[LINK] "Soft-Soft Versus Hard-Soft Power"

[rfmcdonald]

Transition Online's Bulgarian writer, Boyko Vassilev, writes about the soft power that Russia enjoys in Bulgaria--and, by modest extension of the writer's intent, in post-Communist regions and populations which didn't see a rapid turnaround after 1989. The young generation remembers the era of transition and not the era of Communism, and so its allegiances are influenced accordingly.

Those who wonder why so many Bulgarians and other Eastern Europeans support Vladimir Putin’s aggressive approach in Ukraine should take note. The hardships of transition have meant relative deprivation: you might be better off than you were 25 years ago, but your neighbor is much wealthier. So who is to blame? “The democrats,” the Americans (our new masters) and their culture. Free speech is not as attractive as employment and security. The EU is about bans, the United States is about wars. Fancy cars are expensive. Madonna is a hollow PR product; much deeper is Lyube, one of Putin’s favorite bands. And yes, those hamburgers and sodas make you fat or stupid, or both.

A completely different generation is on the rise. Those born in the 1980s and 1990s remember not communism but transition. For them it is easy to believe in the former’s benefits, because they know the latter’s problems. Unlike us, who had seen all the Russian films and only the good American ones, they have seen all of the Hollywood productions, but only the masterpieces from Moscow. As youngsters, they are natural revolutionaries, rising against the world’s sole superpower. First, they were anti-globalists, then nationalists. Now they cheer for Putin.

He also has a soft power, of a sort. A strongman, hunting tigers, defeating enemies, conquering lands, challenging Yankees, professing patriotism, faith, and mysticism: what else can you wish for a young man’s dreams? In a way, Putin resembles a Game of Thrones character. Even technology, supposedly Russia’s weak point, is a lure. I have heard younger people enthusiastically praise Russian social networks, Russian GPS navigators, and Russian smartphones.

[. . .]

Bulgarian pro-Westerners note, though, that those same young people head West when they leave the country in droves. But not every émigré is successful, and the disgruntled ones who return nurse a grudge against the West. Additionally, their parents back in Bulgaria hate the West, because it steals their children.