsibility almost pathologically obsessed with maintaining the status quo at all costs, which is also of self-interest to them since it's less work and therefore their job is easier than if they had to actually do something.
On a local level, when I was registering my SIM card in spring 2025, at one point, the bureaucrats at what we call the "My Documents" center told me to go to a bank on the bottom floor because they -- and not the Interior Ministry that the bureaucrats represent! -- have access to a certain database required as part of this process.
Well, after waiting in the queue for something like 45 minutes, it turns out that that particular bank doesn't have access to the database, a different one does, so I went back upstairs (the center is in a mall) and informed the lady at the desk (not the clerk deeper in the office who sent me on this useless mission).
I very politely said that I was told to go to such and such a bank for this purpose but the info turned out to be incorrect. I'll come back tomorrow since it's getting late and try to figure out what to do, but just informing you all that the info is incorrect so maybe please consider not telling it to others so they don't waste their time.
The lady smiled one of those angry, offended smiles, real caustic, and slowly something to the effect of "it's not our mistake, just come back tomorrow", to which I responded that "yes, actually, that lady told me to go there. I don't even have an account there and would never have thought to go there on my own to check."
She reiterated what she said, still smiling but very clearly offended, furious in fact, but trying her best to hide it. I knew even before telling her that it was a mistake to do so, nothing positive would come of it, but it's my sense of duty based on how I was raised by my Gottscheer grandparents. I couldn't in good conscience not try.
So think about it: they could prevent others from wasting their time by simply informing staff that the bank downstairs doesn't have access to the database. That's it. Just don't tell them to go there anymore. From the perspective of their own interests, it's less work and you don't risk people coming back complaining.
Well, they don't see things that way here: 1) unsolicited feedback of any kind is verboten; 2) ESPECIALLY if it's a constructive critique; and 3) it's treated as a deep insult to the intelligence of whoever you're informing, who believes themselves to be omniscient as most people in any position of responsibility here do.
I had the exact same experience at MGIMO and Sputnik when I studied and worked there, as well as among various Russian experts (with a few exceptions) with whom I've spoken about various matters. That's why the part of Bezrukov's speech talking about a whole new culture really resonated with me because he gets it.
Not only that, but he's done keeping quiet: as a patriot, he senses that this thinking and behavior isn't just holding Russia back, it's harming it, critically in some cases. As a former deep-cover spy living decades in the US, I'm pretty sure he also concluded that the US is aware of this and is maximally exploiting it exactly as I have.
For him to call for fundamental reforms to the Russian system of management is something that only he himself could do, probably nobody else could do it without being placed on a government watchlist or worse given the current domestic political-security situation and ongoing counter-intel operation.
In his own way, and I'm sure that he knew this, he moved the Overton Window at least among "responsible members of society", e.g. experts and officials, to begin discussing this more publicly. It's long-overdue, but I'm grateful that he did this. It was a very brave move and only he could do it, nobody else I could think of.
Him also drawing attention to how Russia's red lines have indeed been crossed, and repeatedly with impunity at that, was exceptionally brave too since it countersignals what Lavrov and other leading officials have claimed.
Given who he is, and here's his Wiki if you aren't already familiar, only he could have done this since his track record is impeccable and his patriotism has been proven beyond any doubt:
So it's really something special that he spoke up and confirmed that these problems do indeed exist, it's not "demoralization propaganda by the enemy" (although the could indeed exploit it to this end and have done so previously).
Russia is truly, in my assessment, at a pivotal moment: it'll either begin the (possibly painful) process of reforms, even if only gradually implemented, or it's going to risk a very steep, rapid, and chaotic decline, God forbid.
What else makes Bezrukov so unique is that he lived in the US for decades and studied its expert and policymaking communities so he knows better than probably anyone else here exactly how the US thinks.
He's therefore the only person who could realistically break through the groupthink and echo chambers that followed the total breakdown of Russia's feedback loops and actually be listened to instead of ignored or worse.
So for him to speak up and in such a harsh way at that is something special. While he might be speaking in a personal capacity unrepresentative of the institution he represents, there's no doubt that everyone heard his message.
LOL! That's exactly what it's like here too! I don't recall that exact joke but he did one day make a bunch of constructive critiques about Russia that I wrote about at the time here (and boy oh boy were the NRPRs angry! lol):
Putin's challenge has always been that he's just one man trying to reform a centuries-long system that's actually barely changed throughout history to be brutally honest, only the outward appearances shifted (imperial, communist, contemporary).
He also thinks very differently than average Russians after having spent the formative years of his career learning German, living in East Germany, and thus adapting what can be described as a German mindset of sorts, including through his lessons about its philosophies, etc.
So what you have is a proud Russian leader who doesn't think like an average Russian yet realized that he must change how his people think in order for them to survive and thrive in the future, but he's really struggled with that and it looks like the system won, unfortunately, at least up till now.
He was fully immersed in German culture for so many years that it most certainly changed his perspective on Russia and Russians.
There's a famous saying from the 1990s film "Brat" (Brother) that "What's good for the Russian is death for the German" (and vice versa is implied).
With all due respect to Russians, with whom I prefer living over Americans and Poles (and all respect to them too), he tried to "Germanize" them in the sense of finally optimizing bureaucratic efficiency but it didn't succeed.
I think he himself naively thought that he succeeded, or at least well enough, till the SMO happened and we all saw how the early stages and other parts therein could have been executed better in hindsight to put it very delicately.
Then I believe that he concluded that the problem is almost existential, in fact, but was (mis)advised into believing that the conflict will end "soon" on Russia's terms in all respects so he could delay reforms till afterwards.
Now we're reaching a point where some reforms will probably have to be implemented, even if only gradually, after September's Duma elections (whatever their outcome may be). They really can't wait any longer.
