Paul
Goble
Staunton, January 21 – Now that
Vladimir Putin’s press secretary has said that there is no reason for thinking
Ramzan Kadyrov has said anything untoward about the opposition and that no one
should blow out of proportion what the Chechen leader wants, it may be useful
to consider another set of indicators of just where Kadyrov and perhaps Putin
want to take Russia.
In the face of much critical
commentary and plans by Russian opposition groups to hold demonstrations
against the Chechen leader, Kadyrov’s people are organizing a meeting in
support of the Chechen leader and his proposals to be held in Grozny’s Alley of
Heroes on Saturday.
Two days ago, the Chechen
nationalities, foreign affairs, press and information ministry put out a list
of 60 suggested slogans for those who will be attending (znak.com/2016-01-20/v_groznom_chinovnikov_sgonyayut_na_miting_v_podderzhku_glavy_chechni).
They make for most interesting reading. Below is a selection:
·
“Only
in Russia do criminals call themselves the opposition”
·
“Away
with Khodorkovsky and [Others Like Him]”
·
“The
Fifth Column’s Goal is the Destruction of the Country”
·
“Let’s
Cleanse Russia of Parasites”
·
“Don’t
Whine, Liberal; Your End is Coming”
·
“There’s
No Place for Traitors in Russia but there is always one in the fifth column”
·
“In
a great country, there is no place for liberal trash”
·
“Betraying
the country is a crime with no statute of limitations”
·
“The
worse the situation is in Russia, the better the parasites live”
·
“Liberals
of all kinds crave crises, protests and death”
Presumably in a few days, Kremlin
spokesmen and others both in Russia and abroad who accept the Putin line will
explain why no one should be concerned about such comments and perhaps why they are simply the justified anger of the
Russian population – a disturbing echo of the arguments Stalin’s henchmen used
in the 1930s at the time of the Great Terror.
No comments:
Post a Comment