Instead of the Jews, this time it's the Muslims.
Instead of Stalin, this time it's Putin.
Instead of Roosevelt....
The New York Times is reporting this morning that the far-right party in Austria (which just lost their presidential election by a narrow margin) has signed a pact with the Russian Political Party of Vladimir Putin.
Putin's party is known as "United Russia." Got it?
Word of the agreement with Russia was the latest sign that the Kremlin is forging bonds with political parties across Europe in what some European leaders suspect is a coordinated attempt to meddle in their affairs and potentially weaken Western democracies. Many of these efforts are murky and involve obscure groups, and it is unclear what, if any, direct involvement President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia may have.
This "cooperation agreement" smells a lot like the agreements Hitler made with far-right leaders in Austria before the Anschluss, when Nazi tanks rolled into Austria with no resistance.
Vladimir Putin already reminds many in and out of Russia of Josef Stalin, a comparison many in Russia believe is... just fine?
Stalin may have been a leader whose tenure saw many dark moments, but they were ultimately overshadowed by his greatest success, guiding the Soviet Union to victory in the Second World War – or so the story goes. And it's a narrative that takes on profound resonance in Russia today. Putin's efforts to make Russia a resurgent superpower call on grand images of the country's past: great, internationally feared, and militarily capable of winning wars....
"There are groups of people, most of whom grew up and were educated in the years before the collapse of the Soviet Union, who have a kind of nostalgia for the USSR, who think life before its collapse was better than today," says Romanov. "For them, Stalin is tied up with that, so his rehabilitation becomes part of an effort to restore the 'great Soviet past'."
Combine a "Make Russia Great Again" motif with European fascists willing to convert anti-immigration sentiment into votes for Nativism and Nationalism, and historical alarm bells start blaring.
And oh lookee here who has been meeting with these types:
The leader of the Austrian far-right Freedom Party has signed what he called a cooperation agreement with Russia’s ruling party and recently met with Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, the designated national security adviser to President-elect Donald J. Trump of the United States.
It's all about getting the sanctions lifted so Exxon-Mobil can make more money, the far right in Europe and America can claim they're bringing "peace" (by drawing a new Russian border around Crimea, nothing to see here) and history, you know, that thing that teaches us what NOT to repeat, can be ignored.
And yes, our country is about to help with a President who lost by 2.8 million votes.