Problems are piling up as expected given the unprecedented sanctions regime and equally unprecedented nature of this conflict, not to mention the tightening of NATO's containment noose around every one of Russia's geographic vectors.
These post-SMO problems need to be addressed in and of themselves, to say nothing of the root problem (as I understand it to be) of broken feedback loops and the "strategic culture" that's responsible for this. There's a lot of work that needs to be done and soon.
Honestly, I've had to train myself to "shut down my brain" so to speak whenever I'm dealing with whatever process it may be here since my Germanic upbringing naturally makes me think about how such processes here could easily be improved.
Did you know that for the longest time till like 18 months ago or so my local "My Documents" (the name of the Interior Ministry's bureaucratic office in every neighborhood for handling pretty much everything) didn't have an official queue for dealing with migration-related matters like our annual check-in?
They had a ticket-queue system for everything else, but for there, you go to the far end of the office into a hallway and just line up, first come first serve, and sometimes people will unexpectedly barge ahead of you and storm into the office blabbering about whatever it is that they need to address only to almost always (but not always!!!) be sent back by the bureaucrat in there.
I always thought to myself, "how do you open this relatively new (less than a decade old) facility, include a ticket-queue system for everywhere else with screens to see the numbers and windows, but don't include it for that? And how did the project manager and everyone else involved in supervising this let this happen?"
It's so emblematic of the way in which Russian officialdom thinks and behaves. "Out of sight, out of mind", "not my responsibility", "someone else will fix it", "I don't want to get in trouble so I won't say anything", "it's not worth risking my career over something this small", "it's not even a problem, let them form their own lines", etc.
I think, any contact with a different culture will do this for you. It puts things into perspective, you learn that things can be different. Its like adding a dimension, another degree of freedom.
The other thing is, what you are calling broken feedback loops, I know this by the term of "Fehlerkultur". The way of dealing with mistakes. It's essentially about how personal someone takes being corrected. someone mainly interested in achieving results will welcome it, someone mainly interested in making a good impression will try to save his face. In the end it comes down to how you sell it to the perceived audience. Actually, this should be easiest to correct with a top down approach. Gratifications for finding what's going wrong and proposing/implementing solutions.
That's what's called the lack of enterprizing spirit. It's not a new problem. Gogol was writing about it like 200 years ago in Dead Souls, lol. I even remember Peter I had some ideas about what to do - like cutting off boyars' beards with an ax.
Anyway, the USA has problems too, and Trump 2.0 may be finished after the midterms.
I think maybe the problem is that there are no negative consequences to being wrong, like the lady you interacted with at the documents center, outside of personal pride. And your correcting her (as a foreigner) minimized the impact of pride for her.
Your story reminds me of something that happened to me some years ago here. There is a convenience store on the walk between the bus stop and my apartment building. This one is owned by an ethnic Russian woman and ran by her family, which is a little unusual (many of them are owned and staffed by southerners). I had a good relationship with them (friendly) and usually stopped in once or twice a day to buy things - beer, cigarettes, snacks, candy for my kids, chocolates, cakes when I had company, etc.
Prices have changed a lot but present day I probably spent five hundred rubles a day in that shop, nearly every day of the year, and many days spent a thousand or several thousand. I went there for years like that.
One hot summer, I bought my normal things and an ice cream - the bar on a stick kind. The cooler felt a little warm when I opened it but still cold. I got my change, moved my stuff to the right side of the register on the counter, and opened the ice cream. I took the wrapper off and as soon as I grasped the stick, the whole thing slid off and exploded on the counter. It was clearly half melted, with pools of liquid ice cream on the counter.
I asked the owner if I could get a different ice cream to replace it (like a cone that wouldn't have the same problem). She too was offended, like your document center clerk, and said "It's not our guilt!". I wilted, I've lived here long enough that it's not my nature any longer to protest. But I did say after a minute "but... the ice cream was melted and the cooler obviously isn't working, and you didn't tell me".
It didn't matter, caveat emptor in Russia, once money's changed hands, the deal is done (unless you're a weirdo who reads the consumer laws and demands stores follow them - like the fact that tennis shoes can only lose so many millimeters of tread in the first two years or must be replaced by the store for free).
So I didn't go back. They saw me walk by several times a day, like normal, only now I didn't wave, and didn't enter. It was the only recourse I had. Getting angry at them or saying something isn't the way anyone would react to the situation here. And I knew, too, that the loss of my business was probably the loss of a quarter of the monthly wage of one of their employees (I had a pretty good idea of margins and salaries from friends who owned a similar business). All over an 80 ruble ice cream bar that they were clearly in the wrong about. It sucked walking an extra half kilometer each way to a different store, but it was also my principles.
After four years, I went back in. The owner couldn't say it - but I could tell she was sorry and regretted what happened. And I just resumed going like I had never stopped. Nothing was ever said about it.
I'm so sorry that happened, I can totally imagine it too. That's just how many people are here, unfortunately. Caveat emptor, as you rightly said. The same goes for the moment that you set foot in Russia. It's their rules, their cultural standards, and "if you don't like it, leave!", as has been suggested to me before.
I’m so sick of people like you with your idiotic screeching and finger‑pointing at Russia. “All degenerates, Putin’s an idiot, the Russian people are morons — only you’re smart?” Really? Do you even realise what you’re saying?
Are all Russians stupid? Every single one? Are they all blind and dumb? Are you the only smart one?
What annoys me most is all this screeching about “we need to bomb London because it’s already a proxy war” — it makes me want to vomit. And the funniest thing is that the very same people who keep screeching “bomb London and the Pentagon” don’t understand that this would only intensify Western hostility and drag us straight into World III — literally.
