The first openly anti-Semitic process began in modern Russia
By Emil Shleimovich
What is wrong with the thesis “fascists are in power in Ukraine”? BBC fact check
How are fakes about “Ukrainian Nazis” made? Fact-checking DW
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Note: These are Russian Language sites. Use Google translate to English.
https://www.newsweek.com/banks-have-begun-freezing-accounts-linked-trucker-protest-1680649#:~:text=Canadian%20banks%20have%20begun%20freezing,occupied%20for%20nearly%20a%20month.
@Galina
While we are on the subject of false imprisonment, and acts of outrageous government overreach, what might your views be on the Peacemakers list in Ukraine, where people’s names are placed on an assassination list. Many members of the list have already been murdered and many of them are actually members of the press. Also Kissenger and Sen. Rand have each been listed on this death list, as well as many other public figures.
In addition to this, Ukraine has forced the closure of whole political parties, shuttered an entire popular religious order, and now prohibits the teaching of Russian in Ukrainian schools (to be compete by years end). I understand that you see Putin as a political bully and someone who is not a champion of basic civil rights, but where is it reported that Putin has ever committed the acts which are in any way similar to what is publicly being done by Zelensky and his fascist allies.
I would suggest that in no way or in any degree, might even the most severe example of Russian laws compare to those being practiced in Ukraine today, to which you seem either quite complacent or wholly unaware, but in any regard, against which you remain completely silent. It is important to grasp that which you ally with as well as that with which you might ally against, and on balance, I would suggest that Ukraine would fail to be attractive irregardless of even the most extreme complaint you make against Putin. Just some further thoughts.
@Galina
This is disingenuous at best. If Putin were Stalin, Kara-Murza would have been ice-picked off like Trotsky, forgive the pun, no mater wherehe chose to hide. Putin is no Stalin, even as many in Russia have attacked him as such. Kara Murza boldly returned to Russia to demonstrate, like Bercovich, both his belief in what he was doing and an obstinate disregard for the consequences of having actually done them. And what did he do? In fact, Kara Murza went to the US and gave a speech imploring US legislators to support regime changing Russia. It should not miss our attention that Kara Murza made that speech in the former home state of his good fiend and ally, ‘regime-change-McCain at the behest of the foundation which was begun by regime change McCain during an event which was specifically motivated around securing support for the overthrow of Russia’s legitimate govt.
As to the notion that Russia is not at war, well, let us not be coy. I would suggest that the most naive of analysts preferring the most myopic inspection of recent events could not possibly support the notion that Russia is not actually at war. The capital has been droned, her borders are being violated, and troops are dying in the trenches. Beyond this we have witnessed the attacks on Nordstream, Kirsh Bridge, oil refineries and the flagship Moskva by Ukraine and/or her allies. Trust me, this is war. If you or Putin or Zelensky care to label it differently, the threat is real, and it is the threat of wartime objectives being undermined which were the basis for the passage of the Sedition Act, which was actually simply an amendment to the earlier passed Espionage Act, both of which were reaffirmed as constitutional by the US Supreme court in the post war years, even after the laws were repealed.
Russia today is certainly experiencing a much greater threat than the US faced during the entire of WWI. For her to be held to a higher degree of liberality than the US while facing a far greater threat, is neither a rational nor legitimate request to make.
@Galina
When Russia invaded Ukraine, it was called by Putin a “Special Military Operation”. He only went in with 120,000 soldiers. Three months later after seeing the enormous resistance that the US was putting up he decided that he was in a war and conscripted another 300,000 soldiers and appointed a new general to fight the war. From then on all commentators saw it as a war. Subsequently many more people were conscripted. At that time Putin put
Russia on a war footing and beefed up Russia’s capacity to produce weapons and ammunitions.
Actually, the incident that sparked American entry into WWI was pretty close. Germany sank the American steamer, Lusitania, because it was carrying weapons bound for Great Britain in its hold. Great Britain had declared war on Germany because of its mutual defence treaty with France. Both world wars were triggered by mutual defence pacts. Like NATO. And every war the U.S. has fought since WWII was dubbed a police action or some other euphemism because the U.N. – not a joke -outlawed war.
And concerning government spying on, infiltration, suppression, and sabotage of dissident political movements during the Vietnam War,and Civil Rights Movement, let’s not forget programs such as COINTELPRO, shall we?
And we have seen how the Clintons, Obama and Biden have weaponized the IRS, FBI, CIA, etc. against political opponents, have we not?
And let’s not forget the Red Scare 1919-21 and the McCarthy Era.
