[PEN-L:2718] Re: Re: Re: Russia

[Jim Devine <jdevine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Saith I:
><< f the Weimar/Russia analogy holds, we should expect fascism to rise to the
> top in Russia soon.

quoth Maggie:
>Jim, haven't a number of fascists already won significant numbers of votes in
>Russian elections?  I can't remember the guys name, but I saw a 60 min
>interview with some guy who impressed me as being fascist, crazy, and
>charismatic -- a deadly combo.  maggie coleman mscoleman@xxxxxxx

Vladimir Zhirnowsky (sp?), a.k.a. Russian Limbaugh?  He's gained a lot of
popularity (though my untutored impression is that he's peaked). I was
familiar with him, but that's not what I was talking about. I was thinking
of the general imposition of Mussolini-type fascism (or worse) on Russia as
a whole. A coup by the military perhaps, not only to restore Law and Order
to Russia (while junking the sham democracy and the subservience to the
US/IMF) but to save the miltary's own bacon (since they're in big trouble
too). It will involve heavy Russian nationalism and probably antisemitism.
It might even portray itself as left-wing, attacking the growing societal
inequality (a flashback to the Peruvian coup of 1968).

But then again, I've been predicting something like that for several years
now and it hasn't happened. Yeltsin still hangs on. My inability to predict
is probably based on inadequate understanding of the Russian situation. So
I hope that someone on pen-l chimes in with more information and analysis.

Jim Devine jdevine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx &
http://clawww.lmu.edu/Faculty/JDevine/JDevine.html