Another Guardian article disputing Russia's claims of Ukrainian fascist coup.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/13/ukraine-uprising-fascist-coup-grassroots-movement?CMP=twt_gu

Kiev's protesters: Ukraine uprising was no neo-Nazi power-grab

Luke Harding
The Guardian, Thursday 13 March 2014 16.14 EDT


On 20 February, as revolution engulfed the centre of Kiev, Joseph Schilling, a 61-year-old builder from western Ukraine, went to the frontline to join the protests against President Viktor Yanukovych's government. He was standing beneath the neoclassical October Palace – once a girls' seminary and later the HQ for Lenin's secret police – when a sniper shot him in the head.

The place where Schilling died is now festooned with flowers. There are carnations, tulips and a tub of spring crocuses. Schilling's photo, near his barricade, reveals a man in late middle age wearing a tie, his hair neatly combed. Here too are images of other members of the "Heavenly Hundred" – the name given to the 102 protesters who have perished near the Maidan, Kiev's central Independence Square.

The Kremlin describes last month's uprising in next-door Ukraine as an illegitimate fascist coup. It says dark rightwing forces have taken over the government, forcing Moscow to "protect" Ukraine's ethnic Russian minority. The local government in Crimea is preparing for a referendum on Sunday which could lead to Russia annexing the region. Yanukovych, meanwhile, has fled to Russia.

Schilling, however, was an unlikely fascist. A father of two daughters, he and his wife Anna had lived in Italy. They had four grandchildren. Moreover, he was Jewish.
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More at link.

[The Magistrate]

1. An Excellent Commentary, Sir

Thank you for sharing it.

[steve2470]

2. The Guardian is a fascist Ukraine apologist rag !

in case I need to

[penultimate]

3. I don't understand why those Ukrainian people are protesting at all

wouldn't it be better for them to just shut up and let Russia do what it wants? What right do they have to think they can protest anyway?

[geek tragedy]

5. sadly, this comment could almost be the real opinion of some people here nt

[geek tragedy]

4. I wonder what the Putinistas will say if he invades Ukraine in

Operation Ukrainian Freedom.

[steve2470]

6. Putin is saving the Ukraine from western dominance by the IMF

That will be close to it.

[geek tragedy]

8. So, they're back to the USSR talking points in defense of a rightwing ultranationalist

state using aggressive war to support its policy of regional imperialism.

And then they wonder why no one respects them or considers them progressives.

[The Magistrate]

10. You have The Gift Of Second Sight, Sir

Please use it only for good....

[steve2470]

11. I do my best, good sir

I admit, there are concerns over the Ukraine government and exactly how it came about. However, the Russians have taken exactly the wrong approach to dealing with it.

[Igel]

13. The past is prolog.

But the prolog does not determine the entire narrative nor the conclusion, except in something that is very well thought out and entirely under the authors' control. In that scenario, the future cannot be rewritten even though it has yet to be written the first time.

Our enemies must always be omniscient and omnipotent. That way when we defeat them it just shows our true inner awesomeness.

[riqster]

7. A good read.

[functioning_cog]

9. Keep this, the truth, kicked

[LuvNewcastle]

12. Good article.

I agree with the diplomat who said that Putin's Russia is about as close to a fascist state as there is. I hope he dies before he starts a world war. I think that if he lives, the west is going to be in a military showdown with him, if not over Ukraine then some other issue.

[starroute]

14. Another Guardian reporter with an axe to grind

I'll grant that the Russians have been pushing the Ukrainian/neo-Nazi connection pretty hard. But the people who have been trying most assiduously to debunk it have their own agenda. Luke Harding was formerly a correspondent in Russia who made himself unwelcome by calling it a Mafia state, has since gotten into trouble over a plagiarism scandal, and has written infamously antagonistic books on Wikileaks and on Edward Snowden.

The truth may well lie somewhere in the middle. But to keep posting articles by Western neoliberals and others who have a stake in downplaying the fascist element in Ukraine and presenting these as sober analyses of the situation by people with impeccable credentials does not contribute to a balanced assessment.