This commentary is by Joe Randazzo, a resident of South Burlington.
Is Russia a communist country? The answer is most decidedly no. Communism ended in Russia in 1991 with the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Although it claims to be a federal democratic state, the reality is quite the opposite. Since Putin took power in 2000, Russia has devolved into a right-wing fascist state. He has eroded human rights and democratic freedoms, jailed dissidents, and engaged in political assassinations throughout the world.
Putin now holds the power at all levels in Russia.
In 1998, Hillary Clinton coined the term “vast right-wing conspiracy” while defending Bill Clinton’s beleaguered presidency. That claim has ultimately been proved. However, there is another worldwide right-wing conspiracy. Let’s call it the Fascist Dictatorial Brotherhood.
Putin is a former KGB operative. He knows how to infiltrate many aspects of American society and has systematically undermined the basic tenets of our democracy. In 2014, after Russia annexed Crimea, conservative Pat Buchanan ignorantly wrote: “In the culture war for the future of mankind, Putin is planting Russia’s flag firmly on the side of traditional Christianity.”
From an article written by Casey Michel in 2017: “Before 2014, Russia was largely seen as an importer for Christian fundamentalists, most especially from the U.S. But as the Kremlin dissolved diplomatic norms in 2014, Moscow began forging a new role for itself at the helm of the global Christian right.
“And Moscow’s grip at the tiller of a globally resurgent right has only tightened since. Not only have Russian banks funded groups like France’s National Front, but Moscow has hosted international conferences on everything from neo-Nazi networking to domestic secessionists attempting to rupture the U.S.
“Meanwhile, American fundamentalists bent on unwinding minority protections in the U.S. have increasingly leaned on Russia for support — and for a model they’d bring to bear back home, from targeting LGBT communities to undoing abortion rights throughout the country.
“It’s no coincidence that Buchanan’s column, which outlined the players within the cultural, social, moral war between Russia and the hedonistic West, mentioned a semi-obscure group called the World Congress of Families. As Buchanan wrote, the WCF listed Russia’s emergence as a Pro-Family Leader as one of the 10 best trends of 2013. Indeed, in order to outline how Russia challenged — and supplanted — the U.S. role as a clarion for Christian fundamentalists, you have to parse the WCF’s role, and the group’s attendant impact on Russian policy over the past few years.”
It isn’t by accident that the fundamentalist Christian right supports Donald Trump in spite of his immoral and destructive activities. The Christian right’s anti-democratic platforms have been supported by Russia for several decades. Trump became their spokesperson.
Donald Trump has been a Putin ally since Trump’s visit to Moscow in 1987. His deferential treatment of anything that Putin initiated placed Trump firmly in the Fascist Dictatorial Brotherhood.
There are other world leaders who are members of the club. Brazil’s Bolsonaro has just visited Moscow, in spite of the current Ukranian crisis. We can also include Modi of India, Widodo in Indonesia, Orban in Hungary, LePen in France, Salvini in Italy, Erdogan in Turkey, Duterte in the Phillipines, Kaczynski in Poland, and quite a few others.
These so-called “populist” leaders are nationalists, and many have a kleptocratic, autocratic agenda.
Fascism doesn’t just appear overnight. According to an excellent definition by Wikipedia: “Fascists believe that liberal democracy is obsolete. They regard the complete mobilization of society under a totalitarian one-party state as necessary to prepare a nation for armed conflict and to respond effectively to economic difficulties. A fascist state is led by a strong leader (such as a dictator) and a martial-law government composed of the members of the governing fascist party to forge national unity and maintain a stable and orderly society.”
The frightening fact is that Russia is firmly in the dictatorial fascist camp. Under Donald Trump, the United States was on the road to that same fate. He must not be allowed back in office.
Donald Trump actually was quoted on several occasions saying that Hillary Clinton and her aides should be killed. He has advocated violence by championing the Jan. 6 terrorism.
What can be done? There is now a golden opportunity to reverse the decades of erosion that have been planted by Putin and then Trump to destroy the underpinnings of this country.
We are at a momentous crossroad. The Republican National Committee said that the traitorous terrorism of Jan. 6 was legitimate political discourse. I guarantee that both Putin and Trump did celebratory jigs when they heard the news.
However, leaders who live by violence and by often-repeated lies usually fall victims to their own excesses. In spite of our current political polarization, all members of the U.S. Senate voted for a symbolic resolution condemning Russia for its imminent threat to invade Ukraine.
This must “filter down” to each and every American pulpit. The religious right must abandon the idea that people like Putin and Trump are messengers from God. It’s vital for all religious people in America to realize that they have been targeted by Putin and Trump to do their bidding.
The right wing has been on the ascendant for the last decade. However, all things political have a shelf life and come in cycles. I’m hoping that we have hit rock bottom where the entire world sees Putin and Trump (and those who support them) for who they really are. My hope is that, by invading Ukraine, Putin will actually be destroying himself.
In his poem “The Road Not Taken,” Robert Frost wrote:
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
We have two roads before us. If we travel down the wrong road, it will be to the destruction of our democracy. If we want God on our side, it’s up to us to recognize those people who are truly good, and those who are evil. Putin and Trump are evil.
