<
https://theconversation.com/is-vladimir-putin-the-greatest-russophobe-of-all-186642>
"No concept is more central to Vladimir Putin’s propaganda today than
“Russophobia”. Internationally and on the home front, his propagandists claim
they are fighting “Russophobes”, enemies motivated by a visceral hatred of
Russia’s culture and people. Last month, the Russian foreign ministry
sanctioned 121 Australians (including me) for “forming the Russophobic agenda
in this country”.
According to Putin, Russophobia is nothing less than an existential threat.
Ukrainian Russophobia, he claimed last December, is a first step towards an
anti-Russian genocide. On the eve of the war, he denounced “extreme
nationalism’ for taking the form of "aggressive Russophobia and neo-Nazism”.
Then, as missiles began falling on Ukrainian cities, and Bucha and Mariupol
became synonyms for atrocities, the spectre of Russophobia became both a
justification for war and an explanation for international sanctions.
What is obscured by Putin’s conflation of Russophobia and neo-Nazism is the
sinister lineage of his own vocabulary. Even as he was claiming to de-Nazify
Ukraine, Putin was using terms that had been coined, shaped and popularised by
the Russian far right."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
