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Barge Haulers on the Volga by Ilya Repin (Source) |
In our last post, we explained the features that define slave mentality. Among them are Stockholm syndrome, learned helplessness, and low productivity / efficiency.
In this post, we will try to look at Russian history and the specific conditions that made Russian character somewhat unique.
Russia is mostly a European nation. Even though geographically it is stretched across both Europe and Asia and the significant portion of its landmass is in Asia, the majority of the population resides in Europe. The capital and the cultural centers can be found in European part as well. Basically, Russia as a nation evolved in Europe and then spread to the neighboring territories. So, how does Russia measure up to other European countries?
Unfortunately, all the data clearly indicates that Russia as a nation is behind other developed European countries when it comes to the economy, political situation and social progress. At some point of its development, Russia started falling behind.
Basically, we will try to figure out when and how the development of Russia as a country started to lag behind from its European rivals. When and how did it all go so wrong?