View Full Version : Russia and European far right
The Russian Connection. The spread of pro-Russian policies on the European far right.
14/03/14
http://www.riskandforecast.com/useruploads/files/pc_flash_report_russian_connection.pdf
I don't know the last time an important German politician was so not amused and made it clear on a public stage.
Steimmeiers response (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AX5m5swD-QU) to a couple of provocateurs, likely from the far left. The German Linke had even some elements at the Crimean Circus, happily serving the noble cause alongside members of the extreme right and an Italian mafioso. :wry:
He has been a force of moderation and almost desperate for diplomancy and then a couple of useful idiots are shouting crude Kremlin-inspired propaganda.
Regarding the article, I think the far-right leaders and members are also enjoying the rare 'international' stage and the diplomatic treatment given to them.
Italy, Matteo Salvini, Northern League Federal Secretary (La Voce Della Russia, December 20, 2013)
People in Italy still know little about Russia, although in my opinion Russia represents the future. In the coming years Russia shall become a unique partner for the League and Northern Italy
Now that sounds indeed like a Lega Nord guy, who has clearly no idea what he is talking about and uses bland phrases. I almost can hear his Italian.
Here is one Crimea observes list with pictures.
http://anton-shekhovtsov.blogspot.be/2014/03/pro-russian-extremists-observe.html
Fuchs
05-21-2014, 06:17 PM
The last two months haven't been normal in Germany regarding extremists and wackos in general. The strange behaviour of far left and far right in the Ukraine case is a sideshow compared to this.
A nice bunch (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrb1R0cvOuo) at a Lega Nord PC, with the reliable 'Liberal' Kremlin-man Viktor Zubarev of United Russia being the second speaker. One can easily imagine how the far-right gang for the Crimean Circus was recruited..
A grand total of 1733 views so far.
It gets better and better (http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/ausland/europa/Gipfeltreffen-mit-Putins-fuenfter-Kolonne/story/30542701"), Putin's 'Fifth column' seems to be rather active. It fits rather nicely with what we already know. I wonder who paid the whole event, most likely the country of the moderator which is now known to invest rather heavily to get mouthpieces and allies in the West...
At the same time, however, discussed only a few meters away, in the town palace of Prince Liechtenstein, nationalists and Christian fundamentalists from Russia and the West, as they save Europe from liberalism and the "satanic" gay lobby and how they could revert to the old, God-given order. The meeting was held behind closed doors and drawn curtains under the strictest secrecy. However, it was confirmed the TA of two independent sources.
Hosted the conference in Vienna were the Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeew and its Sankt Foundation Basil the Great . Malofeew also moderated the event. Other guests from Russia were the chief ideologue of the Eurasian Movement , Alexander Dugin , as well as the well-known nationalist painter Ilya Glazunov . From France, the deputies of the National Front , Marion Marechal -Le Pen came ( granddaughter of the party 's founder and niece of Marine Le Pen) and the historian Aymeric Chauprade . From Spain traveled to Prince Sixtus Henry of Bourbon -Parma , leader of the Catholic- monarchist Carlist movement, from Switzerland Serge de PAHLEN , director of the Geneva financial company and husband of the heiress Margherita Agnelli de Fiat PAHLEN . From Austria , the chairman of the right-wing populist Freedom Party , Heinz-Christian Strache , his deputy John Gudenus and the Vienna FP politician Johann Herzog participated , from Bulgaria , the chairman and founder of the far-right Ataka party , Volen Siderov . Next in attendance were right-wing extremists from Croatia , noblemen from Georgia and Russia, and a Catholic priest .
Translated by Google.
Asked by the Austrian Standard (http://derstandard.at/2000001740015/Strache-soll-an-Geheimtreffen-mit-russichen-Oligarchen-teilgenommen-haben), the FPOe said that it was a 'private invitation', not worth to be commented on.
From interview with Marine Le Pen.
SPIEGEL: Why are you supporting Russian President Vladimir Putin in his position against Europe in the Ukraine crisis?
Le Pen: I do not support Putin against Europe. This is a caricature. I support a federalist Ukraine. The EU poured fuel on the fire by proposing an economic partnership to a country known to look half to the East and half to the West.
SPIEGEL: Do you admire Putin?
Le Pen: I have a certain admiration for Vladimir Putin because he doesn't allow decisions to be forced upon him by other countries. I think he focuses first and foremost on what is good for Russia and the Russians. As such, I have the same respect for Putin that I do for Ms. Merkel.
SPIEGEL: Putin isn't a democrat.
Le Pen: Oh really? He isn't a democrat? There are no elections in Russia?
SPIEGEL: There is no freedom of the press, for example.
Le Pen: But you think that there is real freedom of the press in France? Ninety-nine percent of the journalists are leftists!
SPIEGEL: That's what you think. But journalists aren't killed and they aren't locked up.