So these fools actually want to rob Russia of its future for the next three generations, condemning it to an endless fascist war — when we could just step back for a while, and the US would shift its focus to the South and the East. But no — instead, they want to blow up half the EU so that Russia bears the full brunt of a war against the entire West.
Only the paranoid survive. In this WW3, only the nations that are paranoid would survive. Here, paranoid means diligently, conscientiously, total war, but not necessarily with a large military component. "Civil defense" and defense of critical infrastructures all need to get attention. And so is the information war front. Most countries that have been living in peace since WW2 have no preparation for what is coming. If one couples the geopolitical tension with climate tension (super El Niño 2026-2027) and geological tension (earthquakes and volcanoes), then I would say no country in this world has enough preparation. It will be an era remembered for great challenges for national endurance. It is not just a matter of leaders' quality, but more of the quality of the whole people.
Yes. You're right. A paranoiac can raise the people, ancient Greeks called this kind of man : tyrant. For the best or the worst.
Alas, since decades, there is no more paranoiac among the european leaders. Remains only perverts . It's no more the warriors who rule in Europe. It's eunuchs. And in a society, when eunuch rule the palace, the end is near.
Perhaps paranoia is not the right word. Even in Andy Grove original semantics, he could have used something like vigilante or else. But even that word carries some stigmatism. Instead of saying political, the kind of action I have in mind is whole societal, not just the political side.
You could point out that what I have in mind is a pseudo mobilization at a time of peace, and that may not be too far from the truth. The problem is war and peace is no longer binary, but rather a spectrum. When your enemy pokes you with A, you had better have some defense at A. If your enemy escalates, you had better be able to escalate although you may choose not to escalate. The decision is yours, but the ability has to be there. Only have a few far-sighted national elites pushing such long-term preparation and hide them in the annual budget will not work.
You could even say that what I have in mind is similar to what Israel has been through and that will drive people nuts. Yes I have personal experience with an Israeli engineer who escaped to the US to take a labor visa for 3 years, extend it for 3 years, then return to Israel for one year (per US immigration law) then come back to the US. Israel as a nation did not go nuts due to those kind of psychological pressure per a pseudo mobilization. Israel as a nation go nuts because their political leaders led them down a path of killing all their neighbor to enlarge their nation.
A more appropriate analogue is like Taiwan and South Korea during the 1960s. By then China did not have overwhelming military superiority over Taiwan, but the differential gradient was large enough. SK was not as prosperous then as today, but its military was also not as strong as today. Both Taiwan and SK were subject to strongman-leadership and politics, to many people's chagrin and opposition. Yet, eventually, both made economic progress, cultivated democratic convention not in their respective culture or history. Even with a glowing China, Taiwan is still not something ripe enough for PLA to just walk over and pick up the abandoned weapons. I don't know about SK enough. But for Taiwan, since Taiwan got crazy rich after 1991 by relocating factories and cadets to China to exploit their fellow Chinese countrymen, Taiwan has consistently losing its psychological mobilization, or that attitude (probably should start counting in 1989). Taiwan's apparent strength today has more to do with people's memories of the past. But deep under the surface, it is a society which cannot handle hostile military condition.
You are right, but he clearly places the stakes in the hands of the public.
Either:
You want to listen to Kashin and the comedians from Valdai — then the price will not be a peaceful relationship with the West, don't believe that for a second. The price will be a return to the Yeltsin years.
Or:
You want freedom, sovereignty, and the pride of being a great nation? Then don't listen to Karaganov and other pseudo turbo-patriot comedians. No, it will not be enough to bomb a NATO country to bring them to their knees. Don't believe that for an instant. The price will be a permanent, harsh, costly, painful struggle.
The choice is yours, but make it consciously, not in a dream.
Wow, Andrew! What a brave man you are for the original post that sparked these comments, but for your very candid responses. I don't often save things, but I'm saving all of this one. As a fellow countryman, I have had the same experiences multiple times, and I have come to the same conclusions that you have herein. Thanks a gazillion for this and for all you do.
"...people assume that someone else is going to do whatever it is that must be done, so they just resign themselves to hoping for the best...."
This malaise is prevalent in Western societies where lack of meaningful and effective protest enables minority lobby groups to manipulate "career" politicians to act with a free hand. This malaise has allowed the militarisation of police such that public protesting is now a dangerous activity. Rebellious heroes are quickly suppressed whilst a compliant media records events for "click bait."
"What else makes Bezrukov so unique is that he lived in the US for decades... Exactly, my own experience. Living in for many years in (Serbian) diaspora I learned that people remaining in "old country" understand very little about the real West.
The problem humanity is facing here is that we are all forced to guess. We are trying to figure out what the most degraded small segment of American/Israeli Deep State is trying to present here but it is possible they did not make up their mind as of yet. They are certainly shaking the boat we are all on, hoping that somehow they will be able to take a dominant position at the end of the game or they just might bring down the whole enchilada by accident or design. The real issue is they should not be in the position they are. It is the weakness of the Western World that allowd this upside down development.
Russia carried out two, high profile strikes in the last couple of weeks, but things appear to have gone quiet. Meanwhile Kiev is carrying out continuous, attritional drone strikes. If Russia is accumulating targets, it might be time to strike again...
Thank you very much for this article and the interesting discussion triggered by it. I'm not sure where I read or heard it, but some Russian patriot ansered the question put by himself: "What is the difference between Iran and Russia?" by saying: "No Iranian official owns any property in the West". As long as to own a property in France, Spain, Italy or somewehre else in a "nice" Nato country (!) remains at the center of so many people's mind in Russia, every attempt to reform the system is doomed to failure. Just too much of sabotage on almost every level of the state administration. Even at the head of the TASS website (Russian version) you will find the ad "Greek passports for Russians". And this is TASS, WTF ...
i’m so sick of people like you with your idiotic screeching and finger‑pointing at Russia. “All degenerates, Putin’s an idiot, the Russian people are morons — only you’re smart?” Really? Do you even realise what you’re saying?
