#Aleksandr Dugin

[elestirenadam]

Günün Filmi: The Magnificent Seven (2016)

Yönetmen: Antoine Fuqua

***

‘İki Amerika’nın bir filmi

Benim yaşım sinemada kovboy filmlerini izlemeye yetmedi. Tommiks gibi çizgi romanlara da sonradan bakabildik. Fakat pazar günleri TRT-1 ekranına gelen Vahşi Batı klasikleri, çocukluğumun anılarındandır. Özellikle kışları… Küçük bir odada yanan sobanın üzerinde kızaran ekmekler, tereyağı kokuları, ballı ılık süt, televizyondan yankılanan Apaçi çığlıkları, at kişnemeleri, altıpatlarların çıkardığı kurşun vızıltıları… Ülkemizin efeleri, seymenleri sinemaya maalesef çok fazla aktarılmadı. Atçalı Kel Mehmet, Çakırcalı Mehmet Efe gibi efelerin hayatı beyazperdeye uyarlansa da, bugün bu değerlere dönülüp bakılmıyor. Fakat Batı’nın efesi diyebileceğimiz kovboylar, ABD’nin en önemli ihraç malzemelerinden oldu. Bugün bile hâlâ çok hasılat yapan kovboy filmleri çekiliyor.

DOĞU-BATI DÜELLOSU: LEONE-KURUSAWA

Aslında bugün en çok bilinen Kovboy filmleri, ABD ve Hollywood imzası taşımaz. Avrupa kökenlidir. Birçoğunda İtalyan yönetmenlerin imzası vardır. Bu yüzden genelde, “Spagetti Western” olarak bilinirler. Bu, bir tür haline gelmiştir. 600’den fazla “Spagetti Western” filmi arasında “İyi, Kötü, Çirkin”, “Batı’da Kan Var”, “Birkaç Dolar İçin”, “Benim Adım Hiçkimse” gibi gişede fırtına estirenler de çıkmıştır. Spagetti Western aslında Doğu sinemasından kopya edilerek meydana getirilmiştir. Sergio Leone'nin yönettiği ve başrolünde ilk kez Clint Eastwood'un yer aldığı “Bir Avuç Dolar” (Per un pugno di dollari-A Fistful of Dollars) filmi, Akira Kurusawa’nin Yojimbo (1961) filminden birebir kopya idi. Kurusawa, Leone’ye dava açtı, kazandı. Filmden elden edilen gelirin yüzde 15’i Kurusawa’ya gitti. YİNE KURUSAWA’DAN ETKİLENDİLER

Kovboylar, Batı’nın vahşi dünyasında halkın yardımına koşan Robin Hood’lar gibilerdi. Efesoylulardandır. Cesur ve merttirler. Evet banka soyarlar, para için her işi yaparlardı. Onlar ödül avcılarıydı. Fakat fakir halkın koruyucusuydular. Canlarını darda olan halk için tehlikeye atarlardı. Bunu şundan yazıyorum. 2016 yapımı Muhteşem Yedili, (The Magnificent Seven) filmini izledim. Film aslında bugünün kendi iç çatışmasını yaşayan ABD’nin bir tablosunu sunuyor. ABD’de günümüzün tablosu şu: Okyanusötesi emperyalist tekellere karşı, önce kendi insanımız diyenlerin (First America) mücadelesi var. Film, işte bu çatışma üzerinden de okunabilir. Aslında bu filmin tarihçesi de Doğu’ya dayanıyor. Yine bir Kurusawa etkisi görüyoruz. Film, Kurusawa’nin 1954 yapımı Yedi Samuray (Shichinin no Samurai) filminden esinlenme. İlk olarak 1960 tarihinde Western olarak çekildi. 2016 yapımı olan, bunun bir yeniden çevrimidir.

‘YANGINDA KAYBETTİKLERİMİZİ KÜLLERDE BULDUK’ Film, Rose Creek kasabasında geçer. Sanayici ve iş insanı Bartholomew Bogue, maden alanlarını giderek genişletmektedir. Çiftçilikle geçinen halkın elinden arazisini ucuza kapatarak adeta el koymaktadır. Buna karşı çıkanlar ise katliama uğrarlar. Bogue’un insana bakışı tekelci sermayenin insanı köleleştirici tavrına örnektir: “Eğer Tanrı onların kırkılmasını istemeseydi, onları koyun yapmazdı.” Bogue’un kocasını öldürmesi sonrası intikam yemini eden Emma Cullen, neyi var neyi yoksa kovboy ekibi toplamak için verir. Sam Chisolm önderliğinde muhteşem silahşörlerden oluşan yedili bir araya getirilir. Chisolm, kimlerle savaştıklarını ve sonucunun ne olacağını şöyle özetler: “Kötü adamlarla savaşmaya gidiyoruz, muhtemelen hepimiz öleceğiz.” Yani insan adına kendilerini feda etmektedirler. Filmde onları para birleştirse de, muhteşem yedili sonunda tekelci bir iş adamının altında ezilen mazlum çiftçilerin topraklarını savunan kahramanlara dönüşür. Emma Cullen’in de son sözleri çok anlamlıdır: “Hayatlarında ne oldularsa, burada, sonunda, her adam cesaret ve onurla ayakta durdu. Kendileri için savaşamayanlar için savaştılar ve onlar için de öldüler. Hepsi kendilerine ait olmayan bir şeyi kazanmak içindi. Muhteşemdi.” Muhteşem Yedili, bu konuda da 300 Spartalı benzeri bir etki veriyor. Chisolm’un “Yangında kaybettiklerimizi küllerde bulduk.” sözü daha bir anlamlı hale geliyor.

‘ŞAHİN’ HARRIS Mİ HEARTLANDCI TRUMP MI?