Le Pen: To be honest, there are many things said about Russia because they have been demonized for years at the behest of the USA. It is part of the greatness of a European country to develop one's own opinion and to not view everything through the US lens. We have no lesson to teach Russia if we concurrently roll out the red carpet to Qatar, Saudi Arabia and China.
SPIEGEL: So you are more opposed to the US than you are in favor of Russia?
Le Pen: The Americans are trying to expand their influence in the world, particularly in Europe. They are defending their own interests, not ours. I am in favor of a multi-polar world in which France once again takes its position as the leader of non-aligned states, not with the US, not with Russia and not with Germany. One should strive to be neither slave nor master.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/interview-with-french-front-national-leader-marine-le-pen-a-972925-2.html
Le Pen fails to create far-right EP faction
24.06.2014 09:29
BRUSSELS - Far-right duo Marine Le Pen and Geert Wilders have failed to form a group in the European Parliament.
Wilders told Dutch media outlet ANP on Monday (23 June) they were unable to meet the minimum parliament criteria of having members from at least seven different member states.
http://euobserver.com/eu-elections/124719
Beyond Anti-Westernism: The Kremlin’s Narrative about Russia’s European Identity and Mission
Marlene Laruelle Published 08-04-2014
Especially since 2011-12, there has been an observable shift in Russia’s ideological atmosphere. This has included the repeated crafting of new ideological repertoires— sets of arguments that serve as content for the branding of a new “voice of Russia” and that are supported by networks of influence. Anti-Westernism, and especially anti-Americanism, exemplifies this quest for new repertoires. However, the Kremlin’s narrative is multifaceted and dissassociates the West’s liberal values from Europe as a philosophical and historical principle. This has led to a dual discourse criticizing contemporary Western politics but emphasizing Russia’s role in preserving “authentic” European values. In this memo, I explain how Russia’s “European repertoire” should be understood through the historical prism of the “Russian idea.” I then discuss one aspect of this European repertoire—the narrative of Russia as a savior of Christian values—and the political networks in the West that are receptive to it.
http://www.ponarseurasia.org/sites/default/files/policy-memos-pdf/Pepm326_Laruelle_August2014.pdf
Putin’s Secret Friends in Paris
September 9, 2014
http://20committee.com/2014/09/09/putins-secret-friends-in-paris/
Russian weekly Ogonyok writes about French far right volunteers in Donetsk.
http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/2557415
In September, Le Pen received 9 million EUR from Russian bank ...
http://inagist.com/all/536187017487720448/
OUTLAW 09
11-23-2014, 10:29 AM
A solid thread to follow as it is at the heart and core of the Russian attempts to undermine the EU through their "fellow travelers" the neo right, ultra nationalists and fascists---which for some might be a contradiction in terms since Russia evolved out a Communism.
kaur---same story but in French ---France's far-right got a loan from a Russian bank thanks to an MEP who was also an "election observer" in Donetsk http://www.mediapart.fr/journal/france/221114/marine-le-pen-decroche-les-millions-russes …
This time a "Russian fellow traveler from the old Communist days"--notice how he is parroting the Russian FMs comments of a "civil war":
#Ukraine's Foreign Ministry responds to #Czech president’s claim of ‘ civil war’ in Ukraine
http://www.unian.info/politics/1012150-foreign-ministry-responds-to-czech-presidents-claim-of-ordinary-civil-war-in-ukraine.html …
OUTLAW 09
11-23-2014, 12:26 PM
Reference France's le Pen:
Ben Judah @b_judah
Frequent guest in Moscow. And strong opponent of NATO "imperialism" in Ukraine.
pic.twitter.com/oF0QPccRCy
Ben Judah @b_judah
Has the Kremlin returned to it's Cold War strategy of trying to break NATO via sponsoring France extremists - just this time the right wing?
OUTLAW 09
11-23-2014, 12:31 PM
Seems like Russia is using massive info war tactics to get their two ships released to them---even faking polls in France.
Le Figaro did not publish results of #Mistral gallup because fraud - #Russians interfered with voting (French)
http://www.lefigaro.fr/international
OUTLAW 09
11-23-2014, 01:03 PM
Interesting article on Russian "fellow travelers and influencers" in Europe.
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-11-20/putin-has-noncrazy-friends-in-europe
OUTLAW 09
11-23-2014, 02:33 PM
A solid thread to follow as it is at the heart and core of the Russian attempts to undermine the EU through their "fellow travelers" the neo right, ultra nationalists and fascists---which for some might be a contradiction in terms since Russia evolved out a Communism.
kaur---same story but in French ---France's far-right got a loan from a Russian bank thanks to an MEP who was also an "election observer" in Donetsk http://www.mediapart.fr/journal/france/221114/marine-le-pen-decroche-les-millions-russes …
This time a "Russian fellow traveler from the old Communist days"--notice how he is parroting the Russian FMs comments of a "civil war":
#Ukraine's Foreign Ministry responds to #Czech president’s claim of ‘ civil war’ in Ukraine
http://www.unian.info/politics/1012150-foreign-ministry-responds-to-czech-presidents-claim-of-ordinary-civil-war-in-ukraine.html …
Trust in the Czech President after his pro Russian "fellow travelers comments" yesterday drops.
