Russia ratchets up war rhetoric - and not just in Syria
A rock band sings about taking Berlin; politicians and the media threaten a nuclear attack. The war rhetoric in Russia is impossible to ignore. But there's a different mood within Russian society.
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The popular Russian rock band Va-Bank released a new music video on Wednesday. It's called "And After Berlin" and is a cover version of the 1980s song "First We Take Manhattan," by Canadian singer Leonard Cohen. The Russian text contains current political messages. International sanctions, Crimea and the Soviet dictator Josef Stalin are mentioned before the chorus comes: "First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin."
Since the annexation of Crimea , war and conquest fantasies have become commonplace in Russia. You hear them from politicians, journalists and pundits. Apocalyptic photomontages depicting a future war between Europe and the United States are making the rounds on social media. One such photo shows a Russian tank in a demolished Paris with the caption "Tank tours in Europe."
The threat of nuclear weapons - something that Russians have previously tried to avoid - now surfaces regularly. March 16, 2014, is the day the taboo was broken. That's the day that a referendum seen internationally as illegitimate was held on Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, which was occupied by Russian troops. "Russia is the only country in the world that is truly capable of turning the USA into a heap of radioactive ash," star moderator Dmitri Kisseljov said on state television.
Since then, prominent personalities have continued to swing the nuclear club. Right-wing populist Vladimir Shirinovsky, the deputy parliamentary chairman, has threatened to reduce first Kyiv, then Berlin, then Washington to dust. Most recently, he was toying with the idea of throwing a nuclear bomb into the Black Sea near Istanbul. Then the Turkish city would be washed away by a giant wave, Shirinovsky reasoned during an appearance before parliament on Tuesday.
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http://www.dw.com/en/russia-ratchets-up-war-rhetoric-and-not-just-in-syria/a-18896274
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