The alchemist
VIP
Let's say he did not have any direct influence on Putin or the political establishment. I don't see the difference with how Western political thinkers influence the political landscape very much so cascades into discourses that in one way or another lead to practical political-philosophical regimes.Putin is a secretive guy. The guy has two offices that look exactly like each other in order to not let people know where he is at an given time. You think a guy like that would tell the world which philosophers he listens to? Of course he wouldn't.
Putin Said to Have Two Identical Offices: One in Moscow, the Other at the Beach (Published 2020)
The supposed ruse has enabled him to spend time at a government residence on the Black Sea without risking a potential political backlash, a Russian news site reported.www.nytimes.com
From all the contemporary philosophers out there, Dugin explains Russia's and Putin's geopolitical behavior the most.
There is no need to overcomplicate things when it is so blatantly obvious what the philosophical influence on Putin is. It is not just Dugin, but guys similar to Dugin as well.
Racial versions of nationalism are banned, but inclusive Russian nationalism (pro Russkiy Mir) isn't banned. Dugin is also no longer a national bolshevist, he has abandoned that.
His current ideology is a weird mixture of Traditionalism, anti-modernism, post-modernism, Russian Imperialism, etc. Besides his own name for this ideology "The Fourth Political Theory" there is no accurate description of what it is.
Aleksandr Dugin exists in the same broader Russian box just like how all the Western political action, no matter the internal disagreement, derives from the same civil region but has an even narrower landscape in the practical political discourse.
The same process is applicable to Russian ideology and political process. And I will go far as say, the historical-political reality of Russian foreign relations has influenced this distinction, of course, added on the unique demographic, geographic and historical aspects that surely create distinct ways, agglomeration of thought that is dissimilar to what the US has.
Possibly not as separate as China, but still not the same as America, and due to Russias trajectory, they will further create a distance on this matter. That's why I was not surprised about this Dugin ideological presentation, despite never thinking that hard about it.
People in the West who lack this insight will always have these silly expectations of what will happen to Russia because they project their center as a universal commonality. The same can be said about how they view China. This kind of thinking creates constant invalid predictions.
Putin is an imperialist