ABD’de seçim yaklaştı. Pusulalar üzerinde Demokratlar ve Cumhuriyetler, onları temsilen de Kamala Harris ve Donald Trump yarışacak. Aslında bu aynı zamanda ABD’deki iki siyasi çizginin çekişmesi de. Harris, yarıştan çekilen/çektirilen Biden’ın yerini aldı. Esas olarak okyanus ötesi tekellerin adayı konumunda. Dolar saltanatını sürdürme derdinde olan, bunun için küresel çatışmaları kışkırtacak şahin kanadın temsilcisi. Trump ise “Afganistan’a, Irak’a, çöllere niye para gömüyoruz” diyen ve önceliğin ABD’de olduğunu, bu kaynakların ülkede ve halka harcanması gereken bir çizgiyi temsil ediyor. Rus stratejist Aleksandr Dugin, Trump’ın daha önce Cumhuriyetçiler ve Demokratlar arasında kurulan “küreselci, liberal, tek kutuplu, Atlantikçi ve Amerikan merkezli” konsensüsü bozduğunu belirtiyor. (1) Dugin ABD’de iki medeniyet bulunduğunu şu sözlerle ifade ediyor: “ABD 2020, bu nedenle, birkaç değil, tam olarak iki medeniyetsel bölgeden oluşuyor: orta kısmı Heartland'dan ve Heartland'dan keskin bir şekilde farklı olan, aynı sosyo-politik sistemi temsil eder iki kıyı bölgesinden. Kıyı bölgeleri, Demokratların bölgesidir. Demokratlar tarafından Biden lehine ve Trump'a karşı seçim kampanyasında yer alan BLM, LGBT+, feminizm ve solcu aşırılığın (antifa terörist grupları) en aktif protestolarının odaklandığı yer buralardır. Trump'tan önce, ABD'nin sadece kıyı bölgeleri olduğu görülüyordu. Trump, Amerikan Heartland'ına ses verdi. Böylece ABD'nin kırmızı merkezi aktive edildi ve harekete geçirildi. Trump, siyasi seçkinler arasında pratikte hiçbir şekilde temsil edilmeyen ve küreselcilerin gündemiyle neredeyse hiçbir ilgisi olmayan bu ‘ikinci Amerika’nın Başkanıdır. Burası küçük kasabaların, Hıristiyan toplulukların ve mezheplerin, çiftliklerin ve hatta endüstrinin daha ucuz iş gücüne sahip olan alanlara kaymasıyla harap olmuş eski büyük sanayi merkezlerinin Amerika'sıdır. Burası terk edilmiş, ihanete uğramış, unutulmuş ve aşağılanmış Amerika. Bu ‘deplorables’in anavatanı, yani beyaz veya renkli olan, Protestan veya Katolik olan gerçek Amerikan yerlilerin, kökleri olan Amerikalıların anavatanı. Ve bu ‘Heartland’ Amerikası, kıyı bölgelerinin baskısı altında hızla yok oluyor.” “Bu savaşta iki Amerika birbiriyle çarpışıyor: iki ideoloji, iki demokrasi, iki özgürlük, iki kimlik, iki karşılıklı olarak birbirini dışlayan değer sistemi, iki siyaset, iki ekonomi ve iki jeopolitik.”(2)

SİLAH KININDA PASLANMAYACAK

ABD ekonomik olarak da geriliyor. 1980’de 880 milyar dolar olan ABD’nin millî borcu, 2019 yılında 22,7 trilyon dolara yükseldi. 14 Temmuz 2021’de bu borç, 28,5 trilyon dolar.(3) Bunun yanı sıra ABD tahvil piyasalarının toplam büyüklüğü 42,7 trilyon dolar. 42,9 trilyon dolarlık hisselerin rehin verilmesi yoluyla borçlanıldığını da hesaba katarsak toplam 85,6 trilyon dolarlık bir borç büyüklüğüne ulaşıyoruz. Bu sayılar, ABD’nin GSYH’sinin 4 katı kadar bir borç batağı içinde olduğunu gösteriyor.(4) ABD’de 38 milyon insan gıda yardımıyla yaşıyor. On milyonlar işsizlik parasıyla geçinmeye çalışıyor. Sağlık hizmetinden yararlanamayanlar büyük çoğunluk. Bir tek hastalanmama umutları var.(5) İşte bu ekonomik tabloda küreselci, liberal, tek kutuplu, Atlantikçi güçlerle “First America” diyenler arasında çatışma büyüyor. İç savaşın işaretleri görülmeye başladı bile. Hatta Hollywood’a İç Savaş (Civil War) anlatan, Trump’a “Geri adım at” mesajları veren film bile yapıldı. Seçimler öncesi silahlar çekilmiş durumda. Bir önceki seçim sonrası yaşanan Kongre Baskını, yakın zamanda Trump’a yapılan suikast, artık silahın kınından çıktığını gösteriyor. Tarihin cilvesi gibi: Amerika hep küçümsediği “çatışmaların eksik olmadığı Orta Doğu’ya” benziyor. Spagetti Western’ler yeniden piyasada. Ama bu kez beyazperdede değil, seçim meydanlarında. Tabiî bu iki seçenekten farklı olarak emekçi güçler de kendini göstermeye başladı: Redneckler. ABD halkının çözüm arayışları, derinleşerek sürecek. Hesaplaşma kaçınılmaz. O vicdanlı, mert, cesur kovboyların tarihe çıkış sahnesini yeniden görebilecek miyiz? İzleyeceğiz.

DİPNOTLAR:

(1) Aleksandr Dugin, ABD'deki seçim değil iç savaşın ilk aşaması, 27 Ekim 2020, Aydınlık. (2) Dugin, a.g.m. (3) Doğu Perinçek, ABD Yol Ayrımında –Biden’ın Dünya, Amerika ve Türkiye’deki Çatalçıkmazı-, Kaynak Yayınları, 4. Basım, Eylül 2021, s. 34. (4) Perinçek, a.g.e., s. 42. (5) Perinçek, a.g.e., s. 158.

[chaoticflames]

Dismantling the modern: why can we love postmodernism?

I offer the most general considerations on this issue. Let us structure our analysis as follows: first, we will identify those lines of Postmodernism that are interesting from the point of view of a radical critique of Modernity isolated from postmodern morality, and then we will list those features that, on the contrary, are so imbued with this morality as to be inseparable from it.

Thus, what attracts the radical critic of Western European Modernity to Postmodernism is:

1. Phenomenology and working with the notion of intentionality (Brentano, Husserl, Meinong, Ehrenfels, Fink).

2. Structuralism and the identification of an autonomous ontology of language, text, discourse (Saussure, Trubetskoij, Jakobson, Propp, Greimas, Riker, Dumézil).

3. Cultural pluralism and interest in archaic societies (Boas, Moss, Lévi-Strauss).

4. The discovery of the sacred as the most important factor in existentialism (Durkheim, Eliade, Bataille, Caillois, Gerard, Blanchot).

5. Existentialism and the philosophy of Dasein (Heidegger and his epigones).

6. Acceptance of psychoanalytic themes as a continuous 'dream-work' that subverts the mechanisms of rationality (Freud, Jung, Lacan).

7. Deconstruction as contextualisation (Heidegger).

8. Attention to narration as myth (Bachelard, J. Durand).

9. Critique of racism, ethnocentrism and Western supremacism (Gramsci, Boas - Personality and Culture, New Anthropology).

10. Critique of the scientific image of the world (Newton) and the rationality that justifies it (mainly Cartesian-Lockian) (Foucault, Feyerabend, Latour).

11. Demonstration of the fragility, arbitrariness and falsity of the basic attitudes of Modernity (Cioran, Blaga, Latour).

12. Pessimism towards Western European civilisation, unmasking the utopian mythologies of the 'bright future' and 'progress' (Spengler, Jungers, Choran).

13. Sociology - primarily functionalism (Durkheim, Moss), which shows the illusory nature of the individual's claims to freedom from society and rational-psychological sovereignty.

14. Exposition of the nihilism of the New Age (Nietzsche, Heidegger).

15. Relativeisation of man (Nietzsche, Jünger).

16. The Discovery of Man's Interiority (Mounier, Corbin, Bataille, Jambe).

17. Political theology (Schmitt, Agamben).

— Excerpt: from ALTERNATIVE POSTMODERNISM: AN UNNAMED PHENOMENON by Alexander Dugin

[famousborntoday]

Aleksandr Gelyevich Dugin is a Russian far-right political philosopher.

Link: Aleksandr Dugin

[jloisse]

"Les nôtres, c'est le front eschatologique unifié invisible du Continent, le Front de la Terre, le front de l'Orient Absolu, dont la province Ouest est l'Europe, notre Europe, l'Europe opposée à l'Occident, l'Europe de la Tradition, du Sol, de L'Esprit."

