Putin’s Actions Require Updating Pastor Niemoeller’s Warning about Nazi Tactics, Eidman Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 15 – Igor Eidman, a Russian commentator for Deutsche Welle, says that ever more Russians are angry about what Putin’s policies are doing to them or their friends and are finally beginning to connect the dots and recognize how the Kremlin leader’s salami tactics against society ultimately threaten everyone.

            Among his acquaintances, he says in a Facebook post, some are complaining about the increase in pension ages, others about the persecution of  Jehovah’s Witnesses, a third group about “optimization” of health care, and a fourth about official malfeasance  (facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1940517566011213&id=100001589654713).

                But increasingly, all of these people are recovering from the “Crimea is Ours” psychosis and declaring that their “enemies are sitting in the Kremlin and not in Kyiv or in Washington.”  That represents remarkable progress, Eidman continues, and makes it possible to rephrase the immortal words of Pastor Martin Niemoeller about the Nazis’ approach.

            The commentator offers the following version of the situation Russians find themselves in now:

“When they came for the opposition activists, I didn’t say anything because I wasn’t an activist.

“When they came for the Ukrainians, I didn’t say anything because I wasn’t a Ukrainian.

“When they came for the Crimean Tatars, I didn’t say anything because I wasn’t a Crimean Tatar.

“When they came for the Jehovah’s Witnesses, I didn’t say anything because I wasn’t one of them.

But then “when they came for me, there wasn’t anyone left to speak out on my behalf.”