![]() In Putin's myth of the past, Volodymyr/Valdemar was a Russian whose conversion linked forever the lands of today's Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. In Russia, President Putin's first such point was the year 988, when his namesake, an early medieval warlord of Scandinavian origin known in his time as Volodymyr or Valdemar, converted to Christianity. Could you give us examples of such myths and "special points in history"? The politics of eternity is based on the past as a national, mythical past. The politics of eternity requires points in the past to which the present can cycle, demonstrating the innocence of the country, the right to rule of its leader, and the pointlessness of thinking about the future. ![]() ![]() They make us think about a past that never happened and make it a major theme of discussions of the present - thus creating a "politics of eternity." When looking at the current leadership of Russia and the US, they have one point in common: leaders have no program for the future and succeded in distracting the rest of us from thinking of such a program. We have lost the ability to think about what comes next and to project our thinking into the future. ![]() We do not have a future, or at least not a mental future worth talking about. ![]() Professor Snyder, in your recent book "The Road to Unfreedom", you describe the returning of authoritarianism. ![]()
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