— Alexandre Douguine, La Grande guerre des continents (2006)

[grandhotelabyss]

Thoughts on Michael Millerman?

I don't doubt that he represents the most humane and thoughtful version of his tradition—in which I am not, by the way, especially literate. It's pretty far from my own tradition: he's a staunch philosophical supremacist. I heard him years ago say on a livestream—one of Justin Murphy's, I think—that a work of poetry or imaginative literature could only ever be a pale reflection of philosophic truth. A solid Platonist position, and the opposite of my own: Harold Bloom, not Allan Bloom, as I always say. I wrote about him in this Substack post from August 2022 to agree, both as a matter of liberal political principle and out of the guild-consciousness of artists and thinkers, with his double condemnation of the assassination attempt on Salman Rushdie and the likely assassination of Darya Dugina. I also suggested in that post, however, that Aleksandr Dugin, as a philosopher of holy war between civilizations, may not be an object of intellectual or indeed spiritual attention befitting a man of Millerman's gentle, curious temperament. This was also the fear animating the dream I had of Millerman last June. But then I'm sure he would dismiss me as a dilettante, and who am I to talk anyway, since on the side of poetry, never mind philosophy, I have my own interest in the likes of Yeats, Pound, Eliot. He seems to be trying to serve as a kind of DeLillo-esque "chief of theory" to the tech barons now. I would take a more aesthetics-oriented version of a job like that. He has a fun video on "The Tarot of Political Philosophy" that may interest readers of my Major Arcana.

[sonyaheaneyauthor]

Can Europe switch to a ‘wartime mindset’? Take it from us in Ukraine: here is what that means

Oleksandr Mykhed

Buy a power bank and write a will. You’ll need a ‘bug-out bag’ packed and ready to go. In Kyiv, we’ve learned how to survive Russia’s hybrid warfare

Day 1,024 of the invasion. Kyiv, 7am. Friday the 13th. In a former life, someone would have observed that this is a day that portends bad luck. But in a country where shelling is a daily occurrence, it has become irrelevant. I wake up to the sound of an app on my phone warning me of an increased missile threat. While my partner and I are hiding in the corridor, I read the news that the Nato chief, Mark Rutte, has called on members of the US-led transatlantic alliance to “shift to a wartime mindset”.

With the first bang of the air defence system, a thought strikes me: for those who have not already been living with it for nearly three years, how would you explain this mindset? What is this wartime thinking?

Let’s start with the basics. Try to accept the thesis that Russia is your enemy. Everything Russian is your enemy. I know this is complicated. But Russia has been using literally everything as an instrument of hybrid warfare: sports, ballet, classical music, literature, art – these are all platforms for promoting its narratives. Even your neatest Russian Orthodox church could conceal Russian intelligence officers, just waiting for the command to put down their incense burners and take up arms. Don’t forget that for advocates of the political doctrine known as “the Russian world”, this world is potentially limitless; it exists wherever the Russian language is spoken and monuments to Pushkin have been plonked down.

Before the invasion, the enemy will try to unsettle the internal political situation. Local rightwing radical movements and parties will rise, financed by Russia. They won’t need to ram you with their tanks immediately, as they can simply bribe hundreds of useful idiots and bloggers to sow chaos and stir up distrust towards the authorities. They will disseminate targeted social media content that will provoke you, pressing hard on your society’s sore points – all generated by Russian bot factories and psychological operations specialists.

Russia will use teenagers as an instrument of chaos. As if on a bizarre quest, they will receive tasks from their handlers via messengers. They will set fire to military vehicles, plant explosives under a local power station, place a phone call to a school to report an explosion – anything to sow chaos.

It’s hard to believe, but it won’t be Vladimir Putin himself invading your country. It will be hundreds of thousands of ordinary Russians who have been told for decades that your values are evil. No one will care about the nuances and subtleties of your specific leftism, libertarianism or liberalism. What Putin calls the “collective west”, he regards as uniform, and evil.

Wartime mindset is understanding that before invading your country, Russia will compile a list of experienced military officers, public intellectual figures, journalists, politicians, writers and prominent doctors, and will try to eliminate them all. It will try to wipe out those who are at the forefront of thinking up ideas, as well as the first line of military reservists.

Bizarrely, the cohort in greatest danger might be your surfers. The ideologue behind the “Russian world” concept, Aleksandr Dugin, assigns a special place in hell to them: “The most terrible ghettos will be made for surfers – this is the most impudent, the most anti-Eurasian phenomenon. There is nothing more revolting than riding on this disgusting board displaying a white-toothed smile.” And he is dead serious. You have been warned.

Wartime mindset means having a “bug-out bag” packed and ready to go, to fit your whole life into one backpack. Copies of documents. A few family photos. A first aid kit. A power bank. A spare pair of underwear and socks. Something you can leave home with.

The most difficult thing to believe is that war could be on your doorstep. And this doorstep is not symbolic, but very real: the doorstep of your own home. The loss of your favourite porcelain, your parents’ books, childhood photos of your grownup children, the inability to take your beloved cat, dog or hamster while being evacuated – all of this is real.

It always seems that war is something that happens to someone else, in some poorer part of the world. They can’t just start dropping bombs on the capital of a European country in the 21st century! Wartime mindset is the realisation that they can.

And no matter how hard you try to prepare, one day you will wake up to an enemy missile attack. You will think that it will be over in two or three weeks, another month at most. Soon you will lose track of the days. But you will love your country with all your heart. You will fall in love with the national humour and character again, and rediscover your national cuisine. In fact, you will come to regard every national dish cooked in the dark (as there will be no electricity) as an element of national resilience and resistance.

[actualrealnews]

Russian-backed troll used AI on hundreds of websites and social media sites to interfere with the US 2024 election

From the US Dpt of the Treasury:

RUSSIA-AFFILIATED ENTITY USES ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TOOLS TO INTERFERE IN THE U.S. 2024 ELECTION

The Moscow-based Center for Geopolitical Expertise (CGE), founded by OFAC-designated Aleksandr Dugin, directs and subsidizes the creation and publication of deepfakes and circulated disinformation about candidates in the U.S. 2024 general election. 

At the direction of, and with financial support from, the GRU, CGE and its personnel used generative AI tools to quickly create disinformation that would be distributed across a massive network of websites designed to imitate legitimate news outlets to create false corroboration between the stories, as well as to obfuscate their Russian origin. CGE built a server that hosts the generative AI tools and associated AI-created content, in order to avoid foreign web-hosting services that would block their activity. The GRU provided CGE and a network of U.S.-based facilitators with financial support to: build and maintain its AI-support server; maintain a network of at least 100 websites used in its disinformation operations; and contribute to the rent cost of the apartment where the server is housed. Korovin played a key role in coordinating financial support from the GRU to his employees and U.S.-based facilitators. 

[darkmaga-returns]

On December 17, Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia’s Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defense Troops, was killed along with an aide, by a bomb planted in a scooter outside his home in a Moscow suburb. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) claimed credit for the killing.

The next day an Uzbek man was arrested in Moscow and reportedly confessed to the crime, for which he had been promised $100,000 by Ukraine.

