Illiberal “soft power”

It wasn’t that long ago – maybe five or six years – that I last heard someone claim that Russia would never posses real soft power.
After all, who could look at Russia’s everyday corruption, its kleptocratic government, its extremely unequal distribution of wealth, and its “resource curse” economy and conclude “I want some of that!” China, with its rapid economic growth and conspicuous material abundance? Sure. But not Russia. Definitely not Russia.
It turns out (spoiler) that there are plenty of westerners who don’t care very much about democracy and the rule of law. They see Russia, and especially Putin, as a standard-bearer for “traditional values” – a bulwark against degenerate liberal values.