Preamble

This ticket is the continuation of the ticket:How to be peaceful in the era of war in Ukraine

I advise you to read it (or reread it) before moving on to the next part.

Introduction

Since the publication of this text, speeches minimizing or denying the Russian threat to France seem to have multiplied. It has become common to hear that Russia would not be our enemy, that support for Ukraine would be a submission to NATO, or even that Russia would be a bulwark against American imperialism.

I think, on the contrary, that Russia is indeed an enemy, not as a country or a people, but as a political regime.

We do not fight against Russia.

The problem is not Russia. To be frank, I couldn't care less if Russia invades Poland, the Baltic countries, or even France, in the sense that I have no particular attachment to borders, languages, flags, or the location of the capital.

For me, municipalities, regions, or nations are just administrations to which I have no emotional attachment. If tomorrow, someone tells me that my municipality is going to merge with Trifouillis-les-Oies, I'm not going to scream about the disappearance of my identity. I just wouldn't give a damn. I would just see it as an administrative change without impact on my life. The same goes for nations.

Digression on languages

When people tell me, "Without the Americans, we would all be speaking German," I find this argument absurd. The Third Reich did not have the intention or the means to impose the German language on all of occupied Europe.

But even if that had been the case, I, for one, would have found it very good if the French language disappeared and there was only one language left. It would be a thousand times more practical if in Europe, we all spoke the same language. And anyway, I think that in the long term (let's say a thousand years), the disappearance of different European languages is inevitable (if the human species continues to exist and has access to efficient means of transportation and communication).

I do not understand those who are despondent about this evolution. For me, linguistic diversity is just a source of unnecessary complexity and a waste of time (and money). For me, it has no advantage.

Conversely, I also don't understand those who want to ban people from speaking their native language. What does it matter if your colleagues speak Arabic amongst themselves? Or if certain schools teach Breton or Basque? As long as they aren't hurting anyone, where is the problem? Even though I don't understand the fuss, as long as they don't harm anyone, they can do what they want. And I don't see how they would threaten the unity of the nation.

And even if, at the risk of repeating myself, I don't care about national unity as much as I care about the year 40 (and can we really talk about unity if it is maintained by force). If they want their independence, I don't see why we would refuse them. It's none of our business. Administrative borders have little importance. What matters are the power relations between different social groups and their desire to cooperate.

But let's end our digression here and return to the subject.

We fight against fascism.

The reason why it was necessary to fight against the Hitler regime was not because the French elites were more virtuous or more aligned with my interests than the German elites. Moreover, contrary to the myth propagated by Zemmour, French political and economic elites were largely complicit with the Nazis and actively collaborated, especially in the persecution of Jews (see:As this is already written in English, there's no further translation required. Vichy France 1940-1944 Threshold, 1999 ).

No, it was necessary to fight the Third Reich, as it was a fascist, racist, reactionary, and genocidal regime. If Germany had been a liberal democracy, I would have advocated for a quick end to the war, regardless of the winner. And if it had been a true progressive democracy, I would probably have supported the invasion.

What we must fight against is not a country, but a political system: fascism.

Russia is a fascist threat.

And current Russia is a fascist regime according to historical criteria: cult of the leader, repression of opponents, ultranationalist ideology, militarism, contempt for human rights (cf.Russia between authoritarianism and fascism andPoutine: The new face of fascism And he explicitly wants to dismantle the liberal parliamentary systems of Europe to replace them with reactionary dictatorships subject to Moscow (see theWikipedia page dedicated to the Relations between the European far-right and Russia since the 2010s. ).

For the European left, the Russian government is therefore a threat that needs to be fought. Firstly, in a defensive manner by supporting Ukraine with all our forces in order to detain the Russian troops as long as possible and weaken its army as much as possible. Then, by pooling European military resources with the aim of creating a sufficiently powerful army to deter Moscow from invading us. But also offensively, by supporting Russian anti-fascist groups and having our own "troll farms" to spread progressive ideas on Russian social networks. Yes, this is interference, and no, I don't see what's wrong with it.

Putin's Russia is not the greatest threat to France.

However, Putin's Russia is not the group that threatens most to tip France into fascism.

The media manipulations that allowed Macron's election in 2017 and the progressive delegitimization of democratic institutions are not the result of Russian interference, but of our own billionaires, who control a large portion of the French media and steer their editorial lines (see:DELINQUENTS AND ULTRA-RICH, how they got Macron elected ).

There is a lot of discussion about Russia's operations of disinformation and promotion of far-right ideas in France and more generally in the West. But their influence is ridiculously weak compared to that of the Bolloré Group.

Even at its peak, the ratings of Russia Today in France were minuscule compared to those of CNews or C8. And their discourse is much more extremist and deceptive than that of the Russian trolls.

Similarly, in the USA, the first propagator of lies and extreme right-wing ideas is Fox News.

There is a lot of talk about Russian troll farms, but X, Facebook or YouTube were full of misinformation and far-right content long before they existed.

The most active and influential accounts promoting far-right ideas in the West are funded and promoted thanks to the actions of billionaires and Western companies. The Russians have nothing to do with it if the algorithms of YouTube, Facebook or X favor the promotion of reactionary or hateful content. They are also not responsible if these platforms are sorely lacking in moderation.

On these issues, see for example:

From Musk to Trump: How the techno-Caesarist oligarchy wants to overthrow democracy in America

Elon Musk reiterates his support for the German far-right to build a world to his liking.

THE VISIBLE PART OF THE ICEBERG: Funding from religious extremism aims to undermine human rights in sexual and reproductive health in Europe 2009 - 2018

Users Polarization on Facebook and Youtube

Telegraphing Hate: Far-Right Themes

And they are not to blame if the conditions in Western countries are such that a large portion of the population is sensitive to its content.

Conclusion

We must not deny the Russian threat. However, we must not forget that the first threat to our democratic values and the lifestyle of the French is Macron, Bolloré, Bernard Arnault, Dassault, Bettencourt, Marine Le Pen, and the voters who support them.

We are not fighting against the Russians, but against the fascists of all countries, alongside our brothers and sisters from all countries. In 1940, the Germans themselves were suffering from the Hitler regime. Today, it is the Russians who are suffering the most from the Putin regime.

All people of goodwill must unite to drive out Macron, Trump, Le Pen, Putin, Bolloré, Arnault, and all the other tyrants of our time.

And we must not say: "what happens elsewhere does not concern us". There is only one planet, and the fascists will never agree to share it... unless we force them to.