Why did these prominent Americans attend a festival of Russian supremacy?
Their names are Aleksandr Dugin, Sergei Lavrov and Jeffrey Sachs, and they all appeared as featured speakers at the Tsargrad Institute's June conference in Moscow, which was titled 'Forum of the Future 2050.'
According to the Moscow Times, the event also featured 'conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, right-wing influencer Jackson Hinkle … British politician George Galloway and Elon Musk's father Errol Musk,' as well as the American journalist Max Blumenthal.
Konstantin Malofeyev, a proponent of Russia's use of nuclear weapons and the deputy head of the World Russian People's Council, founded the Institute — named after the Russian equivalent of Constantinople — in 2023. Dugin is the institute's director.
The meeting took place at the same time that Tsargrad issued its report, 'Russia 2050. A picture of the Future.' The following snippets, translated by Google, will give you a sense of what the Institute's aspirations are.
'The main reason for what is taking place in the world today is the fundamental crisis of liberalism,' the report reads. 'Liberalism has not only led humanity into a dead end of ideological, cultural, scientific, technological and economic development, but it has also created a threat to its very existence.'
'The symbol of the anti-liberal turn in the West is the Trump revolution and Trumpism,' it states. 'The final victory of the Trumpists will lead to the strengthening of presidential power and the transformation of the political regime of the USA into an autocracy.'
Once 2050 rolls along, 'Russia is a sovereign power pursuing a truly independent domestic and foreign policy. All territories of the former Russian Empire and the Soviet Union are part of the zone of vital interests and exclusive influence of Russia. The existence of Russophobic political regimes hostile to Russia and its people in these territories is completely excluded. In addition to the countries of the former USSR, the macroregion created by Russia includes some countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, as well as individual countries in Africa and Latin America.'
In short, by 2050, Russia will have been made great again, while the degenerate West will have been reduced to third-rate status.
One could object by suggesting that so rosy a scenario could happen only if Russian President Vladimir Putin leaves office before fully succeeding in transporting his country into the Stone Age. But no matter: Tsargrad is entitled to dream.
As may the Russian people. A recent poll conducted by the Levada Center asked Russians to rank the 'most outstanding people of all times.' The top 10 were all Russians: Stalin took first place with 42 percent, Putin was second with 31 percent and Lenin took third with 28 percent. Poor Albert Einstein managed 11th place with 8 percent. Isaac Newton came in 18th with just 5 percent.
The numbers speak for themselves: Russians believe they are superior and they worship at the altar of autocracy. In that sense, the Tsargrad report is an accurate reflection of Russian political culture.
So why did prominent Americans like Sachs and Blumenthal decide to give the event their imprimatur? It is doubtful that they would accept an invitation to a conference organized by the Ku Klux Klan or the Proud Boys. And yet, in speaking at such a questionable forum, they have done something quite similar.
To be sure, they, like Galloway, are already tainted by their willingness to appear on Putin's propaganda television network, RT. But it's a big step up from going on TV to sit in the same room as Dugin and Lavrov and engage them in chitchat.
No, let me take that back — this is far worse than attending a KKK or Proud Boys event. After all, the KKK is yesterday's news. The Proud Boys are too small to matter. The Tsargrad conference, in contrast, reflects the ideas of a regime which, as Sachs and Blumenthal know, invaded Ukraine and is systematically killing Ukrainians and destroying their culture.
That's not just war. It's genocide.
Sachs and Blumenthal should be ashamed. The West in general and liberals in particular should be prepared. The Russian assault on civilization has only just begun.
Alexander J. Motyl is a professor of political science at Rutgers University-Newark. A specialist on Ukraine, Russia and the USSR, and on nationalism, revolutions, empires and theory, he is the author of 10 books of nonfiction, as well as ' Imperial Ends: The Decay, Collapse, and Revival of Empires' and ' Why Empires Reemerge
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