#readwise # War and Populism  ## Metadata - Author: [[Nina L. Khrushcheva]] - Full Title: War and Populism - URL: https://www.project-syndicate.org/magazine/ukraine-war-russian-complicity-western-populist-enablers-by-nina-l-khrushcheva-2022-12 ## Highlights sanctions brought some changes to the denizens of Moscow and Saint Petersburg. **Some luxury goods were removed from store shelves**, and some Western chains closed their doors. **But Russians could still enjoy enough *things*** – enough of the toys and pleasures and luxuries to which they gained access after the Soviet Union’s collapse three decades ago – that the war remained distant. **The violence next door was too trivial – or perhaps too important – for ordinary Russians to give it much thought. Let Putin take care of it, as he takes care of everything. See no evil, hear no evil, say nothing.** ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01grzperde7j50kxy2dxme020p)) --- **Lest any Westerner feel a sense of superiority, recall that** a similarly blinkered, consumerist reverie has predominated in Western societies through countless conflicts, crimes, and improprieties, committed both at home and abroad. And today, **many people in Western democracies are happy to enter into a morally bankrupt bargain with their leaders that has more than a little in common with the one seen in Russia**. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01grzpf22fymcvans6pk5y0c3v)) --- **The great advantage for populists is that their bargain with their constituents is fluid. If their political base falls prey to a new narrative or embraces a new cause, they simply change their position** and claim that they were the first to hold it. Anyone who points to their contradictory record is a member of the “lying and corrupt media elite.” ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01grzpmtxwf6e769wj1bvhrryn)) ^m2x1y8