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Transnational Thursday for June 11, 2026

Transnational Thursday is a thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or international relations history. Feel free as well to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.

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Judging by his past in general, the portrayal of the Bolsheviks and their mentality in his works, and the censorship of said works in Soviet times, Bulgakov was at least as likely to be disowned by Putin’s regime as well. I find this at least as surprising.

That's not how Putin's regime really works. As long as the author was not against the idea of Russia entirely, they can get integrated into the syncretic religion of Glorious Grandfathers. That's how you get people who venerate both the tsars and the guys who killed the tsar.

In fact, I'm not even sure they bother to ban past authors (aside from Mein Kampf), the current dissidents are what's getting censored most of the time.

As long as the author was not against the idea of Russia entirely, they can get integrated into the syncretic religion of Glorious Grandfathers.

Not to go off on a tangent, but isn't that just how cultural policy usually works anywhere?