Dissident Mama, episode 19 – Tim Kirby

Welcome to the Dissident Mama podcast #19. In this episode, I talk Tim Kirby, independent journalist and creator of the This is Russia: Tips, Tricks & Travel  a fascinating YouTube channel that is also cross-published at Russia Beyond. RTTT is where Kirby shows viewers “all about life in and travel around the biggest country on Earth.”

But this American doesn’t just give viewers an inside glimpse into his wild travel and living-abroad adventures, his vlog sometimes takes a deep dive on a more personal note, such as “The most Russian American – Why Tim Kirby left the United States” video. Even though he has been ruffling tail feathers in Moscow for many years, this was my first introduction to Kirby, and I was blown away by his candor. It was as if this guy has been a fly on the wall in my home.

So much of what the former radio-host expressed is exactly how I feel and think about the sad state of America and how, in my opinion, Russia may be the only country left on the entire planet that is willing to resist globohomo (which is why my family and I are praying to pull off a move to Russia – that is, if the country ever reopens its borders to US citizens). Is Russia really the “last best hope” of mankind, or at least, the last refuge for traditionalists and conservatives Christians?

We’ll see what Kirby, who the Wall Street Journal castigated as “a kind of Kremlin-appointed Joe the Plumber,” has to say about that, as well as find out what happened to his now-defunct geopolitical video segment on RT called Kirby’s War of Words. Fortunately, the Ohio native, now Russian resident still does geopolitical writing and is currently a contributor at the Strategic Culture Foundation. You can also follow Тим Керби at Facebook, Instagram, and VK for all you Russian speakers.

Mentioned in our conversation are Russian political analyst Aleksandr Dugin, the indispensable bookAlbion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in Americaby David Hackett Fischer, my 5-part “Puritans” series on understanding the historical, cultural, and religious difference between North and South (and the diverse people groups therein), the travel and political vlogger ADV China, and Kirby’s own This Old Russian House Renovation Guide.

Download this episode!

Or you can watch Kirby and me chat on video at the DM YouTube channel.

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Comments

  1. Terry Morris

    Hard not to notice you haven’t received any feedback in the way of comments to this podcast. I could definitely be wrong, but should imagine the reason is because your readers don’t like the idea that you’re looking for a way to move to Russia and they’re too polite to say anything about it.

    Momma always said, “if you ain’t got nothin’ good to say, then don’t say nothin’ at all.”

    I’m a lot like the younger brother (can’t think of his name off the top of my head) in the movie, A River Runs Through It, when the elder brother asked him to go with him to live in Chicago: ‘Nah, brother, I’ll never leave Oklahoma.’

    I’ve written here before that I’ve read everything Matthew Fontaine Maury ever wrote and then some. Which of course is a bit of an exaggeration, but only a bit of one. At the opening of hostilities in the WBTS, Maury was at the height of his career and was famous throughout the civilized world for his work in charting the ‘paths of the seas.’ At the time he was the most decorated American in history, having received medals from virtually all the maritime nations, including the Vatican. Just before hostilities opened he received two invitations – one from France, the other from Russia – to come to their countries at their governments’ expense and to live out the war there where he could continue his scientific endeavors, also at the full expense of the government of those countries. I thought you might like to read his answer to Constantine, Admiral of the Russian Navy:

    Admiral,

    Your letter reached me only a few days ago; it filled me with emotion. In it I am offered the hospitalities of a great and powerful Empire, with the Grand Admiral of its fleets for patron and friend. Inducements are held out such as none but the most magnanimous of princes could offer, and such as nothing but a stern sense of duty may withstand.

    A home in the bosom of my family on the banks of the Neva, where, in the midst of books and surrounded by friends, I am, without care for the morrow, to have the most princely means and facilities for prosecuting those studies, and continuing those philosophical labors in which I take most delight: all the advantages I enjoyed in Washington are, with a larger discretion, to be offered me in Russia.