What annoys me most is all this screeching about “we need to bomb London because it’s already a proxy war” — it makes me want to vomit. And the funniest thing is that the very same people who keep screeching “bomb London and the Pentagon” don’t understand that this would only intensify Western hostility and drag us straight into World III — literally.
So these fools actually want to rob Russia of its future for the next three generations, condemning it to an endless fascist war — when we could just step back for a while, and the US would shift its focus to the South and the East. But no — instead, they want to blow up half the EU so that Russia bears the full brunt of a war against the entire West.
Are you an idiot?
PS Are Russians really that stupid or blind?
I’m already sick and tired of degenerates who pose such questions in a mocking, patronising tone — elevating themselves while ranting about “the Russians”, about all Russians being stupid and narrow‑minded. This one person alone knows what’s best and how things should be done — they know better than Putin, better than Lavrov, better than the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. And only they are “permitted” to humiliate, belittle, and ridicule all Russians, the entire Russian people — to parade how stupid “they” are and how great, how brilliant, this one “great mind” is — this unrivalled critic and expert.
So I want to ask you: is your brain pressing so hard against the inside of your skull that you have to be so “smart” — so smart that you must insult an entire nation, just because you think your plan is the only correct and smartest one?
There has to be a bridge in logic not yet explained when terms as west, NATO, Russia, SU, China are used so liberally. Nation/Ethnic group, State, Economy are not equal identifications and lack historical explanation when used randomly. National/ethnic analysis, political (state), comparisons and antagonisms seem out of place in an economically dominant run world. So who are the capitals of the one side and who are isolated on the other to compete in this case?
The federation of "west" capitals under international private banks are pretty well documented, the post-90 ex-SU capitals, and China's capitals are not as clear. How the transition of state to private capitalists failed a western attempt to absorb and blend those capitalists.
How can we understand state antagonism without a clarification of capital antagonisms? Why was Czechia Poland absorbed fully, and why did Russian, Ukranian, Georgian capitals out of the game for 35 years?
Then Turkey must also be explained as a thorn in both Russian and US imperial tendencies.
Very interesting to hear these views. At some point Russia may be tempted to prevent a war with Europe by preemption. Why wait to 2030 when Europe thinks it will be ready. 4 more years of taunting and surprise attacks? Only political change in Paris, London, Berlin might ease the tensions in the meantime.
It is the fight between mongrels and purebred. Purebred being the Slavic. There isn't going to be any possible environment for the purebred to strive (food, cultural protocols, and in fine, the authentic sense of belonging - fundamental idea where from everything grows) .
In the ocean of filth there can be no clean sane fish.
Everything will end up in the Great Mix without even the authentic will for the survival .
Even the apex class in the end won't be able to keep the will for life.
I am stunned.
This man only states things that are obvious to any observer, whether pro-Russian, pro-NATO, or indifferent.
These are simple facts. For nearly 12 years now.
How is it that such remarks, which are altogether completely innocuous, have the effect of such a revelation and such a revolution in Russia?
Are Russians really that stupid or blind?
If so, there is no hope.
Personally, I rather read these remarks as a full-blown attack against the dreamers (or worse) who claim to be experts, namely all the fools from Valdai.
If Putin really wanted to do something for Russia, he should beg his pal Trump to find a lavishly paid chair at Harvard, Stanford, Yale, or UCLA for all those fools and close that nursery of incompetents.
To me, this former spy is furious and is throwing his sword into the balance of power, not to do just anything like Karaganov, but to bear witness before the Russian public opinion to the only possible choice for the country: either an endless, costly, demanding, painful struggle to ensure sovereignty, or surrender (the hidden wish of Valdai) and servitude.
Andrew, it is interesting to note that everywhere, in all eras, in every country, kingdom, republic or otherwise, suffering pressure from an apparently more powerful adversary — every time, business circles and, more surprisingly, academic circles are systematically in favor of surrender and collaboration.
For business circles, it's understandable — their only homeland is their money. But intellectual circles (I mean the circles, the intelligentsia, not the intellectuals themselves), what predisposes them so much to betraying their own society? A feeling of being of a superior essence to the rest of their people?
Your incapacity for betrayal, that scrupulous and loyal intellectual honesty, is perhaps what closes the doors of the Russian official intellectual milieu to you.
Thank you, Darras, I just see things differently than the Russian establishment as a whole as I've come to realize over the years. I understand the need not to "rock the boat" during an ongoing conflict, ergo the need to watch one's words, but I also don't believe in self-censoring either so I still convey my points in more acceptable ways.
What I've discovered is that not many members of the Russian establishment feel the same way. The cultural concept of "avos" --defined as "fatalism", which has been useful in helping Russians survive prior catastrophes, it's nowadays in my honest opinion more akin to carelessness, laziness, and irresponsibility -- still dominates.
In practice, people assume that someone else is going to do whatever it is that must be done, so they just resign themselves to hoping for the best. Few are also willing to risk career-related consequences by "insulting the intelligence" of their superiors by sharing "politically inconvenient" information, let alone unsolicited feedback.
Most don't want to take responsibility for problems either, instead preferring to patch up whatever it may be as opposed to substantively fixing it and ensuring that the problem doesn't rearise. The end result is that Russia's feedback loops are almost entirely broken and this contributes to the formulation of misguided policies at best.
That's not to say that Russia hasn't promulgated some good policies, just that the increasing number of setbacks over the past year of Trump 2.0 is due in my honest opinion to the lack of viable feedback loops and the US masterfully manipulating Russian experts and officials through cognitive warfare that exploits these problems.
