Fascism as an idea was never defeated. This cult of irrationality and violence is not destroyed as an argument. While Nazi Germany seemed strong, fascism was seductive for Europeans and other peoples..

Only on the battlefields of World War II was he defeated. And now he's back again. This time, the country waging a fascist war of annihilation is Russia.. If she wins, fascists around the world will be happy. Yale University historian Timothy Snyder writes about this in an article for the New York Times..

He notes that people make the mistake of limiting their fear of fascism to clear images of Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust.. Fascism was of Italian origin and was popular in Romania, where Orthodox Christians dreamed of purges.. He had fans all over Europe and even in America.. In all its variations, it has always personified the triumph of will over common sense.. That is why it cannot be satisfactorily defined.. People argue fiercely what can be called fascism and what is not.. But modern Russia, according to the historian, meets most of the criteria that scientists usually use to identify fascism..

There is a personality cult of Vladimir Putin in Russia. There is a cult of the dead in the country, formed on the basis of the Second World War. Russia cherishes the myth of the long past times of imperial greatness, which allegedly need to be returned with the help of the war against Ukraine.

“This is not the first time that Ukraine has become the object of a fascist war.. The conquest of the country was the main goal of Hitler's war in 1941. Hitler believed that the USSR, then dominating Ukraine, was a Jewish state. He wanted to replace Soviet rule with his own and appropriate the fertile Ukrainian lands.. Famine was to begin in the USSR, and Germany at that time would become an empire. In his mind, this was an easy task, because the USSR, in his opinion, was an artificial entity, and the Ukrainians were a colonial people,” writes Snyder..

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Historian points out that the similarities between Hitler's war and Putin's war are extraordinary. The Kremlin also considers Ukraine an “artificial country”. And her Jewish president supposedly proves she's not real. The Kremlin believes that if a small group of elites are destroyed, the populace will gladly accept Russian domination.. Today, it is Russia that is blocking the flow of Ukrainian food to the world market, threatening the global south with starvation..

Many now refuse to consider Russia as a fascist state because the Stalinist USSR insisted on its anti-fascist nature. But the historian notes that Soviet claims interfered with the definition of what fascism is, and is also confusing today.. With the help of American, British and other allies, the USSR defeated Nazi Germany in 1945. But his fight against fascism was inconsistent..

Before Hitler came to power in 1933, the USSR treated the Nazis as another type of capitalist enemy.. In the end, the communist parties in Europe considered any other parties as enemies. But such a policy helped Hitler's rise.. Despite the fact that there were many more of them than the Nazis, the German communists and socialists refused to cooperate with each other.. After this failure, Stalin changed his policy and demanded that the European Communist Parties form coalitions to block the Nazis.. But this approach did not last long.. In 1939. The USSR became a de facto ally of Nazi Germany. And two states invaded Poland together. Nazi speeches were reprinted in the Soviet press. Nazi officers praised the effectiveness of Soviet mass deportations..

But in Russia today they do not talk about these facts.. Historical memory laws even define it as a crime. World War II is part of Putin's historical myth of Russian innocence and lost greatness. Russia seems to have a monopoly on sacrifice and victory. The basic fact that Stalin unleashed World War II by becoming an ally of Hitler is considered unthinkable. It is forbidden to mention.

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Stalin's flexibility towards fascism is the key to understanding Russia today. In the days of Stalin, at first there was indifference to fascism, then they began to consider it bad, and then good, until Hitler betrayed Stalin. Then he got bad again. But no one has ever defined what fascism is. It was a "

During the purges, communists were declared fascists and subjected to show trials. During the Cold War, the Americans and the British became fascists. All the talk of " His successors also had no problem comparing Israel to Nazi Germany.. In other words, Soviet anti-fascism was only a policy of dividing into us and them.. This is not a response to fascism. After all, as Nazi thinker Carl Schmitt said, fascist politics begins with the definition of an enemy.. And since Soviet "

In 21st century Russia, “anti-fascism” has become the right of the Russian leader to designate national enemies. Real Russian fascists like Alexander Dugin and Alexander Prokhanov were granted access to the media. Putin himself relies on the work of the interwar Russian fascist Ivan Ilyin..

“For a Russian autocrat, a “fascist” or “Nazi” is simply someone who opposes him or his plans to destroy Ukraine.. Ukrainians are " A time traveler from the 1930s would have no problem identifying Putin's regime as fascist,” explains the historian.

The Z symbol, rallies, propaganda, war as an "

“The war against Ukraine is not only a return to the traditional fascist battlefield, but also to traditional fascist rhetoric and activities. Other nations exist only to be colonized. Russia is innocent because of its long history. The existence of Ukraine is an international conspiracy. War is the answer. Because Putin talks about fascists as enemies, it's hard for us to understand that he himself can be a fascist. But in the Russian war against Ukraine, the word “Nazis” means “non-human enemies” that the Russians can kill,” Snyder notes..

Hate speech directed against Ukrainians makes it easier to kill them, as evidenced by Bucha, Mariupol and any other part of Ukraine that has been under Russian occupation. Mass Graves Are Not Some Accident of War. This is the expected consequence of the fascist war of annihilation..

“When fascists call other people “fascists” – this is fascism, brought to its extreme illogicality as a cult of uncommon sense. This is the final point where hate speech distorts reality and propaganda becomes assertive. This is the apogee of will over thought. Calling others fascists when you yourself are a fascist is the essence of Putinist practice. American philosopher Jason Stanley calls it " I call it " Ukrainians offer the most elegant wording. They call it 'rashism',"

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The world understands fascism better today than it did in the 1930s. Everyone knows exactly where it leads.. We need to know fascism, because it will be clear what we are all dealing with. But knowing doesn't mean stopping it. Fascism is not a debatable position, but a cult of will that produces fiction. This fiction about the mysticism of a man who conquers the world with the help of violence. And propaganda will keep it going until the end. To defeat fascism, according to Snyder, is possible only through a demonstration of the weakness of its leader. Fascist leader must be defeated. This means that all who oppose fascism must do whatever is necessary to defeat it.. Only then will the whole myth fall apart.

As in the 1930s, democracy is in retreat around the world. And the Nazis unleash wars against their neighbors. If Russia wins in Ukraine, it will not just be the destruction of democracy by brute force, although this is already pretty bad. This outcome of the war demoralizes all other democracies. Even before the Russian invasion, Russia's friends - Marine Le Pen in France, Viktor Orban in Hungary, Tucker Carlson in the US - were enemies of democracy.. Fascist victories on the battlefield will confirm that strength determines truth, that common sense is for losers, that democracies must fail..

“If Ukraine did not resist, it would be a dismal spring for democracies around the world. If Ukraine does not win, decades of darkness await us,” the historian warns.