March 24, 2023

Vladimir Putin’s approval rating is 82%. Joe Biden’s is 42%. Xi Jinping’s is anyone’s guess, but the Chinese near-unanimously trust their government. More than half of Russians trust their government. Less than a third of Americans trust theirs. These statistics are not random but speak to America’s imminent loss in this, the Second Cold War.

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The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin for war crimes in Ukraine, and Russians are as proud as ever to be Russian. Meanwhile, American pride is sinking. It has given Ukraine $76.9 billion to fight the second iteration of Russia’s “Evil Empire” in a war increasingly seen as the opening proxy war in Cold War II.

Why aren’t Americans rallying around the flag? Pride, approval, and support for their respective flags in China and Russia, but not the same in America, is not an accident. All governments influence the memories they want their people and foreigners to have of them. It’s called political memory.

A look at how the governments of Russia, China, and the United States are leveraging political memory sheds light on why Russians and Chinese love their governments and rulers, and Americans are souring on America and Biden. This simultaneous occurrence is not an accident. Russia and China are preparing to win the second round of the Cold War, and America is handing them the opportunity to do this.

Image: Putin and Xi. YouTube screen grab.

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The goal of Russia’s political memory is “to give students and ordinary citizens a simple and consistent narrative of a powerful nation they can take pride in.” School begins by singing the national anthem and raising the Russian flag. Taking a knee or disparaging the Russian flag is unthinkable. Putin, to be certain of unified support for the actions taken, restore Ukraine to its rightful place, and prepare for Cold War II, launched a new patriotic history in 2022. Putin described the purpose: “A deep understanding of our history…to draw correct conclusions from the past.”

Russia’s political memory constantly conditions Russians to fear existential threats, particularly from the West. It’s why they revere their militaries and have always been prepared to endure heavy casualties in war. The military prevents the Russian state from being subjugated.

Political memory also instills an unshakable pride in Russia and being Russian, something cemented through glorifying military victories, or at least victory in WWII. The most important holiday in Russia is Victory Day, which honors the end of WWII. Glossed over or censored because they do not instill pride are Russia’s losses in the Crimean War (1853-1856), the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), Vladimir Lenin bailing on WWI while hoping to seal victory for the Germans, Stalin’s crimes against humanity, and the 1939 Hitler-Stalin non-aggression pact.

Russia’s political memory, which is more concerned with future security than past moral failings, also has no room for millions starving in government-made famines in the 20th century, including the Ukrainian Holodomor, the enslavement of a third of the people in the Russian Empire until 1861, the 19th- and 20th-century Jewish pogroms and Muslim cleansings, or the 21st century’s inhumanity against Muslim Russian Chechens. These parts of history do not contribute to the goals of Russia’s political memory.

Russia’s approach to political memory is consistent with China’s approach and motivated by the same theme: China lives with a perceived existential threat to its independence, particularly from the west. Cold War II will test its resilience.

China began preparing for round two at the end of Cold War I. This is when it began its “Patriotic Re-education Campaign.” Cementing patriotism in China, as in Russia, is key to preparing for and achieving victory in Cold War II.