Even if someone of relative influence wanted to fix the system, they'd struggle to have any effect on other bureaucracies beyond the one in which they work, which is due to what's been called "stovepiping" within Russia's "power vertical" whereby each institution only answers to the top and they rarely cooperate with each other.
There's a cultural tendency here among most people in positions of responsibility (whether in the public or private sector, much more so in the public one, though) to behave as if they were a mini-Putin and treat their area of responsibility as if they were a feudal lord presiding over a medieval fief.
This further reduces the likelihood of change, whether from below or above, with most people in positions of responsibility almost pathologically obsessed with maintaining the status quo at all costs, which is also of self-interest to them since it's less work and therefore their job is easier than if they had to actually do something.
On a local level, when I was registering my SIM card in spring 2025, at one point, the bureaucrats at what we call the "My Documents" center told me to go to a bank on the bottom floor because they -- and not the Interior Ministry that the bureaucrats represent! -- have access to a certain database required as part of this process.
Well, after waiting in the queue for something like 45 minutes, it turns out that that particular bank doesn't have access to the database, a different one does, so I went back upstairs (the center is in a mall) and informed the lady at the desk (not the clerk deeper in the office who sent me on this useless mission).
I very politely said that I was told to go to such and such a bank for this purpose but the info turned out to be incorrect. I'll come back tomorrow since it's getting late and try to figure out what to do, but just informing you all that the info is incorrect so maybe please consider not telling it to others so they don't waste their time.
The lady smiled one of those angry, offended smiles, real caustic, and slowly something to the effect of "it's not our mistake, just come back tomorrow", to which I responded that "yes, actually, that lady told me to go there. I don't even have an account there and would never have thought to go there on my own to check."
She reiterated what she said, still smiling but very clearly offended, furious in fact, but trying her best to hide it. I knew even before telling her that it was a mistake to do so, nothing positive would come of it, but it's my sense of duty based on how I was raised by my Gottscheer grandparents. I couldn't in good conscience not try.
So think about it: they could prevent others from wasting their time by simply informing staff that the bank downstairs doesn't have access to the database. That's it. Just don't tell them to go there anymore. From the perspective of their own interests, it's less work and you don't risk people coming back complaining.
Well, they don't see things that way here: 1) unsolicited feedback of any kind is verboten; 2) ESPECIALLY if it's a constructive critique; and 3) it's treated as a deep insult to the intelligence of whoever you're informing, who believes themselves to be omniscient as most people in any position of responsibility here do.
I had the exact same experience at MGIMO and Sputnik when I studied and worked there, as well as among various Russian experts (with a few exceptions) with whom I've spoken about various matters. That's why the part of Bezrukov's speech talking about a whole new culture really resonated with me because he gets it.
Not only that, but he's done keeping quiet: as a patriot, he senses that this thinking and behavior isn't just holding Russia back, it's harming it, critically in some cases. As a former deep-cover spy living decades in the US, I'm pretty sure he also concluded that the US is aware of this and is maximally exploiting it exactly as I have.
For him to call for fundamental reforms to the Russian system of management is something that only he himself could do, probably nobody else could do it without being placed on a government watchlist or worse given the current domestic political-security situation and ongoing counter-intel operation.
In his own way, and I'm sure that he knew this, he moved the Overton Window at least among "responsible members of society", e.g. experts and officials, to begin discussing this more publicly. It's long-overdue, but I'm grateful that he did this. It was a very brave move and only he could do it, nobody else I could think of.
Him also drawing attention to how Russia's red lines have indeed been crossed, and repeatedly with impunity at that, was exceptionally brave too since it countersignals what Lavrov and other leading officials have claimed.
Given who he is, and here's his Wiki if you aren't already familiar, only he could have done this since his track record is impeccable and his patriotism has been proven beyond any doubt:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Heathfield_and_Tracey_Foley
So it's really something special that he spoke up and confirmed that these problems do indeed exist, it's not "demoralization propaganda by the enemy" (although the could indeed exploit it to this end and have done so previously).
Russia is truly, in my assessment, at a pivotal moment: it'll either begin the (possibly painful) process of reforms, even if only gradually implemented, or it's going to risk a very steep, rapid, and chaotic decline, God forbid.
What else makes Bezrukov so unique is that he lived in the US for decades and studied its expert and policymaking communities so he knows better than probably anyone else here exactly how the US thinks.
He's therefore the only person who could realistically break through the groupthink and echo chambers that followed the total breakdown of Russia's feedback loops and actually be listened to instead of ignored or worse.
So for him to speak up and in such a harsh way at that is something special. While he might be speaking in a personal capacity unrepresentative of the institution he represents, there's no doubt that everyone heard his message.
Putin is clearly very aware of this. Years ago, I heard him tell a hilarious Russian story. Here it is.
A CIA agent arrives at the FSB and says, "I've come to turn myself in."
The FSB officer looks up glumly and says, "Do you have a passport?"
"Yes."
"Then go to office 402."
He goes to office 402.
"I want to turn myself in."
"Do you have proof of your CIA clearance?"
"Yes, of course."
"Then go down to office 105."
He goes there.
"I want to turn myself in."
"Do you have your weapon?"
"Yes."
"Go up to the 8th floor, office 617."
He goes there.
"I want to turn myself in."
"Do you have a job?"
"Yes."
"Then go do it and leave the people who are working alone."
And it was Putin who told it.
