The REAL Reason Putin's Gone Fascist

As Putin's brutal Ukraine invasion goes on, this video explores Putin's recent fascist turn. What does it mean for Russia, for Ukraine, and for the entire world? What kind of fascist has Putin become? And, what is a good explanation of fascism?

Other videos in this series:

How a Kremlin coup could topple Putin

The REAL reason Putin might start a nuclear war

The TERRIFYING TRUTH behind Putin's Ukraine invasion

The REAL Reason Putin is invading Ukraine

CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction
00:59 Putin's fascist turn
03:15 Putin's fascist turn and the Russian people
06:32 Putin's brutal invasion of Ukraine
07:15 Russian propaganda and the symbol Z
09:45 What is fascism?
14:06 Russian fascist thinker Ivan Ilyin & Putin
15:29 Careful look at Hitler

--

#vladvexlershow offers a guide to surviving the 21st century. Surviving it politically, culturally, aesthetically, and coming away with a vision of the world that is at once truthful but also hopeful.

Vlad Vexler is a philosopher, musicologist & arts consultant. He is slowly writing a book on Isaiah Berlin. Born in Russia in 1981, his home has been Israel, Australia, Tonga and now London. Since 2003 he has lived with the neuro immune condition ME. For several years he was unable to walk or talk or read. His PhD research focused on political liberty.

Twitter:

Other platforms are still works in progress -

Facebook:

Instagram:

Podcast:

Linkedin:

*website under construction

[VladVexler]

WATCH NEXT in this series:

How a Kremlin coup could topple Putin

The REAL reason Putin might start a nuclear war

The TERRIFYING TRUTH behind Putin's Ukraine invasion

The REAL Reason Putin is invading Ukraine

[paolagrando]

"This symbol stands for the joy of doing bad things."
You encapsulated the Russian z so perfectly.

[ivanlaplante]

Dude, exactly. I didn't take the "Putin is fascist" that seriously until i heard him say those specific words. But after that, anyone still denying it has to be in complete cognitive dissonance.

[bellezayverdad]

That a single man going mad might compromise a whole nation is one of the biggest weaknesses of authoritarian regimes.

[shingo]

“ Z …. stands for ….. the joy of doing bad things …… “ that statement hit home. I just found your channel yesterday. fascinating content and critique. keep up the good work !

[nekogato]

I grew up in the beggining of this millenium in a distant Russian village. When I was a kid, I loved books on history. I always deemed myself living on the outskirts of a great empire that collapsed, sort of like a Roman boy who was living 50 years or so after Rome fell. This video just reminded me of that.

[euroschmau]

Your videos are by far the best explanations I have come across regarding Putin and Ukraine, so insightful (albeit quite anxiety inducing, but then again we live in extraordinarily anxious times). You putting in that deep bass sound when you highlight a main point is a really nice touch.

[IAmNumber]

Finally, a political analyst who is actually literate in political theory.

Trying to find one on YouTube who isn’t a rock-stupid shock jockey or a grifter is like dying of thirst in the desert.

[NH]

I traveled in Russia in the immediate aftermath of the Soviet collapse, and can say, without doubt, that memories of WW 2 are fresh, deep, and everywhere. Each small city had a monument with as many (or more) names etched into stone as our Vietnam Memorial in Washington. And there are hundreds of these. It was (and possibly still is) easy to get into a hot argument with a Russian over how "Roosevelt bled the Soviet Union by delaying D Day." Russians of all ages appeared to feel these things in their souls.
The other thing they feel, instinctively, is fear. Fear of denunciation. Fear of being cut off from the possibility of a normal life. Fear of authority, whether authority was competent to even know of their existence (and in Siberia, it wasn't). People still felt that fear, and let it rule them in ways quite unfamiliar to a westerner, especially an American. Pointed questions aimed in my direction by a minor official in uniform could often be answered with "It is not necessary for you to know." You could see them silently weighing whether I was more trouble than I was worth.
No prison has enough guards on hand to stop a concerted uprising by the prisoners. That, I am sorry to say, is how Russia seems to me now: a self-policing ideological prison.
And now, thanks to Putin, this self-policing prison has become the newest, largest North Korean-style pariah state the world has ever seen.

