Soviet ethnographer Lev Gumilev had a very rough life even for Russian standards — gulags, his father’s execution, his own blacklisting, that sort of thing — but in death he has a bit more to offer.
In Gumilev’s telling modern Russia is a union between the Russo-Tatar world with Jewish courtiers ferrying messages from the empire to the larger world. He was particularly interested in the Golden Horde which invaded Russia in the thirteenth century.
We’re starting to see that union break down. Or, to have its organization be restructured entirely.
Much of the American focus on Russia comes through the Israeli or the Russian-Jewish experience. Think Fiddler on the Roof. Or the chattering nabobs at the very Chisraeli Atlantic like David Frum.
But perhaps a different way of thinking about it is the Russo-Turkish wars which ended with Turkish dominance of the Black Sea. While Nord Stream was destroyed TurkStream continues to pump gas, albeit with a bit more scrutiny.
It was simple enough the scene of Selçuk Bayraktar thanking his mother but it was altogether powerful. Here was a woman in religious dress who had worked on Assembly code. It’s a fitting image of a new Türkiye, an especially poignant image as Bayraktar is married to the daughter of Erdogan.
You’d be forgiven if you thought that Bayraktar is not just a key part of the Turkish strategy for dominating the region but essential.
Egypt now has a Bayraktar deal. How long before America has one? Yes, on the Southern border. Why not? The Israelis are already there.
Rustem Umerov is growing in power and stature, especially as he cleans up corruption within the Ukrainian military. I think we can all admit now that a lot of NAFO was fake, getting us to divert money to Ukraine and into the Ukrainian mafia’s hands.
America is the first among equals but we needn’t be the only. That’s what Türkiye is teaching us. Americans should be buying NATO as we turn from China and Russia.
Were I USG I’d play Central Asia straight. We won’t ride to the rescue but Türkiye might. After all, they are all Turkish peoples.
I’d avoid sanctioning Turkic oligarchs, like Alisher Usmanov, and have the Turkic underworld call for a general strike. Let Bidenomics go global and let’s support the protestors. What would happen if all the Kyrgyz going to the frontlines in Ukraine or working as maids in Moscow went instead to Japan?
On that note, Kazakhstan — which recognizes Gumilev as a national hero — just dissolved its government to make itself ready for foreign direct investment and to crack down on corruption.