Konstantin Malofeev, the Russian far-right media oligarch whose Orthodox Christian news network Tsargrad TV promotes ultranationalist and monarchist ideas, is set to become a lecturer at the prestigious Moscow State University (MSU)[…]
His course, The History of Empire, has already appeared in the university’s course calendar[…]
While we don’t know for certain what the media mogul will say in his lectures, he has spoken and written extensively about his views on empires — namely in his quasi-historical “Empire” book series[…]He explained the book’s premise in an interview with far-right ideologue Alexander Dugin that same year
According to Malofeev, two civilizational types — the “Empire” (with a capital “E”) and the “anti-empire” — have been locked in opposition since antiquity. In the ancient world, he argues, the embodiment of the “anti-empire” was Carthage, which fought against the Roman Empire
Malofeev also lists the main characteristics of both types of “civilization.” An “empire,” he argues, is defined by a “tsar” or “emperor” figure, who “answers only to God”[…]
The businessman goes on to say that the most important words for an “Empire” are “service,” “honor,” and “duty.” “Anti-empires,” by contrast, are ruled by traders and oligarchs[…]which means their priorities are profit, enrichment, personal success, consumerism, and personal comfort[…]
In Malofeev’s framework, an empire “exists across the centuries”: the Roman Empire, he says, transformed into the Byzantine Empire, which in turn became the Tsardom of Muscovy and then the Russian Empire. Today’s Russia is its continuation[…]
Meanwhile, the “anti-empire” can be embodied by multiple states and structures simultaneously. Malofeev applies the label to Carthage, the Venetian Republic, the United States, and even “transnational corporations”
“Christ himself was registered under Roman authority during the Roman census, and that means the Roman Empire is eternal until the Second Coming”