News > Politics > Putin Takes A Dive Into Lake Hitler

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SUNDAY JULY 8 2007 9:00 AM

Putin Takes A Dive Into Lake Hitler

Tags: Putin, The Nashi, Russia, Esstonia, Hitler, Brown Shirts, Fascism

Heres a delightful image. What if the United States had 120,000 male teenage Ann Coulters running around? Sounds like the ultimate nightmare, doesnt it? That is what seems to be happening in Russia. They are known as Nashi and they speak the same extremist language as Coulter. They fanatically support Putin, call the political opposition traitors and fascists and demonize foreign powers. The only difference between Coulter and the Nashi, is that the Nashi have no problem with using physical force to make their point.

The Nashi arent the only group. There are also the Young Guard and Walking Together. The one thing these groups have in common is their fanatical devotion to Putin, much like the Sturmabteilungs fanatical devotion to Hitler.

They are highly disciplined and sponsored by the Kremlin. They must receive basic military training before they can become members. The Nashi also have a volunteer police force, who patrol and if necessary beat hooligans." These young militants form what is essentially a private army, devoted to one man: Putin.

Meanwhile, Putin is stoking the fires of anti-Americanism. At a recent military parade, Putin made comments about new threats to the world as during the time of the Third Reich. Pretty much the same kind of talk Adolph was spewing out during his rise to power. And the crowd at the Independence Day parade soaked it up. Mostly because the only people allowed into Red Square that day were members of the youth groups. The kids are catching on to Putins message.

"It is time to put an end to America being the strongest and most influential empire. We won't let America make Russia another one of its colonies."

Super and totally not creepy.

The Nashi claim they are fighting against fascism. (Exactly the same claim made in the early days of the Nazi party and by Benito Mussolinis Blackshirts.) Unfortunately, fascists seem to only be defined as people who criticize Putin.

Meanwhile, the kids are doing some really quality work in Russia.

With parliamentary and presidential elections coming up, Nashi and its sibling movements have an obvious targetanyone who presumes to challenge Putin and his ruling clique for power. Who might they be? Nashi recently issued a leaflet identifying them. This "Gallery of Traitors," appearing in print and online, featured twisted portraits of such opposition leaders as former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov and radical writer Eduard Limonov. They were declared enemies of the people, scheming to subvert their nation and turn it over to foreign spies and conspirators. Among them, too, are exiled Yeltsin-era oligarch Boris Berezovsky and Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former billionaire brought down after he began funding opposition to Putin in 2004.

And the Young Guards are doing their thing. They have staged training sessions in how to handle an Orange Revolution. At the end of one training session, the Young Guards grabbed baseball bats and smashed up a mock Orange tent camp. That might discourage any future protestors a bit.

The Nashi are also using technology in ways the Nazis could have only dreamed of. They pass out brochures and SIM cards in Moscow. The SIM cards allow users to text the Kremlin, where Nashi volunteers are waiting to receive the word of whatever horrible event is occurring on the streets and respond. If any Orange revolution activity is seen, the Nashi will send out texts to their foot soldiers to respond. (Might be a really great use for the new iphones, by the way)

The Nashi are also taking their message to outlying village schools, to teach the young minds about the truth.

"Putin is a lonely wolf surrounded by rats," says Panchenko to the schoolchildren. "Russia has become too corruptit is time to change things, time for stronger leaders, like us."

You cant really argue with that description of Putin. Poor, little, lonely wolf. Its really quite scary if you think about all the rats. The Kremlin has given $220 million to help fund these little fascists. And they get some sweet perks.

Members enjoy free admission to various schools of management, where they study government, business administration or public relations. They go on to allocated internships in top state enterprises such as Gazprom, Rosneft, state-owned television stations and even the Kremlin.

