Thread by @visegrad24

The influence Dugin is alleged to have over Putin personally is often exaggerated in the West, but his book from 1997, “The Foundations of Geopolitics”, has had much influence within the Russian military & foreign policy elites.

Let’s look at some of the maps in it.

A thread⬇️

The ideas presented by Dugin in “Geopolitics” made there way into the army after the Academy of the General Staff of the Russian military started using it as a textbook in the late 90s & early 00s.

The people educated there then are now in key positions in the Russian Army in UA

Dugin has access to key people in the military since his father, Geliy, was a colonel-general in the Soviet military intelligence.

Colonel General Leonid Ivashov, head of the International Department of the Russian Ministry of Defence, helped to draft Dugin’s book “Geopolitics”.

In Foundations of Geopolitics, Dugin calls for the US and Atlanticism to lose their influence in Eurasia, and for Russia to rebuild its influence through annexations and alliances.

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Military operations play relatively little role.

The textbook advocates a sophisticated program of subversion, destabilization, and disinformation spearheaded by the Russian special services.

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The operations should be assisted by a tough, hard-headed utilization of Russia's gas, oil, and natural resources to bully and pressure other countries.

The book states that "the maximum task [of the future] is the 'Finlandization' of all of Europe".

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More than anything, Dugin wants the US out of Europe by dividing up the continent together with a Franco-German alliance.

France should be encouraged to form a bloc with Germany, as they both have a "firm anti-Atlanticist tradition" according to Dugin.

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Dugin says Germany should be offered the de facto political dominance over most Protestant and Catholic states located within Central and Eastern Europe, while Russia should be given control of the Orthodox populations in the Balkans.

Kaliningrad could be given back to Germany.

Dugin writes that:

- Finland should be absorbed into Russia.

- Estonia should be given to Germany's sphere of influence.

- Latvia & Lithuania should be integrated into Russia.

- Belarus & Moldova are to become part of Russia.

Dugin also claims that:

Romania, North Macedonia, Serbia, "Serbian Bosnia" and Greece – "Orthodox collectivist East" – will unite with "Moscow the Third Rome" and reject the "rational-individualistic West".

Dugin writes that “Ukraine has no geopolitical meaning, no cultural importance or universal significance, no geographic uniqueness, no ethnic exclusiveness, its certain territorial ambitions represents an enormous danger for all of Eurasia”.

Dugin says that Russia must annex Ukraine because “without resolving the Ukrainian problem, it is in general senseless to speak about continental politics".

Later on in time, Dugin declared respect for China, but in “Geopolitics” in 1997, he argued that Beijing represents a danger to Russia and China must be dismantled.

He wants Russia to annex Tibet–Xinjiang–Inner Mongolia–Manchuria.

The Chinese never forgave Dugin.

After suggesting that Russia should annex northern and eastern China, Dugin writes that Moscow should offer China help "in a southern direction – Indochina (except Vietnam), the Philippines, Indonesia, Australia" as geopolitical compensation.

In America, Dugin suggests that Russia should use its special services within the borders of the US to fuel instability and separatism, thus “introducing geopolitical disorder into internal American activity”.

Dugin argued that Russia should foment “ethnic, social and racial conflicts, actively supporting all dissident movements – extremist, racist, and sectarian groups, thus destabilizing internal political processes in the U.S.”

He also talks about supporting isolationist tendencies

Finally, Dugin drew a map which shows Russia “as an Eurasian Empire”.

These are the minimum borders he wants.

Later on, he has expanded his ambitions talking about Russia reaching the Indian Ocean too.

Many of his ideas have been taking root in the Russian Army for 25 years.

To summarize, Dugin has little impact on Putin’s own plans, but his book has influenced large parts of the Russian Army.

After criticizing Putin for not taking all of Ukraine in 2014, Dugin lost his job at the Moscow State University.

Putin views Dugin & Girkin as a nuisance.

It is therefore likely that it was Putin, or somebody trying to please Putin, who was trying to kill Dugin yesterday.

It is much less likely that the Ukrainian secret services had anything to do with it.

It is also possible that Dugin’s murder was to be used to rally public support for a massive attack on Ukraine in connection with Ukraine’s Restoration of Independence Day (August 24).

Russian air-defense systems have been amassing in Belarus for well over a week now.