News Presidents React Again and Again to Shootings
While Western media deploys Volodymyr Zelensky'due south Jewish heritage to refute accusations of Nazi influence in Ukraine, the president has ceded to neo-Nazi forces and now depends on them as front line fighters.
By Alexander RUBINSTEIN and Max BLUMENTHAL
Back in October 2019, as the state of war in eastern Ukraine dragged on, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky traveled to Zolote, a town situated firmly in the "grayness zone" of Donbas, where over 14,000 had been killed, more often than not on the pro-Russian side. There, the president encountered the hardened veterans of extreme right paramilitary units keeping up the fight against separatists just a few miles abroad.
Elected on a platform of de-escalation of hostilities with Russia, Zelensky was determined to enforce the so-called Steinmeier Formula conceived by then-German Strange Minister Walter Steinmeier which called for elections in the Russian-speaking regions of Donetsk and Lugansk.
In a face-to-face confrontation with militants from the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion who had launched a entrada to demolition the peace initiative called "No to Capitulation," Zelensky encountered a wall of obstinacy.
With appeals for disengagement from the frontlines firmly rejected, Zelensky melted down on camera. "I'm the president of this country. I'm 41 years former. I'm non a loser. I came to you lot and told you lot: remove the weapons," Zelensky implored the fighters.
President of Ukraine Zelensky has visited disengaging area in Zolote today https://t.co/scFZLt45C2 pic.twitter.com/JlD1cWPQ39
— Liveuamap (@Liveuamap) Oct 26, 2019
Once video of the stormy confrontation spread across Ukrainian social media channels, Zelensky became the target of an angry backfire.
Andriy Biletsky, the proudly fascist Azov Battalion leader who once pledged to "lead the white races of the world in a final crusade…against Semite-led Untermenschen", vowed to bring thousands of fighters to Zolote if Zelensky pressed any farther. Meanwhile, a parliamentarian from the party of former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko openly fantasized well-nigh Zelensky being blown to bits by a militant'south grenade.
Though Zelensky achieved a small-scale detachment, the neo-Nazi paramilitaries escalated their "No Capitulation" campaign. And within months, fighting began to oestrus up again in Zolote, sparking a new cycle of violations of the Minsk Agreement.
By this betoken, Azov had been formally incorporated into the Ukrainian military and its street vigilante wing, known as the National Corps, was deployed across the state under the picket of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry building, and alongside the National Police. In December 2021, Zelensky would be seen delivering a "Hero of Ukraine" award to a leader of the fascistic Correct Sector in a ceremony in Ukraine's parliament.
A total-scale conflict with Russia was approaching, and the distance between Zelensky and the extremist paramilitaries was closing fast.
This February 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukrainian territory on a stated mission to "demilitarize and denazify" the country, Usa media embarked on a mission of its own: to deny the ability of neo-Nazi paramilitaries over the country's military and political sphere. As the US government-funded National Public Radio insisted, "Putin'southward language [about denazification] is offensive and factually incorrect."
In its bid to deflect from the influence of Nazism in contemporary Ukraine, United states media has found its most effective PR tool in the figure of Zelensky, a sometime Television set star and comedian from a Jewish groundwork. It is a role the actor-turned-politician has eagerly assumed.
But as nosotros will see, Zelensky has not merely ceded ground to the neo-Nazis in his midst, he has entrusted them with a front line part in his country'south war against pro-Russian and Russian forces.
The president's Jewishness every bit Western media PR device
Hours before President Putin's February 24 voice communication declaring denazification every bit the goal of Russian operations, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky "asked how a people who lost eight million of its citizens fighting Nazis could support Nazism," according to the BBC.
Raised in a non-religious Jewish family in the Soviet Wedlock during the 1980'south, Zelensky has downplayed his heritage in the past. "The fact that I am Jewish barely makes twenty in my long listing of faults," he joked during a 2019 interview in which he declined to go into farther detail about his religious groundwork.