#Zeman Under Fire: Czechs' trust in their president plummets following Ukraine comments
http://youtu.be/sJHNwFi-Hh0
Most Czechs do recall 1968.
Zeman got elected after a rather dirty campaign, fitting seemingly the man which has acted in style (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-03/president-shocks-czechs-by-swearing-during-radio-show.html)...
Kasparov remarked:
Czech president Zeman curses & attacks Russian political prisoners. Drunk, stupid, or looking for a job at Gazprom?
Apart from the direct successors of the DDR regime party, the Linke, most 'supportive' politicians come indeed from the (far) right although there are obviously guys which are linked through business ties.
The attempts of various CEO to influence the political game on behalf of a authoritative leadership with which the do much business are nothing new under the sun. It shouldn't surprise that the persons listed are mostly in sectors in which the relationship with said leaders and their circle is of the biggest importance.
Le Front national, nouveau « parti de l’étranger » ? opens brilliantly Mediapart's (http://www.mediapart.fr/journal/france/221114/marine-le-pen-decroche-les-millions-russes) story. Le Monde (http://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2014/11/23/le-front-national-a-emprunte-de-l-argent-a-une-banque-russe_4527889_823448.html) reports it as well and after the French loss to the Swiss in the Davis Cup final it is the most read one. Obviously other nations spend money to influence the national politics of other countries, but at least in Europe I don't recall such a blunt effort. At least other European extremists were funded a bit more covertly...
Some details about de Villiers.
https://www.facebook.com/marcinrey/posts/10202730449846925
OUTLAW 09
11-24-2014, 06:18 AM
KGB paid Norwegian Socialdemocratic Ministers to bloc Norway's EU entry?
http://www.dn.no/meninger/kommentarer/2014/11/21/2159/Uten-filter/kgb-i-eukampen
About Russian bank, that gave money to FN.
Willing Banks Find Profits in Legal Trade With Iran
Updated April 8, 2012 1:42 p.m. ET
As Western sanctions on Iran have grown tighter, some small banks have found a lucrative niche financing what remains of the legal trade with the Islamic Republic.
Top-tier financial institutions including Socit Gnrale SA and Rabobank Group have stepped back from business with Iran in recent months, citing increased political risk and logistical hassles that attend even legal trade with the country.
As a result, the remaining players are commanding higher fees and offering increasingly complicated services. Like Russia's First Czech-Russian Bank LLC and China's Bank of Kunlun Co. Ltd, they are typically small, obscure financial institutions often based in countries historically friendly to Iran.
While relatively small, the markets are large enough to attract smaller institutions. In February, some traders started flocking to First Czech-Russian Bank after word spread that it had started servicing Iran trade facilities, according to Iran trade professionals. In March, Roman Popov, the chairman and majority owner of the bank, was elected to lead the Russian-Iranian Business Council, promising to increase bilateral trade.
http://online.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303299604577323601794862004
Seems to be blogger, who covers this Russia and far right topic. Good posts from him!
This development supports my earlier argument that "European right-wing extremists seem to benefit financially from their cooperation with the Kremlin".
http://anton-shekhovtsov.blogspot.be/2014/11/the-french-far-right-secure-9m-loan.html
OUTLAW 09
11-24-2014, 12:06 PM
The Real Rebels of Eastern #Ukraine: neo-Nazi from St. Petersburg,#Russia
https://www.facebook.com/UkrainePatch/posts/600837140021991 … pic.twitter.com/d2W6ObVrvm
OUTLAW 09
11-24-2014, 01:31 PM
Seems to be blogger, who covers this Russia and far right topic. Good posts from him!
.
http://anton-shekhovtsov.blogspot.be/2014/11/the-french-far-right-secure-9m-loan.html
kaur---Might interest you.
#MEP Fabrizio Bertot #Crimea "referendum" observer @ #Russian terrorist shelling position on #Ukraine army.Next what?
pic.twitter.com/9IrgkccImV
OUTLAW 09
11-24-2014, 03:45 PM
Reference Hungary:
#Orban wants #Ukraine as a buffer to #Russia. Sweet Putinist.
http://www.handelsblatt.com/politik/international/premier-orbn-ungarn-will-die-ukraine-als-puffer-zu-russland/11022238.html …
OUTLAW 09
11-24-2014, 06:13 PM
In German--a good article on the Russian support to right wingers in Europe.