And look at the recent persecution and blacklisting of Russian musicians in the West.
https://youtu.be/e7E9SS-X4YY
@Galina via Ted “To get around the necessity of asking Congress to declare war, President Truman called it a “police action.” It was fought under the auspices of the United Nations, with the United States acting as the UN’s executive agent.”
https://www.airandspaceforces.com/article/0600edit/#:~:text=To%20get%20around%20the%20necessity,as%20the%20UN's%20executive%20agent.
“It was tantamount to a declaration of war, but it was based on a lie. After decades of public skepticism and government secrecy, the truth finally came out: In the early 2000s, nearly 200 documents were declassified and released by the National Security Agency (NSA). They showed that there was no attack on August 4.Oct 24, 2022”
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1961-1968/gulf-of-tonkin#:~:text=In%20early%20August%201964%2C%20two,U.S.%20military%20presence%20in%20Indochina.
“Fifty years ago today, 28 soldiers opened fire on anti-Vietnam war demonstrators, letting loose 67 bullets in just 13 seconds. Four students were killed, nine wounded, and a fissure exposed in American society that shaped politics into the Trump era.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/04/kent-state-massacre-marked-start-of-americas-polarization
@SEB
Galina responds.
Peloni,
The Wagner group plans to quit the empty hulk of Bakhmut in less than a week. Even as Prigozhin was doing photo ops in the rubble that used to be a town center, Ukrainian forces were advancing on the flanks to encircle and trap any hapless Russians who might try to replacing the private army. Some of Prigozhin’s recent comments are here:
““We are in a situation where we can simply lose Russia,” Prigozhin said, using an expletive to hammer his point. “We must introduce martial law. We unfortunately … must announce new waves of mobilization; we must put everyone who is capable to work on increasing the production of ammunition,” he said. “Russia needs to live like North Korea for a few years, so to say, close the borders … and work hard.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/05/24/yevgeniy-prigozhin-war-backfired-revolution/
Meanwhile, the last I heard, the residents of Belgorod have asked that the government arm a self-defense unit to defend their essentially open border. Putin refused, and they are said to be seeking help from Wagner.
https://youtu.be/-NpiBWmujM4
@Michael
Well, you might send that in forwarding postcard to the retreating Ukainian army which was just evicted from the vital city (per Zelensky and Zaluzhnyi) of Bakhmut by Russia, even as apparently Russia is falling apart…very silly.
Gobbledegook indeed.
Peloni,
I don’t know what kind of gobbledegook you’re trying to put across here; much less why. All I can see for sure, is that they’re getting their butts kicked by a country less than a third their side. If this is “punching above their weight”, I think you’re speaking a language other than English. Here’s the latest from the field:
Prigozhin is laughing all the way to the bank: War is his business, and he’s very good at it. The US-dominated Military Industrial Complex is also punching well above its weight.
Let’s look at the Russian economy. Before Putin’s invasions (in 2014 AND 2022), Russia was essentially “Saudi Arabia of the Tundra”, with nuclear weapons. Now, we have:
Gazprom, meanwhile, has been diversifying into the war business:
The latest I’ve heard, Russia now is crawling with 40-60 private armies, some of them with tens of thousands of troops. If that were happening in the US, the Gun Control crowd would be livid! By whatever yardstick, Russia is FALLING APART.
@Michael
The main threat which the West had against Russia was their economic control of the world’s currency and the markets which Russia had become reliant upon to maintain any vibrance in its economy. Yet, when the US stole Russia’s gold reserves and locked it out of nearly every aspect of trade in the world with the notable exception of expanding Iran’s nuclear program, Russia’s economy still expanded. This was not only unexpected, it was a shocking defeat for the West who always knew that they could not competed with Russia’a logistical dominance in the Ukainian arena, certainly not without shifting to a war footing which, due to the consequence of shooting themselves in the economic foot with higher energy prices, the West is in no position to pursue.
Consequently, I would suggest that Russia’s economic preparations for what was to be the coup de grace of the West’s plot to Maidanize Russia should fairly be described as ‘punching above its weight’, as I suggested in my response to Galina. As you have noted on so many occasions, Russia’s economy was on par with far less than a fraction of the US, much less the US combined with the EU and whatever unrelated parties the US might convince of the righteousness of their cause. Luckily for Russia, due to geopolitical realities, and the lack of any interest by the West in pursuing Russian diplomatic attempts to avoid war, and the brutish manner in which the US has continued to prevent the war from ending, Russia has won over the majority of the world’s population to its Ruble-trade, reset its trading partners, and is punishing the West for its lack of diplomatic sobriety in dealing with the Ukrainian manner in any way which could reasonably be described as equitable, making it capable of continuing to punch above its weight.
