Chekism

No, the, the so-called dignity of the state, the secrecy kicked in, and it was rejected, and those sailors died.

And then Putin famously showed extraordinary contempt, uh, for their memory and suffering, um, which to those who've, uh, you know, studied, uh, the culture of Chekism, wh- which he's, he's come from, uh, is, is no surprise, um, but was perhaps either not picked up on or was something of a shock, uh, to people after Gorbachev and a somewhat more, uh, sort of open, um, approach.

Having said that, we also have to remember that it was Gorbachev who, uh, was in place during Chernobyl, uh, and, uh, there was a, a, an attempt to, to, to cover that up in, in much the same way.

So is it a, the response of one individual? No, I'd say it's more of a systemic response.

Um, you know, um, it, it is a known tactic amongst particularly manipulative people to, um, invent something and then try through their sheer force of personality to get everyone to agree with a thing that didn't exist and pretend it did.

Um, but at this level of global diplomacy in the context of war, it's never going to work, and it's never gonna work in the context of Vladimir Putin, who is a psychopathic, um, uh, Chekist, KGB officer with particular delusions of grandeur and a particular, uh, mission, let's say, in life to eradicate and erase Ukraine.

That, of course, is the bit that's missing from all of this.

Um, there are, I believe, people, uh, who have been in the Trump administration who have perhaps had a slightly more, uh, dare I say, traditional grasp of geopolitics and wielding power or strength through power.

That's the objective.

The objective for the Chekists has always been the elimination of its arch nemesis, the United States.

Putin's personal, um, ambition, that and of course the eradication of Ukraine, and his military strategy fits it exactly.

Make Ukrainian cities unlivable.

Take, for instance, Kinchuk, head of the Moscow Soviet of Workers' Deputies, or Nasamovich and M. Trilisser of the Irkutsk Soviet.

The latter would later serve in the Central Executive Committee of the Soviets of Siberia and become a famous Chekist.

All over the provinces, quote, Jewish socialist parties enjoyed large representation in the Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, end quote.

They were also prominently presented at all Russian democratic conferences in September 1917, which annoyed Lenin so much that he had even demanded surrounding the Alexandrinsky Theater with troops and arresting the entire assembly.

There was not a single place in the Russian Federation without ongoing executions.

A single verbal order of one man, Dzerzhinsky, D- Dzerzhinsky, doomed to immediate death many thousand people.

And even when an investigation took place, the Chekists followed their official instructions, quote, "Do not look for evidence incriminating a suspect in hostile speech or action against Soviet power.

The very first question you should ask him is about the social class he belongs to and what is his descent, upbringing, education, and profession.

But, you, uh, and we see it now with the, with the slaughter of Russian soldiers.

It, you know, the, this human being for Putin and for, uh, the Chekist mentality is simply raw material.

It has noth- no, um, no independent value.

And you've talked quite compellingly recently, uh, in- including in all the conversations I watched with Jason Sparf, which are fantastic.

You focused a lot more as well on not just the, the Chekist identity, but the fusion of mafia Chekist identity.

Uh, what do you, what, what do you see of the trace in, in the sort of especially late-stage Putinism of that fusion between those two elements?

Well, once the, the communist system broke down, which was an ideological system, uh, the path to power and the path to wealth, and, you know, in, within the framework of the system, the path to privilege, uh, was no longer adherence to the ideology, but on the contrary, amassing money.

Uh, they're criminals, absolutely, because that was the way, uh, to achieve power in the new conditions that existed after the fall of the Soviet Union.

On the initiative of the KGB, an army of Soviet vigilantes five million strong, the so-called Druzhiny, was recruited from among the Komsomol activists.

Their units were led by retired Chekists.

They have been patrolling and policing the streets of all the Soviet cities.

Their primary task has been to prepare the Soviet people to behave during the forthcoming liberalization of Perestroika.

The West must not wait for a television address on mobilisation to believe it, because that will likely not come.

The mass mobilisation will be hidden, it'll be sneaky, the kind of thing that a spy, that a Chekist does.

Western governments need to plan now for a Russian force generation measured in the hundreds of thousands over the next 18 months, not a one-off 300,000.

That means air defence and long-range strike for Ukraine at a scale that makes sure that each new wave of Russian killers, thieves and rapists arrives at a kill zone and gets no further.

...

Stalin's eye in Jewish affairs and a former fanatical Bundist and later a fanatical Chekist, became its executive secretary.

Among others, its members were authors David Bergelson, Peretz Markish, Lev Witko, and Dernister, scientists Lena Stern and Frumkin, a member of the academy.

Poet Itzik Fefer became the vice president.