Justin Raimondo Is Confused About Fascism

I had a Twitter exchange involving Justin Raimondo, the paleo-conservative editor of antiwar.com.

Source:
https://twitter.com/stuartcelliott/status/428507798318489600


In text:

1. Adam Holland ‏@ad_holland Jan 22

   9/11 truther Justin Raimondo argues that connecting Julian Assange to Israel Shamir is a conspiracy theory. http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2014/01/21/sean-wilentz-court-historian-nsa-shill-and-lickspittle-liberal/ …

   
   
2. Justin Raimondo ‏@JustinRaimondo Jan 27

   @ad_holland Please delete this libelous and legally actionable tweet.

   
   
3. stuartcelliott ‏@stuartcelliott Jan 27

   @JustinRaimondo says it is a conspiracy theory and a "smear" to link Assange vile Israel Shamir, but is libel to cite his views @ad_holland

   
   
4. Justin Raimondo ‏@JustinRaimondo Jan 28

   @stuartcelliott @ad_holland Nice fascist symbolism in your avatar.

stuartcelliott ‏@stuartcelliott

Paleo-con @JustinRaimondo thinks three arrows circle is "fascist symbolism" Actually, it is an antifascist symbol from 1930s

Three Arrows Symbolism

According to wikipedia

The Antifascist Circle is a logo designed by Sergei Chakhotin - former assistant to the physiologist Ivan Pavlov - in 1931^[1][2][3] for the 1930s German anti-fascist organization Iron Front. The logo was designed to be able to easily cover up Nazi swastikas.

The Iron Front

The Iron Front (German: Eiserne Front) was an anti-Nazi, anti-monarchist, and anti-communist paramilitary organization formed in Germany on 16 December 1931 by the Social Democratic Party (SPD) with the Allgemeiner Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund, the Reichsbanner and workers' sport clubs^[1] originally to counter the right-wing Harzburg Front formed by the National Socialist German Workers Party, the Stahlhelm and the German National People's Party. The organization sought to engage the old Reichsbanner, the SPD youth organization, and labor and liberal groups as a united front. The SPD rallied to the Iron Front, held mass demonstrations, fought fascists in the streets, and armed themselves. 

Raimondo Accuses Wilentz of Conspiracy Theory

It's strange that Raimondo would object to Adam Holland's tweet, since Raimondo does in fact openly describe Wilentz evidence of ties between Assange and Israel Shamir as a "conspiracy theory" and a "smear job."

In going after Assange, Wilentz’s conspiracy theory takes on the emotional atmosphere of a Tom Clancy novel. This cold war liberal has recreated the era in which his reified ideology was relevant by conjuring up a hair-brained conspiracy theory. (emphasis added) 

According to Raimondo

The "rape" charges, which Wilentz gives credence to, are naturally brought up, along with bits of gossip here and there, such as a veritable reiteration of neocon journalist Michael Moynihan’s smear piece supposedly linking Assange to a dubious character by the name of Israel Shamir. 

 The link between Assange and Israel Shamir is not "supposed.  It is well-documented by The Guardian, the Index on Censorship  and others publications.  Here is a picture of Assange and Shamir.

Here's wikipedia's summary of Shamir's ties with WikiLeaks

Shamir is a vocal backer of the WikiLeaks organization.^[53] In a Sveriges Radio interview with WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson, Hrafnsson stated that Israel Shamir "is associated with" WikiLeaks, as are "a lot of journalists that are working with us all around the world" who "have different roles in working on [the] project".^[26] Russian Reporter claims that it has "privileged access" to the 2010 United States diplomatic cables leak via Shamir.^[26] Shamir described his relation with WikiLeaks as being "a freelancer who was 'accredited' to WikiLeaks".^[54]
Former Wikileaks spokesman Daniel Domscheit-Berg noted Wikileaks' ties to Shamir among the reasons he quit the organization.^[55] Domscheit-Berg described Shamir as a "famous Holocaust denier and anti-Semite."^[56]
Yulia Latynina, writing in the Moscow Times alleged that Shamir concocted a cable which allegedly quoted European Union diplomats' plans to walk out of the Durban II speech by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, for publication in the pro-Putin Russian Reporter in December 2010, an accusation which was rejected by Shamir.^[54]
Shamir has also been accused of passing "sensitive cables" to the president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko.^[57] Index on Censorship has expressed concern that such an event could physically endanger Lukashenko's political opponents; Wikileaks has refused to reply to Index on the issue, although one Wikileaks representative called Shamir's alleged leaks "obviously unapproved."^[58]

Shamir is a notorious anti-Semite, holocaust denier, and defender of Pol Pot. He also contends that "Stalin's Terror and the Ukrainian Holodomor" are CIA disinformation.

But to Raimondo,  Shamir is simply a "dubious character."

Not really surprising, since Raimondo is connected with some dubious characters.  He is an acolyte of Pat Buchanan (on PB see this and this) here and an biographer and admirer of Murray Rothbard (see this, this and this), the Austrian economist who conceived of the paleo-libertarian "outreach to rednecks" strategy and possible author of Ron Paul's racist newsletters. He is a big defender of Lawrence Dennis, America's leading fascist theorist in the 1930-1940s and has a column at the noxious My Catbird Seat