Rather than rebuilding the past, Russia is evolving into a fascist state along the lines of Benito Mussolini's Italy. As was the practice in Mussolini's fascist corporate state, Putin on the one hand is dismantling representative democracy, while on the other he has announced the creation of an unelected "public chamber" that would oversee the government bureaucracy. The new chamber would partially replace the State Duma, now dominated by a single party, helping to create an illusion of pluralism.
Russia's transformation to fascism is superficially connected with the Beslan tragedy and the need to close ranks in the fight against terrorism. But the idea of creating a permanent national unity in addition to the pro-Kremlin United Russia party arose long before Beslan. In a number of major speeches, Putin has called for the unification of Russia in order to build a strong, modern state. It is now clear that Putin's conception of unity does not include political pluralism or representative democracy.
And, Felgenhauer goes on:
Many in the West once advocated a working relationship with Adolf Hitler and Mussolini. Left-wing journalists and academics supported Stalinism. Today, a pro-Putin coalition has emerged, made up of wealthy Western businessmen interested in exploiting Russia's natural resources along with left-wing journalists and academics. Their main argument is this: If Josef Stalin, the totalitarian monster, was a key ally in defeating Hitler, why should Putin not be a key ally in the war against terrorism? They often add that close cooperation with the West could lead Putin to restrain his penchant for authoritarianism.
U.S. President George W. Bush expressed this Western ambivalence during last week's presidential debate. Bush boasted of his good relationship with "Vladimir," and announced: "He's a strong ally in the war on terror." At the same time, Bush criticized Putin's undemocratic policies: "I don't think it's okay and said so publicly."
After 9/11, Putin phoned Bush to offer his condolences and tacitly agreed not to oppose the U.S. operation in Afghanistan. Putin has since claimed that the ugly war in Chechnya is Russia's main contribution to the anti-terror alliance. Direct command and control links between Chechen rebels and al-Qaida have never been confirmed, however. Chechen terrorism is fueled mostly by internal causes, but Islamists worldwide have used Russian repression in the region to stoke enthusiasm for their cause -- and to attract new recruits.
In fact, the Kremlin's version of the anti-terrorist coalition and "eliminating double standards" amounts to a modification of the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact: The West supports Russian policy in the Caucasus and recognizes the entire former Soviet Union (excluding the Baltics) as Russia's zone of special interests. We concentrate on establishing our dominion in this zone, and Bush can do whatever he likes elsewhere.
On the other hand, today (October 6) we have Eric Kraus, chief strategist of Sovlink Securities, offering a robust defence of Putin, and excoriating the signatories of the recent Visby Open Letter, which criticised Putin's recent lurch towards an abandonment of the demcratic process in Russia:
Not surprisingly, lurking among this eminent group of European "useful idiots" -- many of whom have never set foot on Russian soil -- we find some of the most notorious exponents of the American far right; in particular, representatives of those institutions most generously funded by Yukos. There is Bruce Jackson of the Project on Transitional Democracies, an outspoken Mikhail Khodorkovsky advocate who so greatly helped the George W. Bush administration sell the Iraq invasion to the Eastern European presidents. We also find a good 25 members of neocon organizations such as the openly imperialistic Project for the New American Century, the American Enterprise Institute and Freedom House.
Not surprisingly, both the Yukos-funded Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Fund for Open Society (a Yukos-sponsored outfit that stole the name of George Soros' hugely valuable Open Society Foundation) number prominently among these independent thinkers.
So there we have it: the "pro-Putin coalition" consists of:
1) Wealthy Western businessmen
2) Left-wing journalists and academics
While the "anti-Putin coalition" consists of:
1)The most notorious exponents of the American far right
2)Wealthy Russian (and Western) businessmen
3)"useful idiots" - who, in Mr Kraus's estimation, include Vaclav Havel, Adam Michnik and Francis Fukuyama...
Hm.
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