As Russia moves toward fascism, it is adopting very old symbols (greatly at odds with communist symbols). I still think that, at some time in the future, a fascist European Empire and Russia will cooperate very closely against the West, before they have their own falling out. Any way, check out this article:The holidays and symbols of the new Russian state
Excerpts from a RIA Novosti online conference with Georgy Vilinbakhov, State Heraldry Master of the Russian Federation:
Question: Who established the Russian state awards?
Answer: The Order of St. Andrew the First Called - Russia's first award - was established by Peter the Great. Russia also owes the appearance of its medals to him.
Q: What are Russia's national symbols?
A: We have the national anthem, flag and coat-of-arms. Every country has a verbal designation - that is, its name; a symbolic one - the flag and coat-of-arms; and a musical one - the anthem. These symbols occasionally go together, but it is more correct to use each independently.
For the full article go to
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20070608/66881708-print.html ___________________________________________
June 16, 2007
Ruthless Russia
By Peter B. Martin
It was but all a dream to ever believe Russia would be benign and peaceful under Putin. Deplorably, numerous people in strategic posts misjudged Russia.Today the Kremlin is on the offensive. It has positioned military and ex-security service personal in charge of Russian industry and all key governmental posts.
It is liquidating its adversaries even across international borders, has gagged the media, suppressed civil liberties, harassed foreign diplomats, intimidated businessmen and NGOs, it's threatened to target Europe with ABM missiles, it carried out intense cyber attacks against its neighbor, Estonia and it's using pipeline power to shake down its near abroad and wrest the rest of Europe into line.
As if that weren't enough, an even more sinister development has arisen.Putin has created a very sophisticated youth movement made up of over 100,000 volunteers called "Nashi", much like a clone of the Nazi youth movement. It is a well-equipped, fanatical, nationalistic private army that is hostile to foreigners and to any political group opposing the Kremlin leadership. Their aggressive behavior is not only tolerated by the authorities but also even encouraged. They help re-enforce local police; wearing black attire, they aggressively beat anyone they consider hooligans or insurrectionist.They have been taught to believe that the United States is actively preparing a pro-western revolution in their country and that they will thwart it.
Rest of the article at http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/06/ruthless_russia.html
