Robert Parry: Ukraine's 'Dr. Strangelove' Reality

[eridani]

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/23515-ukraines-dr-strangelove-reality

much as the coup regime in Ukraine and its supporters want to project an image of Western moderation, there is a “Dr. Strangelove” element that can’t stop the Nazism from popping up from time to time, like when the Peter Sellers character in the classic movie can’t keep his right arm from making a “Heil Hitler” salute.

This brutal Nazism surfaced again on Friday when right-wing toughs in Odessa attacked an encampment of ethnic Russian protesters driving them into a trade union building which was then set on fire with Molotov cocktails. As the building was engulfed in flames, some people who tried to flee were chased and beaten, while those trapped inside heard the Ukrainian nationalists liken them to black-and-red-striped potato beetles called Colorados, because those colors are used in pro-Russian ribbons.

“Burn, Colorado, burn” went the chant.

As the fire worsened, those dying inside were serenaded with the taunting singing of the Ukrainian national anthem. The building also was spray-painted with Swastika-like symbols and graffiti reading “Galician SS,” a reference to the Ukrainian nationalist army that fought alongside the German Nazi SS in World War II, killing Russians on the eastern front.


The death by fire of dozens of people in Odessa recalled a World War II incident in 1944 when elements of a Galician SS police regiment took part in the massacre of the Polish village of Huta Pieniacka, which had been a refuge for Jews and was protected by Russian and Polish partisans. Attacked by a mixed force of Ukrainian police and German soldiers on Feb. 28, hundreds of townspeople were massacred, including many locked in barns that were set ablaze.

[reddread]

1. k&r for the cheerleaders

lowest form of life.

[malaise]

2. It's the responses to this outrage that frighten me

Thanks for this - Parry remains an objective journalist.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

3. Parry has totally gone off the deep end.

Comparing two-sided mob violence, with both sides being at blame, to WWII atrocities.

Lost in Parry's account of the Odessa riots is the fact that the fire was precipitated by Pro-Russian gunman shooting from the rooftops at Pro-Ukrainian demonstrators, killing several of them.

Propaganda indeed.

[eridani]

4. And the best way to deal with that is to chase people into a building and set it on fire

If they were chased into a building, they can't possibly have been on the tops of other buildings.

[Adrahil]

5. One thing there is NO DOUBT of...

The violence in Odessa was precipitated by the Pro-Russian forces attacking a peaceful pro-unity demonstration linked with a soccer game.

I think the loss of life in Odessa is tragic, and I'd support a complete investigation (though it seems REALLY unlikely they could identify specific suspects). But let's not lose sight of the forest for the trees.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

6. I'm not excusing anyone's actions.

But clearly there was a greater context in the whole incident than simply "A mob of Pro-Ukrainians spontaneously marched down to the Trade Union building and set it on fire because Neo-Nazis and Cookies."

Parry fancies himself an investigative journalist, but if he's not honest enough to mention the events that lead up to the fire, than he's nothing but a shell of his former self and a hack.

[MisterP]

7. St. Yushchenko recognized those who tied children to trees and bayonetted them as WWII vets, sooooo

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