LOL! That's exactly what it's like here too! I don't recall that exact joke but he did one day make a bunch of constructive critiques about Russia that I wrote about at the time here (and boy oh boy were the NRPRs angry! lol):
https://web.archive.org/web/20180401072630/https://orientalreview.org/2018/03/06/okay-constructively-criticize-russia-even-president-putin/
Putin's challenge has always been that he's just one man trying to reform a centuries-long system that's actually barely changed throughout history to be brutally honest, only the outward appearances shifted (imperial, communist, contemporary).
He also thinks very differently than average Russians after having spent the formative years of his career learning German, living in East Germany, and thus adapting what can be described as a German mindset of sorts, including through his lessons about its philosophies, etc.
So what you have is a proud Russian leader who doesn't think like an average Russian yet realized that he must change how his people think in order for them to survive and thrive in the future, but he's really struggled with that and it looks like the system won, unfortunately, at least up till now.
He was fully immersed in German culture for so many years that it most certainly changed his perspective on Russia and Russians.
There's a famous saying from the 1990s film "Brat" (Brother) that "What's good for the Russian is death for the German" (and vice versa is implied).
With all due respect to Russians, with whom I prefer living over Americans and Poles (and all respect to them too), he tried to "Germanize" them in the sense of finally optimizing bureaucratic efficiency but it didn't succeed.
I think he himself naively thought that he succeeded, or at least well enough, till the SMO happened and we all saw how the early stages and other parts therein could have been executed better in hindsight to put it very delicately.
Then I believe that he concluded that the problem is almost existential, in fact, but was (mis)advised into believing that the conflict will end "soon" on Russia's terms in all respects so he could delay reforms till afterwards.
Now we're reaching a point where some reforms will probably have to be implemented, even if only gradually, after September's Duma elections (whatever their outcome may be). They really can't wait any longer.
Problems are piling up as expected given the unprecedented sanctions regime and equally unprecedented nature of this conflict, not to mention the tightening of NATO's containment noose around every one of Russia's geographic vectors.
These post-SMO problems need to be addressed in and of themselves, to say nothing of the root problem (as I understand it to be) of broken feedback loops and the "strategic culture" that's responsible for this. There's a lot of work that needs to be done and soon.
Honestly, I've had to train myself to "shut down my brain" so to speak whenever I'm dealing with whatever process it may be here since my Germanic upbringing naturally makes me think about how such processes here could easily be improved.
Did you know that for the longest time till like 18 months ago or so my local "My Documents" (the name of the Interior Ministry's bureaucratic office in every neighborhood for handling pretty much everything) didn't have an official queue for dealing with migration-related matters like our annual check-in?
They had a ticket-queue system for everything else, but for there, you go to the far end of the office into a hallway and just line up, first come first serve, and sometimes people will unexpectedly barge ahead of you and storm into the office blabbering about whatever it is that they need to address only to almost always (but not always!!!) be sent back by the bureaucrat in there.
I always thought to myself, "how do you open this relatively new (less than a decade old) facility, include a ticket-queue system for everywhere else with screens to see the numbers and windows, but don't include it for that? And how did the project manager and everyone else involved in supervising this let this happen?"
It's so emblematic of the way in which Russian officialdom thinks and behaves. "Out of sight, out of mind", "not my responsibility", "someone else will fix it", "I don't want to get in trouble so I won't say anything", "it's not worth risking my career over something this small", "it's not even a problem, let them form their own lines", etc.
I think, any contact with a different culture will do this for you. It puts things into perspective, you learn that things can be different. Its like adding a dimension, another degree of freedom.
The other thing is, what you are calling broken feedback loops, I know this by the term of "Fehlerkultur". The way of dealing with mistakes. It's essentially about how personal someone takes being corrected. someone mainly interested in achieving results will welcome it, someone mainly interested in making a good impression will try to save his face. In the end it comes down to how you sell it to the perceived audience. Actually, this should be easiest to correct with a top down approach. Gratifications for finding what's going wrong and proposing/implementing solutions.
" With all due respect to Russians, with whom I prefer living over Americans and Poles (and all respect to them too), "
The Poles ? ! ? How dare you sir, how dare you ?
That's what's called the lack of enterprizing spirit. It's not a new problem. Gogol was writing about it like 200 years ago in Dead Souls, lol. I even remember Peter I had some ideas about what to do - like cutting off boyars' beards with an ax.
Anyway, the USA has problems too, and Trump 2.0 may be finished after the midterms.
This might be a video of that joke: https://youtu.be/IE65wcqX7Bo
I think maybe the problem is that there are no negative consequences to being wrong, like the lady you interacted with at the documents center, outside of personal pride. And your correcting her (as a foreigner) minimized the impact of pride for her.
Your story reminds me of something that happened to me some years ago here. There is a convenience store on the walk between the bus stop and my apartment building. This one is owned by an ethnic Russian woman and ran by her family, which is a little unusual (many of them are owned and staffed by southerners). I had a good relationship with them (friendly) and usually stopped in once or twice a day to buy things - beer, cigarettes, snacks, candy for my kids, chocolates, cakes when I had company, etc.
Prices have changed a lot but present day I probably spent five hundred rubles a day in that shop, nearly every day of the year, and many days spent a thousand or several thousand. I went there for years like that.
One hot summer, I bought my normal things and an ice cream - the bar on a stick kind. The cooler felt a little warm when I opened it but still cold. I got my change, moved my stuff to the right side of the register on the counter, and opened the ice cream. I took the wrapper off and as soon as I grasped the stick, the whole thing slid off and exploded on the counter. It was clearly half melted, with pools of liquid ice cream on the counter.
I asked the owner if I could get a different ice cream to replace it (like a cone that wouldn't have the same problem). She too was offended, like your document center clerk, and said "It's not our guilt!". I wilted, I've lived here long enough that it's not my nature any longer to protest. But I did say after a minute "but... the ice cream was melted and the cooler obviously isn't working, and you didn't tell me".