Putin und die Populisten: Das rechte Netz des Kreml
http://spon.de/aenxK
via @SPIEGELONLINE
OUTLAW 09
11-24-2014, 07:25 PM
And more and more is coming out.
Behind the 'Putin youth': the fastest growing organisation in #Russia http://buff.ly/1xNgP2H
pic.twitter.com/8AG2Pl0Ft1
The Populist Networks.
http://mercury.ethz.ch/serviceengine/Files/ISN/185696/ipublicationdocument_singledocument/d5d00d50-c353-4a4f-9f6b-1b7468f648ba/en/spotlightengl_May+2014.pdf
OUTLAW 09
11-25-2014, 07:51 PM
Once pro Russian always pro Russian.
The President of the Czech Republic advises Ukraine to surrender to the 'stronger neighbour'.
http://zik.ua/ua/news/2014/11/25/prezydent_chehii_proponuie_ukraini_pidkorytysya_sy lnomu_susidu_543614 …
pic.twitter.com/ItMxPfnysM
OUTLAW 09
11-27-2014, 10:54 AM
And who says Putin is not "buying" European neo/ultra rightist support?
Wow. €9 million was just the first transaction for Le Pen from Russia - another €31 million to follow
http://euobserver.com/foreign/126693
OUTLAW 09
11-27-2014, 03:03 PM
And who says Putin is not "buying" European neo/ultra rightist support?
Wow. €9 million was just the first transaction for Le Pen from Russia - another €31 million to follow
http://euobserver.com/foreign/126693
"#Putin gives 40m € to #France's #LePen" is no surprise for those, who read this 2 May 2014 article:
http://euromaidanpress.com/2014/05/02/russias-corruption-campaign-in-the-eu/ …
OUTLAW 09
11-27-2014, 05:39 PM
Article in todays' German Bild newspaper.
A report is claiming Russian President Vladimir Putin has far-reaching plans to secretly rule Europe via a covert operation with the title: “Putin: the new leader of international conservatism.”
Sources in the German intelligence agency said the country’s eurosceptic party, Alternative for Germany (AfD), is being convinced by Russian secret agents as part of a wider-reaching plan to “to construct a network of right-wing populism in western Europe,” reported The Express, citing German newspaper BILD.
BILD reported that Moscow’s Centre for Strategic Communications drafted up a blueprint for the covert operation with the title, “Putin: the new leader of international conservatism.”
“In Europe Putin dreams – and he has said this publicly – of having a sphere of influence across the continent all the way down to Portugal,” BILD states.
From Anton's blog (http://anton-shekhovtsov.blogspot.be/2014/11/the-french-far-right-secure-9m-loan.html), mentioned by Kaur:
Marine Turchi's important piece for Mediapart concludes with a note that French investigators have already launched an inquiry into the funding sources of the FN. We can only hope that similar initiatives are undertaken in other European countries too, especially in Austria, Hungary and Bulgaria.
I would add Italy to that list, with the Lega Nord. Even among the corruption-rich environment of Italian parties it's proportion of scandals and embezzlement by the dear founder's family stands out. As FN the LN has something of a family business, although young Renzi is not quite up to Marie. In any case some of the (financial) links of party members to the Kremlin are rather obvious, as in the case of the voting dog and pony shows in Crimea or the Donbas.
It would not surprise me at all if not only members but also the party itself receives pecunia from Moscow which in that FN man's words doesn't stink despite it's origins. Berlusconi's Forza Italia is of course more dangerous.
Schindler's new input.
http://20committee.com/2014/11/29/is-this-the-end-of-europe/
FN and guest from Russia.
http://www.dw.de/le-pen-basks-in-attention-at-front-national-conference/a-18102093?maca=en-rss-en-eu-2092-rdf
OUTLAW 09
11-30-2014, 12:58 PM
A lot of Putin's argument lately center around western liberalism which Russia equates with guy support.
Behind a pay wall but otherwise a great article today in The Sunday Times about when Merkel decided Putin needs to be "contained" not appeased.
And for a German leader like Merkel that means a heck of a lot in her thinking.
It also means the SPD's Ostpolitik is totally now dead for good.
http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/world_news/Europe/article1490279.ece
OUTLAW 09
12-01-2014, 11:58 AM
Russia lent money to Greece’s #neofascist Golden Dawn, Italy’s Northern League & other antiEU parties
http://www.theweek.co.uk/europe/61498/russia-funds-french-national-front-is-moscow-sowing-european-unrest
OUTLAW 09
12-01-2014, 12:29 PM
Russia's links with the French far right get curiouser and curiouser. An ex-KGB agent lent Le Pen senior €2 million:
http://euobserver.com/foreign/126731
Le Pen admits to further loans from Russian lenders
12.12 @ 09:22
Jean-Marie Le Pen, the president of French far-right party, the National Front, has told French website Mediapart he got more loans from Russian lenders than the €2mn earlier reported. He didn't give the amount, but said it could be up to €20mn. A Russian bank also lent the party €9mn.
http://euobserver.com/tickers/126898
Putin Seeks to Influence Radical Parties in Bid to Destabilise Europe
BY ELISABETH BRAW / JANUARY 9, 2015
http://www.newsweek.com/2015/01/16/putins-envoys-seek-influence-european-radicals-297769.html
EP security points to Farage group in 'Red Dalia' dispute.
