Hillary doubles down on identity politics and McCarthyism.
Some interesting history and observations too.
Did you know that Pushkin was black by American standards?
Take Alexander Pushkin for example. He’s Russia’s most beloved poet, embraced as the quintessence of Russian romantic poetry. He died in 1837, at a time when slavery was the law of the land in the American South, and serfdom (a form of slavery) was the law of the land in Russia for Russia’s peasant class. Pushkin’s great-grandfather was a full-blooded Ethiopian who became a close friend of Peter the Great and a member of his court. Pushkin himself was born into nobility. The fact that he was one-eighth Black was a nonissue as far as his social standing went, even though under the “one drop” rule in the United States at the time, being one-eighth Black made you an “octoroon,” or fully Black for legal purposes. Thomas Jefferson’s famous slave Sally Hemings, who bore him several children, was one-eighth Black. Pushkin owned serfs, who were white. In Pushkin’s Russia, racial differences were insignificant compared to differences in religion (Pushkin was Russian Orthodox, and his great-grandfather was Ethiopian Orthodox) and social class. A Black nobleman was far socially superior to a white serf in early 1800s Russia.How about an Asian Buddhist as President of Russia?
Russia doesn’t have many Black people, but it does have a large number of people that would be considered “Asians” by appearance. But if one of these Russian “Asians” were to become president of Russia, it would hardly change anything in terms of race relations in Russia. As a matter of fact, one of the people most seriously considered a potential successor to Putin is an Asian: Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. He not only looks Asian, but he was brought up a Buddhist in the Siberian region of Tuva.Summary,
EPILOGUE. Some might point out that, rather than being the Russian equivalent of a “white nationalist,” on the Russian political spectrum Putin is not considered a Russian nationalist, though he’s played with Russian nationalist themes in the past. He supports immigration from Central Asia (where the people are, um, Asian), he is supportive of Russia’s large Muslim population, he frequently speaks about Russia’s diversity. Russia’s most famous challenger, Alexey Navalny, is by contrast a Russian nationalist who wants to limit immigration from Muslim countries, limit mosque construction and other visible manifestations of Muslim participation in Russian civic life, and stop financial subsidies and autonomy for Russia’s restive Muslim-majority regions in the Caucusus (Chechnya being the primary target).
Of all the labels Hillary could’ve legitimately hung on Putin, and there are many, emphasizing that he’s “white” is probably the least important, and shows either that Hillary really, really doesn’t understand Russia, or that she couldn’t resist a chance to try to connect Putin to Trump through the thread of them supposedly both being white nationalists.The Russia Explainer
Why did #Hillary call #Putin a “white authoritarian leader”?
Hank DeBwankey
3 comments:
More Buddhists in government please.
Fascinating. Didn’t know that about Pushkin.
When I was in Russia during USSR days for three months, I was with a bunch of students from all over the US and Europe.
One was black. She was a big hit over there.
ASIDE: At the airport before we left JFK the TX banker father of the biggest pain-in-the-ass princess in the group approached one the professors who was standing behind me waiting to board. I heard him whisper to the professor, “Ah don’t want my dottah roomin’ with that niggrah woman.” Little Miss Princess wore patent-leather heels, some designer coat, her Gucci scarf, and carried a purse the size of a baseball mitt while we crossed a 1600’ gorge high in the Caucasus mountains using a scary four-rope structure as the bridge. The rest of us were in boots, jeans, and plaid shirts, and prayed the swaying ‘bridge’ wouldn’t plunge us below. The Caucasian mountain guides were dumb-founded. They had to go before and after her to help her across. I have never got that image out of my head; I only saw what was happening after I had crossed safely and looked back. Stunned. I didn’t know there were people like that. They were university students. I had just got out of high school.
But it was fascinating to see the reaction the Black girl got everywhere we went. St. Peterburg, Moscow, Latvia, Crimea, Odessa, Georgia. It wasn’t shock or oogling. It was genuine acceptance and affection.
Our professors (both Jewish) said that it was par for the course. Jews in Russia didn’t identify as Jews, they were Russian, and got insulted when the Jewish students I travelled with tried to run that line and asked if they were desperate to get to Israel. Asians from the Caucasus who looked like Yul Brenner and rode horses up the mountains and across the beaches were Russian, not ethnics. Ditto the Russian Orthodox, Muslims, Turkamen, whatever they were. “Mother Russia” is what unites Russians, not identity politics. They drank vodka late at night and cried about it. They may have had battles and problems with the Chechens, but the Chechens will unite with their fellow Russians if Russia is attacked or threatened. That’s why the Chechens love Putin.
Good article MRW. Funny enough, when I was in Zurich, Switzerland, with my indian friend 30 years ago the Swiss keep looking at him, then I realised there was no dark skin people there.
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