Pozor Rossii

[Andrey Shcherbenok]

Dear Anyse,

The question of what you call Cold War mentality toward Russia which started
before the Cold War itself and does not seem to end any time soon is,
indeed, fascinating. I think it would prove very fruitful if addressed as a
scholarly problem, which I do not think has been systematically done yet.
Most of the people who find this attitude unwarranted spend time
demonstrating that it is inconsistent with the facts, prejudiced, one-sided,
self-serving, politically motivated, ideoloical, racist, etc. This analysis
is important but does not answer the question of why it is the USSR / Russia
rather than some other country that still plays this special role in Western
political mentality. As I learned recently, there is a new book "Distorted
Mirrors: Americans and Their Relations with Russian and China in the
Twentieth Century" by Donald Davis and Eugene Trani forthcoming in the U of
Missouri Press, which seems to address this issue -- Izvestia published an
interesting review of it here
http://www.izvestia.ru/comment/article3124292/

But, at any rate, the topic is vast and, apparently, increasingly urgent.

Best wishes,

Andrey Shcherbenok
Columbia Society of Fellows in the Humanities


 
-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
[mailto:SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Anyse Joslin
Sent: Monday, January 19, 2009 10:45 PM
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Pozor Rossii

Unfortunately, I just do not UNDERSTAND at all the Cold War mentality  
toward Russia carrying on so long and so vociferously. Nowhere is it  
ever mentioned that, without Russia to take the large blow from  
Germany during WWII, the world would "definitely" be nowhere like it  
is today. The West owes a "debt" to Russia that it shall never give  
because the West has an EGO that cannot acknowledge the gifts that  
Russia has given to the West.

All arguments have TWO sides and, most certainly, the West has had no  
monopoly on "truth" for such a long, long time now.

This so saddens me every time I hear this . . .

Anyse

On Jan 19, 2009, at 10:33 AM, Alina Israeli wrote:

I think this question remained unanswered. I think Russian national  
EGO is as wounded now as the German one was after WWII, with one main  
difference: Marshall plan was taking care of West Germany and showing  
it the way. Germany was eager to join the Western nations. Russia has  
love-hate relationship with the West and seeks its own path that would  
show them (the West) the Russian power and will force them to respect  
Russia. At the same time Russia is nursing its wounded EGO.

All of these polls are the attempts to find the national way as well  
as show all the opponents the wrong way. They are not a joke and are  
not created for entertainment.

Unlike Germany which was able to say "that was then, this is now",  
Russia views itself longingly as heir and descendant of the Stalinist  
regime (Russia was feared and respected then) while at the same time  
there is an idealization of the pre-1917 monarchy. In other words,  
people are not looking forward, they are looking back.

On Jan 16, 2009, at 2:51 AM, Josh Wilson wrote:

> I'm curious, though, if this wasn't set up for entertainment  
> purposes or as
> a serious poll, what is its purpose for existence? The voting system  
> strikes
> as fairly well thought out - at least as well implemented as its
> predecessor. It's also spawned some interesting debate in my view  
> (and,
> granted, a lot of frivolity, but hey, it's the Internet).
>

Alina Israeli
LFS, American University
4400 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington DC. 20016
(202) 885-2387 	
fax (202) 885-1076
aisrael at american.edu




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