Today, equally Russian troops comport downwards on cities similar Mariupol, which is finer under the command of the Azov Battalion, Zelensky is no longer ashamed to broadcast his Jewishness. "How could I be a Nazi?" he wondered aloud during a public address. For a US media engaged in an all-out information war against Russia, the president's Jewish background has become an essential public relations tool.
Watch left & right fly factions of MSM unite to declare any allegations of Nazism in Ukraine to exist Russian fake news because President Zelensky is Jewish. Featuring Senators Marsha Blackburn & Marker Warner, former CIA spy Dan Hoffman & "Ukraine Whistleblower" Alexander Vindman pic.twitter.com/vruyDUoWxv
— Alex Rubinstein (@RealAlexRubi) February 28, 2022
A few examples of the United states of america media'southward deployment of Zelensky as a shield against allegations of rampant Nazism in Ukraine are below (come across mash-upwards in a higher place for video):
- PBS NewsHour noted Putin's comments on denazification with a qualifier: "even though President Volodymyr Zelensky is Jewish and his great uncles died in the Holocaust."
- On Play tricks & Friends, erstwhile CIA officer Dan Hoffman declared that "it's the height of hypocrisy to telephone call the Ukrainian nation to denazify — their president is Jewish afterward all."
- On MSNBC, Virginia Democratic Senator Mark Warner said Putin'south "terminology, outrageous and obnoxious equally it is — 'denazify' where y'all've got bluntly a Jewish president in Mr. Zelensky. This guy [Putin] is on his own kind of personal jihad to restore greater Russia."
- Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn said on Fob Business organization she's "been impressed with President Zelensky and how he has stood up. And for Putin to go out in that location and say 'nosotros're going to denazify' and Zelensky is Jewish."
- In an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Gen. John Allen denounced Putin'southward employ of the term, "de-Nazify" while the newsman and former Israel lobbyist shook his head in disgust. In a divide interview with Blitzer, the so-called "Ukraine whistleblower" and Ukraine-born Alexander Vindman grumbled that the claim is "plain absurd, there'due south actually no merit… yous pointed out that Volodymyr Zelensky is Jewish… the Jewish community [is] embraced. Information technology'south central to the state and there is nil to this Nazi narrative, this fascist narrative. It'southward fabricated as a pretext."
Backside the corporate media spin lies the complex and increasingly close relationship Zelensky's administration has enjoyed with the neo-Nazi forces invested with key military and political posts by the Ukrainian country, and the ability these open up fascists have enjoyed since Washington installed a Western-aligned regime through a coup in 2014.
In fact, Zelensky's pinnacle financial backer, the Ukrainian Jewish oligarch Igor Kolomoisky, has been a key benefactor of the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion and other extremists militias.
Backed past Zelensky'southward top financier, neo-Nazi militants unleash a wave of intimidation
Incorporated into the Ukrainian National Guard, the Azov Battalion is considered the most ideologically zealous and militarily motivated unit of measurement fighting pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Donbass region.
With Nazi-inspired Wolfsangel insignia on the uniforms of its fighters, who have been photographed with Nazi SS symbols on their helmets, Azov "is known for its association with neo-Nazi ideology…[and] is believed to take participated in training and radicalizing US-based white supremacy organizations," co-ordinate to an FBI indictment of several U.s.a. white nationalists that traveled to Kiev to train with Azov.
Igor Kolomoisky, a Ukrainian energy businesswoman of Jewish heritage, has been a top funder of Azov since it was formed in 2014. He has also bankrolled private militias like the Dnipro and Aidar Battalions, and has deployed them as a personal thug team to protect his fiscal interests.
In 2019, Kolomoisky emerged as the top backer of Zelensky's presidential bid. Though Zelensky made anti-corruption the signature upshot of his campaign, the Pandora Papers exposed him and members of his inner circumvolve stashing large payments from Kolomoisky in a shadowy spider web of offshore accounts.
