Dear friends,

Ramzan Kadyrov recently gave a long interview on Russian TV to Nailia Asker-Zade which included an interesting and a beautifully politically incorrect segment about homosexuality.  Thanks to Eugenia, I can now post this segment with English subtitles.

I am posting this not because I endorse or agree with what Kadyrov says, although I basically do, but to give you a sense of how dramatically different Russia is from the West.  Think of it: we have a female Russian journalist (of Azeri extraction) feeling totally comfortable wearing a traditional (and beautiful!) Islamic dress with long skirt and headscarf, talking to a Muslim Chechen leader making statements which in the West would immediately earn him a lifelong and infinite hatred form all the doubleplusgoodthinking people.  And that takes place at the peak hour (Sunday evening) on one of the major national Russian TV channels.

What I am trying to convey here is that while Russia west of the Urals is geographically located in Europe, in cultural, spiritual and civilizational terms Russia might as well be in the central South Pacific or on Mars (alas, she is not, and that border with Europe is the reason for 1000 years of West European aggressions against her).  In the West a sentence like “there are no Chechen homosexuals” is self-evidently wrong and the result of ignorance, prejudice and bigotry.  In Russia this sentence makes perfectly good sense even tough Russians themselves would never say “there are not Russian homosexuals“.  Nailia Asker-Zade actually says that to Kadyrov who simply replies “yeah, there will always be people like that“.  I am not going to solve the “cultural riddle” of this dialog (homosexuals in Russia, but not in Chechnia?!?!) for you, that is not the point of this post, but I just want to draw your attention to it.  In fact, the entire exchange might as well have been recorded on another planet, at least from the point of view of the western doxa.

Anyway, watch the video, please feel free to comment, but remember moderation rules #2 and #6.  If #6 seems too free speech stifling and otherwise offensive, please feel free to trash me to our heart’s content anywhere on the Internet.  Just not in this comments section :-P

Seriously, and just to clarify.  The topic is NOT, repeat, NOT homosexuality.

The topic is “Russia is a different planet, very very very far away from Planet Europe“.

One more thing.  For those who understand Russian, check out the full interview (I will also post it below) and notice how totally different Nailia Asker-Zade is from her western counterparts (come to think of it, even if you do not understand Russian, I recommend you watch this interview as it includes a lot of truly superb footage of Chechnia and the Chechen people).  Far from trying to act (and look!) like a man, Asker-Zade proudly pushes her femininity forward, even dancing with Kadyrov and the Chechen dancing ensemble.  But least you think that she must be some subdued brainless bimbo (that would be the typical reaction nowadays), let me add that she is a brilliant journalist, specializing in economics: she began her career as a financial analyst for the paper “Kommersant”, then she moved up and became the economic and financial analyst for the national TV channel “Rossia” and the show “Vesti”.  Her high intelligence and strong personality do not lessen her femininity, something which decades of brainless feminism have basically stomped out int the western media.  In Russia femininity, intelligence and strong personality are not mutually exclusive, they go together!  Yet another way that Russia is not Europe.

Now see it all for yourself:

The Essential Saker IV: Messianic Narcissism's Agony by a Thousand Cuts