Yale professor on (Russian) fascism in Ukraine

[MBS]

Long, thought-provoking article. . . discusses far-right issues in Ukraine, in the context of other far-right movements western Europe,US, and especially, and most importantly, Russia

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/117692/fascism-returns-ukraine

. . .Seventy years after the end of World War II, we forgot how appealing all this (fascism--ed) once was to Europeans, and indeed that only defeat in war discredited it. Today these ideas are on the rise in Russia, a country that organizes its historical politics around the Soviet victory in that war, and the Russian siren song has a strange appeal in Germany, the defeated country that was supposed to have learned from it. The pluralist revolution in Ukraine came as a shocking defeat to Moscow, and Moscow has delivered in return an assault on European history.
. . . .
. . . Putin’s goal was and remains eminently simple. His regime depends upon the sale of hydrocarbons that are piped to Europe. A united Europe could generate an actual policy of energy independence, under the pressures of Russian unpredictability or global warming—or both. But a disintegrated Europe would remain dependent on Russian hydrocarbons.. . .Of course, there is some basis for concern about the far right in Ukraine. . . There is support for the far right in Ukraine, although less than in most members of the European Union.
. . .
People who criticize only the Ukrainian right often fail to notice two very important things. The first is that the revolution in Ukraine came from the left. It was a mass movement of the kind Europeans and Americans now know only from the history books. Its enemy was an authoritarian kleptocrat, and its central program was social justice and the rule of law. It was initiated by a journalist of Afghan background, its first two mortal casualties were an Armenian and a Belarusian, and it was supported by the Muslim Crimean Tatar community as well as many Ukrainian Jews. A Jewish Red Army veteran was among those killed in the sniper massacre. Multiple Israel Defense Forces veterans fought for freedom in Ukraine.

The Maidan functioned in two languages simultaneously, Ukrainian and Russian, because Kiev is a bilingual city, Ukraine is a bilingual country, and Ukrainians are bilingual people. Indeed, the motor of the revolution was the Russian-speaking middle class of Kiev. The current government, whatever its shortcomings, is un-self-consciously multiethnic and multilingual. In fact, Ukraine is now the site of the largest and most important free media in the Russian language, since important media in Ukraine appears in Russian and since freedom of speech prevails. Putin’s idea of defending Russian speakers in Ukraine is absurd on many levels, but one of them is this: People can say what they like in Russian in Ukraine, but they cannot do so in Russia itself. . .This is the second thing that goes unnoticed: The authoritarian right in Russia is infinitely more dangerous than the authoritarian right in Ukraine. It is in power, for one thing. It has no meaningful rivals, for another. It does not have to accommodate itself to domestic elections or international expectations, for a third. And it is now pursuing a foreign policy that is based openly upon the ethnicization of the world. It does not matter who an individual is according to law or his own preferences: The fact that he speaks Russian makes him a Volksgenosse requiring Russian protection, which is to say invasion. The Russian parliament granted Putin the authority to invade the entirety of Ukraine and to transform its social and political structure, which is an extraordinarily radical goal. The Russian parliament also sent a missive to the Polish foreign ministry proposing a partition of Ukraine. On popular Russian television, Jews are blamed for the Holocaust; in the major newspaper Izvestiia, Hitler is rehabilitated as a reasonable statesman responding to unfair Western pressure; on May Day, Russian neo-Nazis march.. .

[The Magistrate]

1. Home Truths, Sir

Which those who most need to understand will ignore or jeer.

[Igel]

2. Then there are the "May 9" laws in Crimea.

Five-year sentence for posting in favor of seccession of Crimea.

Self-determination ... One vote, carefully managed, one time. And only for those wanting to join Russia. (If you're Chechen, don't even think about it.)

And language rights are really important. So Ukrainian-language teachers in Crimea, if their schools aren't allowed to teach Ukrainian, will be requalified/recertified (with hundreds of hours of required training) to teaching Russian. No word yet on how many schools will continue to teach Ukrainian. Much less "in Ukrainian."

[Tommy_Carcetti]

3. Timothy Synder is an excellent analyst.

His book Bloodlands explains the horrific era of 1930s-40s Ukraine and what happens when you have the 20th Century's two most horrific human beings fighting over the same place.

Snyder proves himself to be an expert in both history and current events, and manages to provide a corridor of understanding between the two.

[MBS]

4. "corridor of understanding"

between history and current events.. yup, that's it.
Snyder really has deep understanding of this region.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

5. Indeed.

Hope you don't mind I cross posted this in GD for visibility.

[MBS]

6. great, thanks.

The more people who read this, the better.