Russian Thinking, Economy, and Active Measures

Well its election day in the United States, however, there is Telegram. Today, there were a few notable posts. The first speaks to how Russia perceives herself, and it is worthwhile to understand this:

Russia is an empire, and any empire strives for expansion. And we will have no peace until Russia establishes its protectorate over the entire planet! The Lord himself has entrusted this mission to us. Together with the Byzantine coat of arms and the grandeur of the “Third Rome”… That is why they call us the “God-bearing” people!

Russia has seen itself in this lofty way since the era of Ivan the Terrible. This is important to understand. The philosophy behind gathering lands is precisely this manifest destiny that underlines all the Boyars and the Tsar do.

This is not a modern-day country. This is an empire in the way one was conceived, where one might make right. This is in some ways a medieval country. One where there is a tight control of information. The last decades when we heard what actual economic data was, are over:

Rosstat does not publish detailed data on inflation .

Analysts have noted the lack of component-by-component inflation data for September from Rosstat. Overall inflation was released on October 11, but the details have not appeared on the…