You would think that if you were a white supremacist, neo-nazi, or another brand of ultra-nationalist, that Russia would be an exceptionally welcoming place to live.  The government regularly breaks up and arrests those who protest against you, if there is a murder of a rights activist there are no consequences, and even the ambassador to NATO comes from a political party which used to get in trouble for widely racist and hate inspiring TV ads.

But no, that’s not quite correct – many of these nationalist extremist groups see the Russian government as enemy #1 along with the more well known targets in the human rights community (check out SRB for some myths on Russian fascism).  This was made exceptionally clear when a group of nationalists claimed responsibility for the recent Nevsky Express train bombing, even with the competing claim by Chechen terrorists.

Writing in the Asia Times Online
, Dmitry Shlapentokh puts forward a historical pathology of the modern Russian fascist ideology. Though his account is not without some holes, some controversy, and some breezy simplification, he gets right at some very interesting questions facing Russia’s political development.