The distribution in the European Parliament of a controversial book accusing Lithuania's president Dalia Grybauskaite of having worked for Soviet Russia has been linked to the eurosceptic EFFD group led by British MEP Nigel Farage.
Over 700 copies of the controversial book, which alleges that the president worked for Russia’s Soviet-era spy agency, were placed in MEPs’ pigeonholes.
Following a complaint by Liberal Lithuanian MEP Antanas Guoga, and a separate intellectual property complaint by the book’s author, Ruta Janutiene, who said she never gave anyone permission to translate it, the EP’s directorate-general for security has concluded that “Red Dalia” was distributed on 10 December by EFDD secretariat member Kevin Ellul Bonici.
The findings of the internal investigation were meant to be confidential, but were leaked to the media by Guoga.
The letter from the security directorate, addressed to EP president Schulz, says Bonici on the day in question “invited two guests into parliament, one Russian citizen, and one Polish citizen who was born in Moscow”.
https://euobserver.com/beyond-brussels/127250
davidbfpo
01-17-2015, 04:53 PM
As if on cue or is it a loan condition, as The Independent reports 'Paris attacks: Jean-Marie Le Pen says French terror attacks were work of Western intelligence':
The shooting at Charlie Hebdo resembles a secret service operation but we have no proof of that....I don’t think it was organised by the French authorities but they permitted this crime to be committed. That, for the moment, is just a supposition.
Link:http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/paris-attacks-jeanmarie-le-pen-says-french-terror-attacks-were-work-of-western-intelligence-9985047.html
26 January 2015
Greek left-wing SYRIZA forms a coalition with the pro-Kremlin far right
http://anton-shekhovtsov.blogspot.be/2015/01/greek-left-wing-syriza-forms-coalition.html
The Greek population is among the most Russian-friendly in the EU and the useful idiots or foreign observers in the Crimea and the Donbas were from the extreme European left and right. The current Greek coalition, made by parties with extreme elements from the respective ends of the spectrum, should find relative rare common ground over that aspect of foreign policy.
Possibly a bargaining chip for the far more important rounds with the EU on austerity, but who knows?
OUTLAW 09
01-28-2015, 02:43 PM
The Greek population is among the most Russian-friendly in the EU and the useful idiots or foreign observers in the Crimea and the Donbas were from the extreme European left and right. The current Greek coalition, made by parties with extreme elements from the respective ends of the spectrum, should find relative rare common ground over that aspect of foreign policy.
Possibly a bargaining chip for the far more important rounds with the EU on austerity, but who knows?
Both Greek parties have close ties to Dugin and Russia/Russians have over
31B USDs in Cyprus banks---one of the largest money washing capitals in the West. One of their Greek banks that went under and lost all Russian accounts was in total ownership (hidden) of Russian oligarchs.
OUTLAW 09
01-29-2015, 08:54 AM
American anti-Semite & frmr KKK leader David Duke photographed together w/ Aleksandr #Dugin (right)
v @A_SHEKH0VTS0V
pic.twitter.com/eZTZE4Xk9U
OUTLAW 09
02-01-2015, 11:14 AM
How Putin Is Infiltrating European Politics
http://uk.businessinsider.com/putin-is-infiltrating-europe-2014-12 … pic.twitter.com/z3Msjp7iFq
Hackers Leak Messages 'Between Kremlin and France’s Front National'
BY LUCY DRAPER 4/3/15 AT 5:15 PM
The exchanges are between ‘Timur Prokopenko,’ who the hackers identify as a Kremlin official and Kostya, a man they describe as a “Russian connection” who has access to Le Pen.
http://www.newsweek.com/hackers-claim-leak-messages-between-kremlin-and-frances-front-national-319442
Kostya seems to be this man http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konstantin_Rykov
Timur Prokopenko is deputy head of depatment of interior affairs in Presidential administration.
From left.
Reuters) - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier dismissed on Sunday calls from the radical Left party to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to this year's summit of the Group of Seven industrial powers.
The leaders of G7 nations held a summit without Putin last year in protest against Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region. With little sign of bloodshed in eastern Ukraine ending despite a ceasefire deal agreed in Minsk two months ago, the exclusion has continued.
