Because Queer Theory, for all its (pseudo-)progressive idiom, is at its core also an idealistic and reactionary philosophy. So it naturally shares a lot of fundamental assumptions about the world with other reactionary philosophies.
No. That would assume that proponents of Eurasianism had been representative of, if not the Russian people at large, at least Russia's intellectual elite or something akin to that. They were not.
And we shouldn't forget that the Soviet Union, for all its faults, was a gigantic modernization project very much modelled after the West, and it was explicitely based on universalist ideas.
Of course, much of the short history of the USSR was shaped by the contradictions between its universalist premises and Russian imperialist traditions it inherited, and revived in disguise under Stalin, so simply referring to the universalist principles it invoked isn't quite sufficient. It is, however, not enough to make them fundamentally different in the way you imply.
Besides, Nazis thought of a lot of people(s) as Asiatic, not just the Russians. Essentially, Slavs in general and to some degree Jews were thought of as "Asiatic", but the term was never clearly defined and took on very different meanings in Nazi propaganda, and even less so in Nazi ideology. It better be translated as something along the lines of "barbaric" vs. "civilized".
Thanks a lot for this analysis. I find it very informed and informative.
My only critique is that you somewhat overcontextualize the re-emergence of the Russian Orthodox Church as primarily owed to Eurasianism. Religious institutions - mainly the Catholic and the local Orthodox Church respectively - have been playing a very similar role in all of Eastern Europe ever since the fall of Socialism in the 1990's as proponents of reactionary and expansionary ideologies. Only some of them are compatible with Eurasianism, most others are highly specifically nationalist.
But then again, in a piece about Eurasianism, there is only so much space for an analysis of the ROC and its ideological role as such.
I had not intended to credit Eurasianism with reviving the ROC, which was a choice Stalin made. On the contrary, I hoped to show the ROC embracing useful tenets of Eurasianism.
Why does this sound like Queer Theory?
Because Queer Theory, for all its (pseudo-)progressive idiom, is at its core also an idealistic and reactionary philosophy. So it naturally shares a lot of fundamental assumptions about the world with other reactionary philosophies.
Eurasianism strikes me as very "woke right"
Me too!
In other words, Hitler was correct when he referred to Russians disparagingly as "Asiatics," to draw a sharp distinction between them and Europeans.
Just remember that we have not yet seen whatever gifts Project 2025 has in store for American Christian theocrats.
No. That would assume that proponents of Eurasianism had been representative of, if not the Russian people at large, at least Russia's intellectual elite or something akin to that. They were not.
And we shouldn't forget that the Soviet Union, for all its faults, was a gigantic modernization project very much modelled after the West, and it was explicitely based on universalist ideas.
Of course, much of the short history of the USSR was shaped by the contradictions between its universalist premises and Russian imperialist traditions it inherited, and revived in disguise under Stalin, so simply referring to the universalist principles it invoked isn't quite sufficient. It is, however, not enough to make them fundamentally different in the way you imply.
Besides, Nazis thought of a lot of people(s) as Asiatic, not just the Russians. Essentially, Slavs in general and to some degree Jews were thought of as "Asiatic", but the term was never clearly defined and took on very different meanings in Nazi propaganda, and even less so in Nazi ideology. It better be translated as something along the lines of "barbaric" vs. "civilized".
Thanks a lot for this analysis. I find it very informed and informative.
My only critique is that you somewhat overcontextualize the re-emergence of the Russian Orthodox Church as primarily owed to Eurasianism. Religious institutions - mainly the Catholic and the local Orthodox Church respectively - have been playing a very similar role in all of Eastern Europe ever since the fall of Socialism in the 1990's as proponents of reactionary and expansionary ideologies. Only some of them are compatible with Eurasianism, most others are highly specifically nationalist.
But then again, in a piece about Eurasianism, there is only so much space for an analysis of the ROC and its ideological role as such.
I had not intended to credit Eurasianism with reviving the ROC, which was a choice Stalin made. On the contrary, I hoped to show the ROC embracing useful tenets of Eurasianism.