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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDemocrats Push Obama to Send More Arms to Ukraine's Military Which Includes Neo-Nazi Militias
On Capitol Hill there is a renewed sense of urgency: The top-ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, Adam Smith, will join with his Republican counterpart Mac Thornberry on Tuesday to present a bill that would further pressure the president to give the Ukrainian government weaponry, although legislators have yet to spell out the specifics of the bill.
And in the last week, a bevy of Democratic pols and former diplomats have said that the United States should do more.
Later this weekif it goes any later than that... Rep. Eliot Engel, the top-ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told The Daily Beast on Monday. They need the weapons, they need them soon, and they need them quick. Our credibility is on the line, and whats right is on the line, Engel said.
The Daily Beast
Whether we want to admit it or not, we are on the verge of entering a proxy war with Russia, and Ukraine's volunteer neo-nazi militias called the Aidar Battalion have joined the Ukranian military in that fight.
Ukraine: Abuses and war crimes by the Aidar Volunteer Battalion in the north Luhansk region
Its not Europe. Its a bit different There is a war here. The law has changed, procedures have been simplified If I choose to, I can have you arrested right now, put a bag over your head and lock you up in a cellar for 30 days on suspicion of aiding separatists.
--Aidar battalion commander to Amnesty International researcher
Members of the Aidar territorial defence battalion, operating in the north Luhansk region, have been involved in widespread abuses, including abductions, unlawful detention, ill-treatment, theft, extortion, and possible executions.
The Aidar battalion is one of over thirty so-called volunteer battalions to have emerged in the wake of the conflict, which have been loosely integrated into Ukrainian security structures as they seek to retake separatist held areas.
Typically, the fighters abducted local men, often businessmen or farmers, whom they accused of collaborating with the separatists and held in makeshift detention facilities before either releasing them or handing them over to the Security Service (SBU).
In nearly all cases documented by Amnesty International the victims were subjected to beatings at the moment of capture and/or during interrogations, and either had to pay ransom for their release, or had possessions, including money, cars, telephones, and other valuables seized by the battalion members. Many of the witnesses and victims approached by Amnesty International were reluctant to share details of the incidents, fearing retaliation from Aidar battalion members. The names of victims and witnesses in illustrative cases detailed below have been changed.
Amnesty International
Germans were confronted with images of their countrys dark past on Monday night, when German public broadcaster ZDF showed video of Ukrainian soldiers with Nazi symbols on their helmets in its evening newscast. In a report on the fragile cease-fire in eastern Ukraine, Moscow correspondent Bernhard Lichte used pictures of a soldier wearing a combat helmet with the "SS runes" of Hitlers infamous black-uniformed elite corps. A second soldier was seen with a swastika on his gear. Volunteer battalions from nearly every political spectrum are reinforcing the government side, the ZDF correspondent said in his report.
The video was shot last week in Ukraine by a camera team from Norwegian broadcaster TV2. We were filming a report about Ukraines AZOV battalion in the eastern city of Urzuf, when we came across these soldiers, Oysten Bogen, a correspondent for the private television station, told NBC News. Minutes before the images were taped, Bogen said he had asked a spokesperson whether the battalion had fascist tendencies. The reply was: absolutely not, we are just Ukrainian nationalists, Bogen said.
NBC News
September 15, 2014
Exclusive: While most civilized people view the Swastika and other Nazi symbols as abhorrent reminders of unspeakable evil, the Washington Post trotted out a new way of seeing them as romantic a sign that apologists for Ukraines coup regime know no limits, reports Robert Parry.
By Robert Parry
The U.S. mainstream medias deeply biased coverage of the Ukraine crisis endlessly portraying the U.S.-backed coup regime in Kiev as the good guys reached a new level of absurdity over the weekend as the Washington Post excused the appearance of Swastikas and other Nazi symbols among a Ukrainian government militia as romantic.
This curious description of these symbols for unspeakable evil the human devastation of the Holocaust and World War II can be found in the last three paragraphs of the lead story in the Posts Saturday editions, an article about Ukraines Azov battalion which has become best known for waging brutal warfare under Nazi and neo-Nazi insignia.
Nazi symbols on helmets worn by members of Ukraines Azov battalion.
(Images filmed by a Norwegian camera team and shown on German TV)
Consortium News
Why, why, WHY are Democrats proposing we arm neo-nazis with weapons to be used on the Russian border, and civilians are caught in between? Why are DEMOCRATS supporting this Republican neocon wet dream of what could EASILY become a HOT WAR with Russia? Judging from history, when Nazi symbols appear on Russia's doorstep, there will be a brutal response. The only difference is, this time, America will be on the wrong side of history.
Response to Oilwellian (Original post)
Skinner This message was self-deleted by its author.
Oilwellian
(12,647 posts)When America arms the Ukrainian military, we are also arming an extreme right wing, neo-nazi batallion of men. I think I laid that fact out very clearly and it is a HUGE problem for Democrats.
Skinner
(63,645 posts)Oilwellian
(12,647 posts)sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)on Iran. And we've seen now how the warmongers operate behind the scenes to undermine any efforts he makes to avoid more war. That told me a lot, the plot between Netanyahy, Dermer and Boehner to do an end run around the WH to do exactly what he fears could only escalate the situation.
We learned how much pressure there has been on him regarding Iran.
Same thing airc, regarding Syria in the beginning.
And now Ukraine.
The way to HELP the President is to oppose those who are pushing for war.
If the general public refuses to buy all the propaganda we get, and they must still fear the public or they wouldn't need to push so much propaganda in order to win them over, they would not succeed.
Arming neo-nazis, why are democrats supporting that, I wish I could answer that question. They are letting the President down.
Oilwellian
(12,647 posts)I don't think Obama instigated this mess. I think McCain is the main instigator, joined by several of the neocons still embedded in the State Department and Pentagon. There also seems to be a pattern emerging that shows Republicans meddling in foreign policy without White House knowledge. I hope Obama doesn't buy into this very dangerous game they're playing. Apparently, more than a few Democrats have.
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)on Iran, was a huge revelation into how far the warmongers are willing to go.
And the thought occurred to me that there might be a connection between the the attempt to avoid war in Iran and the sudden anti-Russian rhetoric we are hearing lately.
Russia is one of the five countries working with the President on Iran.
I remember that 'Iran is the Prize' for the neocons. Russia helping to prevent them, by siding with the President on Iran, has to be a real threat to the plans they have.
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)any conflict with Iran.
Could THAT by the reason we are seeing so much propaganda regarding Russia?
Oilwellian
(12,647 posts)It just doesn't make sense that Obama would poke at the Russians, at the same time they're in sensitive talks with Iran. There's more at work here and I'm smelling the stink of neocons.
John McCain, center, stands with Neo-Nazi leader
Oleh Tyahnybok (image by Voice of America)
On Edit: Someone thinks they won a presidential election.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)iandhr
(6,852 posts)So I wonder why these guys in the Ukraine get all the attention (no doubt so focus should be put on them) But no one here seems to care about the Russian Neo-Nazis.
stevenleser
(32,886 posts)genuine concern for Jews or about Neo Nazis.