Thread by @MarkGaleotti

As I continue to follow Secretary of the Security Council Nikolai Patrushev’s, descent into conspiracy theory lunacy, he gave an interview with AiF about the ‘special operation’ in Ukraine. A short thread on the 'high'lights. 1/
aif.ru/politics/world…

Not just the usual racially-profiling broadsides at those nasty ‘Anglo-Saxons’ he also trots out the tired conspiracy theory of the ‘golden billion,’ the idea that there is a secret and deliberate plan to allow an elite will prosper at the expense of everyone else 2/

(Sure, one could argue that in many ways this is the natural logic of market capitalism, but to present this as (a) a deliberate conspiracy and (b) something the Russians wouldn’t be eagerly embracing if they could, is pretty far-fetched, even for NP.) 3/

US + UK (no proper anti-Russian conspiracy can be w/o Brits in Patrushevworld) are creating global econ crisis blocking grain, fertilizers + energy. Um, isn’t this more Russia’s blockade of the Black Sea, destruction of UKR infrastructure + decision to stop energy supplies…? 4/

Oh, and by the way, as if all this were not enough, “some experts” believe that coronavirus was a Soros- and Clinton-funded US bioweapon. So there. 5/

Interestingly, at a time when the official Kremlin narrative is stepping back from the ‘de-Nazification’ line, NP – perhaps auditioning for one of those toxic evening TV propaganda shows, doubles down. 6/

But as an historian, I was particularly shocked/delighted not just by the blithe assurance of historical divine right but also citing Skobelev as an icon of Russian compassion in war. 7/

The “compassionate” tsarist Gen. Mikhail Skobelev commanded the 1881 massacre of Geok-Tepe in Turkmenistan 8/
rferl.org/a/qishloq-ovoz…

More specifically, he has ascribed to him the dictum “I hold it as a principle that the duration of the peace is in direct proportion to the slaughter you inflict upon the enemy. The harder you hit them, the longer they remain quiet.” 9/

Hmm, maybe Skobelev is a better exemplar of Russian policy in Ukraine than NP realises… 10/

Needless to say, though, none of this is likely to appear in the kind of renewed, monolithic, Kremlin-defined, nationalistic, statist and triumphalist official culture and education model NP espouses. 11/

So in conclusion, Patrushev has again managed to surprise me, bringing new layers of conspiracy theory – ones which, unlike the majority of cynical RU propagandists – I fear this smart and driven man actually believes into his analysis of current global events. 12/

And this is the man who is in effect Putin’s National Security Adviser. How marvellous. If anyone wants more of my take on Patrushev, I talk about ‘The Most Dangerous Man in Russia’ in my podcast in 2020: 13/end
buzzsprout.com/1026985/4169738