Russia. The land of frozen winters, boiling tempers, and a history so thick with blood, betrayal, and bombast you could bottle it and sell it as a Molotov cocktail.
This isn’t just a country. It’s a worldview forged in war, paranoia, and the long, unforgiving shadow of history. From the horsemen of the Mongol horde to the black leather coats of Stalin’s secret police, the Russian psyche has been shaped by centuries of siege. Real and imagined. Fortress mentality isn’t a strategy there. It’s a state of being.
And yet, despite the suspicion, the brutality, and the endless dance with disaster, Russia endures. Reinvents. Retaliates. Sometimes with style. Often with force. Always with purpose.
Today, we’re sitting down with Professor Mark Galeotti. Yup, that Mark Galeotti. We’re going to dig into the roots of Russian insecurity. Where it comes from. Why it matters. And how it still shapes every handshake, every airstrike, and every line drawn on a map.
We’ll trace the scars left by Napoleon’s march, Stalin’s purges, and the Cold War’s long hangover. We’ll talk about the inferiority complex that festers behind the Kremlin walls, and how history—real or rewritten—guides Moscow’s every move from Kyiv to Damascus to Washington.
This isn’t about making excuses. It’s about understanding the worldview of a nation that still thinks in terms of czars and tsars, enemies and allies, and very little in between.
So pour a drink if it’s after 11. Grab a coffee if it’s earlier. And join us as we wander the haunted corridors of Russian history, where paranoia isn’t a glitch in the system. It is the system.
Downfall: Putin, Prigozhin, and the Fight for the Future
downfall:%20Putin,%20Prigozhin,%20and%20the%20fight%20for%20the%20future%20of%20Russia%20https%3A//a.co/d/1bi80vk
Forged in War: A military history of Russia from its beginnings to today
https://a.co/d/3ZyL1rJ
Putin's Wars: From Chechnya to Ukraine
https://a.co/d/1bcsoZG
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