Is Russia, in reality, "The Borg"?

submitted by jerryk from self.WorldPolitics

In noting the systematic advance of Russia through Ukraine these days, there seems a certain familiarity about it all. They're in no rush at all, their advance is extremely slow, but systematic, and, kind of inevitable. Their primary intention is to destroy any and all possible opposition in the form of Ukrainian infantry in their way, and any possible fortifications. They don't seem to have the slightest interest in rapid advance or conquest of territory, but, rather, the total and systematic absorption of territory, its colonization with Russian citizens, and the building of road and railway links to the Mother Country, Russia itself.

The message is quite clear -- "We are the Russians, resistance is futile." Apparently, Russia is "The Borg". Really. I guess Vladimir Putin was a big fan of "Star Trek : The Next Generation", back in the 1980's when he was an up and coming KGB agent in the Soviet Union. And, the concept of "The Borg" made quite an impression on him.

Now, it's quite common, I've noticed, to compare the Russians to the "Orcs", from Lord of the Rings, these days, in the Western media. And, indeed, I'm by no means sure that J.R.R. Tolkien did not indeed have Stalin in mind with Sauron, and that Mordor was not the Soviet Union, in the mind of the creator of the Lord of the Rings. However, I think in Vladimir Putin's mind, and in reality, the comparison to "The Borg", from "Star Trek: the Next Generation" would be much more apt.

The Borg are a hive mind. They are not evil, but, actually, highly functional. It is a perfectly legitimate conception of society, although it sublimates the individual to the greater whole -- a conception that is anathema to the Western mindset. Of course, Westerners will submit to higher authority, if need be, for a time. However, they do so reluctantly.

In contrast, in traditional China, in the Mongol Empire, and, in Russia, which learned so much from the Mongols, the conception of the hive mind is much more familiar, and much more acceptable. We really should bear this in mind, don't you think?

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[–]binaryblob 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I wish I believed the West had any actual power left, because if they don't they might need some help. All of the "weapons were designed to beat the Russians" doesn't really seem that impressive anymore. The Chinese claim they can track F-22s. Now, whether this is true, I don't know, but stealth aircraft can obviously be defeated using satellite technology. The F-22 is fairly old already, but I surely hope the Americans have some wonder weapons left, because if they don't, Europe might be fucked.

Europe doesn't even increase shell production 50 fold in a year. What are they? Stupid? Suicidal? If you have decades of "peace" and robots have existed for 50 years, how the fuck do you mess up military production?

It's like our "leaders" (see Merkel and Schröder (Gazprom payroll)) got a Russian paycheck to weaken Europe.

Can the US even win a major war with just their planes? Won't the air frames wear out too fast? AFAIK, the military can't produce more plans themselves, but they need cooperation from companies like Lockheed Martin. What if they say "No"? Or, what if they say "Well, perhaps for a trillion dollars we will remember how to build another"? I don't know how it works in Russia, but I doubt Putin needs to beg to get some shells produced. He can just march in and shoot whoever is running it in the head and appoint a new one (probably not a good idea, but you get the point).

A no fly zone would have been the best option and it should have been done before Crimea was invaded.

I fully expect Taiwan to fall if China really wants to have it. I don't know whether it will be nuked by the US if that happens, though. All US military planners talking about defending Taiwan don't have a clue, IMO.

[–]carn0ld03 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Welcome to maneuver warfare. The only people who do it better than the Russians are the Vietnamese and Germans.

[–]Jiminy 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I thought Klingons represents Russians, they had a movie where it was like they were in a Cold War and had fragile peace and the symbolism was obvious. So then though after the USSR collapses and they're not communist anymore, then Star Trek creates the borg to represent them? Doesn't make too much sense. I think it represents corporatism and running everything in computers. Very impersonal, laying people off, infiltrating everything, going to be end of humanity.