War of memes: why Z-war won't end with peace

Kamil Galeev @kamilkazani

War of memes: why Z-war won't end with peace Some Western analysts unfamiliar with Eastern European cultural context perceive Z-war as an accident. They presume that Russian invasion results from some sort of "misunderstanding" or mistake which can be resolved via negotiations🧵 pic.twitter.com/diHMDIpvu0

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Kamil Galeev @kamilkazani

That's a textbook example of wishful thinking. Why would such a renowned analyst as Luttwak argue that "the war need not continue"? Because *he* doesn't need it to continue. I don't need it -> Nobody needs it -> A peaceful settlement is possible. But that's not how it works pic.twitter.com/UmZO31Hfz9

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Kamil Galeev @kamilkazani

You may want to stop this war ASAP, but it's not up to you to decide. It's up to Russia which invaded Ukraine for a reason. And this reason remains irrespective of Putin or Zelensky, CSTO or NATO, Siloviki or Mail. It's not a war of regimes. It's a war of memes pic.twitter.com/G34mcVUg28

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Kamil Galeev @kamilkazani

The motivation behind Z-war is not "security", "alliances" or even political affiliation. It's the need to extinguish wrong cultural memes and impose correct ones. That's why Z-war has such a wide popular support and why Russians so easily agreed for a total war against Ukraine pic.twitter.com/gexFlNSqT7

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Kamil Galeev @kamilkazani

Arrogant it may sound, I think that in order to understand cultural context, you need to consume content in a language of the country. Those analysts who consume content in Russian typically view Z-war as inevitable. They saw it coming. But those who don't, are usually surprised pic.twitter.com/LmR0Y6Fv0l

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Kamil Galeev @kamilkazani

Z-war happened because Russia never accepted existence of Ukraine in the first place. And by "Russia" I mean not only the state, but also the people, especially the cultural elites. It was the so much glorified cultural elite that prepared this war rather than ignorant masses pic.twitter.com/PnyeXu943a

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Kamil Galeev @kamilkazani

They argued or implied that Ukraine is a fake nation with fake/inferior culture and history. In other words, the real problem is that Ukrainians stick to inferior memes. Worst of all, they could have upgraded and accepted superior, Russian memes, but they refuse to pic.twitter.com/AYu6VX1162

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Kamil Galeev @kamilkazani

Russian invasion of Ukraine can be understood only in cultural context. Kremlin didn't plan for a war, it planned to "liberate" Ukraine, save it by imposing the correct memes. But it turned out that Ukrainians didn't want to be saved. That's how Special Operation turned into war pic.twitter.com/DK2stVxuJt

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Kamil Galeev @kamilkazani

Initial Kremlin's assumption was that Ukraine isn't irredeemable. It's a country of somewhat inferior Russians controlled by the "Nazis" who brainwashed the rest into submission. But what Ukrainians secretly want is to drop the farce of "Ukraine" and become normal (=Russian) pic.twitter.com/sVgMgG3QVz

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Kamil Galeev @kamilkazani

To understand the logic behind Z-invasion you have to keep in mind that Russianness = normality. When you are Russified you just become normal. Z-invasion was planned as a gift or humanitarian operation. That's why Ukrainian resistance is so shocking. They don't want to be normal pic.twitter.com/K4fcjy2QX7

Kamil Galeev @kamilkazani

Ukrainian ingratitude and refusal to become Russians explains the rapid escalation of violence by the Russian military. See the bombing of Nikolaev. I won't be surprised if Russians use tactical nukes against Ukrainian cities by May 9, the Victory Day pic.twitter.com/kFxP8jhKtC

Kamil Galeev @kamilkazani

Let me quote a correspondent of "All-Russian TV and Radio Broadcasting Company" with 577 158 followers: "Mariupol. The Apocalypse District. Should we show it to the entire world? Yes. Let Kiev, Lvov, Poltava, Ternopol see: if a city doesn't surrender, it will be destroyed" pic.twitter.com/8uHHidrz6d