[scorpi]

The problem I have with you, me dear Vlad, is that you are so bloody well read, intelligent, logical and such a breath of fresh air in the world of dumbed down political journalism and ignorance at what is the real truth, that I can't stop at one video and find myself binging on and on to the next video in your series! You are truly amazing! A voice everyone needs to hear.🧠👌

[RednBlack-mq]

finally! someone who actually understands what is happening here. So tired of hearing western "experts" who claim to understand and are eager to do some explanation, and yet having only surface level knowledge on the subject. Thank you for the video!

[tacitus]

One more thing I feel should be mentioned here is the unifying theme of all fascist sub-ideologies around the world: Obsession with an imaginary past golden age.

The original fascists in Italy wanted to restore the Roman Empire, the nazis wanted to get Germany back to the heights of the German Empire under the Kaiser and beyond, Islamofascists want to bring back the caliphate and Putin seeks to bring back what he views as the glory days of Russia under the USSR and the Russian Empire.

I would argue that is also the reason why there are so many subtypes of fascism, at least one for each country. Everyone has a different idea of an imaginary past golden age and how to 'restore' it.

[sffg]

really appreciate your content and that you're trying to contextualize Russian imperialism while being of Russian descent yourself. Greetings from a Polish citizen who has always thought that Russia has such a huge potential but at the same time such a terrrible political culture, the post-Soviet political elites are on constant (albeit delusional) power trip

[jimjonsen]

A growing number of Russian analysts, in Russia and abroad, have taken to calling Vladimir Putin's regime "fascist." And they don't use the term casually or as a form of opprobrium. They mean that Putin's Russia genuinely resembles Mussolini's Italy or Hitler's Germany. 
 
One of the most recent examples was Mikhail Iampolski. According to the Russian-born NYU professor, "the appeal of quasi-fascist discourse was predictable" as the Russian economy tanked. Moscow rejects "[a]nything that could be seen as a sign of weakness or femininity, " including liberalism and homosexuality, and then projects these qualities onto the enemy. Consequently, "Ukrainians are systematically  accused of fascism, while Russian fascism is displaced by a false idealization of one's own image." 
 
In March, Moscow commentator Yevgeni Ikhlov charged Putin with introducing a "left fascism" that, while "anti-market and quasi-collectivist, " is "fascism because it is a form of a militant and most primitive philistinism." In January 2015, Andrei Zubov, fired from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations for opposing Putin's Ukraine policies, argued that Russia's President was building "a corporate state of a fascist type packaged in Soviet ideology, the ideology of Stalinism, " resulting in a Russia that closely resembles Italian fascism with its "nationalism and union with the church." Moscow-based analyst Aleksei Shiropaiev claimed that Russia was moving toward fascism "at a galloping pace." Russian fascism "has become a FACT, " "mass Russian consciousness remains absolutely imperialist and chauvinist, " and most Russians have "ACCEPTED fascination and are ready to agree to even massive political repressions." 

But are the analysts right? The evidence is compelling. Fascist regimes have charismatic dictators with hyper-masculine personality cults. These regimes generally evince a hyper-nationalist ethos, a cult of violence, mass mobilization of youth, high levels of repression, powerful propaganda machines, and imperialist projects. Fascist regimes are hugely popular—usually because the charismatic leader appeals to broad sectors of the population. Putin and his Russia fit the bill perfectly. 
 
In calling Putin's Russia fascist, Russian critics have proven to be far bolder than their non-Russian counterparts in the West, who remain wary about the F-word. Some Westerners genuinely believe that Putin's brand of dictatorship differs from past fascist regimes. They often locate the differences in the historical conditions that gave rise to Hitler, Mussolini, and Putin, and not in the actual characteristics of their regimes. But doing so confuses the origins of similar things with their essential features. No one would say that America is not democratic because the origins of American democracy lay in revolution and not, as with Britain, in historical evolution. 
 
But many Westerners fear the implications of calling a spade a spade. If Putin's Russia is fascist, then it is comparable to Hitler's Germany and Mussolini's Italy and, thus, certifiably evil. And that means that calls for understanding Putin amount to calls for understanding evil. So it's better to pretend that Russia isn't fascist. Hence the popularity of abstruse designations like managed democracy and sovereign democracy or terms—such as Putinism—that only state the obvious.  


A similar conceptual change is likely to take place with fascism. As the chorus of Russian voices using the F-word grows, Western policymakers who insist that we should listen to Putin and understand his point of view will have no choice but to listen to and understand his critics. 
 
