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>Even in middle school history class we were taught that the 1930's rise of fascism wouldn't be possible without the economic downturn that preceded it. The ri
by trhway 4y ago
>Even in middle school history class we were taught that the 1930's rise of fascism wouldn't be possible without the economic downturn that preceded it.
The rise of the today's Russian fascism has followed exactly the same path as in Germany back then - a lost war (Afghanistan and Cold War) resulting in the crash of empire followed by a decade of economic hardship resulting in the rise of a "strong man" regime with all the same trappings of revanchism, "master nation" ideology, total suppression of basic liberties and democratic institutions, etc. (even the triggers used by the regime to grab the total governmental power are very similar - Reichstag fire in Germany and the FSB bombing of apartment buildings in 1999.) And so far we've had annexation of Crimea being extremely similar to the annexation of Sudetenlend back then, and the current stage - Ukraine invasion - is the start of the actual implementation of Lebensraum (Polish invasion back then) - last time it led directly to WWII, and i don't see how we can cheat the historic logic this time.
- vkou 4y agoSo, if Russia's 90% of the way there, are we in the US ~75% of the way there? The main thing we're missing from that list is the false flag attacks, the other boxes check off.
- trhway 4y agonot really. The key foundation for fascism is totalitarianism which in particular includes that total suppression of liberties and democratic institutions. The US is far from it.
- terr-dav 4y agoAside from the loss of the Cold War, what you're describing sounds a lot like the United States.
- watwut 4y agoThese things are not analogical at all. Hitler turned country into authoritarian instantly when he took power in 1933. Putin on the other hand was moving slowly. Hitler was outsider to political power, building his party from bottom. Putin represents continuity with soviet era. He was insider whole time. Reichstag fire in Germany and the FSB bombing of apartment are quite different also, among other things because it was not inside job as FSB bomving was. I could continue, but this comparison just does not compute.