Gregor Gysi, parliamentary leader of the Left party that includes some former East German communists, has argued that Russia was needed to help solve international crises and the G7 should therefore once again be expanded into the G8.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/04/12/uk-g7-germany-russia-idUKKBN0N30DG20150412
Anton Shekhovtsov's comment.
19 February 2015
German Die Linke delegation visits right-wing terrorists in Eastern Ukraine
http://anton-shekhovtsov.blogspot.be/2015/02/german-die-linke-delegation-visits.html
"I am Eurasian" - The Kremlin connections of the Hungarian far-right
In-depth analysis
14/04/15
There have been many signs of Kremlin’s increasing efforts to influence both decision-makers and the general public in the EU and member states. One of the political tools to exert such influence is through coopting certain far-right (and far-left) parties and organizations within the European Union. Russian influence of this kind is considered a major threat for European integration. In order to present the modus operandi of Kremlin in exerting influence, Political Capital launches a series of publications focusing on certain member states (Hungary, Slovakia, Greece and France) as well as the EU institutions. The first part of the series, which has been recently published, analyzes the pro-Kremlin stance of the Hungarian far-right, and particularly Jobbik.
Even though the Hungarian far-right and Jobbik, a major actor of the far-right scene, position themselves as representatives of Hungarian national interests, they have become uncritical and unconditional servant of the current Russian regime’s interests. This phenomenon cannot be explained by reasons connected to domestic politics: supporters of the West outnumber the adherents of Russia both among the general public and Jobbik’s voter base.
European far-right organizations serving Russian state interests fill three major functions:
1. social and political destabilization at the member state, community and transatlantic levels alike;
2. provision of external legitimization of the Russian regime (e.g., through ideological support and observation of elections);
3. provision of information and spread of disinformation (i.e., transmit Russian propaganda to EU member states and gather intelligence).
53 pages
http://www.riskandforecast.com/post/in-depth-analysis/-i-am-eurasian-the-kremlin-connections-of-the-hungarian-far-right_817.html
Good comment from Anton Shekovtshov about Kremlin and Le Pen connection!
Russia and Front National: Following the Money
A new leak of the text messages originating from a hacked smartphone of a high-ranking officer of Russia’s Presidential Administration sheds further light on the relations between the Russian authorities and their far right allies in France.
No. 167 Russia, Europe and the Far Right
Author(s): Marlene Laruelle, Pter Krek, Lrnt Győri, Attila Juhsz, Giovanni Savino
This edition considers the relationship between the Putin regime and Far-Right political parties in Europe. Firstly, Marlene Laruelle examines the overarching picture of Russias bedfellowing policy towards the European Far-Right, noting that these new relationships provide the Putin regime with multiple channels for influence within certain European countries. Secondly, Pter Krek, Lrnt Győri and Attila Juhsz assess the linkages between Putins Russia and Hungarian right-wing political parties, whereby one such party, Jobbik, is now working to promote Moscows policies and interests in both Hungary and the European parliament. Thirdly, Giovanni Savino outlines how the recent shift within far-right political parties in Italy towards pro-Russian positions is due to the image of the Kremlin as a bastion of traditional values, conservative policies and anti-US forces.
http://www.css.ethz.ch/publications/pdfs/Russian_Analytical_Digest_167.pdf
Bill Moore
05-19-2015, 12:34 PM
No. 167 Russia, Europe and the Far Right
Author(s): Marlene Laruelle, Pter Krek, Lrnt Győri, Attila Juhsz, Giovanni Savino
http://www.css.ethz.ch/publications/pdfs/Russian_Analytical_Digest_167.pdf
This is part of their strategy, they are engaged in a new ideological battle with the U.S., but instead of communism versus democracy and freedom, it is neo-conservatism versus liberalism. The following document provides a good description of how they are waging this effort. Your post indicates it is working, at least at some level.
http://www.osw.waw.pl/sites/default/files/the_anatomy_of_russian_information_warfare.pdf
In opposition to the ideology of liberalism, it promotes “a neo-conservative post-liberal power (…) struggling for a just multi-polar world, which defends tradition, conservative values and true liberty.” The “Russian Eurasian civilisation” is set at contrast to the “Atlantic civilisation led by the USA” which allegedly intends to disassemble Russian statehood and gain global hegemony. The internal crisis in Ukraine followed by the need to annex Crimea have been presented in the context of the rivalry between these two civilisations.
An interesting description of Russian information warfare at the following link.
http://www.theguardian.com/news/2015/apr/09/kremlin-hall-of-mirrors-military-information-psychology
I had always imagined the phrase “information war” to refer to some sort of geopolitical debate, with Russian propagandists on one side and western propagandists on the other, both trying to convince everyone in the middle that their side was right. But the encyclopedia suggested something more expansive: information war was less about methods of persuasion and more about “influencing social relations” and “control over the sources of strategic reserves”. Invisible weapons acting like radiation to override biological responses and seize strategic reserves? The text seemed more like garbled science fiction than a guide for students and civil servants.
