Russia-Ukraine Invasion
Out of context: Reply #1993
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- yuekit3
"Russia is a deeply traumatized, divided nation, whose official discourse is now becoming deeply orthodox. It says, There is no death, but only immortality. There is no pain, only duty. Meanwhile, the majority of people are afraid, and their assent cannot be taken at face value.
The ideology of people around Putin, and Putin himself, seems quite clear-cut. It’s Neo-Fascism. They don’t use this term, but the entire framework of Russian imperialist views — with the right to aggressively expand the state borders, the internal politics with regard to oligarchs, etc. — this mindset is the core of what we would call Neo-Fascism.
Russia has a history of claiming to be an anti-imperialist force, but even this has Fascist precedents, in the German propaganda used when occupying Europe and justifying the occupation as resistance to British and French imperialism.
Putin and the people around him are doing something pretty shrewd, and pretty dangerous. They don’t just rely on orthodox conservative thinkers like Alexander Dugin and Ivan Ilyin. They also use anti-colonial leftist language, telling the world that they represent all of its oppressed people in their struggle against colonial imperialist domination.
And, unfortunately, this has some appeal to some third-world nations. I see it as a very ominous sign. Putin’s promise of pluralism, of countries letting each other do as they please at home, is the basis of Putin’s deal with the Taliban in Afghanistan. China’s deal is to be able to have its way with its Muslims. But this isn’t anti-imperial emancipation: it’s really a proposal for a new Neo-Fascist unity."