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EESTI ELU reedel, 22. mail 2020 — Friday, May 22, 2020
History, propaganda and Putin’s information warfare Marcus Kolga, Estonian World, May 2020 Marcus Kolga, an Estonian-Canadian filmmaker and journalist, who last week came under attack by a group of radicalised Russian-Canadian nationalists, writes that the radicals who deny the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states and glorify the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, have been co-opted as part of the Kremlin’s information warfare against Canadian critics, aided by an army of Kremlin trolls and bots. Last week, after writing an article for a national Cana dian newspaper challenging the Putinist-Stalinist version of WWII and 20th century history, I came under attack by a group of radicalised Russian-Canadian national ists. The attacks have come from a radicalised minority within the community of Russianspeaking Canadians who have been conditioned by Russian state propaganda to react with nationalist rage when the poli cies of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, are challenged or his revised version of history – one that seeks to rehabilitate and glorify Joseph Stalin – is challenged. Some within this minority are clearly working with Russian government actors to amplify and intensify this conditioning process. Not a new phenomenon Such was the case in Estonia in 2007, when Russian national ist extremists coordinated with the Russian embassy in Tallinn to violently react to the reloca tion of a monument to Red Army soldiers, erected by So
viet authorities during the illegal occupation of Estonia. Riots, arranged by the neo-fas cist Nightwatch group, threat ened to destabilise the country and were coordinated with cyberattacks by the Russian military intelligence that crippled Estonia’s digital infrastructure for several days. Canada’s National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians recently issued an exhaustive report that warned of Canadian ethnocul tural communities being used by malign foreign actors – Russia and China specifically – to manipulate Canadian politi cal decision making. In that parliamentary report, it is unambiguously stated that “states that conduct foreign interference activities pose a threat to Canada and its funda mental institutions. The target ing and manipulation of ethno cultural communities is the primary means through which these states control messages and seek to influence deci sion-making at all levels of government. Some individuals willingly act as agents of a foreign power for a variety of
Chef Paul Lillakas cooks up a daring ensemble of global flavours on Food Network Canada’s Fire Masters Vincent Teetsov On May 7th, Food Network Canada aired season two, epi sode four of their red hot cooking competition show Fire Masters. Three Canadian chefs took to the kitchen to duke it out for the chance to win $10,000 and become a Fire Masters champion. This time, Rebecca Russo, Matt DeMille, and our very own Paul Lillakas were on deck to cook for an esteemed panel of judges. The challenge with impress ing the judges over the show’s three rounds is that they were lightning fast, unpredictable, and at the mercy of high flames coming from the many grills. As chef Matt pointed out at the beginning, fire is something that you have to tame and work with, and all of these chefs really went in head first to cook out side with the scorching flames. The first “Wildfire” round had to result in a dish that represented the chefs’ personal styles. To stay true to himself, Paul opted for a seared bison ribeye, soy-birch syrup caramel, Jerusalem artichokes, and fire shallots. Throughout this com
petition, Paul was clever to choose vegetables that would endure in direct contact with fire, allowing him to hone in on the intricacies of the meat and sauces. The artichoke was sliced thinly into chips, capitalizing on their high sugar content. Paul’s plating and overall creation was inspired by birch bark, making fires at the cottage, and memo ries of his vanaisa. Chef Rebecca created a meat-focused Roman amatri ciana with pork cheek, tomato, garlic, onion, and basil that simmered with the addition of pinot grigio. This dish was nicely situated between lovingly made food from your grandma to a high impact, streamlined barbecue with sauce, crispy pork, and smoked tomato fit together in mouth-watering layers. Chef Matt made a Tuscan panzanella salad, upgraded with smoked shrimp. Blistered and slightly charred cherry toma toes, smoked lemon, roasted peppers, fennel, and cool, crisp components of Greek yogurt and cucumber made for a balanced dish. The show’s judges – Andrea Nicholson, Dale MacKay, and
reasons including patriotism or the expectation of reciprocal favours. These states also co-opt individuals inside and outside of ethnocultural com munities through flattery, bribery, threats and manipula tion.” The report goes on to state that there is clear evidence that foreign governments are harass ing activists in Canada and working to interfere with the freedom of media. Glorifying Soviet militarism and violence Just as the parliamentary re port and other intelligence agencies have warned, a group of Russian nationalists who have been radicalised by Russian state propaganda, have now been co-opted as part of the Kremlin’s information war fare against Canadian critics, aided by an army of Kremlin trolls and bots. The radicalisation is extreme and the language used echoes that of other radicalised groups. In comments made by these extremists, the Soviet WWII effort and occupation of the Baltics are often referred to as a “holy” war and history. They glorify Soviet militarism and violence. Small children as young as toddlers are dressed up as Red Army soldiers and given replica guns to condition them to glorify Soviet milita rism – even in Toronto at the Soviet Victory Day Parades. These extremists regularly accuse critics of the Putin re gime of being “Ukrainian”, “Zionists”, “gay”, among other things, just as they have bom