It didn't matter, caveat emptor in Russia, once money's changed hands, the deal is done (unless you're a weirdo who reads the consumer laws and demands stores follow them - like the fact that tennis shoes can only lose so many millimeters of tread in the first two years or must be replaced by the store for free).
So I didn't go back. They saw me walk by several times a day, like normal, only now I didn't wave, and didn't enter. It was the only recourse I had. Getting angry at them or saying something isn't the way anyone would react to the situation here. And I knew, too, that the loss of my business was probably the loss of a quarter of the monthly wage of one of their employees (I had a pretty good idea of margins and salaries from friends who owned a similar business). All over an 80 ruble ice cream bar that they were clearly in the wrong about. It sucked walking an extra half kilometer each way to a different store, but it was also my principles.
After four years, I went back in. The owner couldn't say it - but I could tell she was sorry and regretted what happened. And I just resumed going like I had never stopped. Nothing was ever said about it.
idk, reminded me of your document center story.
I'm so sorry that happened, I can totally imagine it too. That's just how many people are here, unfortunately. Caveat emptor, as you rightly said. The same goes for the moment that you set foot in Russia. It's their rules, their cultural standards, and "if you don't like it, leave!", as has been suggested to me before.
-Are Russians really that stupid or blind?
I’m so sick of people like you with your idiotic screeching and finger‑pointing at Russia. “All degenerates, Putin’s an idiot, the Russian people are morons — only you’re smart?” Really? Do you even realise what you’re saying?
Are all Russians stupid? Every single one? Are they all blind and dumb? Are you the only smart one?
What annoys me most is all this screeching about “we need to bomb London because it’s already a proxy war” — it makes me want to vomit. And the funniest thing is that the very same people who keep screeching “bomb London and the Pentagon” don’t understand that this would only intensify Western hostility and drag us straight into World III — literally.
So these fools actually want to rob Russia of its future for the next three generations, condemning it to an endless fascist war — when we could just step back for a while, and the US would shift its focus to the South and the East. But no — instead, they want to blow up half the EU so that Russia bears the full brunt of a war against the entire West.
Are you an idiot?
You're out of topic. It's not my fault if you don't understand what you read. If you read before posting.
Only the paranoid survive. In this WW3, only the nations that are paranoid would survive. Here, paranoid means diligently, conscientiously, total war, but not necessarily with a large military component. "Civil defense" and defense of critical infrastructures all need to get attention. And so is the information war front. Most countries that have been living in peace since WW2 have no preparation for what is coming. If one couples the geopolitical tension with climate tension (super El Niño 2026-2027) and geological tension (earthquakes and volcanoes), then I would say no country in this world has enough preparation. It will be an era remembered for great challenges for national endurance. It is not just a matter of leaders' quality, but more of the quality of the whole people.
Yes. You're right. A paranoiac can raise the people, ancient Greeks called this kind of man : tyrant. For the best or the worst.
Alas, since decades, there is no more paranoiac among the european leaders. Remains only perverts . It's no more the warriors who rule in Europe. It's eunuchs. And in a society, when eunuch rule the palace, the end is near.
Political paranoia as a strategy for endless war? Makes sense of the nonsense world today.
Perhaps paranoia is not the right word. Even in Andy Grove original semantics, he could have used something like vigilante or else. But even that word carries some stigmatism. Instead of saying political, the kind of action I have in mind is whole societal, not just the political side.
You could point out that what I have in mind is a pseudo mobilization at a time of peace, and that may not be too far from the truth. The problem is war and peace is no longer binary, but rather a spectrum. When your enemy pokes you with A, you had better have some defense at A. If your enemy escalates, you had better be able to escalate although you may choose not to escalate. The decision is yours, but the ability has to be there. Only have a few far-sighted national elites pushing such long-term preparation and hide them in the annual budget will not work.
You could even say that what I have in mind is similar to what Israel has been through and that will drive people nuts. Yes I have personal experience with an Israeli engineer who escaped to the US to take a labor visa for 3 years, extend it for 3 years, then return to Israel for one year (per US immigration law) then come back to the US. Israel as a nation did not go nuts due to those kind of psychological pressure per a pseudo mobilization. Israel as a nation go nuts because their political leaders led them down a path of killing all their neighbor to enlarge their nation.
A more appropriate analogue is like Taiwan and South Korea during the 1960s. By then China did not have overwhelming military superiority over Taiwan, but the differential gradient was large enough. SK was not as prosperous then as today, but its military was also not as strong as today. Both Taiwan and SK were subject to strongman-leadership and politics, to many people's chagrin and opposition. Yet, eventually, both made economic progress, cultivated democratic convention not in their respective culture or history. Even with a glowing China, Taiwan is still not something ripe enough for PLA to just walk over and pick up the abandoned weapons. I don't know about SK enough. But for Taiwan, since Taiwan got crazy rich after 1991 by relocating factories and cadets to China to exploit their fellow Chinese countrymen, Taiwan has consistently losing its psychological mobilization, or that attitude (probably should start counting in 1989). Taiwan's apparent strength today has more to do with people's memories of the past. But deep under the surface, it is a society which cannot handle hostile military condition.
Very informative, thanks, Andrew.
Bezrukov is correct, of course, but his prescriptions are easier said than done.
You are right, but he clearly places the stakes in the hands of the public.
Either:
You want to listen to Kashin and the comedians from Valdai — then the price will not be a peaceful relationship with the West, don't believe that for a second. The price will be a return to the Yeltsin years.
Or:
You want freedom, sovereignty, and the pride of being a great nation? Then don't listen to Karaganov and other pseudo turbo-patriot comedians. No, it will not be enough to bomb a NATO country to bring them to their knees. Don't believe that for an instant. The price will be a permanent, harsh, costly, painful struggle.