When Zelensky took office in May 2019, the Azov Battalion maintained de facto control of the strategic southeastern port city of Mariupol and its surrounding villages. Equally Open Democracy noted, "Azov has certainly established political command of the streets in Mariupol. To maintain this command, they have to react violently, even if not officially, to any public effect which diverges sufficiently from their political agenda."
Attacks by Azov in Mariupol take included assaults on "feminists and liberals" marching on International Women's Mean solar day among other incidents.
In March 2019, members of the Azov Battalion's National Corps attacked the habitation of Viktor Medvedchuk, the leading opposition figure in Ukraine, accusing him of treason for his friendly relations with Vladimir Putin, the godfather of Medvedchuk's daughter.
Zelensky'due south administration escalated the attack on Medvedchuk, shuttering several media outlets he controlled in February 2021 with the open approval of the US Country Department, and jailing the opposition leader for treason three months later. Zelensky justified his deportment on the grounds that he needed to "fight confronting the danger of Russian assailment in the information arena."
Side by side, in August 2020, Azov's National Corps opened burn on a bus containing members of Medvedchuk'south party, Patriots for Life, wounding several with prophylactic-coated steel bullets.
Breaking! A bus carrying supporters and members of #Ukraine's opposition party "Patriots For Life" was attacked by Ukrainian National Corps and Azov Battalion in the e of the land (Kharkov), unconfirmed reports that some of the passengers have been murdered. flick.twitter.com/O0hB2sqbRA
— The Eurasianist ☦️ (@Russ_Warrior) August 27, 2020
Zelensky failed to rein in neo-Nazis, wound up collaborating with them
Following his failed try to demobilize neo-Nazi militants in the town of Zolote in October 2019, Zelensky called the fighters to the table, telling reporters "I met with veterans yesterday. Everyone was there – the National Corps, Azov, and everyone else."
A few seats away from the Jewish president was Yehven Karas, the leader of the neo-Nazi C14 gang.
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During the Maidan "Revolution of Dignity" that ousted Ukraine's elected president in 2014, C14 activists took over Kiev's city hall and plastered its walls with neo-Nazi insignia before taking shelter in the Canadian diplomatic mission.
As the former youth wing of the ultra-nationalist Svoboda Party, C14 appears to draw its name from the infamous 14 words of Us neo-Nazi leader David Lane: "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children."
By offer to carry out acts of spectacular violence on behalf of anyone willing to pay, the hooligans have fostered a cozy relationship with diverse governing bodies and powerful elites across Ukraine.
" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/thegrayzone.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/C14.png?fit=300%2C138&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/thegrayzone.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/C14.png?fit=800%2C368&ssl=1"> A March 2018 report by Reuters stated that "C14 and Kiev's city regime recently signed an agreement allowing C14 to plant a 'municipal guard' to patrol the streets," effectively giving them the sanction of the state to conduct out pogroms.
As The Grayzone reported, C14 led raid to "purge" Romani from Kiev'south railway station in collaboration with the Kiev constabulary.
The C14 Nazi terror gang signed an agreement with the Kiev municipal authorities to patrol its streets. This footage taken but a few months afterwards in 2018 shows them carrying out a pogrom confronting a Romani camp. moving picture.twitter.com/9aAA86K8TQ
— Alex Rubinstein (@RealAlexRubi) February 28, 2022
Non only was this activity sanctioned past the Kiev city government, the US government itself saw picayune problem with it, hosting Bondar at an official Usa government institution in Kiev where he bragged about the pogroms. C14 continued to receive state funding throughout 2018 for "national-patriotic education."
Karas has claimed that the Ukrainian Security Serves would "pass on" data regarding pro-separatist rallies "not merely [to] us, only also Azov, the Right Sector and so on."
"In general, deputies of all factions, the National Guard, the Security Service of Ukraine and the Ministry of Internal Affairs piece of work for us. You can joke like that," Karas said.
