Guardian op-ed on Ukraine:

[Tommy_Carcetti]

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/13/russian-propaganda-ukraine-fascist-protesters-euromaidan?CMP=twt_gu

Don't believe the Russian propaganda about Ukraine's 'fascist' protesters

Olexiy Haran

theguardian.com, Thursday 13 March 2014 06.04 EDT


The Kremlin uses many kinds of falsifications to justify its aggression against Ukraine and plans to annex Crimean peninsula. One of which is that the mass protests of Ukrainians against the corrupt and bloody regime of Viktor Yanukovych, called the Euromaidan, was a gathering of far-right extremists intent on imposing nationalist rule over all other ethnic groups in Ukraine.


But the Euromaidan was anything but this. Although many Ukrainian nationalists passionately joined in the protests in central Kiev against Yanukovych's plans to get Ukraine into a Moscow-led customs union instead of signing a forward-looking association agreement with the EU, the maidan was a place of multi-ethnic national solidarity in the face of repression. One shouldn't forget that Sergey Nigoyan, the first victim of police ruthlessness in the Maidan, was an ethnic Armenian who came to support the protest from the Russian-speaking Dnipropetrovsk region in eastern Ukraine. Jews actively joined the ranks of protesters and a religious Jew headed one of the maidan self-defence units, passing command status to his Ukrainian deputy every Friday after the beginning of sabbath.


Crimean Tatars – a Sunni Muslim ethnic group that ruled in Crimea before it was captured by Russia in 1783 – have backed the maidan since its early days and now decisively oppose secession of the peninsula, let alone its accession to the Russian Federation. They still remember how, in 1944, their people were forcibly moved to central Asia under Stalin's orders with their land and houses transferred to ethnic Russians. That is where the Russian demographic domination of Crimea stems from.


Not a single representative of ethnic or other minorities has yet complained about the worsening of their position since the victory of Ukrainian democratic revolution. Instead, these minorities have articulated their desire to have an association agreement with the EU signed as soon as possible, which will bring additional safeguards against any discrimination or violation of human rights. Moreover, it is with the deployment of Russian troops in Crimea that swastika signs appeared on the walls of synagogues in Simferopol. And it is the chief rabbi of Ukraine Yaakov Dov Bleich who publicly suggested holding the G8 summit in Kiev to show support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity
_____________________________________________

More at link.

[thereismore]

1. Rings true to me. nt

[starroute]

2. This is propaganda from the other side

Haran is not a neutral observer. He's vice president of the Eurasia Foundation, which is a front for Western corporate interests.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasia_Foundation

Eurasia Foundation (EF) is a publicly and privately funded, privately managed grantmaker and program implementer working to strengthen civil society, advance private enterprise and promote public policy and administration in the successor states of the former Soviet Union. ... A public-private partnership, EF is managed by a board of trustees of private citizens and is supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) as well as other governments, private foundations, corporations and individuals. ...

Given its funding by private Western corporations, Western states, as well as the USAID,[1] it can easily be assumed EF is just another NGO aimed at covertly accomplishing pro-Western, and in particular pro-USA, regime change; at maintaining governments friendly to the USA and the EU; and at preventing an anti-capitalist or independent actor from taking power in the countries EF operates in. This is achieved by funding local individuals who would pursue a pro-Western stance for their country and who would push to adopt the liberal and neo-liberal economic model (and preserve it in the case has been already adopted), as well as "educating" the population[2] in promoting a positive environment for private enterprises, and more in general what is needed for Western corporations to enjoy the benefits of cheap labour force, low taxes, good infrastructure, as well as for the US to enjoy allegiance by the local government. As such, it can be argued EF is a subversive actor - albeit soft - that works for a foreign country (the USA), something unimaginable in the USA themselves.

[Catherina]

3. European Parliament resolution of 13 Dec 2012 on the elections in Ukraine and the danger of Svoboda

European Parliament resolution of 13 December 2012 on the elections in Ukraine and the danger of Svoboda:

8. Is concerned about the rising nationalistic sentiment in Ukraine, expressed in support for the Svoboda Party, which, as a result, is one of the two new parties to enter the Verkhovna Rada; recalls that racist, anti-Semitic and xenophobic views go against the EU's fundamental values and principles and therefore appeals to pro-democratic parties in the Verkhovna Rada not to associate with, endorse or form coalitions with this party;

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P7-TA-2012-0507+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN

People who put capital and profit over human lives have never balked at forming associations with fascists, nazis or the worst scum of the earth to justify their profit.

History just repeats itself.

So now in Ukraine far-right/neo-Nazi parties control the positions of Defense Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, National Security Adviser, Deputy National Security Adviser, and Attorney General. Those are some of the most important positions in any country. But according to the OP, there's no need to worry because it's just a small handful of people or something like that.