While most in this country were focused on Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s heroic speech to the U.S. Congress, his counterpart in Moscow also gave a speech just as consequential.
This, from Heather Cox Richardson:
...Vladimir Putin gave a public speech that Russia specialists saw as the launch of a fascist dictatorship. He continued to defend his invasion of Ukraine and claimed he was in an existential war for his country’s survival. He warned his people that the West was counting on “the so-called fifth column, on national traitors,” to destroy Russia. He identified those people as a culturally weak global elite who did not identify “with our people, not with Russia.” They believe they are better than Russians, he said, and would do anything to keep their lifestyle.
A full transcript of the speech is difficult to locate, but the translation below serves well. Take a good look at Putin’s grimace at about the 28 second mark when he utters the words “gender freedoms” (Then ask yourself: who in this country talks like that? Oh, wait!)
Referring to opponents as insects? Declaring them “national traitors,” morally degenerate, a product of their “slavish consciousness?” Insinuating that those who oppose him consider themselves a “higher race?” That they should be “spit” out of Russian mouths and left to die on the “pavement?”
Yep, that’s a fascist. No question about it. Also, a rattled fascist clearly concerned about losing his grip.
Richardson cites author and Russian expert Anne Applebaum on Putin’s intention here.
Russia specialist Anne Applebaum tweeted: “Putin’s call for a ‘self-purification’ of Russian society can have only one intention: To remind Russians of Stalin and his ‘purges.’ He wants them to be haunted by dark, ancestral memories, to remember their grandparents' stories and to be petrified with fear.” Indeed, Russian authorities promptly launched a crackdown against anyone who showed any sympathy for western culture, beginning with a popular lifestyle blogger who had expressed opposition to the war on Instagram.
Possibly as a result of this speech (which objectively seems tantamount to announcing a general purge of “Pro-Western” oligarchs) today there has been a noteworthy exodus of private jets leaving Moscow, headed for Dubai:
Maybe they’re all headed to the Formula 1 race in Bahrain this weekend. Or maybe they’re leaving because they fear they’re going to be killed. We don’t know, obviously, but the timing is...odd.
Meanwhile, as Richardson notes, the Pro-Putin voices on Fox News and in this country’s Republican Party have continued their disinformation campaign, trying out various Kremlin talking points on a daily basis:
And, indeed, Trump loyalists like Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Fox News personality Tucker Carlson continue to echo Russian talking points to undercut Ukraine’s war effort. Media scholar Eric Boehlert noted that “the anti-democratic, authoritarian bonds are becoming tighter as the Trump movement now turns to the Kremlin for its messaging cues. The overlap is undeniable, and the implications are grave.”
It appears the journalistic establishment in this country is finally waking up.
Dean Obeidallah for CNN:
Think about this for a moment: We are seeing a well-known American television host spewing Kremlin-manufactured propaganda, defending Putin as well as his oligarchs while smearing Ukrainians with lies.
Whose side is Tucker Carlson on?
Interesting times, indeed.