These are the characteristics of fascism:
- claims that ethnic kinship supersedes sovereign national boundaries;
- (and correspondingly) claims on other countries' sovereign territory;
- control of private media;
- constant pro-state propaganda;
- cult of the leader;
- persecution of minorities (gays and Caucasians);
- overt militarism;
- corporatism (control by the state and its cronies of key industries);
- active and untouchable secret police;
- an army of "brownshirt" thugs that can be used to stir up trouble;
- disappearance and imprisonment of dissidents and political opponents.
All these things exist in Russia today. Putin has set Russia on a dangerous path toward toward expansionism and fascism.
By Masha Gessen
March 14, 2014 | Washington Post
