anti-Semitism in Russia

Here is a small article that was in the February 2005 issue of the Economist.com's Cities Guide: Moscow Briefing.

"The old taint of anti-Semitism, which has a centuries-old history in Russia, has never gone away. On January 14th, two rabbis were beaten with bottles underneath a Moscow underpass by over a half-dozen youths. Shortly afterwards, a group of 20 parliamentary deputies signed a petition calling for the general prosecutor to ban all Jewish organisations in Russia. They accused Jews of dominating politics and finance, provoking anti-Semitism and fomenting anti-Russian sentiment. (The signatories later retracted the measure.)"

(See the Economist article: An ugly head rears, January 27th 2005 for more details.)

Now, that is scary stuff. Of course, racial hatreds and prejudices never go away. There is still anti-Semitism around. However, I never thought that the government of a major nation would consider going down the same path that Hitler did. Didn't we learn anything?