DISINFORMATION MACHINE.
>>> GOOD EVENING.
I'M MEHDI HASAN.
THE NAZI CONQUEST OF EUROPE.
THAT'S HOW UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY DESCRIBED
RUSSIA'S ILLEGAL INVASION OF HIS
COUNTRY IN A SPEECH TO THE
ISRAELI PARLIAMENT TODAY.
HE SPOKE AS RUSSIA TENNED ITS
AIR ASSAULT, ITS FORCES FIRING
ON EIGHT CITIES IN THE EAST OF
UKRAINE OVER THE WEEKEND,
ACCORDING TO UKRAINE'S NATIONAL
POLICE.
AND IN THE WAKE OF VLADIMIR
PUTIN SPEAKING OF VICTORY AND
GLORY AND VOWING AT WHAT LOOKED
LIKE A TRUMP-STYLE RALLY ON
FRIDAY IN MOSCOW, THAT RUSSIA
WOULD WIN THE WIN FULL STOP.
WE'VE SEEN WORDS LIKE NAZIISM
AND FASCISM THROWN AROUND A LOT
IN THIS CONFLICT.
SO TONIGHT, TO UNDERSTAND WHAT
IS GOING ON IN UKRAINE RIGHT
NOW, WHAT IS GOING ON INSIDE OF
RUSSIA TOO, AND WHAT'S DRIVING
VLADIMIR PUTIN, WE NEED TO TALK
ABOUT A MAN NAMED IVAN ILIAN.
HE'S IMPORTANT TO ALL OF THIS.
BORN IN 1883 IN RUSSIA TO AN
ARISTOCRATIC FAMILY, A GRADUATE
OF LAW, WHO BECAME A RIGHT-WING
ANTI-COMMUNIST PHILOSOPHER.
HE WAS EXILED ON THE ORDERS OF
LENIN HIMSELF IN 1922.
HE WENT TO GERMANY WHERE HIS
MOTHER WAS FROM AND SOON BECAME
A FAN OF MUSSOLINI WHO HAD COME
TO POWER IN ITALY THAT SAME YEAR
THAT HE WAS EXILED.
IT WASN'T JUST MUSSOLINI,
THOUGH.
HE ALSO BECAME AN APOLOGIST FOR
HITLER.
IN 1933, HE BACKED THE NAZI
TAKEOVER OF GERMANY, WRITING AN
ARTICLE HEADLINED "NATIONAL
SOCIALISM, A NEW SPIRIT."
IN EXILE, HE FORMULATED A VISION FOR A VERY RUSSIAN FORM OF
FOR A VERY RUSSIAN FORM OF
FASCISM, WHICH HE CALLED REDEMP
TIF.
ILYIN ENDED UP LEAVING GERMANY
BEFORE THE WAR BEGAN AND DIED IN
SWITZERLAND IN OBSCURITY IN
1954.
NOW, YOU MIGHT THINK A RUSSIAN
EXILE WHO WAS AN APOLOGIST FOR
NAZIISM WOULDN'T HAVE MUCH
SUPPORT IN RUSSIA TODAY.
WOULDN'T BE ALLOWED TO HAVE MUCH
INFLUENCE GIVEN WHAT HITLER AND
THE NAZIS DID TO RUSSIA.
TENS OF MILLIONS OF RUSSIANS
DIED IN WORLD WAR II.
TODAY MOSCOW TRIES TO JUSTIFY
ITS ILLEGAL WAR IN UKRAINE BY
FALSELY CLAIMING THEY'RE ONCE
AGAIN FIGHTING THE NAZIS.
AND YET SINCE THE FALL OF THE
BERLIN WALL AND THE END OF
SOVIET COMMUNISM, RUSSIAN ELITES
HAVE BEEN TURNING TO IVAN ILYIN,
THE NAZI APOLOGIST, IN
INCREASING NUMBERS.