The choice is yours, but make it consciously, not in a dream.
Here is what he says.
No argument from me. The question is whether the Russian leadership has the stomach.
Yes, and ar least the will...
And the people.
In France, in 1969, it's the people who have chosen the way of the lazy pig.
Wow, Andrew! What a brave man you are for the original post that sparked these comments, but for your very candid responses. I don't often save things, but I'm saving all of this one. As a fellow countryman, I have had the same experiences multiple times, and I have come to the same conclusions that you have herein. Thanks a gazillion for this and for all you do.
Thanks so much, Regis!
"...people assume that someone else is going to do whatever it is that must be done, so they just resign themselves to hoping for the best...."
This malaise is prevalent in Western societies where lack of meaningful and effective protest enables minority lobby groups to manipulate "career" politicians to act with a free hand. This malaise has allowed the militarisation of police such that public protesting is now a dangerous activity. Rebellious heroes are quickly suppressed whilst a compliant media records events for "click bait."
"What else makes Bezrukov so unique is that he lived in the US for decades... Exactly, my own experience. Living in for many years in (Serbian) diaspora I learned that people remaining in "old country" understand very little about the real West.
The problem humanity is facing here is that we are all forced to guess. We are trying to figure out what the most degraded small segment of American/Israeli Deep State is trying to present here but it is possible they did not make up their mind as of yet. They are certainly shaking the boat we are all on, hoping that somehow they will be able to take a dominant position at the end of the game or they just might bring down the whole enchilada by accident or design. The real issue is they should not be in the position they are. It is the weakness of the Western World that allowd this upside down development.
Russia carried out two, high profile strikes in the last couple of weeks, but things appear to have gone quiet. Meanwhile Kiev is carrying out continuous, attritional drone strikes. If Russia is accumulating targets, it might be time to strike again...
Thank you very much for this article and the interesting discussion triggered by it. I'm not sure where I read or heard it, but some Russian patriot ansered the question put by himself: "What is the difference between Iran and Russia?" by saying: "No Iranian official owns any property in the West". As long as to own a property in France, Spain, Italy or somewehre else in a "nice" Nato country (!) remains at the center of so many people's mind in Russia, every attempt to reform the system is doomed to failure. Just too much of sabotage on almost every level of the state administration. Even at the head of the TASS website (Russian version) you will find the ad "Greek passports for Russians". And this is TASS, WTF ...
"Are Russians really that stupid or blind?
If so, there is no hope."
i’m so sick of people like you with your idiotic screeching and finger‑pointing at Russia. “All degenerates, Putin’s an idiot, the Russian people are morons — only you’re smart?” Really? Do you even realise what you’re saying?
What annoys me most is all this screeching about “we need to bomb London because it’s already a proxy war” — it makes me want to vomit. And the funniest thing is that the very same people who keep screeching “bomb London and the Pentagon” don’t understand that this would only intensify Western hostility and drag us straight into World III — literally.
So these fools actually want to rob Russia of its future for the next three generations, condemning it to an endless fascist war — when we could just step back for a while, and the US would shift its focus to the South and the East. But no — instead, they want to blow up half the EU so that Russia bears the full brunt of a war against the entire West.
Are you an idiot?
PS Are Russians really that stupid or blind?
I’m already sick and tired of degenerates who pose such questions in a mocking, patronising tone — elevating themselves while ranting about “the Russians”, about all Russians being stupid and narrow‑minded. This one person alone knows what’s best and how things should be done — they know better than Putin, better than Lavrov, better than the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. And only they are “permitted” to humiliate, belittle, and ridicule all Russians, the entire Russian people — to parade how stupid “they” are and how great, how brilliant, this one “great mind” is — this unrivalled critic and expert.
So I want to ask you: is your brain pressing so hard against the inside of your skull that you have to be so “smart” — so smart that you must insult an entire nation, just because you think your plan is the only correct and smartest one?
It’s making me nauseous. For real.
Thanks for your great work Andrew!
We've restacked and shared this link on 'The Stacks'
https://askeptic.substack.com/p/the-stacks
Why does the US, NATO and Israel feel that they have to dominate everyone else? The rest of the world is moving towards cooperation.
There has to be a bridge in logic not yet explained when terms as west, NATO, Russia, SU, China are used so liberally. Nation/Ethnic group, State, Economy are not equal identifications and lack historical explanation when used randomly. National/ethnic analysis, political (state), comparisons and antagonisms seem out of place in an economically dominant run world. So who are the capitals of the one side and who are isolated on the other to compete in this case?
The federation of "west" capitals under international private banks are pretty well documented, the post-90 ex-SU capitals, and China's capitals are not as clear. How the transition of state to private capitalists failed a western attempt to absorb and blend those capitalists.
How can we understand state antagonism without a clarification of capital antagonisms? Why was Czechia Poland absorbed fully, and why did Russian, Ukranian, Georgian capitals out of the game for 35 years?
Then Turkey must also be explained as a thorn in both Russian and US imperial tendencies.
Very interesting to hear these views. At some point Russia may be tempted to prevent a war with Europe by preemption. Why wait to 2030 when Europe thinks it will be ready. 4 more years of taunting and surprise attacks? Only political change in Paris, London, Berlin might ease the tensions in the meantime.
It is the fight between mongrels and purebred. Purebred being the Slavic. There isn't going to be any possible environment for the purebred to strive (food, cultural protocols, and in fine, the authentic sense of belonging - fundamental idea where from everything grows) .
In the ocean of filth there can be no clean sane fish.
Everything will end up in the Great Mix without even the authentic will for the survival .
Even the apex class in the end won't be able to keep the will for life.
(just a schetch)