Since the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022, Ukraine has carried out several dozen assassinations outside the combat zone, with victims including Russian military commanders in Sevastopol, political officials in the occupied Donbas, and civilian propagandists such as Daria Dugina, daughter of Aleksandr Dugin, who was killed near Moscow in 2022. Bblogger Vladlen Tatarsky was blown up in 2023 at a book launch in St. Petersburg.

Assassination is generally understood as killing by a secret or unexpected attack. In wartime, it refers to attacks outside the normal sphere of active military operations. Notre Dame law professor Mary Ellen O’Connell argues that “assassination is always unlawful,” a position that has been backed by courts such as the U.N.’s International Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights. This prohibition dates back at least to the 1907 Hague Convention, which barred “treacherously or perfidiously” killing people who were not aware that they were in imminent danger.

[christmasintheloonybin]

thank you comrade @keuscheliebe for tagging me in this. it reminds me so much of the old days of tumblr, these things are quite fun. anyways,

Last song: Yung Nigga Shit by Glokk40spazz

Favorite color: this is difficult for me, I like natural colors, colors that appear in nature, any, and I don't think I could rank them. colors are interesting in the context of other colors. most of my clothes are black. but I am excited by many colors. every color has a shade that I love.

Last book: this confuses me a bit, as in, the last book I read (in the process of reading) or last book I finished. the last book I finished was The Spirit of Terrorism by Jean Baudrillard, the last book I viewed, read from, was Foundations of Geopolitics by Aleksandr Dugin. horrible horrible translation, there are no good translations as far as I can tell, but interesting ideas.

Last movie: I don't really watch movies I think the last one I watched was It Rains on Our Love dir Ingmar Bergmann. months ago. in September I think. I like his movies but have seen very few because I'm not very interested in movies generally. wait. this is maybe untrue, I've been unemployed for a while so I am getting dates mixed up. when I was in Florida I watched a ton of movies, but I can't remember if I watched the Bergmann movie before or after this, I mean if I watched it in September or more recently. maybe the last movie I watched was Rebel Without A Cause, the first 20 minutes or so and then the power went out because of the hurricane.

Last TV show: Breaking Bad, I will never back down from this it was a great show. I'm really not interested in TV either but Breaking Bad is good.

Sweet/spicy/savory: savory.

Relationship status: this is known...

Last thing I googled: "we'll have fun and get things done when we cooperate" I was singing this song to myself but couldn't remember what it was from. it's a sesame street song lol, but good message. and I like it musically as well.

Current obsession: maybe my financial problems, this is what I mainly think about. there are some broad categories I am always interested in, generally trying to understand what is going on. but obsession to me is specific. knowing a lot about chess or something. currently I have no obsession apart from world events and trying to understand what they mean and why they are happening. what is happening. I follow this pretty closely.

Looking forward to: my friend from Florida visiting me this spring. which is down the line obviously but I think about it every day. apart from that, the vague hope that something exciting will happen. something that will shock my system. this tends to happen to me every once in a while, annually, and it always comes out of nowhere. so I look forward to whatever it will be.

I tag... I'm sorry, but I tag no one because I'm a bit shy 😬🫣 but thank you again for tagging me.

[ravenkings]

One term you may sometimes hear in socialist circles is “red-brownism.” In this color scheme, the red refers to socialism, and the brown refers to fascism — the implication being that the ideology bridges fascist and socialist politics. The most overt example of this is a NazBol or National Bolshevik, a movement that originally started essentially as Nazism for people who idolize Stalin instead.

This phenomenon is not new. In Nazi Germany, the Strasser Brothers, Gregor and Otto Strasser, promoted a strain of thought in the Nazi Party along these ideological lines, hoping to appeal to members of communist and socialist parties prior to when those groups were targeted for repression. These were sometimes called “beefsteak Nazis.”

Contemporary commentators might try to equate it to the so-called “horseshoe theory,” which suggests that going too far left or right brings one to a similar point. Red-brownism does not validate this theory. Rather, it may better be thought of as a form of marketing, infiltration, and recruitment targeted towards those on the opposite end of the spectrum.

Many modern fascist movements are influenced by the works of Aleksandr Dugin, whose Fourth Political Theory advocates such syncretism as its core ideology. Though passing itself off as different than fascism, decrying Hitler as having gone to too great an extreme, the reality is that the ultranationalist, traditionalist ethnostates it advocates are not radically different.

This line of thinking is often subversive. Many socialists follow the commentary of Glenn Greenwald and Michael Tracey, who have developed a recent reputation for appearing regularly on Tucker Carlson, whose political views are fascistic. These appearances usually consist of them all happily gloating together at some mistake on the part of liberalism — which often invites parts of the socialist left to partake as well.

A non-red-brown Carlson appearance is, perhaps, one that will not get aired — Rutger Bregman’s unaired interview in which he skewered Carlson for his political views and faux anti-elitism.

Red-brown media works the other way as well, where ostensibly left-wing shows play host to fascistic figures, whose views are whitewashed on the show. For instance, Loud & Clear on Sputnik radio, a Russian state media network, has platformed all sorts of fascist and white nationalist leaders. Sputnik and its sister network RT largely seem to be ways to launder both fascistic ideas and Russian geopolitical goals to the global audience.

Countering this is not easy, though there are two areas one can focus on in order to help push out these ideas: internationalism and the needs of marginalized groups. Both of these run counter to the goals of this fascistic process, which seeks strong borders, isolationism, and a lack of diversity. We must work across borders to build movements to solve today’s now global problems and make sure that we do not play into ploys to recreate the sorts of oppression that enable fascism to take hold such as white supremacy, misogyny, cisheterosexism, and ableism.

Beware of sources and communities caught up in just being a contrarian view of everything. Remember that, as easy as it is to get frustrated about the failure of the Democrats to deliver on a lot of desperately necessary policy in recent decades, they aren’t a threat in the way fascists are. Do not let the dopamine rush of “owning the libs” take precedent over anti-fascist work. Never let concern for human rights be swept by the wayside.

Red-brownism propagates especially easily when the discourse is dominated by cis white men, who have little to lose by taking a “class-first” or even “anti-idpol” stance on issues that affect marginalized groups.

We can stop this from destroying the Left once again and build a movement based on solidarity, intersectionalism, and internationalism — one that addresses these concerns but will ultimately still appeal to anyone committed to building a world where everyone has a sustainable, high standard of living.

[jgmail]

Ser o no ser: la visión del Apocalipsis de Daria Dugina

Por Jafe Arnold

Traducción de Juan Gabriel Caro Rivera

Texto publicado en el número especial de New Dawn Magazine, Vol 18 No 1 (Feb 2024)

En el año y medio transcurrido desde que Daria Dugina, de 29 años, muriera en un atentado con coche bomba cerca de Moscú, la pregunta de “¿Quién es Daria Dugina?” no ha dejado de sonar. Al contrario, a medida que se despejaba el humo, esta pregunta no ha hecho más que intensificarse y ampliarse.