This is irregardless of whether anyone wants to regime change Russia or not. It simply is what it is.
Peloni.
Now it’s “Russia is punching above its weiight”, is it. That’s a far cry from the “Russia will crush NATO” BS I’ve been hearing here.
Indeed, Russia is “punching above its weight”, and it weighs less every day.
BTW Prigozhin plans to quit Bakhmut around June 1 — which makes sense, seeing that there isn’t a building left to quarter his occupation army. In Russia, meanwhile, the Russians have all they can do, to cleanse Russian cities of anti-Putin troops.
https://televisor.tlgrm.dev/00d/pRAAAIkFFkbDqwS0tgS6LA/photo-y.jpg?hash=rgxNgbStZ1vSBypirV9W5A&ts=1684925780
@Peloni. @Sebastien
Excellent comments.
@Galina
You raise two issues.
First the concerns of freedom of speech regarding the war. Russia is at war, and is punching well above her weight, as it were, in a proxy war with the entire West. Any country experiencing such a scenario as this would likewise limit such freedoms as freedom of speech and freedom of protest during such a period of existential threat as Russia currently faces. The Kremlin is being attacked, there are reports of border incursions, oil refineries are being destroyed, the Kirsh bridge was attacked, and the Nord Stream pipeline was blown up. No democracy would be so benignly foolish as to ignore the state of threat which Russia finds herself in today. That being said, I personally am quite fond of the liberty of speech and judge it to be the wellspring from which all liberties extend. I believe that it is important and healthy for both the individual and the state for state limitations upon individual liberties to be tempered to a minimum, but Russia’s determination to penalize people for expressing support of the West in their proxy war against Russia has been made well known for some time. Berkovich knew what she was doing when she placed herself in the position in which she stands today by speaking out against the war. Whereas she should be congratulated for being so dedicated to her beliefs to knowingly place herself in such obvious jeopardy for doing so, I would argue that she should likewise be chided for being so foolish as to challenge the Russian state while it is fighting an existential war.
As to the use of this story by the enemies of our people to fan the flames of antisemitism, this is nothing new, and it is nothing unique. The lack of govt response to attacks on Jews is as ancient as the Jews have been wandering. It is concerning and we should speak out against such actions, but as Ted admirably describes it, it is not a basis for overthrowing the Russian govt, presuming this is the point you are trying to make here. Violating the sanctity of a nation-state’s sovereignty is a terribly significant step to take. The act of one state making war upon another should be a solemn and serious endeavor, only taken after every effort to avoid it has been thoroughly exhausted. I would suggest that this was the point at which Russia stood just prior to the Russian army crossing into what had previously been Ukraine. Now if we were to claim that a nation should be overthrown simply because antisemitism is not being challenged by the govt, there would likely be few govts which would not qualify for being overthrown, but then again, this is not a serious standard to base any war upon.
@Ted
I completely agree. It is a great tragedy that we have witnessed take place in Ukraine, a tragedy which had such an easily avoidable plot. But as you note, the West, which refused to permit the implementation of any reasonable resolution to the outrage which they themselves began in Ukraine, will come to pay a far greater price than their adversaries.
@Sebastien
Nice response. It was not the response which I was going to make, which I will share below, but it is probably a better response than my own.
Galina seems to think that it is important that Russia be blamed for having more Nazis and antisemitism than Ukraine does.
I disagree..
Even if she is right, that is no reason for the West trying to undo Russia. She is hoping that the West will overthrow Putin’s regime. I prefer that the
West leave Russia alone.
Trump was right. “Stop the killing”.
The West should have accepted Putin’s terms for peace in Feb 2022. Having missed that opportunity, they should accept Russia’s terms now.
The West is the loser in this war, big time. And Russia and China are the winners, big time.
False. Numerous examples.
“The Sedition Act of 1918 curtailed the free speech rights of U.S. citizens during time of war.”
https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1239/sedition-act-of-1918
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“The Revolutionary War era featured numerous restrictions on free speech and free press. Those who were considered loyal to the King of England – loyalists – were subject to a host of onerous restrictions by colonial leaders. Some colonies passed laws declaring it treasonous to support the British King.
