The majority of analysts and politicians in the US, Europe, Russia, and Ukraine alike view geopolitics as if it were a Hollywood action movie. In their mind’s eye, three superheroes have clashed on stage: Xi Jinping, Donald Trump, and Vladimir Putin. It appears as though each is fighting exclusively for personal or narrow national interests, and the entire question boils down to who will outweigh whom in power, who will outmaneuver whom on the tactical field, and how they will ultimately strike a deal.
This picture is fundamentally flawed. The chief mistake of observers is a total failure to understand that these leaders represent far more than just distinct political factions and nations; they represent fundamentally different civilizations driven by polar-opposite types of managerial mindsets.
Let us examine these differences.
1. Russia: The Archetype of Survival, Incineration, and Reassembly
While Western states were built over centuries around monarchies, law, urban self-governance, trade, and capital, Russia coalesced around a single existential question: how to survive in a vast, open space where a threat can strike from almost any direction.
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