Esta es quizás una de las razones por las que, justo el pasado mes de octubre [2023], The Washington Post publicó un “artículo” admitiendo lo que la mayoría de la gente seria ya sabía: la joven vida de Dugina se vio truncada por un acto de terrorismo estatal patrocinado por llevado a cabo por las fuerzas de operaciones especiales ucranianas creadas, entrenadas, armadas y financiadas por la CIA (1). Por supuesto, los funcionarios estadounidenses y ucranianos que confirmaron esta información en el Washington Post “hablaron de forma anónima, expresando preocupaciones por su seguridad, así como la sensibilidad del tema”, ya que Kiev y Washington todavía se niegan oficialmente a hacer comentarios al respecto. En otras palabras, es la “misma historia de siempre” con los mismos actores de siempre jugando ahora con sus últimos “socios menores”.

Estos asesinos siguen quedándose sin palabras debido a la “preocupación” que sienten por lo “delicado” que resulta lo que han hecho: matar a una joven pensadora, escritora y activista cuya muerte abrió la caja de Pandora de la verdadera Daria Dugina: sus pensamientos y escritos, además de lo que su activismo y su muerte significan para mucha gente en todo el mundo.

Daria Dugina

Tras la publicación de su libro póstumo, Optimismo escatológico, Daria “Platonova” Dugina – la filósofa – saltó a la palestra (2). Los lectores de todo el planeta saben ahora lo que muchos en su Rusia natal ya sabían: Dugina no sólo era la hija del destacado filósofo ruso Aleksandr Dugin, sino una filósofa profunda y radical por derecho propio.

En vísperas de su muerte, Dugina estaba realizando un doctorado en filosofía política antigua y estaba comenzando a presentar las ideas clave de sus investigaciones al público.

Durante toda su vida fue una activista del Movimiento Euroasiático Internacional, cuya visión aboga por el (re)establecimiento de un mundo multipolar en el que las diversas civilizaciones y culturas no estén subordinadas al dictado del bloque imperialista estadounidense o del Occidente moderno.

De la mano de su activismo (geo)político, se ha desvelado la joven, pero lejana y veterana carrera de Dugina como una audaz periodista y analista. Daria también era una mujer de las artes: tenía un proyecto musical (Dasein May Refuse), escribía poesía y frecuentaba y curaba exposiciones de arte y teatro (3).

Desde un punto de vista más personal, los lectores de ruso pueden leer en sus diarios recientemente publicados que Daria era un ser humano que luchaba constantemente contra la melancolía y el agotamiento. Se esforzaba constantemente por ser lo mejor que podía ser para los demás en nombre de un fin superior.

Los mismos medios de comunicación occidentales, que se apresuraron a celebrar su muerte como un “mensaje” alto y claro, han empezado a quejarse de un creciente “culto a Daria Dugina” y a preocuparse por el sentido real de su vida y su muerte.

De hecho, existe cierta justificación en su preocupación porque uno de los mensajes que dejó Dugina resuena alto y claro en nuestros días: estamos al borde del abismo. En una de sus conferencias públicas más significativas, pronunciada pocos días antes de que comenzaran los cierres debido al COVID-19 en marzo de 2020, Dugina subrayó: “Es probable que estemos viviendo en la época del fin del mundo; esto puede verse en la pandemia, en la creciente cantidad de desastres naturales, que son cada vez más frecuentes, y en los cambios fundamentales que se están dando en la política, la geopolítica y la filosofía” (4).

En una charla un año después de decir esto, Dugina habló de un “creciente sentimiento apocalíptico y de un final que se aproxima”, refiriéndose a nuestra era como el Kali-Yuga, la última “edad oscura” del ciclo hindú (5). Cuando un miembro del público preguntó qué podían rescatar los actuales disidentes de la cultura moderna, Dugina bromeó escéptica: “¿De la cultura moderna? ¿Cuál cultura? ¿Una cultura que defiende la ontología orientada a los objetos, los ciborgs y los mutantes?” (6).

En otra charla sobre filosofía posfeminista, Dugina habló de la necesidad de “salvar a la humanidad de una muerte inminente” y advirtió de las consecuencias del advenimiento del transhumanismo en los siguientes términos: “cuando lo femenino y lo masculino sean finalmente abolidos y sustituidos por el ciborg, se producirá el Fin del Mundo... Junto con la pérdida del hombre y la mujer, perderemos el ser mismo” (7).

En otras palabras, la joven, cuya vida fue atrozmente arrebatada una noche, mientras conducía de vuelta a su casa, veía su existencia – y la de todos nosotros – como un enfrentamiento en medio de un atardecer apocalíptico, el cual marcaba las vísperas de una noche cercana al fin del mundo.

Según Daria, el fin que se precipita hacia nosotros no supone otra cosa que el fin de la humanidad, del género humano como tal. El aspecto más flagrante de este fin es el auge de una matriz tecnológica omnipotente en la que, según sus palabras, “el hombre moderno se encuentra bajo la influencia destructiva de la materia, bajo los clichés de la sociedad de consumo, bajo la presión proliferante de la tecnología, que le reprime y le dicta la necesidad de seguir sus algoritmos intrusivos y alienantes” (8).

El ser humano al servicio de la “alta tecnología” del siglo XXI es una criatura que se encuentra “arrojada a un espacio en el que la tecnología y la materia destruyen su esencia, en el que pierde su sentido de rebelión y soberanía frente a la materia y la ilusión” (9).

Muy pronto – y Dugina no fue, ni mucho menos, la primera ni la última en pronosticarlo – la tecnología que gobierna cada vez más nuestras vidas ahogará nuestra capacidad de pensar, actuar e incluso existir. Todo lo que entendemos o sospechamos que define al ser humano – la mortalidad, el pensamiento, la libertad, la voluntad, el corazón, el alma, la capacidad de relación con los demás, así como las relaciones con lo sagrado y el más allá –está destinado a ser controlado, simulado, sustituido o desplazado por las fuerzas tecnológicas que desencadenamos y que ingenuamente pensamos que podemos controlar de forma estable.

Dugina trató de descubrir las raíces de nuestro apocalipsis tecnológico como consecuencia de las ideas propagadas por la filosofía moderna y posmoderna. Se veía a sí misma como una exploradora de la Guerra cósmica de la(s) Mente(s) (“Noomakhia”): uno de sus objetivos era estudiar de forma intensiva el pensamiento que permite y prefigura todo esto, es decir, exponer ese sutil plano filosófico al que muy pocos prestan atención.

Dugina insistía en que el filosofar posmoderno – que la mayoría de la gente tacha de meras “ensaladas de palabras” o “teorizaciones” ociosas confinadas a departamentos académicos o a la llamada “política de la identidad” – es en realidad el lugar de incubación, el laboratorio y el talón de Aquiles de la crisis apocalíptica que hoy vivimos.

Décadas antes del transhumanismo, uno de los padres fundadores de la filosofía posmoderna, Gilles Deleuze, sostenía que, dado que el ser humano es un sujeto demasiado jerárquico, opresivo y problemático, necesita transformarse – o deformarse – en una especie de telaraña viscosa que se extiende y coagula aleatoriamente como lo hace el rizoma.

La “ontología orientada a los objetos”, una de las últimas tendencias “de la moda” filosófica actual, afirma que es necesario liberar la existencia del pensamiento humano para poder “devolver” a los objetos inanimados y a las máquinas que nos rodean el protagonismo real que merecen. Daria Dugina no se andaba con rodeos cuando afirmaba: “Este es el verdadero fin de la filosofía” (10). Por supuesto, la “filosofía” debe entenderse como Dugina la entendía: no como experimentos superfluos, sino como una capacidad radical y esencial del ser humano, como una arquitectura espiritual del “software” que hay detrás del “hardware”, e incluso, como en su caso, como una cuestión de vida o muerte.

