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ID:
134097
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| Publication |
2014.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Let us drink to Putin! He is doing so many good things for us." This toast from a friend's mother, at a recent friendly gathering of neighbors at my dacha near Moscow, made a few of us around the table feel a little uneasy. I think it was the first time that I'd heard someone proposing to drink the health of one of our heads of state when it wasn't required by protocol. However, this lady's emotions were sincere and, given the circumstances in Russia today, quite logical. Vladimir Putin's Crimean blitz was a very domestic Russian affair, designed to give the people a new sense of imperial pride and, by extension, provide the Kremlin with a badly needed popularity boost. In this regard, it succeeded beyond expectation. Even the tragedy of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 did not shake the foundations of the conviction that most Russians hold: their country is a beacon of moral fortitude and spiritual greatness besieged by the Western forces of atheism, permissiveness, and greed.
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| 2 |
ID:
134095
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| Publication |
2014.
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| Summary/Abstract |
The courtship between Eastern European far-right parties and Russia has been going on for years, of course. In 2008, Eastern Europe's far right supported the Russian war against Georgia. In May 2013, leaders of Jobbik, the Hungarian far-right party with dubious fascist origins, met with Russian Duma leaders and academics at Moscow State University. The neo-Nazi Bulgarian Ataka party has vocally supported Putin and Russian foreign policy. In 2012, Ataka's leader, Volen Siderov, traveled to Moscow, reportedly at his own expense, to celebrate Putin's sixtieth birthday and express admiration for the Russian president's strong leadership. After Russia's annexation of Crimea, Siderov threatened to withdraw his party's support from the coalition government if it supported further sanctions against Russia.
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