NYT Discovers Ukraine’s Neo-Nazis at War

[malaise]

http://consortiumnews.com/2014/08/10/nyt-discovers-ukraines-neo-nazis-at-war/
<snip>
Exclusive: Throughout the Ukraine crisis, the U.S. State Department and mainstream media have downplayed the role of neo-Nazis in the U.S.-backed Kiev regime, an inconvenient truth that is surfacing again as right-wing storm troopers fly neo-Nazi banners as they attack in the east, Robert Parry reports.

By Robert Parry

The New York Times reported almost in passing on Sunday that the Ukrainian government’s offensive against ethnic Russian rebels in the east has unleashed far-right paramilitary militias that have even raised a neo-Nazi banner over the conquered town of Marinka, just west of the rebel stronghold of Donetsk.

That might seem like a big story – a U.S.-backed military operation, which has inflicted thousands of mostly civilian casualties, is being spearheaded by neo-Nazis. But the consistent pattern of the mainstream U.S. news media has been – since the start of the Ukraine crisis – to white-out the role of Ukraine’s brown-shirts.
Far-right militia members demonstrating outside Ukrainian parliament in Kiev. (Screen shot from RT video via YouTube video)

Only occasionally is the word “neo-Nazi” mentioned and usually in the context of dismissing this inconvenient truth as “Russian propaganda.” Yet the reality has been that neo-Nazis played a key role in the violent overthrow of elected President Viktor Yanukovych last February as well as in the subsequent coup regime holding power in Kiev and now in the eastern offensive.

On Sunday, a Times article by Andrew E. Kramer mentioned the emerging neo-Nazi paramilitary role in the final three paragraphs:

“The fighting for Donetsk has taken on a lethal pattern: The regular army bombards separatist positions from afar, followed by chaotic, violent assaults by some of the half-dozen or so paramilitary groups surrounding Donetsk who are willing to plunge into urban combat.

more at link

[stevenleser]

1. There is no country in the world with more anti-semitism than Russia.

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

http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/05/12/simon-wiesenthal-center-slams-state-funded-russia-today-television-for-anti-semitic-program-demands-apology-video/

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/117759/anti-semitism-rising-russia-simon-wiesenthal-center-accuses-rt

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Unfortunately, despite Moscow's assertions that it needs to protect Russian speakers from the fascists and anti-Semites now in power in Kiev, the rise of Russian nationalism at home has brought with it an ugly tide of Russian anti-Semitism.

The Russian Jewish Congress, for instance, issued a report saying that there has been a marked increase in anti-Semitism in Russia in the first four months of 2014. Though there were no physical attacks on Jews, there were some minor incidents—everything from cemetery attacks to Russian nationalist thugs chanting anti-Semitic slogans. But most of this rise, the Congress reports, "was manifested first and foremost in public anti-Semitic statements, the number of which has increased dramatically."

The report notes public statements from politicians, like the member of Putin's United Russia party in Kaliningrad who accused his opponents of being "Jews, hiding among the opposition" and destroying the country. Dmitry Kiselev, who has threatened to turn the U.S. "into radioactive ash," was called out for pointedly pointing out the Jewish names of some opposition writers and saying that they should be wary of comparing the Sochi and 1936 Berlin Olympics because, in Germany, they wouldn't have been allowed to write, let alone live. The columnist of one state-friendly Russian newsletter listed Jewish members of the Russian opposition, saying that "they have no homeland because of their political beliefs."

In February, the news anchor of Rossiya24, one of Russia's largest state-controlled television channels, agreed with the ardently nationalistic (and often anti-Semitic) author Alexander Prokhanov, who said that Jewish organizations "were ushering in a second Holocaust with their own hands ... just as they ushered in the first one."

And last month, the Jewish daily newspaper the Forward noted that Russian state television's hatchet-job "documentaries" about Ukrainian politicians Yulia Tymoshenko and Arseniy Yatsenyuk stressed, in ominous terms, their allegedly nefarious Jewish roots.
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[snooper2]

2. more consortium crap, do the same four posters just take turns?

I get RT on Monday, Wednesday and Friday-

You get Consort on Tuesday and Thursday, we will trade weekends

[malaise]

3. Did you miss the quotes from the NYT

Was Parry correct re Iran-Contra?

[MohRokTah]

4. Yep, same pro-Russian crap all the time. eom

[Octafish]

5. The things I've learned from reading snooper2...

[Octafish]

6. The Neo-Nazi Question in Ukraine

Michael Hughes
Foreign Policy Analyst, Huffington Post, 5/11/2014

The Obama administration has vehemently denied charges that Ukraine's nascent regime is stock full of neo-fascists despite clear evidence suggesting otherwise. Such categorical repudiations lend credence to the notion the U.S. facilitated the anti-Russian cabal's rise to power as part of a broader strategy to draw Ukraine into the West's sphere of influence. Even more disturbing are apologists, from the American left and right, who seem willing accomplices in this obfuscation of reality, when just a cursory glance at the profiles of Ukraine's new leaders should give pause to the most zealous of Russophobes.

