After 3 years of violent war against Ukraine and 25 years of increasing authoritarianism, it's time to finally ask:

Is Russia fascist? ⬇️ @TarasKuzio and I have spent the last 18 months on this project. We are certain that Russia embodies a new form of 21st century fascism. cup.columbia.edu/book/russia-an…

Putin is installing spy software on every new device sold in Russia. This is a huge step toward the Kremlin’s technofascist ambitions of control and coercion. thetimes.com/world/russia-u… The Kremlin has long struggled to actually surveil the population in a systematic way. Too incompetent, bungling, and corrupt to do it. But now they’re getting their act together.

🧵NEW research: How is the Russian state turning young people into patriots via Telegram? Spoiler: It’s not just about war—it’s about influencers.

We analyzed hundreds of posts by two state youth leaders. What we found is disturbing.👇
Meet the influencers, who both head large paramilitary youth groups in Russia:
- Olympic gymnast Nikita Nagornyy
- Duma deputy Olga Zanko
In 2022, they started to post like lifestyle bloggers—but their job is to sell war, sacrifice & nationalism.

🔗doi.org/10.1525/cpcs.2…

🧵 Another bizarre piece from Simon Jenkins in the Guardian. This time, he lays into the idea that Russia is any threat at all to Western Europe then, bizarrely, implies that Putin has had no hand in choosing his aggressive path. Let’s take it apart.

theguardian.com/commentisfree/… First, Jenkins brings up “Godwin’s Law,” which is, frankly, a terrible argument. It’s a gambit used to lazily dismiss serious arguments about the nature of the past or dictatorships (see also: anyone who says fascism cannot exist today).

Here's what a Russian attack on the UK looks like:
- Cyber attacks target healthcare, banking, energy. They look like they come from criminal gangs, not the Kremlin.
- Moscow funnels money to criminals in the UK to commit arson, larceny, and violence.
- Now the nasty bit...

https://twitter.com/owenjonesjourno/status/1894338336937877922

- ...UK is in low-level chaos. Government not sure if/how to respond.
- A series of bombs go off in UK cities, killing dozens.
- Russia buzzes UK air and naval space with planes and boats. Is this enough for the UK to act?
- London does not confront Russia.

My new article on how deranged Russian nationalists were engaging in memory warfare online before the state got involved is out today! Here’s how grassroots myth-making around WWII shaped narratives that appear in Putin's propaganda now. 🧵 I looked at an online hub of nationalist, alt-history sci-fi back in the 2010s. Members co-wrote and self-published wacky time-travel tales set during pivotal moments in history. They're obviously all shit and unreadable, but... sciendo.com/article/10.247…

🧵 Let's take these absurd claims apart 1 more time:

"It started in 2014 with the Ukraine coup and the counter-coup."

- Not a coup. A largely peaceful protest, which was supported nationwide, ended when the Ukrainian President ordered protesters killed then fled the country.

https://twitter.com/KanekoaTheGreat/status/1864037173663764631

"In 2014, we had about 25 years of successful free-speech diplomacy, and then we successfully overthrew the government of Ukraine."

- Unless "we" are Ukrainians, then "we" didn't do anything.

“RT’s efforts include…recruiting Western political commentators and influencers, including Canadians, with the goal of leveraging them to produce and disseminate content that would reduce Western public & political support for Ukraine.”

Hmmm. 🤔

canada.ca/en/global-affa… I wonder who they might be thinking of. Can’t fucking wait to find out!

Independent filmmakers do not simply rock up in occupied Ukraine to spend months filming Russian troops “unauthorized.” 25 years of the Putin regime and still people do not get that there is no freedom of speech in Russia. There is no journalistic establishment. There is no spirit of open inquiry. There is just the state and state control.

Kursk is on fire but so far I haven’t seen any evidence that the mass of the Russian population is in any way moved. Don’t count on even a long occupation changing many minds about Putin, Ukraine, and the broader war. The state’s propaganda is doing a good job of spreading various familiar stories: it’s evidence the West is against us, it’s all exaggerated, it’s just a few terrorists, it’s mostly faked.

Putin's big inauguration speech. It was tedious and long - shocker! - but it contains a few interesting nuggets. en.kremlin.ru/events/preside… Putin highlights the people of the "historical territories" now included in Russia AND the soldiers of the "special military operation" right at the top of the speech.

Just over a decade ago, I taught English to Misha, a boy from Moscow. An oversized pair of Sony headphones were constantly clamped over his ears. His hands were always busy tapping away on the smartphone his father, a wealthy businessman, had given him. Misha travelled abroad, spoke English, and had the best of everything. When I could tear him away from the siren call of social media and video games, Misha was desperate to hear about life in Canada. He peppered me with questions about everything from hockey to hamburgers.

It's Thursday. It's 6pm. It's Tucker Time! I hope you're ready for this shambles... ⬇️ It's TWO HOURS LONG. What the fuck is wrong with these people?

The UN is often slow and impotent, but destroying international liberal institutions is exactly what Moscow wants. Change the system from within. Don’t destroy it from without. The “fuck the UN” discourse reminds me of soft Brexiteers in the UK: “We share EU values but think it’s beyond reform, so we’re going to destroy ourselves instead of working with our partners.”

🧵 Russia's war on Ukraine is a spiritual-messianic crusade, exhibit #978234: the tale of a Putin-loving "military priest" and his acolytes at the front, who are undergoing a symbolic political-religious conversion by fighting. Nice unit badge, which both soldiers and their priest wear. Putin + religion + war = good. Putin placed on a pedestal alongside traditional saints as an icon (vital to Orthodox belief).

A favourite Putinist whataboutism is to claim that homelessness is rife in America while Russia has no such problem.

In fact, Russia has approximately 10 times more homeless individuals than the USA despite having less than half the population. Sources:
- .
- usafacts.org/articles/how-m…
euromaidanpress.com/2017/07/08/rus…

According to Levada Centre polling, Russians approve of the country's general direction (chart on the left) in massive numbers - higher in recent months than in the past decade - and Putin is hugely popular.

Putin is winning the war at home.

You might say that in an authoritarian/totalitarian society, people are afraid to criticize the state in these polls. Maybe, but at the very least the polls are telling us that massive discontent is not about to bubble over into widespread revolt.

Putin going full antisemitism: “Western curators put an ethnic Jew in charge of today’s Ukraine. In so doing, I believe, they are covering up the anti-human essence that lies at the Ukrainian state.”

Abhorrent even by his standards.

https://twitter.com/holodmedia/status/1699070152569151883

This is the ideology of the Russian state. Attack, dehumanize, destroy. You cannot make a durable peace with a nation whose leaders see other human beings in these terms.

If the peace plan for 🇺🇦 is to give up parts of Ukraine, then what is the mechanism for ensuring the safety of the conquered citizens living under Russian rule?

Peacekeepers?
Observers?
A gentlemen’s agreement?

Seriously, what’s the answer? Because life under Russian rule is not the multiethnic lovefest Putin claims it will be. news.yahoo.com/united-states-…

Russia isn’t a mafia state. It’s a fascist state. Mafia organizations are all about money and power for the boss. Russia isn’t that. The spectacular public assassination is part of the death cult that’s grown up around power and the war. In a fascist state, the boundary between war and peace, enemy and friend, fluctuates.

I see a lot of enormous logical leaps being made in response to clips from Russian propaganda shows and social channels.

I give you: "Understanding Russian propaganda: a few simple rules." ⬇️ 1. One swallow does not make a summer. Seen a propagandist mention something once? A lone critic of a particularly policy speak out on TV? Without more evidence, it doesn't indicate a shift in policy or the beginnings of a "real debate."