Russia had seen so many worlds flick through in such blistering progression — from Communism to perestroika to shock therapy to penury to oligarchy to mafia state to mega-rich — that its new heroes were left with the sense that life is just one glittering masquerade, where every role and any position or belief is mutable.

This mindset permeates the country from top to bottom, and I try to show how it is common to both political rulers and gold-diggers.

As the book progresses we see how this ideology undermines itself: without core values society starts to lose its mind. The tumble from decadence to madness.

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/russias-era-excess-ending-fallen-100000738.html