Russian fascism at Kazan University

Originally on FB, April 24, 2022 Kazan Federal University (one of the oldest and best in Russia, enrolling over 50,000 students) is opening a Psychological clinic. If you think this is about helping students cope with anxiety and depression, you would be right. If you think that the cause of that anxiety and depression is …

Russia rewrites history textbooks to eliminate Ukraine

Originally on FB, April 25, 2022 Fascists and totalitarians always have an unhealthy interest in controlling history (our Republicans, take note!)1 Since 2014, Russian history textbooks have been progressively decreasing mentions of Ukraine or Kyiv in the context of any existence independent of Russia. With the invasion of February 24, the publishers "Enlightenment" (this is …

Russia’s descent into fascism continues

Originally on FB, April 24, 2022 The Directorate for Anti-extremist Operations of the Russian Ministry of the Interior announced that an unknown number of Ukrainian fighters are infiltrating Russia mixed with the refugees. It warned that vigilance is required, and that these could be "your neighbors, colleagues, clients, patients, cabbies, passengers," and so on. What …

The Uberhawks in Russia

Originally on FB, April 20, 2022 This is not for the faint of heart. An interview with Vladimir Kvachkov. Now, this guy is as pure-bred Russian warmonger as they come, and a total devotee of conspiracy theories. When he attempted to assassinate Chubais in 2005, his "defense" was some nonsense about a Judeo-Masonic mafia. The …

Is Russia preparing for a provocation?

Originally on FB, April 20, 2022 The command of 144th Division (about 23k, based in Smolensk) have secretly evacuated their families from Bryansk Oblast (border with Ukraine) to destinations in the interior of Russia. (Three commanders are mentioned by name.) Now, why would Russian military commanders be removing their families from the border region with …

Russian Orthodox Church calls for genocide

Originally on FB, April 19, 2022 Handout from Church in Bryansk This is what you will get when you visit a church in the Bryansk diocese. It is right at the border with Ukraine, and in fact was founded in the 13th century by Ukrainians from Chernihiv, from Kyivan Rus'. Now their spiritual heirs want …

Free speech is a Western conspiracy to destroy Russia

Originally on FB, April 18, 2022 Margarita Simonyan -- one of the most prominent Russian propagandists -- explains how freedom of speech is just a ploy to destroy Russia. "There are two periods in our history when we had no, or almost no, censorship. One was the period from 1905 to 1917 -- and we …

Some thoughts about Russian atrocities and collective guilt

April 17, 2022 Many of you have probably heard about the infamous phone calls intercepted by Ukrainians and released to the public. It is worth bearing in mind that these releases are not random and we are hearing either the most atrocious ones or the ones that show the Russian leadership/soldiers in a bad light. …

Russia may be about to declare state of emergency

April 15, 2022 The past several days have seen furious activity in Russia. Some information emerged that they are having significant difficulties recruiting new soldiers: many young men are refusing to sign contracts if doing so would mean being sent to Ukraine. Also, many demoralized soldiers already serving in Ukraine (under contract) are refusing to …

Mearsheimer goes off the deep end. Again.

April 13, 2022 In a recent video, (after regaling us with some nonsense about how the Ukraine war is actually a war between the United States and Russia), Mearsheimer decided to explain to us the following: "You talked about Putin targeting civilians, or the Russians targeting civilians. It's obviously very hard to tell what's exactly …