The Nashi are now paying off in spades. In May, Estonia removed a statue of a WWII Soviet soldier in Tallin. The small country suddenly found itself overwhelmed by a cyber attack. Servers went down and NATO Internet security experts were brought in to combat the assault. Russian sponsored protests in Estonia left 1 dead and 99 injured. In Moscow, Estonias ambassador was attacked by the Nashi and were only stopped when the ambassadors bodyguards sprayed them with mace. The ambassador and his staff were forced to flee the country. Nashi barriers shut down the highway from Moscow to Estonia. They created a large sign that read, You are driving toward fascist Estonia. This all happened because Estonia took down a statue. What if the small country had actually really done something negative toward Moscow. What would the reaction been then?

The world is, understandably, a little freaked out.

"Everyone is frankly scared of the way which Russia is going, but no one knows what to do about it," says one European diplomat in Moscow, not authorized to speak on the record.

Well, what can you do? This shit is off and running. Its 1933 Germany all over again.

And you thought Bush was bad news.

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Comments

herbancowboy

Houston, TX

June 2004

JUL 08, 2007 12:32 PM

Vestril said:

SPOILERS! (Click to view)

I'm just saying that Mthrsuperior's cheer-leading another country's standing up to the US does not equal a desire to see the US crumble and fail. Your response struck me as rather dualistic--there are more options and possibilities than a) US = bully or ii) US = a shambles.

[edit] Sometimes I think there ought to be a required course called "Beyond Dualism" to get your drivers license or vote or something.

zarth

Seattle, WA

December 2004

JUL 08, 2007 12:34 PM

skeptik said:

Zarth said:

Agt20Eight said:

SPOILERS! (Click to view)

Um, yeah.

SPOILERS! (Click to view)

Dude, can you send me a sponge? I gotta clean the coffee off of my monitor...

It's an old gif, but it seemed appropriate.

pariah002

Yugoslavia

July 2003

JUL 08, 2007 12:36 PM

SPOILERS! (Click to view)

[/SPOILER]
Um, yeah.

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HA! That was fucking fantastic.

Omega_Blue

Antelope, CA

June 2007

JUL 08, 2007 12:37 PM

This event was not unexpected, Vladimir Putin came to power under the platform of ending corruption in Russia and to create a strong market economy; Since he has been in power he has been slowly creating a more centralized government. Now, Russia is slowly being transformed into a one-man dictatorship...These Nashi (who I must note have a similarity to the Red Guard of the Cultural Revolution) will probably be given much more power as time goes by...

ASSH0LE

Las Vegas, NV

June 2003

JUL 08, 2007 12:44 PM

The thing to watch for in Russia is falling oil prices. And Putin's term-end.

Russians are largely happy with Putin because "It's the economy, stupid." Oil prices are high, so Russians are living fairly well, better than they have in decades. When/if the bottom ever falls out of the oil market. Things will either get better (Russians seek a better form of leadership) or worse (a winnable war is kicked off against Estonia or other well-known/roll-over "enemy." Kind of hard to say if that will happen, given us pouring jobs and money into India and China and developing their middle classes who tend to want to buy cars.

One looming question is "Who will follow Putin?" His term is going to come to an end, and he can't run again after that. He's done fairly well at taking out the people who might pose a threat to his legacy and policies.

Vestril

Coronado, CA

February 2003

JUL 08, 2007 12:58 PM

herbancowboy said:

Vestril said:

SPOILERS! (Click to view)

It's true, I could have written 4 paragraphs outlining more precisely how I felt and what I thought his response was, but it was a short snarky post so I wrote a short slightly snarky response. I feel confident that my response was in line with his post. At any rate, if you feel like explaining to me how to drive a car, or what eyes are for--please feel free to continue to pedantize.

thrash242

Pearland, TX

September 2004

JUL 08, 2007 01:03 PM

theworldisfine said:
Quite rightly, Russia is afraid of being colonised by Capitalism the same as much of the world. Unfortunately for Russians, their way of life is no better.

WTF? Colonised by Capitalism?

Ok, I know you commies and socialists think capitalism is evil or whatever, but it's not an independent country that goes around colonizing other countries.

But heaven forbid the Russians actually have a free economic system like capitalism.