Russia's nationalists call for ban on Jewish groups
article
If you ever wondered why Bush shows little reluctance to ignore "allies", this type of thing is why. Let me reiterate one point: the letter was signed by 20 of the 450 members of the Durma, a major part of the Russian government. This isn't signed by a few disgruntled post office employees.
Whenever I read something like this, the first people I doubt are those who signed the letter. The next person I try to examine is myself, to try to determine if I am struck by this because my perspective is unrealistic, and others may be more in touch with reality. The third person is the reporter, though I will often give them the benefit of the doubt if the data in the article seems to add up properly. When I say I doubt myself, I mean both my personal perspective and the general ideology of America, as I certainly understand that the US may seem like a lunatic to other parts of the world which, to the US, look like nutcases. I always try to determine, in the specific case, which nation has the right perspective on things, if either more or less does, and how to best analyze this issue.
If you're wondering "how could you possibly misjudge an obviously racist statement by the Russian government?", two names: Trent Lott, Strom Thurmond (sp?). There is a good chance that all governments have this type of problem, and though it should be addressed in the context of racism, it might mean little in the long-term political realm.
There is no doubt that racism is a worldwide problem, and more of a problem in some countries than in others (by far). However, this letter has something different which raises alarms: "We would not want our Russia, which is subject to a permanent, extra-legal war seeking to prevent its rebirth, to find itself among unfree countries". I'll assume the letter claims that Jews wage that "extra-legal war" in an effort to stagnate Russia and destroy that little bit of freedom that Russia allows in no uncertain terms. If Russia falls again, which it has a good chance of, and relapses into strict government control, which it probably will, it may be blamed on the Jews. This is, for all intents and purposes, the same thing Hitler did: blame the Jews for everything bad, in order to help the government strengthen in 'defense' of the nation against the Jews. This letter might mean that anti-Semitism will last for a very, very, very long time – you may be lucky to see it subside in the western and industrialized world within your lifetime.
Now, on a different but anti-Semitism related note, Russia has been selling weapons to Syria and the like, or at least attempting to do so. I can guarantee that governmental racism isn't driving the policy; if the two are related, then the weapons sales have helped governmental racism develop. Politicians have been known to push ideologies to excuse less-than-moral actions in the past, and there is little to keep them from doing so today.
That's my post of the day, it seems to hold a suitable amount of analysis, and I hope it was worth your time to read it.
Russia's nationalist lawmakers have asked the prosecutor general to ban all Jewish organizations because of their "extremist" views, in a vitriolic call ahead of this week's 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz.
The letter was dated January 13 but only rose to public attention this week. It shocked human rights defenders and even some of the original signatories reportedly changed their minds and were recalling their names.
A foreign ministry statement issued on the eve of President Vladimir Putin's attendance at the Auschwitz memorial commemoration in Poland said "the statement has nothing to do with the official position of the Russian leadership."
The seven-page call signed by 20 members of the 450-seat State Duma lower house of parliament that included the Communist Party and nationalist groups used some of the most profane language against Jews publicly published in the post-Soviet era.
"The whole democratic world today is under the financial and political control of the Jews," said the statement.
...
"We would not want our Russia, which is subject to a permanent, extra-legal war seeking to prevent its rebirth, to find itself among unfree countries," the statement said.
It called on the Russian courts to ban "all Jewish religious and community groups" which the statement also described as "anti-Christian" and accused Jews of staging attacks against their own community as a provocation so they could pin blame on others.
"We would like to underline that many anti-Jewish acts around the world are staged by the Jews themselves as a provocation in order to take punitive measures against patriots," the letter said.
If you ever wondered why Bush shows little reluctance to ignore "allies", this type of thing is why. Let me reiterate one point: the letter was signed by 20 of the 450 members of the Durma, a major part of the Russian government. This isn't signed by a few disgruntled post office employees.
Whenever I read something like this, the first people I doubt are those who signed the letter. The next person I try to examine is myself, to try to determine if I am struck by this because my perspective is unrealistic, and others may be more in touch with reality. The third person is the reporter, though I will often give them the benefit of the doubt if the data in the article seems to add up properly. When I say I doubt myself, I mean both my personal perspective and the general ideology of America, as I certainly understand that the US may seem like a lunatic to other parts of the world which, to the US, look like nutcases. I always try to determine, in the specific case, which nation has the right perspective on things, if either more or less does, and how to best analyze this issue.
If you're wondering "how could you possibly misjudge an obviously racist statement by the Russian government?", two names: Trent Lott, Strom Thurmond (sp?). There is a good chance that all governments have this type of problem, and though it should be addressed in the context of racism, it might mean little in the long-term political realm.
There is no doubt that racism is a worldwide problem, and more of a problem in some countries than in others (by far). However, this letter has something different which raises alarms: "We would not want our Russia, which is subject to a permanent, extra-legal war seeking to prevent its rebirth, to find itself among unfree countries". I'll assume the letter claims that Jews wage that "extra-legal war" in an effort to stagnate Russia and destroy that little bit of freedom that Russia allows in no uncertain terms. If Russia falls again, which it has a good chance of, and relapses into strict government control, which it probably will, it may be blamed on the Jews. This is, for all intents and purposes, the same thing Hitler did: blame the Jews for everything bad, in order to help the government strengthen in 'defense' of the nation against the Jews. This letter might mean that anti-Semitism will last for a very, very, very long time – you may be lucky to see it subside in the western and industrialized world within your lifetime.
Now, on a different but anti-Semitism related note, Russia has been selling weapons to Syria and the like, or at least attempting to do so. I can guarantee that governmental racism isn't driving the policy; if the two are related, then the weapons sales have helped governmental racism develop. Politicians have been known to push ideologies to excuse less-than-moral actions in the past, and there is little to keep them from doing so today.
That's my post of the day, it seems to hold a suitable amount of analysis, and I hope it was worth your time to read it.
posted by Chris at
1:00 AM
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