Thread by @davetroy

1/This is correct, and aligns with the Duginist bent of his actions and words. "Despite his professed nostalgia for the Soviet era, Vladimir Putin’s real inspiration is not the nominally internationalist USSR but the ultra-nationalist Czarist empire."
atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainea…

2/For a glimpse into this, look into this Dugin-Romanov fest from last fall which @NPR inexplicably decided to cover with a fawning puff piece. This right here is the network of real concern, ideologically.
npr.org/2021/10/02/104…

3/Here's a Twitter account built on this Tsarist white-supremacist ideology itching for war in Ukraine. You might consider reporting it. I did. It's still up.
twitter.com/ChrisCason14?s…

4/Here's more on the "Black Hundreds" movement behind all this.

"a reactionary, monarchist and ultra-nationalist movement in Russia in the early 20th century. It was a staunch supporter of the House of Romanov"
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hun…

5/This is not about giving Putin a few shiny objects so he goes home satisfied. He's not a chess master, he's a revanchist, atavistic, cornered mad man intent on returning Russia not to the glory of the USSR but the Tsarist White Russian imperial past, coupled with Chekist ideas.

6/It's not an exaggeration to suggest that Putin today, with his obsession with "lost Tsarist glory," is any less dangerous than Hitler was with his obsession with Jews. Not the same situation but a similar set of obsessions and motives. He has also spent 10+ years...

7/building a global Fifth Column which has been activated in parallel to his military adventures. He is counting on using ideological, financial, political and cultural subversion to realign the world as efficiently as possible. We mustn't underestimate the scope of his ambition.

8/That said, he is very likely overestimating his chances in Ukraine. He expects Russia will be greeted as saviors, but Ukrainians fiercely want independence and sovereignty. Putin likely has warped advice and is making a huge mistake here, even as the Ukr. 5th column is real.

9/The convergence between Putin's thinking and Tsarist, White Russian, and Fascist International networks is striking and should prominently inform our calculations about this moment. We misjudge its nature, and underestimate its scope at our peril.

10/Yesterday's meeting between Putin and Italian business leaders is an echo of Mussolini's Fascism. The alignment between big business and capital is totally in line with the White Russian industrial history, and expressly anti-Bolshevik.
euronews.com/2022/01/26/ita…