{"id":9269,"date":"2026-07-31T17:47:39","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T17:47:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepoog.com\/wp\/?p=9269"},"modified":"2026-07-31T17:47:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T17:47:41","slug":"andrew-korybko-korybko-to-maga-heres-a-quick-clarification-of-russias-policies-on-issues-of-importance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepoog.com\/wp\/2026\/07\/31\/andrew-korybko-korybko-to-maga-heres-a-quick-clarification-of-russias-policies-on-issues-of-importance\/","title":{"rendered":"Andrew Korybko: Korybko To MAGA: Here\u2019s A Quick Clarification Of Russia\u2019s Policies On Issues Of Importance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Korybko To MAGA: Here\u2019s A Quick Clarification Of Russia\u2019s Policies On Issues Of Importance<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Andrew Korybko<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jul 31, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As a proud member of MAGA (with certain policy differences) since Trump came down the escalator and an equally proud \u201cNon-Russian Pro-Russian\u201d, I feel a special obligation to clarify the facts about Russian policy for fellow MAGA in order to dispel newly false perceptions of it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Laura Loomer\u2019s trip to Ukraine and interview with Zelensky were the culmination of a trend over the last 18 months of MAGA souring on Russia and warming up to Ukraine. While she might have been driven to a degree by personal motives vis-\u00e0-vis her rivalries with Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens, her reversal from a staunch critic of Ukraine to a fierce supporter parallels Trump \u201cescalating to de-escalate<\/a>\u201d with Russia through a new Ukrainian-fronted \u201cwar of attrition<\/a>\u201d. Something far greater is therefore going on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was assessed here<\/a> that \u201cAverage members of the movement have come to believe that Putin and those around him support everything that they oppose such as Leftism, Islamism, Iran, and the \u2018MAGA dissidents\u2019\u201d for the reasons that were explained in the preceding hyperlinked analysis. This perception, however, is objectively false. While Russia and the US don\u2019t see eye-to-eye on everything, Russia isn\u2019t the US\u2019 irreconcilable adversary and potentially even a latent enemy like it\u2019s now being presented as.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The present piece will therefore quickly clarify Russia\u2019s policies on issues of importance to MAGA. The purpose isn\u2019t to convince average members of the movement to support Russia\u2019s policies, just to inform them of what they are and contextualize why they might be at odds with the US\u2019 in some cases. The base as a whole probably won\u2019t rebalance their views on Russia, nor will this likely get Trump to reverse his recent escalatory moves, but it\u2019s still useful for everyone to be aware of the facts in any case:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

———-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia and China are strategic partners but crucially not mutual defense allies. They both envisage a future world order where non-Western countries have a greater say, thus explaining their joint opposition to US policies that seek to prevent this. Nevertheless, they\u2019re not entirely on the same page either, since Russia arms India against China as part of its regional balancing act while China informally complies<\/a> with some Western sanctions against Russia and sells<\/a> drones, parts, and fiber optics to Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like China, Iran is also Russia\u2019s strategic partner, but it doesn\u2019t have a mutual defense alliance with it either. In fact, Russia agreed to a military coordination deal<\/a> with Israel in the run-up to its Syrian Operation from 2015-2024, which allowed Israel to bomb the IRGC, Hezbollah, the Syrian Arab Army, and allied militias without interference from Russia as part of its other regional balancing act<\/a>. Russia has sold arms to Iran before, which were solely for deterrence purposes, but not during ongoing hostilities<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia and Israel remain close despite occasionally harsh rhetoric about one another. As proof of this, Israel isn\u2019t even symbolically designated as an officially \u201cunfriendly\u201d state by Russia, which is due to Israel refusing to comply with the West\u2019s anti-Russian sanctions. Putin himself is also a proud lifelong philo-Semite as proven by this collection of quotes between 2000-2018 from the official Kremlin website<\/a>. He\u2019s also previously described Russians and Israelis as a \u201ctrue common family<\/a>\u201d due to their diaspora ties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hamas\/Palestine<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia officially regards Hamas\u2019 infamous attack on October 7th<\/sup>, 2023, to be an act of terror, but it still retains ties with