ONE PARTICULAR RUSSIAN HAS LED
THE CAMPAIGN TO REHABILITATE
THIS LONG DEAD, FAR-RIGHT
PHILOSOPHER, AND HIS NAME IS
VLADIMIR PUTIN.
IN 2005 PRESIDENT PUTIN, WHO WAS
OBSESSED WITH RESTORING RUSSIA'S
IMPERIAL PAST, REPATRIATED
ILYIN'S REMAINS TO MOSCOW.
ON THE SAME DAY THAT PUTIN LAID
FLOWERS AT ILYIN'S GRAVE IN
2009, HE DECLARED, AND I QUOTE,
IT'S A CRIME WHEN SOMEONE ONLY
BEGINS TALKING ABOUT THE
SEPARATION OF RUSSIA AND THE
UKRAINE.
PUTIN WAS ECHOING THE RUSSIAN
NATIONALISM OF ILYIN, WHO
REFERRED TO UKRAINIANS IN
QUESTION MARKS, AND WHO IN TIM
SNYDER'S WORDS, TO SPEAK OF
UKRAINE WAS TO BE A MORTAL ENEMY
OF RUSSIA.
IN 2006, PUTIN RECLAIMED FOR
RUSSIA ILYIN'S PERSONAL PAPERS
FROM MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
WHERE THEY ENDED UP.
ACCORDING TO SNYDER, WHO PERHAPS
HAS DONE MORE THAN ANY OTHER
SCHOLAR TO CAST A LIGHT ON
ILYIN'S MAJOR AND MALIGN
INFLUENCE ON RUSSIAN POLITICS TO
THIS VERY DAY, QUOTE, BY THEN
PUTIN WAS CITING ILYIN IN HIS
ADDRESSES TO THE GENERAL
ASSEMBLY OF THE RUSSIAN
PARLIAMENT.
PUTIN RELIED ON ILYIN'S
AUTHORITY TO EXPLAIN WHY RUSSIA
HAD TO UNDERMINE THE EUROPEAN
UNION AND INVADE UKRAINE.
WHEN ASKED TO NAME A HISTORIAN,
PUTIN CITED ILYIN AS HIS
AUTHORITY IN THE PAST.
BY 2014 THE KREMLIN WAS SENDING
COPIES OF ILYIN'S WRITINGS TO
REGIONAL GOVERNORS AS WELL AS
RUSSIAN CIVIL SERVANTS.
AND IN 2015, AN ARTICLE IN
FOREIGN AFFAIRS WAS REFERRING TO
IVAN ILYIN AS PUTIN'S
PHILOSOPHER, WHILE ALSO
DESCRIBING HIM AS A CONSPIRACY
THERAPIST AND A RUSSIAN
NATIONALIST WITH A CORE OF
FASCIST LEANINGS.
SO IF A FASCIST POLITICAL
PHILOSOPHER IS A GUIDING LIGHT,
AN INSPIRATION FOR THE RUSSIAN
PRESIDENT, WHAT DOES THAT MEAN
PUTIN HIMSELF?
TAKE A LISTEN TO WHAT PRESIDENT
BIDEN HAS CALLED HIS RUSSIAN
COUNTERPART IN RECENT DAYS?
>> OH, I THINK HE IS A WAR
CRIMINAL.
HE'S A MURDEROUS DICTATOR.
A PURE THUG WHO IS WAGING AN
IMMORAL WAR AGAINST THE PEOPLE
OF UKRAINE.
>> TOUGH WORDS.
BUT ONE WORD BIDEN HASN'T USED
SO FAR IS FASCIST.
SO LET ME LAY IT OUT FOR YOU AS
CLEARLY AS I CAN TONIGHT.
PUTIN, INSPIRED AND ENERGIZED BY
A PHILOSOPHER WHO HAS BEEN
DUBBED A TOTAL FASCIST IS NOW
HIMSELF BEHAVING IN A FASCISTIC
WAY.
