Torn culture means that the country has experienced major assaults on the core values of their culture. They have been separated from their cultural roots that have nourished them for decades. After reading the book it gives us a clear picture of how divided Russians are over whether their society belongs to one civilization or another. The question of whether Russia is part of the West or the leader of the Slavic-Orthodox civilization or communist ideology or capitalism imported from the west (during the fall of USSR) and adapted it to Russian conditions and then challenged the West in the name of that ideology is still confusing. The dominance of communism after world war – II shut off the historic debate over previous cultures. In the last century alone, Russian people from one generation to the other saw different cultures evolving in their society and made their lives hard and made them strong to adapt to rapid changes in the society.
In the Russian Drama, the dancer through the ballet seeks audience approval by delivering lofty performance. Apart from this the book explains about the autocratic authority ranking culture where nepotism and corruption is rampant in the system. It’s no surprise to read news about Russia for wrong reasons lately, such as corruption, Oligarchs, income inequality, low standards of health care and an aging multi ethnic population. A good example to describe this is Russian President Vladimir Putin. Vladimir Putin transformed Russia less as an industrial power in to an exporter of raw materials, the most important of which is energy (particularly natural gas). He brought energy industry under state supervision with iron fist and sent the opposition to jail (like YUKOS Michael Khodorovsky), if not direct control, he is forcing out foreign interests and reorienting the industry toward exports, particularly to Europe. High energy prices have helped stabilize Russia’s economy internally during the 2007 financial crisis onwards. But he did not limit his efforts to energy sector alone. He sought to capitalize on Russian agriculture, timber, gold, diamonds, and other commodities. He is transforming Russia from an impoverished disaster into a poor but more productive country. Impressing people in power causes problems in long term economically. It looks to me that primary means of financing in Russia was not raising equity in the stock market. It was borrowing money from banks. Since, boards of directors consisted of company employees and bankers who were interested in amassing personal wealth. But it had a fabulous growth rate in recent years because of the way the Russians structured their economy. Average Russian citizens were not spending money, and therefore Russia could not build the economy on domestic demand. And since Russian companies were controlled not by investors but by insiders like government officials, oligarchs and bankers, what they wanted to do was increase their personal wealth. How much, if any, at the expense of the low level employees mattered less. Most of the loans that were being given to oligarchs are nonperforming loans that were not being repaid properly. As the dancer gives pleasure to those who watch, the political system rewards people on loyalty rather than competency.
The concept of siloviki (force structures) can be explained by Vladimir Putin’s actions. Russian President Putin demonstrated siloviki through his increasingly self-confident government by appointing his sides from former and current military and intelligence officials in Russian security apparatus to top posts to lead the country. Most of the news to inside and outside Russia focused mainly on Putin—his international priorities, control over domestic politics, personal relationships with other heads of state, and leadership style. These stories created the impression that Putin is Russian politics, highlighting the view that to understand Putin himself is to understand Russian policy. I have noticed Siloviki in documentaries where they describe how the politicians and Putin loyalists are major stake holders in all the energy and other natural resources exporting companies. Mir represents majority of middle and lower class of people who have very minimal or low contacts to Russian elites. In order to do business in a country like Russia where corruption is rampant, the only way to succeed in getting permits and other paperwork is to be friend an oligarch or have contacts with Russian elite in kremlin to do business.