In a State Department "fact sheet" released last week the U.S. accused Putin of lying about the Ukrainian government being under the sway of extremist elements. The report stated that right wing ultranationalist groups "are not represented in the Rada (Ukraine's parliament)," and that "there is no indication the government would pursue discriminatory policies."

SNIP...

The highest-ranking right-wing extremist is Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Sych, also a member of Svoboda, who believes that women should "lead the kind of lifestyle to avoid the risk of rape, including refraining from drinking alcohol and being in controversial company." This is the philosophy underlying one of his "legal initiatives," according to the Kyiv Post, "to ban all abortions, even for pregnancies that occurred during rape."

The Svoboda party has tapped into Nazi symbolism including the "wolf's angel" rune, which resembles a swastika and was worn by members of the Waffen-SS, a panzer division that was declared a criminal organization at Nuremberg. A report from Tel-Aviv University describes the Svoboda party as "an extremist, right-wing, nationalist organization which emphasizes its identification with the ideology of German National Socialism."

According to this BBC news clip two Svoboda parliamentarians in recent weeks posed for photos while "brandishing well-known far right numerology," including the numbers 88 -- the eighth letter of the alphabet -- signifying "HH," as in "Heil Hitler." This all makes Hillary Clinton's recent comments comparing Putin to Hitler appear patently absurd, as Stanley adeptly points out: "After all, in the eyes of many ethnic Russians, it is the Ukrainian nationalists -- not Putin -- who are the Nazis."

CONTINUED...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-hughes/the-neo-nazi-question-in_b_4938747.html

If you're tired of "Money Trumps Peace," this is most important information to know. Thank you, malaise!

[malaise]

7. Ukraine crisis: the neo-Nazi brigade fighting pro-Russian separatists

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/11025137/Ukraine-crisis-the-neo-Nazi-brigade-fighting-pro-Russian-separatists.html
<snip>
The fighters of the Azov battalion lined up in single file to say farewell to their fallen comrade. His pallid corpse lay under the sun in an open casket trimmed with blue velvet.

Some of the men placed carnations by the body, others roses. Many struck their chests with a closed fist before touching their dead friend’s arm. One fighter had an SS tattoo on his neck.

Sergiy Grek, 22, lost a leg and died from massive blood loss after a radio-controlled anti-tank mine exploded near to him.

As Ukraine’s armed forces tighten the noose around pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country, the western-backed government in Kiev is throwing militia groups – some openly neo-Nazi - into the front of the battle.

The Azov battalion has the most chilling reputation of all. Last week, it came to the fore as it mounted a bold attack on the rebel redoubt of Donetsk, striking deep into the suburbs of a city under siege.
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Let me see - isn't the Telegraph a Murdoch paper?

[Octafish]

8. Isn't Murdoch the oligarch who helped sell the War on Iraq?

Geepers. The things one misses when busy moving on.

Shocking: Did Rupert Murdoch Push Tony Blair on Iraq War?

Rupert Murdoch took part in an "over-crude" attempt by US Republicans to push Tony Blair into action before the invasion of Iraq, the former British prime minister's ex-media chief claimed Saturday.

Alastair Campbell said the News Corporation media baron warned Blair in a phone call of the dangers in delaying signing up to the March 19, 2003 invasion, as part of an attempt to speed up Britain joining the military campaign.

SNIP...

"Both TB and I felt it was prompted by Washington, and another example of their over-crude diplomacy. Murdoch was pushing all the Republican buttons, how the longer we waited the harder it got."

The following day he added: "TB felt the Murdoch call was odd, not very clever."

CONTINUED...

http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/970894/shocking%3A_did_rupert_murdoch_push_tony_blair_on_iraq_war/

I have always wondered why Corporate McPravda failed to follow-up on all this. It turns out they were part of the, uh, coincidence so many on DU are pushing.

[malaise]

9. True but given his background

he's not terribly fond of neo-Nazis.

Remember though Murdoch owned BLIAR

[Octafish]

10. Thank you. I'm not trying to confuse the issue...

...I wanted to show the neocons and their masters are interested in making a buck off war. The First Amendment makes clear the importance of just one business for the republic - the Press. An informed citizenry is a requirement for both democracy and good government.

Then, again, if the USA were still a democracy, the People's voice make a difference on matters of war and peace.