Continuity and change
Where once the KGB would have spent months, or years, carefully planting well-made forgeries through covert agents in the west, the new dezinformatsiya is cheap, crass and quick: created in a few seconds and thrown online. The aim seems less to establish alternative truths than to spread confusion about the status of truth. In a similar vein, the aim of the professional pro-Putin online trolls who haunt website comment sections is to make any constructive conversation impossible. As Shaun Walker recently reported in this newspaper, at one “troll factory” in St Petersburg, employees are paid about £500 a month to pose as regular internet users defending Putin, posting insulting pictures of foreign leaders, and spreading conspiracy theories – for instance, that Ukrainian protestors on the Maidan were fed tea laced with drugs, which led them to overthrow the (pro-Moscow) government.
Much more at the link. Bottom line is NATO's alleged military superiority can be easily and cheaply subverted with information warfare. We're concerned with little green men, when we should be concerned with the information domain. If we can dominate the information domain, we can easily eliminate the little green men.
Seems to be best find of the year. Paul W. Blackstock "The Strategy of Subversion. Manipulating the Politics of Other Nations" 1964. Chapter 2 " The Theory of Covert Political Operations" sub-section "Subversion." How Hitler manipulated French politics.
Much more at the link. Bottom line is NATO's alleged military superiority can be easily and cheaply subverted with information warfare. We're concerned with little green men, when we should be concerned with the information domain. If we can dominate the information domain, we can easily eliminate the little green men.
I partly disagree.
a) While the military superiority of NATO does make it arguably more attractive to employ means like information warfare even the potentially conventionally superior WP used it extensively during the Cold War. It's more about return on propaganda investment and basic opportunity costs.
b) The Russian forces were ordered to invade Crimea and SE-Ukraine by their president. The poor economic performance of Ukraine and the ressource-driven economic success of Russian plus Soviet nostalgia made the population a rather fertile ground for the Kremlin information campaigns. But in the end the decisive factor in the occupation of those regions were still the invading military forces.
Rather old-fashioned stuff with some modern means as support, at least IMHO.
Britain’s Ukip and France’s National Front teamed up with other anti-EU parties to vote against a Russia-critical resolution at the European Parliament on Wednesday (10 June).
The non-binding report, by centre-right Lithuanian MEP Gabrielius Landsbergis, passed anyway by 494 votes against 135 with 69 abstentions.
It raises the alarm over what it calls the emergence of a new “Nationalist International”.
It says the European Parliament is “deeply concerned at the ever more intensive contacts and co-operation, tolerated by the Russian leadership, between European populist, fascist, and extreme right-wing parties on the one hand and nationalist groups in Russia”.
It calls the Russia-backed bloc “a danger to democratic values and the rule of law in the EU”.
It also “calls on the [European] Commission to propose legislation forbidding financing of political parties in the EU by political or economic stakeholders outside the EU”.
French investigative reporters last November revealed the National Front received at least €9 million in loans from a Kremlin-linked bank.
German media and the Austrian opposition say the anti-euro AfD party in Germany and the far-right FPO party in Austria are also being financed by Russia, in allegations they deny.
The far-right Jobbik party in Hungary and the pro-Russian Latvijas Krievu savieniba party in Latvia are facing criminal probes on similar grounds.
The parties regularly speak out in favour of Russia at home and in the EU assembly.
https://euobserver.com/political/129071
Anton Shekovtsov comments this weekend event.
Russian politicians building an international extreme right alliance
(This article originally appeared in Norwegian in Verdens Gang.)
Russia seems to be getting serious about building an international alliance of extreme right parties that would aim at undermining the liberal democratic consensus in the West. In addition to providing financial support for parties such as France’s Front National and using extreme right activists and politicians as tools of propaganda, Russia is now building what it calls the “World National-Conservative Movement” (WNCM). A number of the internal documents (passed to me by the Moscow-based "Sova Centre") provide an insight into the agenda and structure of the WNCM.
http://anton-shekhovtsov.blogspot.be/2015/09/russian-politicians-building.html
Riskandforecast series analysis about Kremlin and Front National.
http://www.politicalcapital.hu/wp-content/uploads/PC_Study_Russian_Influence_France_ENG.pdf
The Telegraph reports.
American intelligence agencies are to conduct a major investigation into how the Kremlin is infiltrating political parties in Europe, it can be revealed.
James Clapper, the US Director of National Intelligence, has been instructed by the US Congress to conduct a major review into Russian clandestine funding of European parties over the last decade.
X
Officials declined to say which parties could come into the probe but it is thought likely to include far-right groups including Jobbik in Hungary, Golden Dawn in Greece, the Northern League in Italy and France’s Front National which received a 9m euro (£6.9m) loan from a Russian bank in 2014.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/12103602/America-to-investigate-Russian-meddling-in-EU.html
Frenchmen visited Donetsk.
