[lbo-talk] THE PHILOSOPHY BEHIND THE NATIONALISM (Russia)

Michael Givel mgivel at earthlink.net
Sat Jun 10 17:34:00 PDT 2006



> Message: 2
> Date: Sat, 10 Jun 2006 14:22:27 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Chris Doss <lookoverhere1 at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] THE PHILOSOPHY BEHIND THE NATIONALISM (Russia)
>
> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Message-ID: <20060610212227.18789.qmail at web37215.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
>
> This editorial is a bunch of crap. There is no link
> between the weird occultist Dugin, the Brezhnevite
> Kara-Murza, and Russian ultranationalists other than
> that they all want Russia to be a great power.
> Kara-Murza isn't even Russia. He's a Tatar. Dugin is a
> Eurasianist. Eurasia and the Russian nationality are
> not the same thing. I'm surprised Solzhentsyn* wasn't
> included in the list of Evil Nationalists, since he
> agrees with them in all foreign policy particulars and
> actually IS a nationalist.
>
> Well, not really, best not to mention that guy, it
> might cause problems with the Western narrative of the
> collapse of the USSR.
>
> Nu, zayats, pogodi!
>

Ah, so there is no flood of ultra-nationalist conspirazoid theories and rise of neo-nazi hate groups in mother Russia at present.

Here is a little hint when you selectively cite just some of the sources of a story or editorial out of context---make sure no one is looking. For the record this is what the author said in context:

"On the other hand, less manifest yet similar illiberal tendencies in public and elite discourse continue to develop and appear to be gaining influence in mainstream politics, civil society, mass media and higher education. Along with the Putin administration's own gradual curtailment of democratic procedures and propagation of a relatively moderate form of nationalism and an intellectually refined form of deep anti-Westernism and, especially, anti-Americanism has become common in Russian expert commentary and analysis related to international affairs and contemporary history. The country's publishing market is flooded with anti-liberal diatribes outlining bizarre visions of a Russian rebirth and apocalyptic worldviews. The authors of these works include names like Sergei Kurginyan, Igor Shafarevich, Oleg Platonov, Maxim Kalashnikov (alias Vladimir Kucherenko) and Sergei Kara-Murza. Moreover, many, if not most, weekly or daily political programs on national television offer a Manichean worldview in which the United States is responsible for most of Russia's (and often humanity's) problems. Prime-time analytical programs like Mikhail Leontyev's "Odnako," Gleb Pavlovsky's "Realnaya Politika," Alexei Pushkov's "Post Scriptum" and Alexei Pimanov's "Chelovek i Zakon" conclude the majority of their international and some of their domestic reports with the assertion that U.S. elites are involved, directly or indirectly, in hidden malicious activities against Russia and other countries. This discourse goes far beyond the common criticisms of the recent policies of U.S. President George W. Bush's administration to be found elsewhere, and is characterized by a paranoid interpretation of current history and, sometimes, pathological animosity toward U.S. politics, values and culture."

Perhaps the give away in your little diatribe was that: "...they all want Russia to be a great power."

If that isn't a manifestation of ultra-nationalism, then would some one explain what other interpretation we can make of that?



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