Author: Mark Hackard
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Dostoevsky on Dark Charisma
In his work Dostoevsky and the Metaphysics of Crime, sociologist Dr. Vladislav Arkadyevich Bachinin analyzes the human personality and the dark side of its spiritual potential through the prism of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s work Demons. Translated by Mark Hackard. The metaphysical “I” is capable of bringing the personality far beyond the limits of those possibilities that the…
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Ivan Ilyin: On Forms of Sovereignty
In this 1948 essay, Russian philosopher Ivan Ilyin (1883-1954) analyzes differing forms of rule, accounting for the history, culture, temperament, and geographic setting of a given nation. Ilyin advocates a position wholly unrecognized by the modern Western conception of universal liberal democracy: a diversity of peoples throughout the world merits diversity in forms of sovereignty. Translated by…
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On the Brink of Doomsday
On the drizzly autumn Friday of November 11th, 1983, US President Ronald Reagan found no time for his customary Oval Office nap. Besides delivering a speech that morning to the American Legion in honor of Veterans Day, Reagan then filled the rest of his schedule taking part in a NATO nuclear war exercise under the…
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The Great Betrayal
In the twilight arena of international espionage, one name more than any other evokes an image of patient, masterful treachery, the insidious presence of the enemy in one’s own inner sanctum. No matter the country they serve, generations of intelligence and counterintelligence trainees have been expected to know this name well: Philby. For half a…
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Dostoevsky on Russia’s Mission
Philosopher Nikolai Onufriyevich Lossky (1870-1965) outlines Fyodor Dostoevsky’s vision of Russia’s transcendent mission – to bring the world to the God-Man Christ, Whose fullest expression is found in the ancient faith upheld by Byzantium and adopted by Grand Prince Vladimir in 988. Salvation comes from the East. Translated by Mark Hackard. Knowing the deep religious basis of…
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The Tsar’s Man in Tehran
The tragic and untimely death of Russian poet, playwright and diplomat Aleksandr Sergeevich Griboyedov (1795-1828) in Tehran was just one episode in a geopolitical duel, the Great Game, as Russia and Great Britain maneuvered for position in Central Asia throughout the 19th century. This official account from Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), authored by A.N. Itskov,…
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The Madness of the Cross
Russian historical novelist Natalya Irtenina examines the very modern phenomenon of Christian conviction without faith – an attribute of those who struggle toward God in a godless age, a world suffocated by rationalist constructs and eviscerated by nihilism. The brilliant poet and diplomat Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev (1803-1873) embodied such longing, and is a symbol of hope for…
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Attack of the Cults
Conquest doesn’t always come by way of direct invasion and occupation; subtler methods, such as sustained psychological and spiritual warfare, have proven even more successful at suborning target populations. Vladimir Mikhailovich Chernyshev, head of the Faculty of the History of Western Confessions and lecturer at the Kiev Spiritual Academy, answers questions from the publication The World…
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Ivan Ilyin: On the Devil
In this 1947 essay, Russian philosopher Ivan Ilyin (1883-1954) addresses the reality of the devil in history and our own time. Tellingly, the advance of the secular and materialist outlook has corresponded with an ever-growing fascination with the demonic – along with its public justification. Translated by Mark Hackard. In the life of the human race,…
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The Bankster International
Geopolitical analysis, the art of explaining power relationships through the prism of impersonal geography, can be a helpful tool for observers of the Great Game – but it also has its limitations. A case in point is the renewed US-Russia confrontation. Think tanks and policy insiders easily sell the narrative that from the dark days…
The Soul of the East 