A delegation led by Jacques Closterman, a French politician linked with Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Front and two lawyers - Josy Jean Bousquet and Hanen Maksud – are on a visit to the so-called ‘Donetsk people’s republic’. Their aim, according to Russian and Kremlin-backed militant sources, is “to gather cases of Ukrainian war crimes against residents of Donbas for the further circulation of such information among the public of France and Europe”
http://khpg.org/en/index.php?id=1452639620
During visit of Doentsk airport ruins. In concert with Russian narrative about fascists. I wonder why Russians took away collection of NATO weapons from airport.
SOT Reporter (French): "Is what happened here Fascism?"
SOT Jacques Clostermann (French): "Certainly, certainly. But it's very difficult to explain that less than 2,500 km from Paris, there are horrors such as the ones that have occurred here, among these people. It's also difficult to explain that these people fought for their freedom, and that everything that happened here was in the name of liberty for the people themselves, for the rights of the people to self-determination. This is something extraordinary."
https://www.ruptly.tv/vod/view/40680/ukraine-jacques-clostermann-leads-french-delegation-to-donetsk
NATO weapons in Donetsk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HO3RuLUZneg
Bill Moore
02-14-2016, 04:01 AM
http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2016/02/07/russia-having-success-in-hybrid-war-against-germany/
Russia having success in hybrid war against Germany
Now, as the German chancellor flounders domestically because of her open-door refugee policy, she has made herself vulnerable to attack. “I’ve never seen so much glee from the Russians as during Germany’s refugee crisis,” said a diplomat in Berlin.Later proven to be a false claim, but it still served it purpose to mobilize Russian immigrants in Germany, and the far right.
Stoking outrage in Germany’s Russian-speaking community is not an end in itself, but a means to exploiting cracks in German society exposed by the refugee crisis. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who served as a KGB agent in Soviet-occupied East Germany and speaks fluent German, believes that Berlin and Moscow can form a strategic axis based on Russian natural resources and German technology. Merkel, in her insistence that Russia do more to bring peace to Ukraine, is getting in the way.
We don't need to wonder too far to see dejavu. I hope Merkel stays strong. I suspect SPD has not lost their compass.
MITROKHIN'S INFORMATION ON the KGB's West German agents, though extensive, is not comprehensive. There is, for example, intriguing evidence in the files seen by Mitrokhin of a KGB agent in the entourage of Egon Bahr, one of Helmut Schmidt's most trusted advisers and a leading architect of Ostpolitik. (There is no suggestion that the agent was Bahr himself.) On February 5, 1981 Andropov sent Brezhnev and the CPSU Central Committee an intelligence report (no. 259-A/OV ), marked "of special importance," which recounted a telephone conversation on January 27 between Schmidt and Ronald Reagan, whose inauguration as president of the United States had taken place a week earlier, and gave details of Schmidt's subsequent discussions with Bahr and other advisers. To Schmidt's irritation, Reagan asked for a month's delay to the chancellor's visit to Washington, previously arranged for March 3, on the grounds that the President was not yet ready "for a serious discussion of foreign policy problems." Schmidt told his advisers that this was a deliberate delaying tactic by the new Reagan administration "designed to enable Washington to gain time to build up its armaments with the aim of overtaking the USSR in the military field."
The KGB source also reported complaints by Schmidt to Bahr and others that Bonn was flooded with specialists sent by Washington with the aim of halting the growth of commercial contacts between West Germany and the Soviet Union. Schmidt rightly believed that the Reagan administration was out to torpedo the negotiations between Bonn and Moscow on the construction of pipelines to bring natural gas from Siberia to the FRG, which Washington feared would make West Germany dangerously dependent on Soviet energy supplies. Moscow was doubtless delighted by Schmidt's intention to press ahead with the negotiations as quickly as possible in order to present Reagan with a fait accompli.
Social Democratic fingerprints are all over plans for a second Baltic pipeline, Nord Stream 2, which is to be built even though the existing one is operating at only half capacity. A deal between Russia and Germany was announced in Moscow last autumn by Sigmar Gabriel, the economics minister and the Social Democrats’ boss.
Nord Stream 2 has few friends outside Russia and the Social Democrats. Poland, Slovakia and the Baltic countries are aghast at what they see as a sinister pact to boost German business at the expense of their energy security. Russia could junk its pipelines that run through Poland and Ukraine, leaving them gas-strapped and at the mercy of powerful (and historically unfriendly) neighbours. The European Commission sees it similarly. In 2014 it blocked another pipeline project, under which Russian gas was to run through the Black Sea and central Europe. America, worried that Nord Stream 2 would deprive Ukraine of transit fees, is also opposed.
http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21690055-nostalgia-ostpolitik-fouling-up-german-diplomacy-bear-backers
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