Professor Timothy Snyder on what he (properly) refers to as a "Genocide Handbook" published last week: "Russia has just issued a genocide handbook for its war on Ukraine. The Russian official press agency 'RIA Novosti' published last Sunday an explicit program for the complete elimination of the Ukrainian nation as such. It is still available for viewing, and has now been translated several times into English."
Putin's Russian regime talks of “Nazis” not because it opposes the extreme right, which it most certainly does not, but as a rhetorical device to justify unprovoked war and genocidal policies. Putin’s regime is the extreme right. It is the world center of fascism. It supports fascists and extreme-right authoritarians around the world. In traducing the meaning of words like "Nazi," Putin and his propagandists are creating more rhetorical and political space for fascists in Russia and elsewhere.
The genocide handbook explains that the Russian policy of "denazification" is not directed against Nazis in the sense that the word is normally used. The handbook grants, with no hesitation, that there is no evidence that Nazism, as generally understood, is important in Ukraine. It operates within the special Russian definition of "Nazi": a Nazi is a Ukrainian who refuses to admit being a Russian. The "Nazism" in question is "amorphous and ambivalent"; one must, for example, be able to see beneath the world of appearance and decode the affinity for Ukrainian culture or for the European Union as "Nazism."
We can see the fruits of Putin's efforts here on MOL.
Some excerpts from that "Genocide Handbook" published by Russia, that Professor Snyder had referred to. The whole thing is pretty scary. This is what the Russians are reading - What should Russia do with Ukraine? [Translation of a propaganda article by a Russian publication] | by Mariia Kravchenko | Apr, 2022 | Medium
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Those Nazis who took up arms must be destroyed on the battlefield, as many of them as possible. No significant distinction should be made between the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the so-called “nationalist battalions,” as well as the Territorial Defense, who have joined the two other types of military units. They are all equally complicit in the horrendous violence towards civilians, equally complicit in the genocide of the Russian people, and they don’t comply with the laws and customs of war. War criminals and active Nazis must be punished in such a way as to provide an example and a demonstration. A total lustration must be conducted. All organizations involved in Nazi actions must be eliminated and prohibited. However, besides the highest ranks, a significant number of common people are also guilty of being passive Nazis and Nazi accomplices. They supported the Nazi authorities and pandered to them. A just punishment for this part of the population can only be possible through bearing the inevitable hardships of a just war against the Nazi system, waged as carefully and sparingly as possible relates civilians. The further denazification of this bulk of the population will take the form of re-education through ideological repressions (suppression) of Nazi paradigms and a harsh censorship not only in the political sphere but also in the spheres of culture and education. It was through culture and education that the pervasive large-scale Nazification of the population was conducted, ensured by the guarantees of dividends from the Nazi regime victory over Russia, by the Nazi propaganda, internal violence and terror, and the 8-year-long war against the people of Donbas, who have rebelled against the Ukrainian Nazism.
...
However, all listed above doesn’t make Ukrainian Nazism a “light version” of the German Nazism of the first half of the 20th century. Quite the opposite: since Ukrainian Nazism is free from such “genre” norms and limitations (which are essentially a product of political technologies), it can spread freely just like a basis for any Nazism — both European and, in its most developed form, the American racism. That’s why there can be no compromise during denazification, as in the case of the “no to NATO, yes to EU” formula. The collective West is in itself the architect, source, and sponsor of Ukrainian Nazism, while the Banderite supporters from Western Ukraine and their “historical memory” is just one of the tools of the nazification of Ukraine. Ukronazism poses a much bigger threat to the world and Russia than the Hitler version of German Nazism.
https://ria.ru/20220411/operatsiya-1782906092.html
The Google's translation from the Russian -
MOSCOW, April 11 - RIA Novosti. The special operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine is designed to put an end to the reckless course towards the complete dominance of the United States in the world, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
"Our special military operation is designed to put an end to the reckless expansion and reckless course towards the complete dominance of the United States and other Western countries under them in the international arena. Domination, which is built with gross violations of international law, according to certain rules, which they are only now repeating and which work out on a case-by-case basis," Lavrov said in an interview with Russia 24 TV channel.
