Trump’s “Paper Tiger” Claim

Russia’s awakening from simulacrum to reality

Alexander Dugin says Trump’s “paper tiger” insult is false yet reveals Russia’s past illusions as it awakens into real power and Victory.

Trump’s remark about Russia being a “paper tiger” is, of course, insulting. And, of course, untrue.

Yet he struck a nerve. By the start of the Special Military Operation, far too much in Russia had become a simulacrum. Only when confronted with a real and brutal war did we gradually begin to realize how neglected everything was — above all in the military sphere, and especially in its leadership. The examples are plain to see.

Not from Trump — let him first deal with the complete degeneration of his own society, where matters are far worse — but in our own Russian eyes the words “paper tiger” are not entirely false or mere propaganda. We had, critically, too much imitation; we appeared to be what we were not. Discovering this was perilous. Yet it surfaced.

Looking back, and with certain caveats, there is something in such a cutting judgment that cannot be dismissed with the phrase “there are no paper bears.” Out of paper one can cut any figure. The possibilities of simulacra are vast.

Still, I would draw another conclusion from this hostile accusation. If, to some degree, we were a “paper tiger” at the beginning of the Special Military Operation (certainly not completely), then now we most certainly are not. Even then, we were not entirely so. We were a living, real bear, but a sleeping one. Over its slumber flickered a crude cartoon — that was the simulacrum. The elites hesitated to wake the bear, believing it too risky and thinking they could manage with the cartoon.

It has now become clear that without truly waking the bear, we cannot win this war. Purely technical means will not suffice. We tried, and it failed. So, precisely now, a course has been set to move from simulacrum to reality; an operation to awaken the people is underway.

The two great challenges — Victory and demography — can only be met through awakening, through the shift from imitation to reality. This was the message of Andrei Belousov when he took the office of Defense Minister: mistakes can be made, lies cannot.

We are no paper tiger. Not anymore.

Yet this still requires firm historical proof.

I believe the West, which provoked this war, gathered through its intelligence and networks certain secret information that the “tiger” was “paper.” This was not entirely true, but not entirely false either. Authenticity hovered on the edge of forgery. The difference lay in nuance, in a few percentage points.

We endured the most difficult moment, when the bluff collapsed, and now we are clearly establishing ourselves — on the battlefield and at home, in diplomacy and in building a multipolar world — as something real, serious, and powerful.

Still, traces of the “paper” remain. Not disastrously, as before, but they remain.

If, in branding Russia a “paper tiger,” Trump is in fact signaling a withdrawal from direct support for Ukraine, things will become somewhat easier for us. But we must achieve Victory under all circumstances — even if it does not become easier, even if it becomes harder.

We live at a turning point in history. We are breaking it — and it is trying to break us. The scales of Victory waver.

Now it is vital to turn to science and education. And to philosophy. There lie the keys to authenticity.

Hegel said that every great power must have a great philosophy. Without it, the power itself becomes a simulacrum — a “paper tiger.” Awakening means the awakening of the spirit.

(Translated from the Russian)