the group\u2019s political wing. Russia also supports the creation of an independent Palestinian State in line with the 1967 borders per relevant UNSC resolutions. These policies are actually commonplace across the world. Relative to others\u2019, Israel favors Russia\u2019s approach, so much so that former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett praised<\/a> Putin in 2021 as \u201ca true friend of the State of Israel\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gulf<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UAE is Russia\u2019s top trade partner<\/a> in the region and is widely considered to provide Russia with an irreplaceable valve from Western sanctions pressure as regards its role in facilitating foreign transactions. Russia also enjoys close ties with Saudi Arabia, with whom it coordinates global oil prices through OPEC+, and all the other monarchies. This contextualizes why Russia won\u2019t arm Iran during ongoing hostilities since it doesn\u2019t want its weapons to be used against them at the expense of their close ties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ukraine<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cSpirit of Anchorage<\/a>\u201d would have reportedly<\/a> seen Putin agree to a ceasefire<\/a>, which he earlier said<\/a> he wouldn\u2019t do without Ukraine\u2019s withdrawal from the entirety of the disputed regions, if Trump coerced Zelensky into withdrawing just from Donbass. If true, then that would be a major compromise for peace, yet Trump reneged on his informal commitment for whatever reason. Significantly, Putin also recently rebuffed his hawks<\/a> who want him to strike Ukraine\u2019s logistics in NATO, thus avoiding World War III.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EU\/NATO<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia believes that the EU manipulated Trump into reneging on the \u201cSpirit of Anchorage\u201d in collusion with Ukraine. It doesn\u2019t want to attack the bloc, let alone occupy its hostile population, with its only goals being to remove the sanctions to restore energy ties and reform the continental security architecture to reduce the risk of World War III between NATO and Russia. Russia doesn\u2019t seek to impose its political system, values, or anything else onto the EU, unlike what the EU seeks to do to Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

North Korea<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rounding out the geopolitical part of this review, Russia and North Korea reaffirmed their decades-old mutual defense alliance<\/a> in 2024, which then saw North Korean troops help expel Ukraine from Russia\u2019s Kursk Region<\/a>. While some have fearmongered that this pact could threaten the US or its regional allies, North Korea already threatens them (Pyongyang claims that its capabilities are for deterrence purposes). If anything, this pact helps reduce North Korea\u2019s dependence on China, which aligns with US interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Natural Resources<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia sincerely expected that the US\u2019 compliance with the \u201cSpirit of Anchorage\u201d would result in a resource-centric strategic partnership between them that was elaborated on here<\/a> and here<\/a>. In short, the US would reduce Russia\u2019s dependence on China<\/a> through these means while depriving China of access to every Russian resource deposit (energy and<\/a> minerals<\/a>) in which the US and other its close partners like India, Japan, and South Korea invest. This arrangement is still hypothetically on the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leftism<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Putin is a critic of communism<\/a> and Stalin\u2019s \u201cGreat Terror<\/a>\u201d, though he recognizes the latter\u2019s role in leading the USSR to victory against the Nazis in the existential conflict known as the Great Patriotic War. While Russia recently assembled a modern-day Comintern known as the \u201cSovintern\u201d, it\u2019s also assembled right-wing movements too as explained here<\/a>, thus balancing everything out. Many top \u201cNon-Russian Pro-Russians\u201d promoted by state media are Leftists, but that\u2019s by coincidence, not design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Islamism<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia doesn\u2019t care how states organize their socio-political systems. As regards the international<\/a> Muslim<\/a> community<\/a>, or Ummah, it conceptualizes this collection of countries as a counterweight (together with India) for reducing disproportionate dependence on China. At home, Chechnya is allowed to implement Islamic law (Sharia) per the terms that ended its terrorist-separatist conflict, but Article 282 of the Russian Criminal Code<\/a> strictly criminalizes inciting ethno-religious hatred like some Western Islamists do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThird Worldism\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This concept has different definitions, but as regards the critical view of it as a crusade by non-Westerners to destroy the