--- Wojtek Sokolowski <sokol at jhu.edu> wrote: For example, the Russian population was far less jingoistic during the heyday of the Soviet empire that it is now, when their empire is but fading memories. ---
For one thing, both the tsars and the Party generally viewed Russian nationalism as a threat and discouraged it, believing that it might lead to destabilization of the supra-national empire (Russian population of USSR = 51%). That is why of all the Soviet republics only Russia did not have its own Academy of Sciences, capital city, etc. I just read a good book on this.
Edelstein/Zhirinovsky is a Russian wingnut, but he's more the cathartic voice of the collective Id than the real thing.
Nu, zayats, pogodi!
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