Contaré dos anécdotas que ilustran perfectamente las atrevidas disertaciones de Daria con respecto a las oscuras tendencias que el Zeitgeist sigue actualmente.

Durante la presentación de la edición rusa de la Ciclonopedia del filósofo iraní-estadounidense Reza Negarestani (que trata sobre un demonio en el núcleo de la Tierra cada vez más fuerte y que está siendo liberado por la extracción de petróleo), un espectador aprovechó la ocasión para pedir la mano de Dugina en matrimonio. Ella respondió que sólo aceptaría si él se aprendía de memoria la Ciclonopedia en inglés. En otras palabras: “Conoce a tu enemigo”.

En otra ocasión, Dugina asistió a una exposición del filósofo angloamericano Timothy Morton, durante la cual éste le gritó a su mano por ser incapaz de vivir su propia vida separada de él y levantarse en contra de la opresión humana.

Dugina dedicó su tiempo a estudiar lo que decían gente como Negarestani y Morton, porque creía – o más bien sabía – que representaban el pensamiento y la forma de (no) ser que hay detrás de la distopía tecnológica, transhumanista y “orientada a los objetos” a la que nos están arrastrando y (des) pensando. Es precisamente por haber sondeado este territorio y esta “tierra de nadie” filosófica, dándole nombres y exponer ciertas ideas, que el activismo filosófico de Daria supuso una amenaza real (11).

Sin embargo, esta filósofa que estaba naciendo al final de los tiempos – asesinada antes de tiempo – no era una mera pensadora y observadora profunda. El concepto central de la filosofía de Daria es el optimismo escatológico. La visión del apocalipsis que tiene Daria Dugina es de carácter revolucionario en el sentido original de la palabra: un “dar la vuelta” o transformar nuestra forma de ser en el mundo. Dar la vuelta y ver lo que ocurre a nuestro alrededor, dar la vuelta y ver que otros en el pasado y en el presente nos han dado como alternativas distintas que ofrecer, dar la vuelta a todas las ideas preconcebidas e ideologías que reinaban en nuestra época y que ahora nos conducen a la perdición.

En una época en la que estamos obsesionados con las pantallas, enchufados a las llamadas “redes sociales” y atados (“conectados”) a las fuerzas y señales que van más allá de nuestro querer y hacer, Dugina afirma que sólo hay una salida para el ser humano consciente, el disidente, el pensador auténtico: aceptar el reto – el destino – de vivir, pensar y hablar, aquí y ahora, en este momento. Al hacerlo, nuestro ser refleja y sintoniza con la misma corriente de disidentes y pensadores en sociedades, sistemas y situaciones anteriores y en otros lugares; somos profundamente humanos en este último momento en que las entidades humanas emasculadas, irreflexivas, que hacen clic y se desplazan o se encuentran programadas para la “resolución de problemas”.

Dugina ofrece una verdad simple pero brutal como punto de partida: “Cada uno tiene su propio lugar en el mundo, su Patria espiritual... Lo que es seguro es que dondequiera que nos encontremos en el mundo moderno, estamos en el centro del infierno. Es difícil ver la autenticidad en cualquier parte. Estamos malditos. Pero esto no es razón para no correr hacia la salvación” (12).

Tenemos el reto de aprovechar la oportunidad de ser radicales en una era donde las máquinas, los bots, los algoritmos y el auge de lo no humano y lo inhumano prospera.

Por supuesto, nada de lo anterior se encuentra en ningún reportaje hecho por los medios dominantes o las noticias escritas con ayuda de la IA sobre la vida, los pensamientos y la muerte de Daria Dugina. Todo lo que pueden repetir es que Dugina era una “propagandista” rusa cuya “retórica agresiva” en contra Ucrania justificaba el asesinato de civiles.

Dugina había insistido en que la “Operación Militar Especial” de Rusia en Ucrania era una audaz maniobra ofensiva-defensiva para impedir que el virus posmoderno y el diluvio apocalíptico, que ya estaba consumiendo a Occidente, se apoderara de uno de los centros históricos y culturales (o zonas fronterizas) de Rusia. Sea cual sea la interpretación del conflicto, encaja en el concepto de optimismo escatológico de Daria Dugina: contra todo pronóstico, pase lo que pase, estamos obligados a librar una lucha final contra el “Fin de la Historia” que, como ahora podemos prever, ya no incluirá a los humanos, por no hablar de las culturas y los pueblos como los rusos, los ucranianos, los estadounidenses, los australianos, etc.

A Daria Dugina le encantaba citar uno frase de René Guénon, quien para ella era el autor de de esas obras escatológicas y proféticas del mundo contemporáneo: “El fin de un mundo nunca es ni puede ser otra cosa que el fin de una ilusión” (13)

Según Dugina, los escenarios que nos aguardan son la culminación apocalíptica de una profunda y pérfida ilusión. Nuestra tarea es acabar con esta ilusión por y en nosotros mismos, reclamar la realidad, y hacerlo contra viento y marea como humildes, audaces, inspirados, aspirantes de este optimismo escatológico que ella defendía. Por esta razón, esta joven mujer que proclamaba el grande y sorprendente mensaje del despertar fue asesinada, y su muerte y su vida son de la mayor importancia para todos nosotros.

Notas:

1. Greg Miller, Isabelle Khurshudyan, Shane Harris, and Marya Ilushina, “Ukrainian spies with deep ties to CIA wage shadow war against Russia,” The Washington Post, washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/23/ukraine-cia-shadow-war-russia

2. Daria Platonova Dugina, Eschatological Optimism, trans. Jafe Arnold, ed. John Stachelski (PRAV Publishing, 2023); Jafe Arnold, “Life in the End: The Message of Daria Dugina,” Continental-Conscious, 19 December 2023, continentalconscious.com/2023/12/19/life-in the-end-the-message-of-daria-dugina

3. Daria fue cercana a Alexey Belyaev-Guintovt, ver David Herbst, “Alexey Belyaev-Guintovt: Court Painter of the Eurasian Empire”, New Dawn Special Issue Vol 15 No 3 (2021)

4. Dugina, Eschatological Optimism, 39

5. Ibid., 73-74

6. Ibid., 107-108

7. Ibid., 137-138

8. Ibid., 55

9. Ibid., 54

10. Ibid., 39

11. Ver Askr Svarte, Tradition and Future Shock: Visions of a Future that Isn’t Ours (PRAV Publishing, 2023)

12. Dugina, Eschatological Optimism, 114

13. René Guénon, The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times, trans. Lord Northbourne (Hillsdale: Sophia Perennis, 2004), 279

[abr]

Polizia segreta istituita dal governo zarista nel 1881, fu la Ochrana a commissionare i “Protocolli dei Savi di Sion”, un presunto piano per la conquista del pianeta che sarebbe stato elaborato al primo Congresso sionista di Basilea del 1897, in realtà fabbricato rielaborando vari materiali (da Sergej Aleksandrovič Nilus, autore di vari testi di devozione ortodossa) .