RUSSIA ITSELF UNDER PUTIN WITH
ALL OF THE CRACKING DOWN ON
DISSENT AND ARRESTS OF
PROTESTERS AN CLOSING DOWN OF
MEDIA ORGANIZATIONS HAS BECOME
IN THE WORDS OF ONE RUSSIAN
ACADEMIC, A MODERATE FASCIST
STATE.
NOW, WHAT EXACTLY DO WE MEAN BY
FASCISM, A WORD THAT GETS THROWN
AROUND A LOT AND REFERS TO MORE
THAN AUTHORITARIANISM OR
DESPOTTISM.
I WANT TO PUT UP A QUOTE FROM A
HISTORIAN WHO LITERALLY WROTE
THE BOOK ON THIS.
IT'S A LONG QUOTE BUT WORTH
READING AND CONSIDERING.
FASCISM, HE SAYS, MAY BE DEFINED
AS A FORM OF POLITICAL BEHAVIOR
MARKED BY OBSESSIVE
PREOCCUPATION WITH COMMUNITY
DECLINE, HUMILIATION OR
VICTIMHOOD AND BY COMPENSATORY
CULTS OF UNITY, ENERGY AND
PURITY IN WHICH A MASS BASED
PARTY OF COMMITTED, NATIONALIST
MILITANTS WORKING IN UNEASY BUT
EFFECTIVE COLLABORATION WITH
TRADITIONAL ELITES ABANDONS
DEMOCRATIC LIBERTIES AND PURSUES
WITH REDEMP TIF VIOLENCE AND
WITHOUT ETHICAL OR LEGAL
RESTRAINTS GOALS OF INTERNAL
CLEANSING AND EXTERNAL
EXPANSION.
LET'S JUST TAKE THAT LAST LINE
ABOUT GOALS.
EXTERNAL EXPANSION.
WELL, THAT'S PUTIN'S WAR IN
UKRAINE.
NOT CONTENT WITH CRIMEA AND THE
DONBAS, HE'S NOW TRYING TO
CONQUER THE ENTIRE COUNTRY.
AND INTERNAL CLEANSING?
WELL, LISTEN TO THE MAN HIMSELF
SPEAKING DIRECT TO THE RUSSIAN NATION JUST A FEW DAYS AGO.
NATION JUST A FEW DAYS AGO.
[ SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE ]
>> IF THAT STUFF SOUNDS SCARY TO
YOU, THAT'S BECAUSE IT IS.
THAT SPEECH WAS PURE,
UNADULTERATED FASCISM.
AS WAS THE NATIONALIST GARBAGE
HE WAS SPEWING TO A MASSIVE
FASCIST-STYLE RALLY IN MOSCOW ON
FRIDAY, CELEBRATING THE 2014
ILLEGAL RUSSIAN ANNEXATION OF
CRIMEA.
AND, LOOK, IF YOU ARE A REGULAR
VIEWER OF THIS SHOW, YOU'LL KNOW
I'VE SPENT THE PAST YEAR TALKING
A GREAT DEAL ABOUT THE "F" WORD,
ABOUT FASCISM IN THE CONTEXT OF
AMERICAN POLITICS AND THE RISE
OF TRUMP AND THE AUTHORITARIAN
TENDENCIES OF THE MODERN
REPUBLICAN PARTY.
BUT TONIGHT WE NEED TO RECOGNIZE
THAT OVER IN EASTERN EUROPE WE
ARE FACING A FASCISM OF A MUCH
WORSE, MUCH MORE VIOLENT AND
MUCH MORE BRAZEN KIND, IN
RUSSIA.
A FASCISM THAT IS EMBODIED BY
VLADIMIR PUTIN, AND WHICH IS
INSPIRED AND INFORMED EVERY STEP
OF THE WAY AS TIM SNYDER POINTS
OUT BY ONE IVAN ILYIN.
QUOTING SNYDER, PUTIN HAS USED
ILYIN'S IDEAS ABOUT GEOPOLITICS