This one is pretty fascinating - I'm sure a few people in here will cheerlead it's content:
https://ria.ru/20220413/denatsifikatsiya-1783200016.html
Why the West is afraid of the denazification of Ukraine
A few excerpts:
Denazification is the suppression of Nazi ideology in all its manifestations and the cleansing of all spheres of society from Nazi personnel, the identification and punishment of personally responsible Nazi criminals. This is a boon that saves the people from Nazism.
Another resonant and important topic is de-Ukrainization, that is, countering forced Ukrainization, the artificial and forced imposition of Ukrainian identity on those who do not want it (and their children). This includes opposition to the imposition of an external cultural or generally false, purely political "Ukrainianism" aimed solely at inciting hatred for Russia and the Russian people and having nothing to do with real ethnic or cultural affiliation.
The dismantling of the mechanisms of all these directions of forced Ukrainization is the denazification and de-Ukrainization necessary for a free country - and nothing more! But, of course, it is these mechanisms that the Kyiv regime will defend to the last. They are inviolable to him.
The fate of the Ukrainian political elite, which coincides completely with the oligarchic elite, including the latter's various numerous "servants", is most closely and inextricably linked with the fate of the regime doomed to destruction. This elite played the same role in the Nazification of Ukraine as the business circles of Germany played in the rise of the NSDAP and Hitler personally. The Ukrainian political elite was carried away by the Nazis as a very profitable business. And she did not want to see any dangers or alternatives. This business brought crazy profits - not to be compared with neutral, independent Ukraine.
Russia is an ineradicably anti-fascist and anti-Nazi country. She has fundamental experience in denazifying a former military adversary and building new positive relationships with him. Unlike Kyiv, it has not lost its identity in 30 years of separate existence. There is no doubt that a denazified Ukraine will not be able to be under external control by the US and Europe. And then the whole set of facts of Ukrainian Nazi practice and the support of this practice by the West will become public property and the subject of legal assessment, as happened with the Nazi practice of Hitler's Germany.
Russia tries to explain the futility of sanctions. Interesting read. Sanctions have always been a tough deterrent on Russia, at least we get a view into how they perceive them,
Russophobia kills. What will the blockade of Russia lead to
https://ria.ru/20220414/rusofobiya-1783414500.html
In war as in war, but since it is impossible to defeat Russia on the battlefield, there is only one way to achieve our defeat. Economic strangulation from the outside of such force that it led to the collapse of the economy, confusion and a change of power, that is, capitulation. In the West, they no longer hide that they are betting on this, but we also call a spade a spade. This is not about sanctions designed to stop the fighting in Ukraine: we are dealing with a course to crush Russia as such. And that is why we call the measures taken against us as they should be - a blockade aimed at defeating our country.
Everything is so, but the West does not take into account the main thing. The fact that the world has changed and is no longer controlled by the Anglo-Saxon globalists. "It is impossible to completely create such a blockade - to isolate Russia, the world's sixth largest economy, from the global economic system," the First Deputy Prime Minister said, adding that the events of the past month and a half clearly testify to this.
Refusing to buy Russian oil, coal, and potentially gas will only lead to other countries buying them, and the same will happen with the rest of our most important exports. Yes, this will entail some temporary losses in budget revenues (partially offset by rising energy prices), but certainly will not stop the development of the country.
An attempt to convince the rest of the world to join the blockade of Russia ended in nothing, everyone could already be convinced of this in a month and a half. Moreover, the longer the West tries to maintain this blockade, the more difficult it will be to do so, even for those who were forced to sign up for it.
In this sense, the recent vote at the UN General Assembly on the exclusion of the Russian Federation from the Human Rights Council was very indicative. It took place on April 7, as a result, the work of our country in the HRC was suspended, and on the same day Russia itself announced the early termination of its powers. But something else is important here: how and who voted. Especially in comparison with the anti-Russian resolution "Aggression against Ukraine" adopted by the same General Assembly a month earlier, on March 2. And on the eve of March 2, and on the eve of April 7, the West twisted the arms of third world countries (and not only them: they put heavy pressure on the same Serbia , as its president Vucic later said).
I guess there are even Nazi sympathizers in Russia, masquerading as peace activists. Real peace activists wouldn't do this.
