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EESTI ELU reedel, 14. veebruaril 2020 — Friday, February 14, 2020
Saying ‘no’ to Vladimir Putin
Nr. 6
International Holocaust Remembrance Day in Ottawa
Vladimir Kara-Murza, Washington Post, February 2020 English-language supplement to the Estonian weekly “EESTI ELU” Tartu College Publications Founding Chairman: Elmar Tampõld Editor: Laas Leivat 3 Madison Avenue, Toronto, ON M5R 2S2 T: 416-733-4550 • F: 416-733-0944 • E-mail: editor@eestielu.ca Digital: www.eestielu.ca
From disinformation to conspiracy theory. A troubling genesis Modern conspiracy theories often take hold by proceeding along a recognized path. First a hint or a cautious sugges tion. This is coupled with a warning that reasonable doubt hasn’t been eliminated. Then experts state that the initial suggestion could very well be true and give the con spiracy a probable basis for its veracity. Just recently the Russian TV network, Channel One, through its ‘Vremya’ prime evening news broadcast, the authorita tive source of news for the country, stated that secretive Western elites and the US are in some way to blame for the coronavirus epidemic originat ing in China. In fact Channel One airs a segment on this regular evening news broadcast dedicated spe cifically to coronavirus conspir acy theories. The reports are vague and they state that the US-virus connection cannot be confirmed, but they still leave the impression that there might be some iota of truth to it. Therefore they cannot holus- bolus be dismissed. The story explains that the word ‘corona’, Russian for crown is somehow related to the crowns that winners wore at beauty pageants promoted by Trump in Moscow years ago. Trump presented the crowns to the winning queen. The reports say that such a connection, Trump-crown-virus, could be plain ludicrous, but shouldn’t be rejected out of hand. You see, the report ex plains, the virus has been artifi cially produced, U.S. Intelli gence agencies are behind it, pharmaceutical companies will profit from producing a vaccine and a biological weapons test ing facility once existed in the state of Georgia – all false claims. But an ‘expert’ vows that this ‘ethnic bioweapon’ is an American invention. Then once again the network claims that no irrefutable proof has been found for these allega tions. But experts still insist that the idea cannot be totally dis missed. The story changes its approach – at the very least the U.S. is spreading panic about it, which again helps its pharma ceutical industry. An added benefit is the harm it will cause
for the Chinese economy and thus weaken the U.S.’s most formidable competitor. All this is hard to swallow for a Western news consumer, but for Russians, where the main source of information is controlled, it doesn’t sound too far-fetched. Conspiracy theories are fake but they feel true. This is what keeps devotees coming back to the source for more and more. They can be a mixture of fact and fantasy. Conspiracy theory devotees say that they can get a perspective they get nowhere else. They satisfy the human need to find meaning in random events. Some of the most enduring conspiracy theories: Freemason ry/Illuminati/Rothchild Bank/ Secret-Societies-Controlling-TheWorld are a group of theories that seem to be related or inter twined with one another and have lasted for generations. The New World Order/Trilateral Commission/Federal Reserve System/Bilderberg Group con spiracy are also somehow interrelated. The effectiveness of a con spiracy theory can be measured by how far its spreads and how deeply it infects. They are often white-washed through media that command respect and credi bility but are no less dodgy. Then they emerge else where – overseas – as nonsense for some but facts for others. One theory that has gained considerable momentum in altright websites and social media is Trump’s insistence that Ukraine was behind the hacking of the Democratic National Committee email servers. In fact an investigation concluded that two separate Russian in telligence-affiliated adversaries penetrated the DNC network. These findings were backed up by U..S. intelligence and in dependent cyber-security orga nizations. This has been one of Trump’s lasting obsessions and prompted the ultra right wing media to repeat theories about the 2016 election – that Trump won in spite of illegal help that Hilary got from abroad. In fact he won through the electoral colleges but lost by three mil lion accumulated popular votes – an o bvious irritant for him.
