Paul
Goble
Staunton, September 12 – “Komsomolskaya
Pravda” a week ago celebrated the fact that “Rome is filled with portraits of
Vladimir Putin” (kp.ru/daily/26129/3021439/), but it didn’t point out that these pictures were
being displayed not by mainstream Italians but by members of extremist,
neo-fascist groups, just as is the case in other European countries.
In
a commentary posted on Slon.ru yesterday, Sergey Sumlenny points out that the
signs the Moscow newspaper had shown were being carried by members of the
Italian National Front to express their solidarity with Putin on his “struggle
with homosexual propaganda” (slon.ru/world/evropeyskie_krayne_pravye_s_putinym_v_serdtse-989843.xhtml).
The pictures of Putin in a military
uniform rapidly made their way into the Russian portion of the Internet where
many bloggers expressed their delight that Europeans were supporting their
president. But these people “do not know or prefer not to know” anything about
the Italian group involved.
The Italian National Front is “a
radical neo-fascist organization,” founded by Andriano Tilgher who was earlier
convicted of extremism after trying to revive Mussolini’s Fascist Party. “In other words,” Sumlenny says, “the
subtitle of the article in “Komsomolka” could have read “Italian Fascists
Support Vladimir Putin.”
“That would have been more sensational,
and factually correct.”
Apparently, “without wishing it,”
the Slon.ru commentator says, “Vladimir Putin has become an icon of Europe’s
right radicals,” drawing support from neo-fascists and neo-Nazis “from Norway
to the Balkans.” Anders Breivik, the
Norwegian mass murderer, for example, called Putin “an honest and decisive
leader who deserves respect.”
Affection for Putin in radical right
segments of European opinion has been brewing for some time. Already in 2007, Sumlenny notes, Germany neo-Nazis
appealed to him “as the single politician capable of defending German
democracy,”” as they understood it. Last year, one of their number published a
pro-Putin article describing him as “a politician who stands up for his people!”
That article continued in ways that many
should find disturbing: “While the West is ever more caught up in the nets of
Zionist witches, Putin is without fear leading Russia to new strength, freedom
and independence.About such political heroes, the German people today can only
dream.”
Such support for
Putin among the far right is to be found throughout Europe, Sumlenny continues.
Of course, it says little about Putin himself. But it says “somewhat more” bout
the export image of Russia” that Moscow is sending out and the success that
image is having in what is a marginal political milieu.
Indeed, the Slon.ru writer
continues, “the love of European neo-Nazis for Putin is love for an image of
Putin that they have invented: for a populist leader who throws challenges at America
… and who carries out conversations with European leaders from a position of
strength.”
There are some Europeans who are not
part of the radical right but who nonetheless see something to like in Putin’s
policies, but “the phenomenon of love for Putin is something widespread
[largely] among European marginal,” parties that can’t win elections but whose
members can watch “Russia Today” via YouTube.
Residents of Russia itself, Sumlenny
concludes, ought to be reflecting on whether they want to have government ready
to “work with clowns” from such marginalist groups and whether the “love for
Putin” that Moscow points to does either Europe or the Russian Federation any
good.
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