海角大神

Russian critics have long worried about the propensity of the country鈥檚 communications watchdog, Roskomnadzor (RKZ),听to cast an overly wide net聽in censoring 鈥渆xtremist鈥� content on the internet.

But when RKZ brought its weight to bear against The Daily Stormer, a US-based neo-Nazi group whose hate-laced website briefly came to be registered on Russian servers, it was a satisfying moment for even the most strident RKZ gadflies.

鈥淭his is one of the few times when we can feel like RKZ鈥檚 intervention is totally warranted,鈥� says聽, a blogger and media critic. 鈥淣ormally they are looking for ways to declare any kind of opposition website as extremist.鈥�

The Daily Stormer has been getting chased around the internet in what looks like an international game of whack-a-mole in the aftermath of the events in Charlottesville, Va., over the weekend, where one woman, Heather Heyer, was killed by an attendee of protests by the so-called alt-right, an offshoot of conservatism mixing racism, white nationalism, anti-Semitism, and populism. The Daily Stormer published articles disparaging Ms. Heyer, leading the Stormer鈥檚 site registration to be canceled by its registrar for violation of terms of service.

The site tried to register a domain name with several other companies and was rejected each time, before finally finding a brief haven under a Russian RU domain name. The publication subsequently claimed on its front page that Donald Trump personally arranged the RU domain for it in a phone call with Vladimir Putin.

That, however, is unlikely.

鈥淵ou can get a domain in about five minutes鈥� from several private companies that peddle them over the global internet, says Andrei Kolesnikov, director of the non-state coordination center for RU domain names. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just as easy to open one in Ukraine, Moldova, Morocco, or just about any other zone. Russia is no safe harbor. But RKZ is watching, and if they get complaints they can shut it down, no matter who owns it.鈥�

And shut it down they did in less than a day 鈥� quite quickly, by Russian standards 鈥� after Russian social media activists swamped RKZ with complaints. The watchdog quickly instructed the domain names coordination center to deregister the Daily Stormer. It did so, and聽聽on its website.

Strange bedfellows?

The Daily Stormer鈥檚 dubious claim of Mr. Putin鈥檚 involvement calls attention to the one-sided love affair that American 鈥渁lt-right鈥� activists and white nationalists appear to have with Putin amid the tensions laid bare by Mr. Trump鈥檚 chaotic presidency.

Also, it seems likely to聽聽that somehow the Kremlin has been using the odd pro-Trump alignment of far-right agitators, anti-Semites, and white nationalists to聽, deepen discord, and further weaken US democracy.

Some US conservatives, including Trump, have expressed admiration of Putin as a 鈥渟trong leader.鈥� Other symmetries could be that Putin seems to be a devout 海角大神 who has allowed the Russian Orthodox Church聽unprecedented leeway聽to promote its socially-conservative domestic agenda. Putin, and the Russian media in general, tend to sympathize with anti-globalist forces, particularly if they are seen to be driving wedges in the West鈥檚 anti-Russia unity.

And Putin has, since his arrival in power, promoted what might be described as a 鈥渕ake Russia great again鈥� agenda, elevating national identity and interests over internationalist currents.

鈥淭here was a time when all sorts of people got invited to Moscow,鈥� says Nikolai Petrov, a professor at Moscow鈥檚 Higher School of Economics. That would include聽,听, US gun lovers, religious-right types, and聽. Putin famously (or perhaps infamously) dined with Trump adviser Michael Flynn 鈥� who was聽聽鈥� at an RT event in Moscow in 2015.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it was connected with sharing ideological views. It was more a matter of 鈥榯hose who criticize your opponents are your friends,鈥欌�� says Mr. Petrov.

Fallow ground for nationalism

In fact, says Petrov, there鈥檚 very little tolerance in Russia for the kind of philosophy that the 鈥渁lt-right鈥� espouses. 鈥淚n Russia itself, hard-line nationalists face very tough pressures. They are the most heavily persecuted type of political activists.鈥�

Nor is there any evidence that Putin, who runs a sprawling multi-ethnic and multi-confessional country, holds any ethno-nationalist or white supremacist views. Nor has he ever been associated with anti-Semitism. Under his leadership Russia has taken a hard turn toward聽intolerant social conservatism, but there seems little doubt it enjoys widespread popularity.

鈥淧utin is a pragmatist and a consummate populist. He鈥檚 interested in keeping power in Russia, and can be quite flexible about that,鈥� says Petrov. 鈥淚 doubt he has an interest in building any international alliances based on ideology, or anything like that.鈥�

Mr. Kovalev also says he鈥檚 very dubious about allegations of an axis between the Kremlin and the American 鈥渁lt-right.鈥�

鈥淭here seems to be very little cross-over in ideas, maybe a few vague similarities,鈥� he says. 鈥淢ostly it seems to be based on the fact that one of the leaders of the 鈥榓lt-right鈥� in the US, Richard Spencer, was聽. But she doesn鈥檛 come off as anyone that has contacts with the Russian government. It all looks pretty empty....

鈥淚n general, I鈥檓 skeptical of this idea that Putin is waging a campaign to sow chaos in the US via the 鈥榓lt-right.鈥� It鈥檚 lazy conjecture to blame outside forces for things that are going wrong in your own country. It sounds more like what Russian officials always try to do.鈥