Russia and Ukraine

[Rev. Rye]

I suspect that the two articles are more a "motte and bailey" type of deal.





Granted, the motte in this case isn't all that good, but given that it's less batshit crazy than the bailey, Putin's essay ended up being translated into English on the Kremlin's official website, and the bailey where Russian State Media openly advocates genocide has to be translated by a third party on Medium for us non-Russians to read it, because even Google Translate doesn't seem to want to touch it.

As for the projecting Nazism, I suspect the Cognitive Dissonance if lessened if you treat Nazism as something that only the other guy does. Stuart J. Kaufman described a list of seven rhetorical tenets of nationalism, and I swear to Jah, Russia's been using every fucking one of them, even the ones that would seem mutually exclusive.

If an area was ours for 500 years and yours for 50 years, it should belong to us – you are merely occupiers.
If an area was yours for 500 years and ours for 50 years, it should belong to us – borders must not be changed.
If an area belonged to us 500 years ago but never since then, it should belong to us – it is the cradle of our nation.
If a majority of our people live there, it must belong to us – they must enjoy the right of self-determination.
If a minority of our people live there, it must belong to us – they must be protected against your oppression.
All of the above rules apply to us, but not to you.
Our dream of greatness is historical necessity, yours is fascism.