Mark Galeotti, a professor at NYU's Center For Global Affairs, serves advice to West-backed opposition in Russia (or "how Putin could lose power" = the article's title. The answer is: do something similar to what was done in Ukraine: use and activate "street nationalism" and "racist attitudes" (Galeotti's obvious placeholders for fascism, for which the West accuses the Russian government, but which Galeotti is now identifying with the way in which to topple the existing system). According to Galeotti 1) the opposition needs to reach out of Moscow's pro-Western middle class and government bureaucrats and create "a wider base"; 2) in Galeotti's words: "Navalny certainly seems to have demonstrated racist attitudes in the past. And he could play the 'we Russians are being bled and exploited by the people from North Caucasus, by the people from Central Asia' card. That plays to a depressingly powerful strand of common Russian public opinion, and it's something against which Putin has surprisingly little defense. That could conceivably build a wider public constituency quite quickly if Navalny is willing to play that card."
Use and activation of fascism by the West-backed liberal opposition is thus supposed both to topple the government and to effect a breakup of Russia (exploding the Caucasus and Central Asia by means of this deliberate racism and "street nationalism") .
The reporter then asks whether this embrace of badly disguised fascism would not push away the supposed "the young [pro-Western, liberal] urban elite." Galeotti believes that this "elite" would be fine with this shift (as it was in Ukraine) for, among other things, Galeotti does trust that they are not that bright after all:
Reporter: "Would that cost Navalny his relationship with the young urban elite?"
Galeotti: "I think probably not. I don't get the sense that they are necessarily incredibly enlightened in their opinions. Let's face it: he's the only game in town. ... Do you hope that some change, even if it's not ideal, is better than no change at all? I think for many the answer is yes."
If decoded, Galeotti sanguinely asserts that change by means of fascism in Russia is "better than no change at all." As I commented earlier today, Russia Insider, representing a would-be pro-Russian and pro-Putin liberal wing, ran an article today by Gernier who argued that someone or ideas of someone like Ivan Ilyin, who was occasionally praised by Putin in the past and who (Ilyin) praised the (anti-communist) greatness of Nazism (see my blog on the subject), could actually offer a chance for Russia's new partnership with the West. The article did acknowledge at the end that Gernier also worked for the Pentagon and the State Department.
On that subject, here is a summary of Gernier's article as published by Russia Insider with a glowing recommendation from Alexander Mercouris:
A. Mercouris: "We publish [Grenier's piece on VP's thinkers] for it's tour de force packed with exceptional insights"
Russia Insider's defense of Putin's "favorite thinkers" was authored by Paul Grenier who worked for the Pentagon,State Department,World Bank
Russia Insider: Thinkers like Ivan Ilyin favored by Putin offer the West "a chance to form a partnership with a Russia .. some ways forward"
Russia Insider: Thinkers like Ivan Ilyin favored by Putin offer the West "an opportunity, a chance to form a partnership with a Russia"
Russia Insider: "[Ivan] Il’in quite plainly admired the United States"
Russia Insider: "Il’in is a major influence on Putin’s brand of “liberal conservatism”
Russia Insider: Il’in's view "of the Soviet man that the future Russia would inherit ... lying, thinking in a slavish manner and aping"
Russia Insider:Putin likes to quote Il’in’s Our Tasks,the "overriding theme is the need to put an end to Soviet rule"
Russia Insider: "Berdyaev mostly approves of liberalism [as] something aristocratic or at any rate not revolutionary"
Russia Insider: "Putin urged his governors [to] read [Berdyaev] ... [his] condemnation of everything the Soviet Union’s founders stood for."
As tweeted by me, with FB "automatically" stopping most of my automatically set reposts from twitter on this subject
http://www.vox.com/2015/1/5/7482441/how-putin-lose-power
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