Thread
russian propaganda is characteristic of a fascist state.
Outside observers are still dumbstruck by the contradictory, grandiose, fatalistic, conspiratorial, primeval, irrational, and elitist narratives that russia keeps producing for domestic and foreign consumption. 1/
Outside observers are still dumbstruck by the contradictory, grandiose, fatalistic, conspiratorial, primeval, irrational, and elitist narratives that russia keeps producing for domestic and foreign consumption. 1/
However, once you understand that russia is a fascist state it is not all that surprising. This thread is largely based on Umberto Eco's Ur-Fascism (sites.evergreen.edu/politicalshakespeares/wp-content/uploads/sites/226/2015/12/Eco-urfascism.pdf), where he concisely outlines 14 features of Eternal Fascism. This thread doesn't follow Eco's order. 2/
First, "by a continuous shifting of rhetorical focus, the enemies are at the same time too strong and too weak." These shifts in rhetorical focus have been done continuously by russia before the full-scale invasion on Feb. 24 and even before 2014. 3/
According to russia, Ukraine is weak and will fall in three days but, at the same time, is endowed with satanic occult powers that grant them an unfair advantage. Or Ukraine is not a real country and has no will of its own but paradoxically russia is somehow fighting NATO. 4/
That is why russia picked up on Zelenskyy's reminder to the world that Ukraine had surrendered nuclear weapons and warped it into a message of his plans to acquire such weapons. It complements an age-old narrative of Ukrainian inferiority deeply rooted in the russian culture. 5/
To maintain the weak-yet-strong image of the enemy the nonstop barrage of russian historic revisionism and continuous colonial attitudes toward Ukraine is weaved into the nonsensical tales of Ukrainian weaponized pigeons and combat mosquitos. 6/
The most absurd rhetorical shifts culminate with a war with NATO. russian propaganda explains away some russian military failures through direct NATO involvement. In the russian narrative, russia is not losing to Ukraine, it is too weak, but to NATO. 7/
That's why denying Ukraine's right to exist is so convenient to russia -- russia was never fighting Ukraine in the first place, it has always been NATO. Recall russia's claims of NATO expansion, NATO military bases in Ukraine, US biolabs, etc. 8/
russia continuously maintains fearmongering of the West among its population. And yet the West is weak too, according to russia: the West is decadent and rotting, it is in a moral decline because it renounced traditional values. 9/
Second, there is a cult of tradition. Here tradition doesn't imply folklore but a perverted vision of it. Social frustration that followed the collapse of the soviet union created a syncretistic potpourri of beliefs and values in russia. 10/
New russian traditions take elements of the soviet era, the old empire, medieval muscovy, and even unrelated cultures and foreign movements. It's common to see ru imperial flags, soviet symbols, nazi insignia, Scandinavian runes, and other surprises among the russian troops. 11/
This russian fascist neo-traditionalism is aided by the russian orthodox church. The centuries-long ethnic russian exceptionalist views are the core of it -- the rules don't apply to them, they can appropriate anything and it would still make sense to them. 12/
Hence, in their confused propaganda messages, the russians are the staunch defenders of traditions and they define what the traditions are.
And it doesn't matter to them that they desire goods and services from the "rotten" West. Fascism is based on contradictions. 13/
And it doesn't matter to them that they desire goods and services from the "rotten" West. Fascism is based on contradictions. 13/
Third, "at the root of the Ur-Fascist psychology there is the obsession with a plot." I think by now everyone is more or less acquainted with the conspiracies promoted by russia: Ukraine is an artificial state created by Lenin, Azov are nazis, Zeleskyy is a Zionist, etc. 14/
russia shall continue to fabricate similar conspiracy theories and promote the existing ones. To what end? "The followers must feel besieged." Again we return to the origins of social frustration of the 1990s. Most russians felt deprived of a clear social identity. 15/
Most russians felt they were victims of an "unfair" post-Cold War world, used and abused by the West. Those who were born after the fall of the soviet union were raised in an environment rife with revanchist moods and delusions of the robbed past "imperial greatness." 16/
putin's quote "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century" on the collapse of the USSR is not only his fascism but also rational rhetoric, on his part, to rally the russian masses. The russian narrative of ending a "unipolar world order" is widely popular. 17/
By accusing the West of colonialism, russia not only does an "accusation in a mirror," but also appeals to those who suffer from economic hardship or feel political humiliation in russia and abroad. 18/
The kremlin's "golden billion" narrative, the "privileged" population of the West, enjoys support in the global south, completely missing russia's imperial ambitions. They are being gaslighted. 19/
Finally, russia is elitist with a strong contempt for the weak fueled by a culture in which everyone has to aspire to be a hero in a typical fascist manner. There is no "nobility" in russia per se. But through elitism, a rigid hierarchical structure is enforced. 20/
According to Eco, "every subordinate leader despises his own underlings, and each of them despises his inferiors." That's why attacks in public by russia's strongmen against those who fall out of favor are so vocal (e.g. Lapin). That's why those who are favored enjoy support. 21/
Contempt for the weak was vividly displayed by the brutal execution of a would-be Wagner defector Nuzhin. The execution was broadly supported by russian propaganda. The fatalistic pursuit of becoming a hero is instilled by the WW2 victory death cult. 22/
To conclude, it is worth reiterating that russian narratives are not an absurd jumbled mess for no reason. When it is understood that russia is a fascist state, it becomes clear why their messages are so grotesquely mendacious. 23/
All calls to negotiations with russia are thusly misguided. There can be negotiations until there is, at the very least, a regime change in russia. Why? For any fascist state "pacifism is trafficking with the enemy." russia is already beyond the death cult stage. 24/
russia became an Armageddon cult. Their incessant calls to strike Washington and them "going to heaven while their enemies croak," are also part of their fascist ideology. However, all these nuclear threats are nothing more than cheap talk necessitated by their fascism. 25/25
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