
If we say (and show) enough times that there are no more questions that need to be asked about the nature and future of Russia, it will become true
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Danila is a dangerous mixed metaphor: an empty vessel and a hired gun.
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These identities belong to the world of urban folklore
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Americans who are paranoid about Russian trolls are trolling themselves.
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This is still fantasy, but it is neither that of Tolkien nor Warcraft.
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The Orc identity imagines rejection by the West, only to turn the Orc into an imaginary weapon against the West.
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Meet the Jeffrey Epstein of Middle Earth
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The “Orc question” becomes much more provocative when seen in terms of internal cultural dynamics.
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The song is an implicit call for the renewal of Orc pride.
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The Orc is the Sovok weaponized.
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If the appeal to literary fantasy might seem to cheapen ideological discourse, then this is a job well done.
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Fine, we’ll be your evil empire.
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Fictional worlds are serious business
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Was the Soviet Union the model for Mordor?
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Tolkien has been accused of many things, but subtlety is not among them.
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Perhaps the Eye of Sauron is a bit too “on the nose”?
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To some Russian audiences, the villains start looking uncomfortably…Russian.
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The very last people who can determine what is universal bout such stories is the Anglo-Saxon audience.
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Nothing says “Evil Empire” like the Eye of Sauron.
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