Even after the United States declared its independence from England, restrictions on speech continued. It is one of the great ironies of history, that many of the same political leaders that ratified the U.S. Constitution and the U.S. Bill of Rights (including the First Amendment) were the same leaders who passed the Sedition Act of 1798 – a law inimical to freedom of speech. The law and its companion Alien Acts were a product of the times – a silent war with France.
The Sedition Act of 1798 criminalized the “writing, printing, uttering or publishing [of] any false, scandalous and malicious writing or writings about the government of the United States.” The law was used by the Federalist Party to silence Democratic-Republic newspaper editors – men like Matthew Lyon, Benjamin Bache, and William Duane. ”
https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1597/free-speech-during-wartime#:~:text=The%20Revolutionary%20War%20era%20featured,to%20support%20the%20British%20King.
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“Broadly written, the Smith Act forbade any attempts to “advocate, abet, advise, or teach” the violent destruction of the U.S. government. Meanwhile, the government apparently initiated prosecutions against many communists for their political beliefs, triggering First Amendment concerns.
https://www.mtsu.edu › article › smi…
Smith Act of 1940 | The First Amendment Encyclopedia – Middle Tennessee State University”
https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1048/smith-act-of-1940#:~:text=Broadly%20written%2C%20the%20Smith%20Act,beliefs%2C%20triggering%20First%20Amendment%20concerns.
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“How was the press suppressed during the Civil War?
In the vast majority of instances, the government restrained the free press without any legal process. The military routinely arrested newspaper editors and closed their presses; military tribunals banished some of them to the Confederacy for encouraging resistance.
https://www.mtsu.edu › article › civ…
Civil War, U.S. | The First Amendment Encyclopedia”
https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1059/civil-war-u-s#:~:text=and%20presses%20closed-,In%20the%20vast%20majority%20of%20instances%2C%20the%20government%20restrained%20the,the%20Confederacy%20for%20encouraging%20resistance.
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“In 1846, the United States declared war against Mexico. Thoreau and other Northern critics of the war viewed it as a plot by Southerners to expand slavery into the Southwest. Thoreau had already stopped paying his taxes in protest against slavery. The local tax collector had ignored his tax evasion, but decided to act when Thoreau publicly condemned the U.S. invasion and occupation of Mexico.
In July 1846, the sheriff arrested and jailed Thoreau for his tax delinquency. Someone, probably a relative, anonymously paid Thoreau’s taxes after he had spent one night in jail. This incident prompted Thoreau to write his famous essay, “Civil Disobedience” (originally published in 1849 as “Resistance to Civil Government”).”
https://www.crf-usa.org//black-history-month/thoreau-and-civil-disobedience
Galina answers Peloni
In “The first openly anti-Semitic process began in modern Russia”, the author states that:
This article, which was somewhat difficult to understand via the translation, suggests that Berkovich is being imprisoned due to the fact that she is Jewish, not because she broke the law. Now, we can argue if the law is just or unjust, or if Berkovich even violated the law, but this article suggests that she was jailed irregardless of her running afoul of the legal statutes involved. Yet their is no evidence to support this conclusion and the Chief Rabbi, per this same article, has not voiced any objections or concerns about the Berkovich’s arrest. Furthermore, TOI wrote an article on Berkovich’s case a few days ago in which the case was evidenced as being the level of overreaction and oppression being experienced in Russia, but not a single concern or reference to Berkovich’s arrest being sourced out of antisemitism. When the boy cried wolf too often, people came to ignore such warnings and this, like the claim of criticizing Soros being an antisemitic action, is a foul use of the abuse of our people simply to provide a poltical protection to those who are not experiencing any antisemitic abuses. This is dangerous. It is irresponsible. And it is just wrong.
Perhaps something was missed by me in the translation of the Russian article or perhaps the TOI article overlooked the antisemitic aspect of Berkovich’s case, but I don’t believe either of these is likely to be true. Antisemitism is not a tool to be wielded to benefit a political cause or a particular narrative. When it is used as such, it damages any solidarity gained in supporting this ancient art of hatred against our people based on no other reason than that we are Jews. I would suggest that it is quite an important task in combating antisemitism to recognize when charges of antisemitism are being hijacked to benefit other purposes.
The propaganda campaign against Russia is quite impressive, but it is being used to corrupt truths and realities to gain support for this war which has apparently not the means of providing such support without fake claims, including that of antisemitism. This case appears to be just the latest in the many fake claims of antisemitism to effect such faked support for this ongoing propaganda war against Russia. Supporting such foul perversion of the crimes committed against our people is wrought with the peril of trivializing the very real threat of antisemitism which really does exist for our people.