[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 117 (Wednesday, September 27, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1613-E1614]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                ANTI-SEMITIC NEWSPAPER ARTICLE IN RUSSIA

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                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 27, 2000

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, the fall of the Soviet Union 
saw the emergence of open anti-Semitism in Russia. While the government 
was abandoning its official policy of discrimination against Jews, 
anti-Semitism was being resurrected by certain political and social 
elements within Russian society, or ``privatized,'' as one observer put 
it.
  Not that anti-Semitism is a distinctly Russian phenomenon. Our own 
history has shown that at times of economic difficulties or societal 
challenge extremist figures and groups peddling anti-Semitic or other 
hate philosophies may arise within our midst.
  Nevertheless, I was surprised and disturbed when the Union of 
Councils for Soviet Jews called my attention to a recent article in the 
Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta entitled ``Strategy of 
`Globallization Leadership' For Russia. First Priority Indirect 
Strategic Actions To Ensure National Security.'' This article was 
penned by a Mr. Alexandr Ignatov, the director of a think tank under 
the jurisdiction of the Presidential Administration of Russia. In his 
lengthy opus, the author asserts that the activities of a ``world 
government'' are a key influence on globalization processes, and that a 
``Hasidic-paramasonic group'' has usurped power within this world 
government. Moreover, this ``Hasidic-paramasonic group'' has allegedly 
decided that Russia should be excluded from leadership in the 
globalization process and be viewed exclusively as a source of raw 
materials for the ``New World Order.''
  This ``usurpation of power in the world government by the Hasidic-
paramasonic group requires immediate correction,'' says Mr.

[[Page E1614]]

Ignatov, which should include such initiatives as establishing Orthodox 
and Islam as state religions and imposing a departure tax on persons of 
childbearing age and ``trained specialists.''
  Mr. Speaker, what can we say? Do Mr. Putin and others in the Russian 
Government take seriously the advice of people who prattle on about 
``Hasidic-paramasonic'' groups usurping power in a so-called ``world 
government''? The Ignatov article is, at best, a vacuous ramble about 
the ``New World Order and world government, and, at worst, a vicious 
piece of anti-Semitism reflecting the mind set of the Protocols of the 
Elders of Zion. To wrap fish in it would be to insult fish.
  For the record, the Russian Orthodox Church, for all its claims as 
the historic Christian faith in Russia, has rejected the idea of 
becoming the state church. Even the Soviet government backed down from 
the departure tax idea back in the early 1980s.
  In my opinion, this article is unworthy of Nezavisimaya Gazeta, a 
widely read newspaper of a generally ``centrist'' orientation. I don't 
deny their right to print whatever they want, but I find it hard to 
believe that the editors of Nezavisimaya Gazeta want their publication 
to resemble some of the many anti-Semitic rags that have emerged in 
post-Soviet Russia.
  In any event, I would certainly hope that the leadership of the 
Russian Government disavows the article, the author and certainly the 
policy prescriptions suggested.

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