Calling Putin's system fascist will mark a conceptual breakthrough in Western attitudes—and perhaps policies—toward Russia. Viewing his state as evil does not necessitate rattling sabers.

Soft power and diplomacy will remain no less important than hard power.

But the conceptual shift would recognize that Putin and his regime are the problem, and that the problem will go away only when he and his regime go away. In a word, there are no quick fixes to the Putin problem. The West is in for a long, hard slog involving economic and military support for Ukraine and its neighbors, the containment of Russian imperialism, and support for anti-fascist elements within Russia. The good news is that, now as then, democracy will win. 
 

According to the famous historian Norman Davies, fascism, like communism, Putinisem, Nazissem, fascist ect ect can be defined by the following features:

* A pseudo-scientific conceptual basis (the believe of Russian 3rd Rom )

* A utopian goal (the Russiki Mir and Russians domains of a new Russian world )

* A structure of a party-state (the restructure of the USSR borders centralized power into the hands of the kremlin under one leader Mr PUTIN himself )

* An autocratic leadership that demands complete devotion (Putinisem ideology )

* Pervasive use of terror to prevent and eradicate dissent ( Going after to destroy /neutralize anyone and/or anything national within Russia and internationally out side of Russia East Ukraine, SyrIa Chechnya, Moldova, Georgia, ect ect )

* Extensive and complex bureaucracy ( Using tax office in a selective way to take out personal opponents of Putins Regime and putting control to manhandle the and banking and business community )

* State propaganda and censorship (RT-News ect ect and othe KREMLIN controlled media using force and pressure turning them into mouthpieces for Putins regimes own agenda )

* Martial culture and aesthetics of force (The state and Russian belief in ethnic Russian superiority and of Russian historical culture)

* Purposely induced fear of the ever-present external enemy (use state service like FSB, GRU, media to intimidate and scare ppl. about the dangers from the west like NATO ,  US ect ect )

* Mentality of hate and intolerance (Anti other ethnic groups likeUkrainians, Muslims, Tatars, Kazakhstanis and others ect ect )

* Economic and mental collectivism (Putin has vast control over the gas and oil sectors and uses it as a political tool )

* Militarism (Rebuilding and promoting and using Military to attack and subdue the people like in the caucasus Chechnya ect ect )

* Messianism (Putin the half naked hours reading and bear wrestling superman is definitely believed by Russians to be a type of messiah, who acts as a savior, redeemer or liberator of a group of people.

* Contempt for liberal democracy and values (Putins regime is anti LGBT.anti democracy Anti free press Anti free expression of art just look at-PussyRiot-and- Anna Politkovskaya ect ect )

* Moral nihilism ( is the meta-ethical view that nothing is intrinsically moral or immoral take a look how Russia lies about invading other nations and killing civilians and support of terrorism, and then turn AROUND and say that it was to defend the good and freedoms of Russia there it acted in its selfdefense becouse of external pressure for outside force gave them no other choice )

Clearly all of those are also characteristics of the Putin regime. Today in Russia, President Putin has the unquestionable control over Parliament, Government, courts, media and the most profitable sectors of the country's economy.

So, we have every reason to declare that modern Russia is in fact, an authoritarian fascist state with the genuine fascist elements, most prominently – the oppressive nature, the militarization of society, strict control over the mass media and complete disregard to human life

[arpandey]

I would also disagree with the idea that Putin wasn't originally fascist. From his first entry into politics, he has always been enamored and obsessed by the past, and he never learned to think of the peoples of eastern Europe as anything but human resources that belong to the Russian state.

[alexandrerichard]

Your explanation of this form of pointilistic fascism is appreciated. Modern centralized governements are overwhelmed by information and simply can't punish all the 'bad guys'. Understanding that disposition is important because even with everyone's data, there isn't enough prison cells or bullets.

[noellealissa]

Thank you Vlad for your continued assessment of the truth! It's like hearing everything in real time!

[thirdeyeblind]

I've only just found your channel Vlad. This is an amazing break down, Subscribed and keen for more. It's often very hard to find great content with a more academic approach amongst all the clickbait & arm chair experts.

[conniepr]

Your videos are so thought provoking for me. I'm learning so much I never thought much about. Thank you.

[klavesin]

6:04 Exactly! They even never use word "граждане" (citizens), but "население" (population) instead.