(...) Pubblicati per la prima volta nel 1903, furono dichiarati fasulli da un tribunale svizzero trent’anni dopo. Ma tuttora sono molto diffusi e presi sul serio a livello ufficiale in vari paesi islamici (...). E girano anche in vari ambienti (anti) occidentali (...). Da noi sono stati conosciuti soprattutto a partire da una edizione del 1937, con una singolare introduzione di Julius Evola, secondo cui sarebbero stati falsi nella forma ma veri nella sostanza (...).

119 anni dopo, (d)all’Ochrana (...) (alla) Cheka, Gpu, Nkvd, Kgb, Fsb. (C)ome ad esempio è stato  il tedesco ad aver dato al mondo la parola blitz, lo spagnolo golpe, l’inglese intelligence, il portoghese per mediazione boera commando o l’italiano fascismo, dal russo abbiamo preso la parola disinformatija (...).

La storia che l’Aids lo avevano fabbricato gli americani fu passata dal Kgb al giornale indiano filo-sovietico Patriot, che lo pubblicò la prima volta nel 1983. Ma venne sostanzialmente ignorata fino a quando, nell’ottobre del 1985, non fu rilanciata dalla Literaturnaya Gazeta, e poi potenziata da una relazione di Jacob Segal, un biofisico informatore della Stasi tedesco orientale. Non c’erano ancora internet e i social, ma bastarono giornali popolari inglesi (...) per diffonderla ai quattro venti. Nel 1987 (...) l’Urss ammise formalmente che era una balla, ma ormai nel Terzo Mondo aveva fatto ulteriore strada (...).        

L’Urss nel 1992 cessò di esistere, e (...) nel 1996 venne istituita la Fsb. L’anno dopo esce “Osnovy geopolitiki: geopoliticheskoe budushchee Rossii”: “Fondamenti di geopolitica -  Il futuro della Russia”. Adottato come libro di testo dall’Accademia militare  russa, lo firma  Aleksandr Dugin, un intellettuale misticheggiante e studioso del citato Julius Evola (...).

In qualche modo, la “quarta teoria politica” da Dugin teorizzata per “andare oltre le teorie politiche classiche della modernità” (...). “La quarta  teoria politica è antiliberale, anticomunista e antifascista allo stesso tempo” (in realtà è solo ferocemente antiliberale e nazional-socialista, cioè sintesi statalista nazimao, ndr), e allo spirito dei Protocolli si richiama chiaramente (diluendo) l’antisemitismo in un più ampio antioccidentalismo. (...)

Oltre all’ideologia, però, in questo libro in particolare Dugin propone una strategia, che aggiorna il repertorio zarista e sovietico all’epoca della rete. (L'uso di) strumenti asimmetrici: disinformazione, sovversione, guerra politica. Un concetto tipicamente da Ventesimo secolo come quello di competizione asimmetrica, (...) è messo assieme alle idee del generale Valery Gerasimov su come condurre la guerra nel XXI secolo. Risultato: “Una pratica non lineare di competere con l’Occidente solo nelle aree in cui la Russia si trova in vantaggio”. E la prima di esse era quella dell’informazione, per via del sistema autoritario che mette la Russia relativamente al riparo dalle contromosse dell’altra parte.

Però da qui (il rischio di ) una  escalation fuori controllo, su cui poi il Cremlino avrebbe avuto gravissimi problemi a tornare indietro (causando la dipendenza dalla Cina, ndr). E qua stiamo.

via https://www.ilfoglio.it/esteri/2022/03/19/news/l-antica-tradizione-russa-di-manipolare-le-informazioni-e-diffonderle-3823233/

Maurizio Stefanini datato e pur abbondantemente depurato dal tifo da stadio demogradigo (le curvesud so' opposte ma tutte uguali), cmq. utile per evidenziare gli evidenti, rozzi FLAWS concettuali del fronte che in occidente si dichiari anti occidentale, gettando il bambino assieme all'acqua sporca ("bei pirla", cit. Feltri).

[Per inciso, rassicuriamo Stefanini: la Russa ANELA a trovare una way out dal dispendioso e totalizzante casino alla Saddam Hussein in cui s'è cacciata, ma come tutto il resto, non dipende più dalla Russia, potenza oramai solo (macro-)regionale. Dipende dagli Usa: sarà sufficiente attendere la cacciata di Biden a fine anno e ci siamo.]

Testimonianza concreta di come un SANO COMPLOTTISMO, quello anti autoritario anti derive culturali anti degrado, debba porre dubbi e metter sotto al microscopio TUTTI i tentativi di manipolazione collettiva collettivista. La stella polare: sospettare quando si sente puzza di autoritarismo statalista, di ogni specie: sia Deep State Dem. che satrapia orientale.

[cultml]

i didn't know parts of the blaze where behind a pay wall, guess i'm not posting much from there any more

...Dugin is for the end of all modernity. Understand what that means. The end of all modernity. He believes the world should be pushed back to the way it was before the Enlightenment. I don't think Tucker Carlson is for that. I encourage you to read the entire essay. It will give you valuable insight into the Russian perspective and the narrative Dugin is spinning about Tucker’s interview. However, I want to draw your attention to the part of the op-ed where Dugin describes something deeply troubling that is always dismissed. I urge you to dismiss him at your own peril. Dismiss him just like you've dismissed the leadership of Iran at your own peril.

looks interesting if i could read it all. few in the mainstream seem to know this guy exists, and keep looking at all this through western eyes with Zinn tented glasses.

[bearkunin]

The Russian State and the Russian Far Right

The recent arrest of Igor Girkin feels like a good excuse to muse about the Russian far right and its relationship with the Russian state.

For those not in the know, Igor Girkin is a war criminal, Russian ultranationalist, prominent military blogger, and has been calling for total mobilisation of Russian society against Ukraine. He was a leader of Donbas separatists in 2014, and took credit for downing an aircraft which turned out to be the civilian MH17. 298 people were killed, including 193 Dutch, 43 Malaysians and 27 Australians. A Dutch Criminal investigation found Girkin among the guilty and sentenced him to life in absentia.

This is not why Girkin has been arrested.

Girkin has been arrested by the Russian state on charges of "extremism", related to his consistent criticism of the Russian state for not being aggressive or punitive enough in its conduct against Ukraine. In the week before his arrest, Girkin called for Putin to be replaced.

"The country cannot survive another six years of this cowardly mediocrity at the helm" Girkin, on Putin.

Despite Russia being increasingly viewed as extremist and fascist, there remains a long history of official state persecution of the extreme right, and it is important to examine this to understand Russian fascism.

Far Right Groups Repressed

There's a long list of Russian far right groups and only one slighter shorter of those banned, disbanded or persecuted. The infamous National Bolshevik Party (subject of many online memes, especially in althistory circles) is banned and it's key leaders have been persecuted by the security services.

National Bolsheviks Protesting with Flairs

The fairly prominent National Republican Party of Russia dissolved following the arrest of its leader. The various iterations of Pamyat faced repression, arrests and were infiltrated by the security services. Slavic Union, the Movement Against Illegal Immigration and Northern Brotherhood were both banned, and their leaders jailed (Dmitry Dyomushkin, Alexander Potkin and Anton Mukhchev respectively). Russian Image, which tried to establish itself as an establishment-friendly far-right movement, after a period of some success, still suffered a similar fate. Individuals, such as the infamous Aleksandr Dugin, turn out to be less "Putin's Rasputin" and are instead purged from their university positions for extremism. (See my long post disputing Dugin's influence here).