West in revenge for colonialism, etc., Russia in no way supports that. If anything, strengthening these states\u2019 sovereignty by enhancing their security and building power plants stabilizes them, thus reducing illegal immigration to the EU. France has lost some of its extractive enterprises in the Sahel due to Russia, but this blow isn\u2019t fatal and doesn\u2019t harm other Western states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMAGA Dissidents\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russian media\u2019s occasional positive reporting of \u201cMAGA dissidents<\/a>\u201d and occasional negative reporting of their foes like Loomer, especially on X, is just an attempt to keep their American readers\u2019 attention and generate online traction. As misguided as many MAGA members might consider it to be, not to mention how counterproductive it might have ultimately been vis-\u00e0-vis MAGA, that\u2019s their true motive. Moreover, Carlson, Owens, and company were invited to Russia since they\u2019re not antagonistic to it, nothing deeper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conservatism<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Putin\u2019s Russia is conservative relative to the EU and the Democrats\u2019 vision of the US, but relative to what MAGA wants, it\u2019s only partially conservative but still better than the EU as a whole. There\u2019s no pressure to suppress one\u2019s religious beliefs in public either so long as they don\u2019t infringe on others\u2019 rights. While abortion is legal, the state discourses it and instead promotes pro-natalism. Legal immigration is sought, but the state expects<\/a> assimilation<\/a>, though ethnic autonomous republics have special cultural rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

———-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many MAGA members might be surprised to read about Russia\u2019s actual policy towards these over one dozen issues of importance to their movement, but that\u2019s probably because they were under the influence of the Russian soft power approach that I call \u201cPotemkinism<\/a>\u201d. In brief, it\u2019s the creation of alternative realities about Russian policy for \u201cstrategic purposes\u201d, or cynically getting people to like Russia even on false premises such as the debunked belief that Putin is an anti-Zionist who hates Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite being counterproductive as explained here<\/a> by creating false expectations of Russia that lead to disappointment among its supporters, not to mention how it\u2019s backfired by turning MAGA against Russia due to the false perception that Russia supports all that they oppose, it\u2019s still practiced. Be that as it may, I\u2019m humbly a credentialed expert on Russian foreign policy after receiving my MA in International Relations and PhD in Political Science from the Russian MFA-run MGIMO, so I know what its policies are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a proud member of MAGA<\/a> (with certain policy differences) since Trump came down the escalator and an equally proud \u201cNon-Russian Pro-Russian\u201d, I feel a special obligation to clarify the facts about Russian policy for fellow MAGA in order to dispel newly false perceptions of it and the country in general. I\u2019m also a principled opponent of \u201cPotemkinism\u201d and have been \u201ccanceled\u201d by top \u201cNon-Russian Pro-Russian\u201d influencers because of it like I discussed here<\/a> and here<\/a>. This is therefore very personal for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you liked this post, consider subscribing \u2013 in right-hand sidebar \u2013 if you are not a subscriber already. Please forward it to anyone else you might think will benefit from it. We are at a critical point in time where we need to disseminate truth to those who have ears to hear, and be forming communities of like-minded individuals. If you want to discuss an idea or issue, contact me \u2013 see Contacts<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Korybko To MAGA: Here\u2019s A Quick Clarification Of Russia\u2019s Policies On Issues Of Importance Andrew Korybko Jul 31, 2026 As a proud member of MAGA (with certain policy differences) since Trump came down the escalator and an equally proud \u201cNon-Russian Pro-Russian\u201d, I feel a special obligation to clarify the facts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoog.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoog.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoog.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoog.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoog.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9269"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thepoog.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9270,"href":"https:\/\/thepoog.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9269\/revisions\/9270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoog.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoog.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoog.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}