{"id":205950,"date":"2020-04-19T07:49:39","date_gmt":"2020-04-19T07:49:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=205950"},"modified":"2020-04-21T07:25:15","modified_gmt":"2020-04-21T07:25:15","slug":"the-us-governments-groundless-terrorism-designation-of-a-little-known-russian-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=205950","title":{"rendered":"The US Government\u2019s Groundless ‘Terrorism’ Designation of a Little-Known Russian Group"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark Weber \u2013 Institute for Historical Review April 13, 2020<\/h1>\n

The US government has formally designated the Russian Imperial Movement (RIM) \u2013 a small Christian monarchist outfit based in St. Petersburg \u2013 as a terrorist organization, and has imposed sanctions on the group and its leaders. This characterization is groundless and hypocritical. Remarks in a statement by Secretary of State Michael Pompeo<\/strong><\/span><\/a> to support his labeling of RIM as a \u201cwhite supremacist terrorist group\u201d also raise troubling questions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pompeo justifies the designation by claiming that the Russian group\u2019s activities \u201cthreaten the national security and foreign policy of the United States.\u201d He provides no evidence whatsoever to support this far-fetched assertion.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pompeo misrepresents the group\u2019s principles and activities. For years RIM has been candid about its goals and work \u2013 in its publications, in interviews, and on its website. It\u2019s only by the most twisted logic that the group can be called \u201cneo-Nazi\u201d or \u201cwhite supremacist.\u201d It certainly does not regard itself as either. (Those labels are anyway used less often to describe than to smear.) \u201cWe stand for traditional values, Christianity, and monarchy. We not have a single document on our site, not a single word, about white supremacy,\u201d RIM spokesman Stanislav Vorobyev said recently<\/strong><\/span><\/a>. \u201cEverything we do is strictly within the law,\u201d he added.<\/span><\/p>\n

As another RIM spokesman explained in an interview<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, the group\u2019s central outlook is Christian, monarchist, and nationalist. RIM, he said, organizes conferences, rallies, discussion groups, and Christian religious events. It offers athletic, weapons, and military-style training courses, which are open to the public. And it supports orphanages and other charitable activities.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pompeo says that the group \u201cprovides paramilitary-style training to neo-Nazis and white supremacists, and it plays a prominent role in trying to rally like-minded Europeans and Americans into a common front against their perceived enemies.\u201d Even if that were true, such activities are not illegal \u2013 not even in the US. They are also not intrinsically dangerous \u2013 certainly not enough to justify the \u201cterrorist\u201d label and US government sanctions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pompeo goes on to explain that two Swedes who \u201cattended\u201d a RIM training course later carried out bombings in Sweden \u2013 crimes for which they were convicted. He also says that \u201cthe Swedish prosecutor credited RIM for their terrorist radicalization and relevant training.\u201d But Pompeo provides no evidence that RIM encouraged the Swedes to carry out any illegal or terrorist acts, or that any RIM leader knew of any criminal act that they may have been planning.<\/span><\/p>\n

The US government\u2019s action against this little-known Russian group seems to be more a publicity gesture by a beleaguered administration than a serious effort to counter any real threat. Fighting terrorism is, of course, a priority task for US authorities. But they should act in a principled and effective way, and only against those who actually threaten \u201cthe national security and foreign policy of the United States.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On Feb. 25, 1994, Baruch Goldstein carried out a mass shooting of Palestinians at a mosque in Hebron. The US-born Israeli killed 29 worshippers, and wounded 125. He received training to carry out this shooting as an Israeli soldier. His Zionist radicalization apparently took root while attending a Yeshiva Jewish school in Brooklyn, New York, and while serving with the Israeli military. On the basis of the justifications given by Pompeo for calling RIM a \u201cwhite supremacist terrorist group,\u201d should the US government designate the Israel Defense Forces a \u201cJewish supremacist terrorist\u201d organization because it provided Goldstein with \u201crelevant training\u201d for mass killing, and because it tries \u201cto rally like-minded\u201d people \u201cinto a common front against their perceived enemies\u201d?<\/span><\/p>\n

If what the US government says about RIM is true, why are authorities in Russia and Sweden \u2013 who are presumably more familiar with the group than officials in the US \u2013 seemingly less concerned about its activities than Secretary Pompeo? No Russian or Swedish agency, it\u2019s worth noting, has designated RIM as a terrorist group.<\/span><\/p>\n

Does Pompeo really believe that it\u2019s wrong to \u201crally like-minded\u201d people \u201cinto a common front against their perceived enemies\u201d? Isn\u2019t that what American presidents have often done? Isn\u2019t that what every venerated fighter for freedom and justice throughout history has done?<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s likely that Russian officials have explained to the US government that their own authorities are aware of RIM and its activities, and that, however unwelcome those activities might be, they are not illegal. Russian authorities may have also pointed out that, in both Russia and the US, \u201cparamilitary-style training\u201d is legal, and that holding dissident or unpopular views, including those of RIM, is likewise not forbidden.<\/span><\/p>\n

If Secretary Pompeo is serious about what he says, shouldn\u2019t the standards he cites be applied conscientiously here in the United States? Should the US government introduce mass screening to ban \u201cwhite supremacists\u201d from membership in gun clubs, practicing in rifle ranges, and service in police forces? Should the US armed forces refuse to accept young men who hold \u201cwhite supremacist\u201d views \u2013 that is, views in line with those of nearly all American presidents and military officers during most of this country\u2019s history?<\/span><\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why has the U.S. government formally identified a small, little know Russian religious group as a \u201cwhite supremacist terrorist group\u201d that poses a threat to U.S. national security?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-205950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-Current_Affairs"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=205950"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205950\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":205952,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205950\/revisions\/205952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=205950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=205950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=205950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}