Left to Right: Georgy Borovikov, Vladimir Kvachkov, Dmitry Dyomushkin at an ultranationalist march in 2011. All subsequently faced heavy jail time.

Members of minor groups like like National Revival Path of Russian Patriotism (NVSRP), the United Russian National Party (ERNP), the Astrakhan National Movement, National Socialism/White Power (NS/WP), the Sakhalin Tactical Nationalists Club, Militant Organisation of Russian Nationalists (BORN), and Youth Organisation Rus have all been arrested by the security forces.

Members of the Sakhalin Tactical Nationalists Club in a bizarre 2018 New Years Greeting Video.

Even more "establishment" figures on the right suffer political hamstrings. Dmitri Rogozin was banned for running from office for extremist language and his independent political aspirations repeatedly frustrated by the State, before he "came into the fold" so to speak as a firm Putin supporter. Firebrands like Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov found themselves pushed out of politics altogether.

Non-Ideological Fascism?

It would be fairly easy to cast this off as typical far-right infighting: the People's Judean Front vs. the Judean People's Front. However, that would ignore a well-documented history of Russian state conservatism and moderation (relatively) in the face of right wing radicalism and in other affairs.

Ultra-nationalism is less-so promoted as "managed." The Russo-Georgian War can be viewed in terms of a classic security dilemma. The annexation of Crimea can be explained through standard realist narratives, and was broadly opportunistic, and not part of a grand long-term plan. In the 2000s, "Eurasianism" was evaluated as "the dog that did not bark" and Putin considered a "vigorous 'joiner'" and on the "bandwagon" of the international order. In the mid-2010s, journalists were eulogising the death of the Russian far right. Russian society, far from being sublimated into a fascistic death cult, has been anesthetized by weaponised apathy. The state utilises strategic relativism, embraces hypocrisy and has "no values and no truth."

Yet, it seems hard to reconcile this "realism" and intentional "apathy" with the aggressive expansionist war against Ukraine, with the explicitly maximalist aim of eradicating an independent Ukrainian nationhood, and the surge in militarist, patriot propaganda on display. When I lived in Kazan, scenes like this at the mall were absolutely not normal:

Clearly, something has changed.

So the question is, how did we get from Point A to Point B: weaponised apathy to mobilised fascism? Or how far between these two points are we really? Or how can both coincide at once? I have further thoughts on this, but this post is already too long so I better cut it off here.

[mariacallous]

Day 1,024 of the invasion. Kyiv, 7am. Friday the 13th. In a former life, someone would have observed that this is a day that portends bad luck. But in a country where shelling is a daily occurrence, it has become irrelevant. I wake up to the sound of an app on my phone warning me of an increased missile threat. While my partner and I are hiding in the corridor, I read the news that the Nato chief, Mark Rutte, has called on members of the US-led transatlantic alliance to “shift to a wartime mindset”.

With the first bang of the air defence system, a thought strikes me: for those who have not already been living with it for nearly three years, how would you explain this mindset? What is this wartime thinking?

Let’s start with the basics. Try to accept the thesis that Russia is your enemy. Everything Russian is your enemy. I know this is complicated. But Russia has been using literally everything as an instrument of hybrid warfare: sports, ballet, classical music, literature, art – these are all platforms for promoting its narratives. Evenyour neatest Russian Orthodox church could conceal Russian intelligence officers, just waiting for the command to put down their incense burners and take up arms. Don’t forget that for advocates of the political doctrine known as “the Russian world”, this world is potentially limitless; it exists wherever the Russian language is spoken and monuments to Pushkin have been plonked down.

Before the invasion, the enemy will try to unsettle the internal political situation. Local rightwing radical movements and parties will rise, financed by Russia. They won’t need to ram you with their tanks immediately, as they can simply bribe hundreds of useful idiots and bloggers to sow chaos and stir up distrust towards the authorities. They will disseminate targeted social media content that will provoke you, pressing hard on your society’s sore points – all generated by Russian bot factories and psychological operations specialists.

Russia will use teenagers as an instrument of chaos. As if on a bizarre quest, they will receive tasks from their handlers via messengers. They will set fire to military vehicles, plant explosives under a local power station, place a phone call to a school to report an explosion – anything to sow chaos.

It’s hard to believe, but it won’t be Vladimir Putin himself invading your country. It will be hundreds of thousands of ordinary Russians who have been told for decades that your values are evil. No one will care about the nuances and subtleties of your specific leftism, libertarianism or liberalism. What Putin calls the “collective west”, he regards as uniform, and evil.

Wartime mindset is understanding that before invading your country, Russia will compile a list of experienced military officers, public intellectual figures, journalists, politicians, writers and prominent doctors, and will try to eliminate them all. It will try to wipe out those who are at the forefront of thinking up ideas, as well as the first line of military reservists.

Bizarrely, the cohort in greatest danger might be your surfers. The ideologue behind the “Russian world” concept, Aleksandr Dugin, assigns a special place in hell to them: “The most terrible ghettos will be made for surfers – this is the most impudent, the most anti-Eurasian phenomenon. There is nothing more revolting than riding on this disgusting board displaying a white-toothed smile.” And he is dead serious. You have been warned.

Wartime mindset means having a “bug-out bag” packed and ready to go, to fit your whole life into one backpack. Copies of documents. A few family photos. A first aid kit. A power bank. A spare pair of underwear and socks. Something you can leave home with.

The most difficult thing to believe is that war could be on your doorstep. And this doorstep is not symbolic, but very real: the doorstep of your own home. The loss of your favourite porcelain, your parents’ books, childhood photos of your grownup children, the inability to take your beloved cat, dog or hamster while being evacuated – all of this is real.

It always seems that war is something that happens to someone else, in some poorer part of the world. They can’t just start dropping bombs on the capital of a European country in the 21st century! Wartime mindset is the realisation that they can.

And no matter how hard you try to prepare, one day you will wake up to an enemy missile attack. You will think that it will be over in two or three weeks, another month at most. Soon you will lose track of the days. But you will love your country with all your heart. You will fall in love with the national humour and character again, and rediscover your national cuisine. In fact, you will come to regard every national dish cooked in the dark (as there will be no electricity) as an element of national resilience and resistance.

While waiting for a miracle, I really want to believe that none of this will happen to you, as it has happened to us.

Kyiv, 10am. End of the air-raid alert. The Russians have launched 90 missiles and 200 killer drones targeting civilian infrastructure. The goal remains the same: to force Ukrainians to live without electricity, heat and gas. Terrorising civilians is a method typical of a terrorist country. An ordinary morning of abnormal reality, and yet the world’s common will is not forceful enough to stop it.

I realise that I have run out of time to tell you the most important things of all: give your partner a kiss right now; take a course in tactical medicine, and another in firearms training; buy a power bank; write a will; and find out where the nearest bomb shelter is. For no reason. Just in case miracles don’t happen, and you find yourself called upon to shift to a wartime mindset.