Мне прислали «вкусную» цитату из второго издания книги нашего siaxs'а Ричарда Фольца:

«For all their self-proclaimed feistiness, Ossetes for the most part have maintained a kind of medieval serf mentality, revering rather than resisting their oppressors. Indeed, an alternate title for this book could have been ‘The Ossetes: Eager Enablers of Russian Imperialism’. Under such conditions one wonders to what extent any kind of real (as opposed to imaginary) Ossetian identity could be said still to exist, or what its future prospects might be. Chiri pies at all-male banquets, heroic myths that few people have actually read, a dying language, and crusades against the wearing of shorts would seem a thin foundation for an enduring nationhood» (Foltz, Richard. The Ossetes: Modern-Day Scythians of the Caucasus, London: Bloomsbury, 2023. P. 181–182).

Во-первых, я очень-очень осуждаю вот это вот всё написанное выше (прям очень-очень).

Во-вторых, это, конечно, не наука, а публицистика. Но цитата книгу мне, так уж и быть, «продала». Надо читать.