    Surely a more flattering invitation could not be uttered! Certainly it could not reach a more grateful heart. I have slept upon it. It is becoming that I should be candid, and in a few words frankly state the circumstances by which I find myself surrounded. The State of Virginia gave me birth; within her borders, among many kind friends, the nearest of kin, and troops of excellent neighbors, my children are planting their vine and fig tree. In her green bosom are the graves of my fathers; the political whirlpool from which your kind forethought sought to rescue me has already plunged her into a fierce and bloody war.

    In 1788, when this State accepted the Federal Constitution and entered the American Union, she did so with the formal declaration that she reserved to herself the right to withdraw from it for cause, and resume those powers and attributes of sovereignty which she had never ceded away, but only delegated for certain definite and specified purposes.

    When the President elect commenced to set at naught the very objects of the Constitution, and without authority of law proceeded to issue his proclamation of 15th April last, Virginia, in the exercise of that reserved right, decided that the time had come when her safety, her dignity and honor required her to resume those “delegated” powers and withdraw from the Union. She did so; she then straightaway called upon her sons in the Federal Service to retire therefrom and come to her aid.

    This call found me in the midst of those quiet physical researches at the Observatory in Washington which I am now, with so much delicacy of thought and goodness of heart, invited to resume in Russia. Having been brought up in the school of States-rights where we had for masters the greatest statesmen of America, and among them Mr. Madison, the wisest of them all, I could not, and did not hesitate. I recognized this call, considered it mandatory, and, formally renouncing all allegiance to the broken Union, hastened over to the South side of the Potomac, there to renew to Fatherland those vows of fealty, service and devotion which the State of Virginia had permitted me to pledge to the Federal Union so long as, by serving it, I might serve her.

    Thus, my sword has been tendered to her cause, and the tender has been accepted. Her soil has been invaded; the enemy is actually at her gates; and here I am contending, as the fathers of the Republic did, for the right of self-government, and those very principles for the maintenance of which Washington fought when this, his native State, was a colony of Great Britain. The path of duty and honor is therefore plain.

    By following it with the devotion and loyalty of a true sailor, I shall, I am persuaded, have the glorious and proud recompense that is contained in the “well done” of the Grand Admiral of Russia and his noble companions-in-arms.

    When the invader is expelled, and as soon after as the State will grant me leave, I promise myself the pleasure of a trip across the Atlantic, and shall hasten to Russia, that I may there in person, on the banks of the Neva, have the honor and the pleasure of expressing to her Grand Admiral the sentiments of respect and esteem with which his oft-repeated acts of kindness, and the generous encouragement that he has afforded me in the pursuits of science, have inspired his

    Obedient servant,

    M.F. Maury, Commander, C. S. Navy

    1. Dissident Mama

      Terry,
      You’re sweet and I get what you’re saying. But times are making me tap into my pre-Confederate ancestors, the ones who fled persecution or sought opportunity for their posterity because where they came from wasn’t so safe. In other words, their homes were no longer homey, no longer rooted and part of them, no longer a snug fit, so they fled. Just like the “State of Virginia gave me birth,” too, it’s sadly an empty shell, and a poisonous one that feeds on its own. “When the invader is expelled,” I may return. But that will take an awakening of the Southern-born natives, which is I think not in the cards for now. And what is preeminent for me is my sons. They need a people, and currently, they do not have one here. Unfortunately, “the invader” reigns supreme. If only there were more Maurys today.

      1. Terry Morris

        What you do, where you decide to live and for whatever reasons, is your business and none of mine. But did you know/were you aware that the movie The Undefeated would never have been made were it not for Mr. Maury?; that no sooner did he realize the invader would not be expelled from Virginia or the South, than he went straight to work using his influence and friendship with the Emperor of Mexico to secure a new homeland for his Southern brethren? Which was coming along nicely until, as General Lee predicted in a letter to Maury it would, the Yankee government “interfered” with the plan and the Emperor was forced to give it up.

        I don’t think Maury gets credit in the movie (it’s been a while since I watched it, so I can’t really say one way or the other with confidence), but it was nevertheless Maury’s plan start-to-finish; he proposed it and drew it up, and Maximilian gave it the force of law slightly edited, appointing Maury as its director answerable only to himself.

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