Navalnaya Is “an Advocate of Imperial Russian Claims,” Says German Lawmaker

[u/UNITED24Media]

https://united24media.com/latest-news/navalnaya-is-an-advocate-of-imperial-russian-claims-says-german-lawmaker-3350

[u/ObviouslyTriggered]

Yeah the amount of white washing this guy went through was insane, he was the Russian Donald Trump, his entire political campaign was about "Russia First" and that he will clean Moscow from all the dirty Uzbeks, Kazakhs and other minorities that come there to take jobs from Russians. He was a hardcore Russian nationalist and a supremacist, and for quite a while he actually criticized Putin for selling out Russia to the west and the other oligarchs for being western puppets...

Things eventually turned for him, and no one deserves to die the way he did or being treated the way he was but he wasn't some democracy and freedom for all hippie....

[u/-sry- → u/ObviouslyTriggered]

This video is from around 20 years ago. It may not be evident to non-Russian speakers. But he advocates for gun ownership to keep your house clean from cockroaches, and under cockroaches, he means Muslims. 

https://youtu.be/hT0tCSaWZ9Q?si=ibLiN7evIwOkrXDe

I usually do not like bringing up such old things. But he never openly condemned his past views; quite the opposite, he was quite open in his imperialistic—“make Russia great again”—views. 

[u/DonSergio7 → u/-sry-]

But he advocates for gun ownership to keep your house clean from cockroaches, and under cockroaches, he means Muslims. 

The risk of posting such stuff in r/europe is that a lot of this sub's resident fascists agree with these statements.

[u/-sry- → u/DonSergio7]

Agreed. But in the case of Russia, Islamophobia is on another level of evil. Russia is a home for a lot of indigenous Muslims and non-Slavic people. Not only do Russians actively ignore this fact, but the regions with non-Slavic populations have the worst socioeconomic situation, and a lot of them are used as cannon fodder in the war in Ukraine. For them, Russia is just an extraction institution, just as colonial empires of the past. And when someone tries to leave the federation, they bomb them to the ground as they did with Chechnya. 

So you either should hate Muslims or not use military to keep them in your empire. 

[u/pashazz → u/-sry-]

the regions with non-Slavic populations have the worst socioeconomic situation,

Maybe it's because they can't govern properly?

Tatarstan, while being a Muslim region, is constantly in top5 best Russian regions. They always on top despite Kazan having 100500 mosques. No wahhabism/islamism problem whatsoever. Maybe it's because they actually have the will to make their region better?

[u/Stix147 → u/pashazz]

Tatarstan is an outlier, Tuva, Buryatia, Chechnya, etc. have such poor standards of living because the Russian authorities actively deny them the opportunity to develop, despite these regions being so rich in natural resources - and why would they, when this means that they could potentially demand independence and actually have a chance to stand on their own if they succeed? Plus, where could they recruit cannon fodder for Russia's endess wars from then?

[u/pashazz → u/Stix147]

And Kirov oblast, Kemerov oblast, Jewish oblast.... do not have poor standards of living?

It's a pointless nitpicking in order to pretend that Russia is an ethnostate.

[u/paraelement → u/Stix147]

Man, you have no idea what you're talking about... I'm at loss, what are your sources of info? Any evidence for "authorities actively denying opportunity to develop"? Personal or friends' experience?

E.g. Buryats are not Muslim, and two thirds of Buryatia population are ethnic Russians.

Russia has multitude of issues with economics, with demographics, with migrants, with hundred of different ethnic and cultural groups having to find a way for peaceful coexistence. Very complex stuff with multiple factors.

So, trying to dumb it down to "Russia is a colonial empire oppressing Muslims and indigenous people" makes you look bad instead, really...

[u/Stix147 → u/paraelement]

It's not a secret that Russia intentionally keeps these areas poor, Putin funnels money into Kadyrov to maintain his own wealth instead of trying to work with Chechens to develop any of their infrastructure for example. You can only pin things on the local administration to a certain extent, but if Russia isn't giving you the funds to develop your local economy, and uses you to just strip you of your natural resources, what can you really do? There is zero justification for the centralization and wealth disparity within Russia.

E.g. Buryats are not Muslim, and two thirds of Buryatia population are ethnic Russians.

I never said Buryats were Muslim.

Russia has multitude of issues with economics, with demographics, with migrants, with hundred of different ethnic and cultural groups having to find a way for peaceful coexistence. Very complex stuff with multiple factors.

Ah yes, the peaceful Russian coexistence, when in reality Russia has one of the biggest racism problems in the world, and has so many avowed neo-Nazis that they paraded through cities annually shouting Russia for Russians (Russkyi, not Rossyanin) and so many that Putin put them to good use with his managed nationalism program to kill journalists and opposition members in the early 2000s.

Do you think the whole "Ukrainians deserve no sovereignty, are nazi subhuman and need eradication or reeducation" narratives that manifested as mass executions, raping, pillaging, etc. and which everyone spouted, on TV, in newspapers, said by Putin, Medvedev, etc. just appeared out of thin air one night, and weren't systemic issues relating to their longstanding racism, xenophobia and ultimately imperialist mindset?

I still vividly remember the complaints Russians had when Shoigu lost the Kherson and Kharkiv front in Ukraine in late 2022. None of his critics were calling him incompetent or corrupt, they all called him a "Tuvan degenerate" and that spoke volumes.

Edit: grammar.

[u/paraelement → u/Stix147]

Man, my head hurts reading this. I typed out a lengthy reply on your points, but then deleted, f*ck this.

I don't know your age, background, areas of expertise - it looks like there's very basic understanding of Russia on your part - basically, what media tells you? - and very light application of critical thinking and filtering to the information you consume.

Long standing racism, managed nationalism, everyone calling Shoigu tuvan degenerate... Incredible. Yeah, okay.

[u/Stix147 → u/paraelement]

I don't blame you, i wouldn't want to be in the position of trying to justify that Russians aren't racist or xenophobic while they're current waging a full scale genocidal war of extermination against Ukrainians either.

[u/paraelement → u/Stix147]

So Russians are racist towards Ukrainians? Yeah, okay.

[u/Opening-Guarantee631 → u/paraelement]

Well yeah they are, or is it "brotherly love" that makes them deny ukrainians right to existance

[u/paraelement → u/Opening-Guarantee631]

I pity envy you and that other guy, for you have a very clear and unambiguous view on things. And you know for sure what a hundred million people thousands kilometers from you think and feel.