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Kamil Galeev @kamilkazani

Or this guy very close to the Kremlin: "When Zdolbunov is bombed, I won't feel bad. They signed out from the Russian nation. And in order to sign into the Russians again, Ukraine will pay a huge price. I think the same of Harkov, Kiev, Dniepropetrovsk, Rovno and Ivano-Frankovsk" pic.twitter.com/jZ4HzLecG3

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Kamil Galeev @kamilkazani

To be fair Russia always fought like this - with extreme disregard towards any ethical or legal norms. But since it launched most of its total wars against non-White/non-Christian people like the Syrian Sunni, nobody cared (I cropped the photo, it's much worse). But why Ukraine? pic.twitter.com/nN9no6U82B

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Kamil Galeev @kamilkazani

We can start our discussion with Brodsky. He's relatively well known in the West largely due to winning a Nobel prize in literature. But his cultural influence is probably underestimated there. Brodsky was not just a poet, he was *the* last great poet of Russian literary canon pic.twitter.com/HQjevvsQCo

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Kamil Galeev @kamilkazani

After being persecuted by the Soviet authorities, Brodsky emigrated to the US. He was showered with prizes, honours and awards. Here he won the Nobel Prize and became the US Poet Laureate. Both his literary talents and victimhood record helped a lot in his American career pic.twitter.com/QydwRkaWgu

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Kamil Galeev @kamilkazani

That's a poem Brodsky read in Palo Alto in 1992. Although written and published in the US, the poem "On Ukrainian independence" is probably the most widely quoted and impactful political manifesto of the post-Soviet Russia. It's *super* nationalist youtube.com/watch?v=grFRNn…

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Kamil Galeev @kamilkazani

Which translation of Brodsky's "On Ukrainian independence" shall I give? I chose this one. It's not literal, it's much better. A literal translation would be suboptimal for an audience with different cultural background, while this one is understandable russianuniverse.org/2017/02/27/jos… pic.twitter.com/M9r4duPOE4

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Kamil Galeev @kamilkazani

In this poem Brodsky sends multiple messages to Ukrainians (called with slur "Khokhly"). He: 1. Tells Ukrainians to go fuck themselves 2. Predicts: "you, scum will be gangbanged by Poles and Germans" 3. Wonders if he should spit in Dnieper in order to make it flow backwards pic.twitter.com/lTwWsucf7P

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Kamil Galeev @kamilkazani

Brodsky called his poem "risky". And yet, it correctly reflected attitude of much of Russian society towards Ukraine. After 2014 it became especially relevant and was repeatedly endorsed by the media and authorities like the Russian parliament newspaper pnp.ru/social/nikto-t…

Kamil Galeev @kamilkazani

What I find more interesting however, is the two final lines of Brodsky's poem. They literally tell to Ukrainians: "When you are dying and scratching your deathbed, you'll be wheezing Alexander's lines and not the Taras' bullshit" What does he mean by that? pic.twitter.com/IMgeFwmHQV

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Kamil Galeev @kamilkazani

Brodsky is referring to Alexander Pushkin and Taras Shevchenko: national poets of Russia and Ukraine respectively. On their deathbed Ukrainians will quote Russian genius Pushkin rather than Ukrainian bullshiter Shevchenko because "Ukrainians" are Russians and Ukraine is a farce pic.twitter.com/YyjB38I28N

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Kamil Galeev @kamilkazani

What is interesting here is not so much the supposed superiority of Russians over Ukrainians. It's the politicisation of literature, specifically of poetry. Which poet you admire and quote is not neutral politics-wise, it's *the* most important political question ever. But why? pic.twitter.com/QmLLo63sYJ

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Kamil Galeev @kamilkazani

We all know that Russia is literature-centric country. And yet, Western knowledge of that literature is very selective. Which Russian writers can an average erudite Anglo name? Tolstoyevsky + Chekhov. These guys are well known in the West because they produced translatable prose pic.twitter.com/gGR5MIaH4C

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Kamil Galeev @kamilkazani

Untranslatable authors are ignored, including some prosers like Saltykov-Schedrin, Lenin's favourite writer: "цивилизацию эту, приняв в нетрезвом виде за бунт, уничтожил градоначальник Урус-Кугуш-Кильдибаев" - how can you even translate this without a long historical commentary? pic.twitter.com/OlkUz7CEff

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