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Thus, to budding Ukro-Nationalists the current war is really Sweden vs Mongolia

Weaponizing History - Kievan Rus as Ukro-Nationalist Camelot



Weaponizing History - Kievan Rus as Ukro-Nationalist Camelot
Circa May 2021, NATO ordered its Ukrainian proxies to escalate provocations to invasion-provoking levels. With these marching orders came preaching orders from Chatham House's Russia and Eurasia Programme (CHREP).   CHREP prospers alongside the forty or so Russia & Eurasia faculties that blossomed across Western campuses after the Soviet Union's demise. Soviet Studies became Eurasian Studies. The Google Ngram graph of "Eurasia" hits a cliff at 1991. Outfits like Harvard's Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies and Stanford's Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies employ 50 to 100 PhDs each. Combined with Ukrainian Studies faculties, NATO's legion of Russia-stalking professors numbers 2,000+. 

Resurrecting the debunked, Normanist, Kievan Rus myth

Chatham House's unique processes and presentations garner an influential academic, journalist and policymaker audience. Its $20 million budget comes from leading NATO governments, the usual Foundations, and Big Oil.  CHREP's Myths and Misperceptions (May 2021) targets the "Triune Myth" i.e., the belief that Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians are one race. Russia uses Triune to claim Ukraine and Belarus lay within its natural sphere of influence. Russian historians note Ukraine was once "Little Russia" while Belarus means "White Russia." Conversely: "…the denunciation of this (Triune) myth has been a key driver of modern Ukrainian nationalism." Henceforth: "Western policymakers and commentators should reject the concept of an all-Russian nation and the misapprehensions that accompany it. Analysts and journalists should spare no effort in debunking those myths, and be more proactive in highlighting the socio-historical and linguistic uniqueness of the Ukrainian and Belorussian nations." Highlighting the socio-historical and linguistic uniqueness of the Ukrainian nation involves resurrecting the debunked, Normanist, Kievan Rus myth. 

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Neither the Norwegian Vikings, nor their descendants, set foot in Kievan Rus

According to the Oxford Dictionary, Normanists (a.k.a. Norsephiles) are a school of historical thought about which this can politely be said:    "Scholars have tended to side with one of two factions; the first firmly believing in the importance of the Scandinavian element in the founding of Russian towns and of the Russian state itself, the second discounting this influence almost completely (these two schools of thought are labelled in technical literature by the unfortunate terms 'Normanist' and 'Anti-Normanist')."  And:
"To the disengaged it may well seem that the Normanist case has been over presented by a majority of Scandinavian historians as it has been played down by a majority of historians of Russia."
  Whenceforth this unfortunate term: "Normanism"?  In Old Saxon and Scandinavian dialects Norman, Northman and Norwegian were synonyms. After Norwegian Vikings captured areas of northern France in the 800s, "Norman" came to mean a native or inhabitant of the French Region of Normandy; or, of someone descending from, or belonging to, the mixed French-Norwegian people populating parts of Normandy. Neither the Norwegian Vikings, nor their descendants, set foot in Kievan Rus. Russian historians deploy "Normanism" purely to spotlight a tight historical parallel that spawned a near identical effort to fabricate history on a grand scale.

British History textbooks imagine a "Norman Invasion" and a "Norman Conquest."

In 911 Rollo, the Norwegian Viking leader, surrendered to the King of West Francia; agreeing to pay homage to the King and to convert to Catholicism. Rollo married a French women as did almost his entire male line of descendants.  William the Conqueror was a French-born, French-speaking Catholic who neither spoke Norwegian nor visited Norway. Of William's 32 great-great-great grandparents only Rollo was Norwegian. William's ancestors hailed more from Brittany and Anjou.   Moreover, the army overrunning England in 1066 came from across Europe, not just from Normandy - which lacked the capacity for such an expedition. The principal state actor, the Kingdom of France, was then led by Count Baldwin of Flanders – uncle to, and Regent for, France's child-king. Baldwin advanced a flimsy claim to the English Crown on behalf of his son-in-law, William of Normandy. The 1066 invasion received support from Pope Alexander II and Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV. Normandy contributed little to the expedition's effective fighting force, and less to its war-chest.  British History textbooks imagine a "Norman Invasion" and a "Norman Conquest." Events worthy of such names never occurred. "French" must be substituted for "Norman." Those rejecting this are the original Normanists.


NATO has dusted-off and re-exhibited the debunked Normanist Kievan Rus Camelot

Back to Ukraine. Circa 865 Swedish Vikings long-encamped at Lake Ladoga marched south to capture Novgorod – a Slavic town of 5,000 near the intersection of two caravan routes of interest to Byzantine merchants. After extracting gold payments from the Byzantine Emperor these Vikings briefly dominated the Ladoga to Kiev region (i.e., Kievan Rus).  At no time, however, did these Swedes constitute even 1% of Kievan Rus's population. Vikings typically didn't bring their families. They sired kids with local women, but, as in Normandy, the off-spring quickly assimilated into the prevailing culture. Scrolling a few generations down the "Rurik Line" and one finds Slavic-speaking men with Slavic-sounding names. Within a few centuries, the Scandinavian influence dilutes to irrelevancy.  Stooping to mobilize the basest of racist passions, NATO has dusted-off and re-exhibited the debunked Normanist Kievan Rus Camelot. Thus, to budding Ukro-Nationalists the current war is really Sweden vs Mongolia.

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William Walter Kay BA JD -- Bio and Archives

William Walter Kay, Ecofascism.com


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