cross-posted from: https://lemmy.today/post/21755185
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s resignation as Liberal leader comes just two weeks before Donald Trump takes office as U.S. president while threatening to impose 25 per cent tariffs on all imports from Canada on Day 1.
Trudeau said he will stay on as prime minister until his successor is chosen, creating the prospect that Canada will have a lame duck head of government just as its biggest trading partner hits its exports with steep tariffs.
Fascist rhetoric does not require Russian propaganda to spread. If you feel this way because right-wing talking points and Russia tend to line up, that’s because Russia’s government is terribly right-wing and has been for decades. But correlation is not causation. Blaming Russia for its own fascist trending is perfectly correct; blaming the country for everyone’s fascism problems is ridiculous.
Personally, I really dislike thinking like this. Blaming Russia for everything distracts us from problems our own countries made all on their own. It’s an overly-simplistic answer to a complicated and wide-reaching set of problems, and prevents us from properly thinking about those issues.
There is definitely Russian propaganda, not that this is the only factor.
The comment I was replying to insinuated that Russian propaganda was the primary if not only factor. Which is, again, ridiculous. Besides, as far as I’m concerned, Russian propaganda is an excuse used to prevent people from realizing how many of our problems have a domestic source, and that our government is and has been insanely terrible for a long time. Is it there? Sure, but it’s far from the biggest issue. Capitalism is an excellent incubator for fascism all by itself, and you don’t need an outside push to make the decay hit.
You’re probably right, and I tried to acknowledge that my thinking was flawed by the donning of the tinfoil hat. You make some great points; i just abhor coincide, and pick at it like a dried scab. This sometimes leads me to the ‘put everything in this square hole’ approach (cue nerdy girl melting down).
The truth is probably somewhere in the middle: Russians meddling (and others) a bit when opportunities arise, because a right wing or destabilized west benefits them, with fascist groups emboldened as a result. There’s probably more to it and this is a ‘4 am phone check response’ and I’m going back to bed.