Russian analyst Aleksander Goltz, in article titled "Obscurantism On The March," observes the revival in Russia of long discredited conspiracy theories from the blood libel to the flat-Earth theory. Goltz concludes that whenever a society is constantly fed "completely irrational conspiracy theories posing as political concepts", it soon becomes susceptible to fantastic misconceptions in other areas, such as Russian history.

Below are excerpts from Goltz's article:[1]



Aleksandr Goltz (Source: Youtube.com)

'I Cannot Exclude The Possibility That Law Enforcement Will Shortly Take Up The Serious Matter Of The Earth's Shape

"Alas, miracles do not happen. And even if they do, it's only for the worse. Until recently, one of the few positive attributes of the Russian government was the absence of antisemitism. However, the Kremlin's fondness for conspiracy theories, its conviction that Western intelligence services intend to overthrow Vladimir Putin by means of a 'color revolution', inevitably led to the identification of a malicious group [i.e. the Jews]. The one that can be blamed for all the Russian woes, such as bad roads, the lack of sewage in some Russian towns, and, it goes without saying, having no running water from your faucets. Not to mention the murder of an Orthodox monarch.

"Vladimir Putin will participate in the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church that is taking place soon [December 1, 2017].[2] In modern Russia, the Orthodox Church was happy to assume the functions of the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. It appears that before the presidential elections, Orthodox ideologists are expected once again to anoint the country's main boss as king. And that is when the dam broke. On the eve of the Council, they held a conference titled 'The case of the murder of the [Russian] Imperial family: new investigations and findings. Discussion.' Its activities were focused on the highly relevant issue of whether the remains of the royal family (discovered near Yekaterinburg and buried in the Peter and Paul Fortress twenty years ago) are authentic.

"The importance of the distinguished assembly was emphasized by the fact that the seventy-year-old Patriarch steadfastly chaired it for more than nine hours. The bishop of Yegoryevsk Tikhon Shevkunov - who was present at the conference, and who is known as the 'father confessor' of Vladimir Putin - spoke about the possible ritualistic character of the murder of Nicholas II and his family. 'We take the version of the ritual murder with the utmost seriousness. What's more, a large part of the church commission has no doubt about it', said Father Tikhon, the secretary of the church commission studying the results of the investigation of the remains found near Yekaterinburg. Shevkunov, however, noted that this needs proof: 'This must be proven and substantiated. The fact that the emperor, even though he had abdicated, was killed this way, the fact that the victims were distributed among the murderers ... and that so many wanted to become a regicide. This alone shows that for many it was a specific ritual.'

"I somehow thought that after the acquittal of [Menahem Mendel] Beilis in 1913,[3] the question of ritual murders was closed for Russian society. No way, the Investigative Committee plans, in all seriousness, to find out whether the execution of the royal family was in fact a ritual murder… At first glance, the fact that a law enforcement agency would seriously take up the subject of the authenticity of medieval prejudices, seems outright monstrous.



Menahem Mendel Beilis (Source: Nekrassov-viktor.com)

"However, at the same time a Russian TV's prize is being awarded to people who claim in all seriousness that the Earth is flat. Shows aiming to teach morals to young people, seriously claim that telegony has basis in fact. Meanwhile, the country's main boss keeps talking about the challenges of modernization. And in fact there is no contradiction here. Whenever society is being fed with completely irrational conspiracy theories posing as political concepts, such as that 'color revolutions' are staged by the insidious foreign special services or that Russia is surrounded by enemies, it becomes impossible to avoid fantastic misconceptions in other areas, like, for example, Russian history. And instantly scoundrels emerge, who are happy to exploit and stir up the most savage and loathsome prejudices, seemingly long gone. After all, the [Russian] Minister of Culture [Vladimir Medinsky] recently declared that a fact is that which corresponds to the country's interests.



REN TV showed a program, showing that the earth is flat. The series "The Most Shocking Hypotheses" included an episode, titled But The Earth Is Flat!, dedicated to the Flat-Earth Theory. The program's host Igor Prokopenko recently won a Russian Academy of Television award for "best educational program." See video.



A scene from the movie "Matilda" (Source: Youtube.com)

"The Kremlin, having discarded its attempts to create some 'national idea', had contentedly settled for the [Count Sergei] Uvarov's triad: Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality. And then it handed over the implementation of this concept to open obscurantists. And that is when the Orthodox fundamentalists demanded respect for their own barbarity. And they confirmed the seriousness of their intentions by way of organizing a scandal around the completely innocent historical costume movie 'Matilda'.[4] It would seem that during this stupid scandal the government took a responsible position. However, the belief in fantastic scenarios turned into fear of the 'Orthodox Maidan'. And the Investigative Committee is now seriously investigating the fact of the ritual murder of Nicholas II. I cannot exclude the possibility that the law enforcement will soon take up the serious matter of the Earth's shape."