Makes you wonder what GWB would have seen if he had looked into Hitler's eyes.
Putin's children
By Michael Hammerschlag Published: July 5, 2007
It's official. To be patriotic in Russia is to be a fan of Putin, specifically a Putin Youth. During the celebration on June 12th of Independence Day (Russia from the Soviet Union in 1990), "the only groups allowed onto Red Square were the youth group Nashi" - which means "ours" - "the Young Guard and Young Russia," according to Sergei, a Nashi supporter.
Tickets were carefully dispensed only to the faithful near the Krasny Ploshad Metro from a truck, I finally discovered after questioning a dozen reluctant people holding the tickets.
The 120,000-odd Putin Youth members are perhaps the most creepy demonstration of Putin's "Back to the Future" cult of personality - youth groups created, supported, and used by the Kremlin to harass, bully and intimidate opponents and critics.
"The idea was to create an ideology based on a total devotion to the president and his course," says a Kremlin adviser, Sergei Markov. Obsessed by the color revolutions in Ukraine and Georgia, the Kremlin decided to create their own loyal youth brigades.
The article goes into details that are just bone-chilling.
Sounds close to the Hitler Youth, or even the creepy young people cheering Coultergeist along on Hardball.
Looks like we better keep a close eye on old Vlad, no matter what the Decider thinks.
Cliff Note: This is just another of the many foreign policy disasters of this administration. Between Iraq, Iran and North Korea's belligerent nuclear buildup and the Osama-been-hiding fiasco we forget sometimes that he has given Russia the cover to become a totalitarian state again, right before our eyes.
posted by Paddy @ 12:03 PM
10 comments
10 Comments:
The leader is the state.
The parallels to Germany in the 1930's and the Cheney/Bush/Rove model for governing are many.
From the burning of the Reichstag to the use of fear and propaganda, it's the same model. Thank God our country and constitution are strong enough to prevent a total facist takeover ... not that they wouldn't love to try.
Ooooh... the Russia boogeyman! Ooooh!!
Come on, people, find me an organization in Russia named Putin Youth. Go ahead, find it.
What's that? You can't? You mean you took a pro-Putin organization called Nashi and started calling it Putin Youth because it makes it seem like Hitler Youth because, uh, well, the power elites in this country don't like a strong Russia.
Mina -- it's not just in the name. It's the behavior of the state, the killings of journaliists, the burgeoning cult of personality. It's not just a strong Russia (bwhich is better than a weak Russia): it's the rising possibility of a power-mad, unhinged revanchist Russia.
Oh -- what's that you say? Nothing wrong in Russia? I guess if you own shares in Gazprom, you may take that position. Otherwise, I think it's not unfair to say that developments in Russia are troubling. Ask Viktor Yushchenko.
There is absolutely nothing points to "power-mad, unhinged revanchist Russia". I don't see Russia bombing/invading other countries.
And link to "killings of journalists", please...
"And link to "killings of journalists", please..."
A 2-second Google search of Russian Journalist Murdered turns up 1.5 million hits, the most recent involving the murders of Anna Politkovskaya and Alexander Litvinenko. But hell, if you paid attention to the headlines for the last year you'd know that.
There is absolutely nothing points to "power-mad, unhinged revanchist Russia". I don't see Russia bombing/invading other countries.
Excuse me? Perhaps you might take a look at some recent photographs of Grozny. It's pretty much no longer there.
Litvinenko was not a journalist. So Politkovskaya is the only one? With no proof it has anything to do with Putin? Not much.
Imagine if some foreign press would take the murder of David E. Rosenbaum of NYT, and pin it on "evil Bush regime". Would it make sense?
Because I don't see much differences here.
Grozny? All right, here's recent photographs of Grozny
Let me know when Baghdad will start looking like that.
And once again, Russia does not invade other coutries. Russia has always emphasized the importance of international law, and UN, in solving international conflicts.
Leave Russia alone... if you don't know economic struggles that it faces right now don't even bother... Putin only is powergrabber becuase it's the only way to do what's right... The murdered journalists are no surprise (a lot of skeletons in the closet since 1941)Russia was completley robbed by capitalists by 1991. At least it's against the law to kill journalists in Russia, U.S. has its Patrioct Act to make it legit... We are just not good at hiding bodies as US
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