Kamil Galeev

Great story. Paradoxically enough, during the general purge staying in prison may be a relatively safe option. Strange it may sound for a Westerner, it makes a lot of sense from a Third Worlder’s perspective

I quoted the Enver Bey vs Kamil Pasha dialogue by memory, but it is basically from this book, which I absolutely recommend. Enjoyed it very much

5. Counterintuitively, Soviet disintegration may serve as a bad model for understanding the potential Russian disintegration. Hommes de lettres, humanitarian intelligentsia played a huge role in the Soviet collapse (I strongly recommend this book). This won't be the case now

Public spending was a major tool for renegotiating the hierarchy. I strongly recommend this book: this author got that the Beautification of Kazan was not simply urbanist policy. It was political and it changed the hierarchy

Great article. I could only add that we tend to judge Russian capacities based on Soviet performance. Which may be wrong. In many respects modern Russia may be closer to the pre-1917 Russian empire. That's why it avoids a mass mobilization - too risky