Timothy Snyder, from “9 Theses”

Timothy Snyder, from “9 Theses on Putin's Fascism for 9 May”:

Under Putin, the word “fascist” (or “Nazi”) just means “my chosen enemy, who is to be eliminated.” These terms in official Russian usage today are simply hate speech enabling war crimes. We know this from the speech acts of Russian soldiers in Ukraine, who legitimate the murder and rape of civilians by reference to “Nazis.” As the Kremlin has made clear, “denazification” means “deukrainization,” which is nothing other than the aspiration to genocide.

“9 Theses” is an installment of Snyder’s newsletter Thinking about . . . . I also recommend his On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century (2017).

A handful of passages from On Tyranny
“Believe in truth” : Distinguishing truth from falsehood : Nationalism vs. patriotism : “Do not obey in advance” : “Nay, come, let’s go together”