Kevin Bludso – were watching like hawks for how these three chefs would attend to the pro teins they chose to cook, as this would be the vehicle to drive all of the other flavours around. The intense heat and billow ing smoke made for disorient ing conditions for the chefs to cook this meat, and Paul ended up taking the bison meat off the heat slightly too early, con cerned that it was becoming overcooked. As it turned out, though, the meat was rare, which was a negative point with the judges. From outside the kitchen, they would have waited longer to slice the meat for plating; but behind the grill, the 30 minute countdown was rapidly dropping and decisive moves needed to be made. At the end of the first round, Rebecca was eliminated for what the judges perceived as an overly simplistic dish. Paul won the first round, with the judges celebrating his soy-birch syrup caramel sauce. Round two, the “Crossfire Round”, was a battle of sugar and spice between Matt and Paul. Paul’s round one victory enabled him to choose Chinese Five Spice to underscore his dish: grilled duck, coal-charred fennel, five spice ketchup, and grilled apple. Chef Matt prepared a roasted New York strip loin with maple
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barded me with these labels over the past days; not because they might have innocently mistaken me as being any of these good things, but because they feel these are among the worst insults to attack and be little critics; these terms are used with extreme malice and hate. Historical facts should be respectfully acknowledged History is at the core of this issue and it has been wea ponised by the Kremlin so that radicalised Russian nationalists in Canada, the United States, Europe and beyond, can use it to polarise our societies – as they do with Soviet Victory Day. These efforts are designed to marginalise and delegitimise the ethno-cultural heritage of millions of Canadians whose families fled Soviet repression and occupation in WWII and afterwards. While Russia’s significant contribution to ending Nazi tyranny in Europe – as much if not more so than any other single allied nation – should be respectfully acknowledged, and the victims always remembered, so, too, should the suffering and the all victims of Soviet terror, before and after the war, never be forgotten or marginalised by Russian propagandists. Russian state media and propaganda, which is allowed to freely broadcast in most west ern countries, is a major con tributor to this growing radicali sation and cult of the Soviet victory. It breeds loyalty to Putin and hate towards anyone who questions his authority and
sugar, Hollandaise sauce, roast ed shishito peppers, and salsa verde. While Matt was bold to make a Hollandaise under such tight time restrictions, ultimately Paul won again for his ketchup and tender duck cooked to perfection on the open flame. Round three brought judge Dale MacKay to the other side of the judges’ table to cook against Paul in the “Feast of Fire”, where they would need to make a curry-themed main, sides, and a well-paired dessert. Paul was up for the challenge once again, founded on his early exposure to Indian cui sine. In 45 blistering minutes, he whipped up Murgh Makhani (aka butter chicken), Punjabi baingan bharta (smoky eggplant curry), cauliflower salad, and
his false historical narratives – including entire groups, such as the LGBTQ community, Ukrai nians and anyone of Baltic heri tage. Such attacks have happened in the past, and they will con tinue so long as Vladimir Putin and his clan of corrupt and repressive kleptocrats remain in power. Freedom-loving, tolerant Russians are the majority I am proud to have many Russian friends, who share a common love of freedom and tolerance and with whom I have the honour of working with in common cause, for human rights and democracy. They are the majority, not this rage filled mob of radicalised extremists who prostrate themselves to Putin and Stalin. The intent of the radicalised Russian nationalists is to si lence the critics, regardless of ethnic background or language. Those who stand up, become targets for smears and hate, and no one is safe. They will attack the leaders of our nation, like Chrystia Freeland (the deputy prime minister of Canada), down to the activists who criti cise the Putin regime and challenge his hyper-propagan dised version of history, as the Canadian parliamentary com mittee has warned us. What is clear is that those who believe in democracy, truth and justice, must stand together, and not allow regimes like those in Moscow to intimidate us into silence.
rice pudding mango.
with
brûléed
Chef Dale made a prawn c oconut curry, red tomato curry with smoked salmon, jasmine rice, and a coconut custard with mango. Dale used heat and smoke to pack sophistication into these elements, leading host Dylan Benoit to proclaim the judges’ verdict: that Dale had upheld his title of Fire Masters champion. However, with all the dishes put away, Paul really made a mark with his take on the clas sic butter chicken, and his very learned approach to articulating complex, memorable flavours when the heat was on. As a great TV chef, he brought the excitement of food through to the other side of the screen.
Photo used with permission from Food Network Canada