Recently Russian lawmakers decided to postpone legislation aimed at ushering in sweeping constitutional changes an nounced in January by Presi dent Vladimir Putin. The delay is the result of an influx of proposals from organi zations and individual citizens. The suggestions, many of them bizarre – ranging from re placing the president with a “supreme ruler” to formally codifying the need to “counter the falsification of history” – will be considered by a specially created working group that will make its recommendations to the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament. “We must be patient,” Kremlin press sec retary Dmitry Peskov coun seled journalists who inquired about the timeline. To the untutored observer, that diverse input might look like evidence of democracy. In reality, like so many other as pects of government in today’s Russia, the amendment process is nothing more than an ornate facade for Putin’s authoritarian system. The 22 constitutional changes put forward by the Kremlin will remain the same in substance: a further strengthen ing of presidential power; the de facto abolition of the pri macy of international law (in cluding the European Con vention on Human Rights) over domestic legislation; additional restrictions on eligibility for elected office, including the presidency; and the dramatic expansion of a once-insignifi cant institution, the State Coun cil, which could become Putin’s power base after his (supposed ly) final presidential term ends in four years. In a nutshell, the constitutional “reform” of 2020 is designed to institutionalize Putin’s long-intended status as ruler for life. On the first reading last month, the constitutional amend ments passed the Duma by 432 votes to zero, with no absten tions. For some time now, Russian parliaments have been compared to Soviet-era equiva lents, which unanimously rub
The Ukraine connection to the DNC sever conspiracy has gained major traction, probably because Trump, the U.S. presi dent, in the past a believable source, gives the theory curren cy. In spite of the consensus of all U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the elections, Trump states publicly that he believes Putin’s denial and according to the Washing ton Post, tells a White House official that it was Putin who told him about the Ukrainian connection. This all in the face of sworn testimony at a congressional hearing that U.S. intelligence
Digital Government Minister Joyce Murray attended the International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27 at the Library Archives Canada. Pinchas Gutter, a Holocaust Survivor, who spent much of his life raising awareness about the impor tance of Holocaust education spoke about his own experience and about the future of the Holocaust Survivos testimonials. Pinchas is the first Holocaust Survivor to be immortalized in an interactive three-dimensional projection in the USC Shoah Foundation’s New Dimensions in Testimony. Gutter keeps telling his story in purpose of making the world a better place to live. He lives in Toronto, is active in community and works as a cantor. From left: Digital Government Minister Joyce Murray and Holocaust Survivor Pinches Gutter at the International Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony, that took place on January 27th Library Archives Canada and was attended by hundreds of people. Text and Photo: ©Ülle Baum
ber-stamped the decisions of the Politburo. Until recently, how ever, there were always at least a handful of no votes or absten tions even on the most sensitive issues, including the ban on U.S. adoptions of Russian children and the annexation of Crimea. Now even that semblance of dissent appears to have ended. The first parliamentary vote on Putin’s constitutional amend ments was as unanimous as the Soviet votes on the adoption of Joseph Stalin’s constitution in December 1936 or Leonid Brezhnev’s in October 1977. The Duma is now indeed “not a place for discussion,” as its former speaker once famously put it. The Kremlin appears to be conscious of the legitimacy deficit of Russia’s opposi tion-free legislature. So in order to give the process some credi bility, it will resort to a tool favored by dictators from Adolf Hitler to Saddam Hussein: a national plebiscite. Planning is already underway at the Central Election Commission. The
has proof that their Russian counterpart created the con spiracy as an active measures operation – a huge operational success since practically all ultra right media and social net works are pathologically stick ing to it. Research show that ultraconservative content often out performs ‘progressive’ content on social media. The danger is that the fringe right is sadly a willing mouthpiece for Russian disinformation by posting the most controversial and often times outrageous claims. (to be continued) LAAS LEIVAT
Kremlin is reportedly giving regional governments targets for the desired outcome: more than 50 percent in favor of the amendments on a minimum of 50 percent turnout (with the goal for some regions set at 90 percent approval on a 70 per cent turnout). A report on the independent news site Meduza cites government sources who say the inflated figures are supposed to “demonstrate high support for Vladimir Putin and his proposals.” In a recent radio interview, Boris Nadezhdin, a former law maker and a moderate proKremlin liberal, pointed out that such results will be “impos sible” to achieve in cities such as Moscow and St. Petersburg, where opposition sentiments have been growing increasingly strong. “The level of support [for the regime] is very low,” he said, noting that the authorities will have to resort to overt vote fraud, which will almost cer tainly provoke public protests of the kind seen in 2011. “I’m begging you, while it’s not too late: Cancel that vote,” he add ed live on the air, addressing the authorities. The Russian opposition is already organizing to turn the plebiscite into a vote of no confidence in the regime. A manifesto signed by more than 40,000 people – including prominent leaders of the pro- democracy opposition and civil society groups – is urging Russians to go to the polls in April and reject what the authors are calling “a constitu tional coup d’etat.” “There are situations in life when the main word becomes the word ‘No’,” wrote Lev Shlosberg, a regional lawmaker from the opposition Yabloko party and one of the (Continued on page 9)