Russia accidentally sunk their ship - (plus stormy weather):
The cruiser "Moskva" sank while being towed during a storm
https://ria.ru/20220414/kreyser-1783626130.html
The missile cruiser "Moskva", which was damaged due to the detonation of ammunition, sank during towing, the Defense Ministry said.
"During the towing of the Moskva cruiser to the port of destination, due to damage to the hull received during the fire from the detonation of ammunition, the ship lost stability. In the conditions of stormy seas, the ship sank," the military department said.
On the night of April 14, the Ministry of Defense reported that a fire had started on the Moskva cruiser, causing the ammunition to detonate. The crew was completely evacuated. At the same time, the main missile armament was not damaged, the source of ignition was localized and the ship remained buoyant.
jamie said:
Russia accidentally sunk their ship - (plus stormy weather):
The cruiser "Moskva" sank while being towed during a storm
https://ria.ru/20220414/kreyser-1783626130.html
The missile cruiser "Moskva", which was damaged due to the detonation of ammunition, sank during towing, the Defense Ministry said.
"During the towing of the Moskva cruiser to the port of destination, due to damage to the hull received during the fire from the detonation of ammunition, the ship lost stability. In the conditions of stormy seas, the ship sank," the military department said.
Russian ship f*cked itself.
Except for the death and destruction they're cheering on, the Russian media could be cartoonishly funny.
nohero said:
Except for the death and destruction they're cheering on, the Russian media could be cartoonishly funny.
that one senior citizen was pretty upset.
drummerboy said:
nohero said:
Except for the death and destruction they're cheering on, the Russian media could be cartoonishly funny.
that one senior citizen was pretty upset.
You mean Wilfred Brimlisky?
I'll start posting what I was posting on the other thread here. Please stay on topic, if you find an interesting piece from one of Vlad's site - post it here.
Here's one of the more important articles:
Russia is responsible for Ukraine:
https://ria.ru/20220326/otvetstvennost-1780162615.html
The Russians are afraid. They are very much afraid - but not at all what the West would like. Not a fall in living standards, an iron curtain, or repression - those who feared this have already fled or will soon leave. No, the Russians are truly afraid of only one thing: that our troops will leave Ukraine and anti-Russia will persist and reemerge in one form or another. But these anxiety and fear are due to misunderstanding and the inability to immediately realize the scale of the events experienced.
The current Ukraine is not just a failed state: from the Russian (as a triune people) point of view, it is not a state at all, but a temporary territorial entity within the boundaries of historical Russia. Accidentally arose - after all, the collapse of the USSR occurred due to the stupidity and mistakes of Moscow , and not Kiev's desire for independence. Has anyone already forgotten about this?
The responsibility of the main Russian state, that is, the Russian Federation, for all of historical Russia can be questioned only by those who do not recognize the existence of Russian civilization, the Russian people, and those who hate them. This responsibility is not a unique quality of the Russians: any great nation lives according to exactly the same principles. Or disappear in the maelstrom of history.
How to organize life on the territory of Ukraine — now in the areas occupied by us, and then on a national scale? How to form new authorities? How to return to the Little Russians and Great Russians the consciousness of their unity, how to free the Little Russians from false "Ukrainianism", leaving the present? How will the process of reintegration of Ukraine with Russia take place? How many state formations will appear on its current territory after the end of hostilities and the change of power - two or more? How will the statehood of the lands of Novorossiya (from Odessa to Kharkov ) be formalized: as an independent state or as part of the Ukrainian Federation? How integration with Russia will take place - through the subsequent unification with the DPR and LPR or joining the Russian Federation?
When will the rest of Ukraine become part of the Union State?
Most of these questions do not have a simple and quick answer, but it is clear that they are the ones we are facing, and it is they, and only they, that are now important for the entire Russian world.
Russia has already assumed responsibility for the whole of Ukraine - as an elder for a younger one, as a whole for its part. After February 24, Vladimir Putin is responsible for all of Russia: both Great and Small. We assumed responsibility first military, but soon humanitarian, economic, managerial, and international (and not at all in the sense of Western sanctions). Yes, full responsibility for Ukraine will fall on Moscow, because this is the meaning of everything that is happening, this is what is called reunification, the restoration of the unity of the great people.