The Nashi’s Letters to America

A very interesting article has been posted up by the DC think tank American Enterprise Institute, which is one of many organizations to have recently been inundated by a letter writing campaign from the Kremlin-sponsored Nashi youth group. The arduously handwritten letters on school notebook papers make mention of war casualties from Iraq and Afghanistan, and implore the American people to “Take to the streets! Cry for the resignation of the President and dismissal of the State Secretary! Stop fanatics at the State Department!” Most interestingly, the letters contain an ominous threat referring to the U.S. support of civil society initiatives and non-governmental organizations in Russia as leading toward a Cold War-type confrontation. A scan of the letter can be downloaded here, and below is a partial image. The article on American.com draws a fascinating parallel between a 1920 address by Vladimir Lenin to the Komsomol and the more contemporary Nashi Manifesto – the only thing that seems to change is that references to communism are replaced by references to “sovereign democracy.” It is arguably a matter of grave concern to the United States and Western Europe that the Russian government itself sponsors and officially endorses such propaganda of fear and hate aimed at inciting anti-Western sentiment.