This guy's insight has been enlightening, and highlights how alien Russian Authoritarian thought is compared to Western Individualist thought.
One thing that's been especially shocking is the relatively low status the military has, which seems insane to us here in the West. Here, it's "Thank you for your service!", there it's a very low-status thing. It makes more sense once you realize the military represents a coup risk for a dictator, and has to be kept politically weak to preserve the State. Our military's undying loyalty to our civilian governments is something we here in the West take for granted, and is severely underrated.