Russian political psyche: history and modernity

[mirhond]

Citing Mirhond in part:

The linked BBC report is from 2004. The statue was actually moved at the insistence of the Estonian government to a private location see:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monument_of_Lihula

So what? Estonians stopped honouring their SS veterans after that?

[kaur]

mirhond, nice trick If you want to discuss the Estonian topic, make new thread.

Today is the fact that strange mix of Russian nationalists, fascists, Stalinists, communists, internationalists, imperialists etc are making mess in Ukraine and some spin doctors try to pack all this in phrase "Русский мир" = "Russian world".

For example:

http://lj.rossia.org/users/anticompromat/2353247.html

http://avmalgin.livejournal.com/4798744.html#comments

http://avmalgin.livejournal.com/4799220.html

http://avmalgin.livejournal.com/4799528.html

http://avmalgin.livejournal.com/4671...read=272343438

http://avmalgin.livejournal.com/4682367.html

http://avmalgin.livejournal.com/4723742.html

http://avmalgin.livejournal.com/4681687.html

http://avmalgin.livejournal.com/4624931.html

Here is very good interview with Donets Peoples Republic (former) premier and Russian spin doctor Borodai. Covers more topics than that Stalinist's interview.

http://www.interpretermag.com/novoro...eader-boroday/

[davidbfpo]

So what? Estonians stopped honouring their SS veterans after that?

Having done a little research I thought SWC readers should be aware that your link dated back to 2004 and that the Estonian state insisted on the statue being moved from a public to a private site. Somehow I expect those who do 'honour' SS veterans are a small minority.

I know that in Russia there are those who demonstrate in public their admiration of Stalin and his approach - personally I find that distasteful.

The current Russian state stance has little to recommend it. The Ukraine has immense problems without a neighbour interfering.

[kaur]

FSB guy Strelkov live and visiting sacred places in Russia. He is accompanied by famous Eurasian ideologue Dugin.

http://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/1765761.html

Last weekend there was conference in Yalta, Crimea. Conference was organised by Kremlin hardlineres. Main speaker was Putin's adviser in Eurasian Union question Glazjev. It was carried by antifascist banners. Poroshenko led Ukraine was called fascist regime. They had also couple supporters from Europe.

http://nat-ali.livejournal.com/238399.html

Roberto Fiore (born 15 April 1959 in Rome) is an Italian politician and a founding member of the European third position (terzo polo) movement which is against both communism and capitalism. He is the leader of the Italian party Forza Nuova. He self-identified as a fascist.[1]

Luc Michel (born 1958) is a far-right Belgian political activist and supporter of the ideas of the Nazi-collaborator Jean-François Thiriart (having been his personal secretary[1]). He is the current leader and founder of the Parti Communautaire National-Européen as well as a former member of the néo-nazi movement Fédération d'action nationaliste et européenne.

Michel is a supporter of National Bolshevism. He is a lawyer by profession, he has also written extensively on his political ideas. He has claimed to have the support of Gennady Zyuganov, leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, in this endeavour.[2] Previously he had also sought contact with Action directe as part of his moves to link the far left and the left.[1]

What a crazy event!

[kaur]

Nationalism Just a Tool in Putin's Cynical Hands

By Marlene Laruelle Sep. 17 2014

Russia is thus using a nationalist motive, but does not have a nationalist agenda. The Kremlin's relationship to Russian minorities abroad is in fact context specific. As seen from the Kremlin's perspective, the existential threat of Maidan was what lost Ukraine the Crimean peninsula, not the stated fear of violence against ethnic Russians in Crimea. Kazakhstan also hosts a large Russian minority, but so long as the Kazakh regime plays according to Moscow's rules, the nationalist argument will not be applied to it.

Indeed, while the separatists have many Russians among their ranks, only a few hundred actual nationalists were ready to throw in their lot with the Donbass insurgency. The population's support is mostly oriented around a narrative of humanitarian catastrophe and the need to secure Russia's interests. Bellicose postures calling for war with Ukraine or the West are in the minority.

The process of "normalization" of Donbass as a second Transnistria is under way. But the main boomerang effect may not be felt by the insurgents, but by the ideological "nurturers" of Novorossiya. Both the Izborsky Club and the political Orthodox lobbyists have consolidated their visibility in public space and cultivated networks of influence rising high in the state hierarchy with the hope of making nationalism, whatever its doctrinal contents, a new state ideology for Russia.
The Kremlin has been successful so far in keeping nationalist forces in check, but rising nationalism of various strains has been an undeniable trend for many years. As the regime needs more mobilizing narratives, it could have to unleash some of the most popular nationalists, without being sure its cooptation tool will continue to function.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/mobile...ds/507317.html