Why Is Russia So Haunting To The Western Imagination?

Ivan Krastev, a well-known political scientist and expert on Eastern Europe, tries to understand the strange fascination of the western liberals with Russia. If you, like me, have laughed at the site of Putin-the puppeteer- themed magazine covers and thought that the near-universal fear of the "evil Russians" is not justified, this is a very interesting explanation. Krastev has extensively written about politics in Eastern Europe and knows the region well. He also knows that Russia today is no more than a shadow of the once-powerful Soviet Union, with a flagging economy and declining population. Its glory days are long gone.

But according to Krastev, Russia is a scary image of what might happen to the European democracies if they are not prudent enough. If the elites turn their backs on most people and the tightly controlled electoral system serves not to empower but to disempower the citizens. If the high education loses its value and the society becomes disenfranchised.

In short, what causes anxiety in the liberal west is not that Russia will run the world, but that much of the world will be run the way Russia is run today.