thesaker | Whatever we all may think of Jewish identity politics or whatever our
opinion of the Soviet Union, it is undeniable that Hitler’s policies
inflicted unspeakable suffering upon both Russians and Jews. Western
Alt-Righters, who still delude themselves into thinking that Russians
share in their racist delusions, can deny and denounce this, but the
fact is that history has forever created a bond between Jews
and Russians: their common memory of the mass atrocities perpetuated
against them by the Nazis. No amount of political gesticulations will change that.
That does not, of course, mean that Putin, the Kremlin or anybody
else is an “ally” of Israel or that Putin and Bibi Netanyahu are working
together (or for each other). This utter nonsense is a completely false
conclusion resulting from a fundamental and profound misreading of
Russian history and Russian culture. But it goes even further than that.
I would argue that the history of the Russian culture is also
fundamentally incompatible with any racist/racialist ideas.
Conclusion two: Putin, Zelenskii and the Israelis
The recent trip of both Zelenskii and Putin to Israel has, again,
brought the topic of the Jewish, Russian and Ukrainian “triangle” to the
front page news. The Poles also seized the opportunity to make things
worse for themselves when they chimed in on it all. You read the
stories, so no need to repeat it all here. What was most impressive
about this event was that Zelenskii decided that he would travel to
Israel, only to then declare that he would not participate in the
commemorative events. Why? Clearly, he was terrified that the Ukronazis
will denounce him for caving in to Zionist pressure.
Putin did the exact opposite, not only did he travel to Israel and he
spoke at the event, he also reminded the (mostly Jewish) audience of
the horrors which the Russian people also suffered at the hands of the
Nazis. Clearly, Putin did not fear that some Russian nationalists would
accuse him of caving in to Zionist pressure. Why not?
Why could Putin speak so freely?
For two very simple reasons:
First, and unlike the Ukrainians or the Poles, the Russians have exactly zero guilt about what happened in WWII.
In spite of all the lies currently spread in the West, the Soviet Union
did not start WWII – the Soviet Union pretty much single-handedly
defeated Hitler and ended the war (the entire Anglo effort was worth no more than 20% and only came after the Soviets defeated the Wehrmacht and the SS in Stalingrad and elsewhere).
Second, Jewish supremacism was very short lived in the USSR
(roughly from 1917 to 1937) and neither Putin nor any other Russian
political leader will let claims of exclusive “special” Jewish suffering
go unchallenged. And while most Russian politicians don’t feel the need
to express any doubts about the “official” 6 million figure, they do
like to remind their Jewish friends that the Russian nation suffered
anywhere between 20 to 27 million dead people during WWII, thus denying
Jewish victims any superior victim status over non-Jewish victims.
Our fundamental disagreement about WWII, Hitler and Jews
Likewise, it is BECAUSE Russians have zero sense of guilt towards
Jews, that Putin could mention this figure of 80-85% of Jews in the
first Bolshevik regime in front of an assembly of Haredi rabbis (see the video here for yourself: https://youtu.be/7bSAB5OPkwQ).
Can you imagine Merkel or Trump daring to say these things in front of such an audience?
Unthinkable!
Conclusion three:
Ever since Vladimir Putin came to power, Russia has been gradually
and steadily separating herself from the collective West. This process
is not so much about being “against” the West as it is about being
“different” from the West, but unapologetically so! This is especially
visible in the nature and quality of the political discourse in Russia
which is truly dramatically different from the kind of hyper-controlled
(and, of course, hyper-manipulated) political discourse in the West.
Simply put, Russians live in a much more open and diverse intellectual
landscape than their western neighbors. As a result, it would be a major
mistake to assume, for example, that Russian patriots hold views
similar to those held by western nationalists. Hence the existence of
what we could call “Our fundamental disagreement about WWII, Hitler,
Jews and race”.
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