Throughout 2019, Zelensky and his administration deepened their ties with ultra-nationalist elements across Ukraine.
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After Prime Minister attends neo-Nazi concert, Zelensky honors Right Sector leader
Just days subsequently Zelensky's meeting with Karas and other neo-Nazi leaders in November 2019, Oleksiy Honcharuk – then the Prime number Minister and deputy caput of Zelensky'south presidential part – appeared on stage at a neo-Nazi concert organized by C14 effigy and accused murderer Andriy Medvedko.
Zelensky's Minister for Veterans Affairs not only attended the concert, which featured several antisemitic metal bands, she promoted the concert on Facebook.
Also in 2019, Zelensky dedicated Ukrainian footballer Roman Zolzulya against Spanish fans taunting him every bit a "Nazi." Zolzulya had posed abreast photos of the World War Two-era Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera and openly supported the Azov Battalion. Zelensky responded to the controversy by proclaiming that all of Ukraine backed Zolzulya, describing him as "not only a cool football thespian but a true patriot."
In November 2021, one of Ukraine's most prominent ultra-nationalist militiamen, Dmytro Yarosh, announced that he had been appointed as an counselor to the Commander-in-Primary of the Armed forces of Ukraine. Yarosh is an avowed follower of the Nazi collaborator Bandera who led Correct Sector from 2013 to 2015, vowing to lead the "de-Russification" of Ukraine.
A calendar month later, as war with Russia drew closer, Zelensky awarded Right Sector commander Dmytro Kotsyubaylo the "Hero of Ukraine" commendation. Known as "Da Vinci," Kosyubaylo keeps a pet wolf in his frontline base, and likes to joke to visiting reporters that his fighters "feed information technology the basic of Russian-speaking children."
" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/thegrayzone.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Zelensky-Kotsyubaylo.jpg?fit=300%2C152&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/thegrayzone.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Zelensky-Kotsyubaylo.jpg?fit=740%2C375&ssl=1">
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Ukrainian land-backed neo-Nazi leader flaunts influence on the eve of war with Russia
On February 5, 2022, merely days before full-calibration war with Russia erupted, Yevhen Karas of the neo-Nazi C14 delivered a stalk-winding public address in Kiev intended to highlight the influence his organization and others like it enjoyed over Ukrainian politics.
Sentry Yevhen Karas the leader of Ukraine's neo-Nazi terror gang C14'south speech from Kiev before this month. Direct from the horses' mouth, he dispels the many narratives pushed past the left, the mainstream media and the State Department. pic.twitter.com/VWJqWPUGUp
— Alex Rubinstein (@RealAlexRubi) February 27, 2022
"LGBT and foreign embassies say 'there were non many Nazis at Maidan, possibly about 10 per centum of real ideological ones,'" Karas remarked. "If not for those eight percent [of neo-Nazis] the effectiveness [of the Maidan coup] would have dropped by ninety percent."
The 2014 Maidan "Revolution of Dignity" would have been a "gay parade" if not for the instrumental office of neo-Nazis, he proclaimed.
Karas went on to opine that the West armed Ukrainian ultra-nationalists because "we take fun killing." He also fantasized most the balkanization of Russia, declaring that it should be cleaved up into "five unlike" countries.
"If we go killed…we died fighting a holy state of war"
When Russian forces entered Ukraine this February 24, encircling the Ukrainian military in the east and driving towards Kiev, President Zelensky announced a national mobilization that included the release of criminals from prison, among them defendant murderers wanted in Russia. He also blest the distribution of artillery to boilerplate citizens, and their training by battle-hardened paramilitaries like the Azov Battalion.
With fighting underway, Azov'south National Corps gathered hundreds of ordinary civilians, including grandmothers and children, to train in public squares and warehouses from Kharviv to Kiev to Lviv.
As US media historic average Ukrainian citizens taking up arms against Russian troops, the ultra-nationalist Azov Battalion'south National Corps published a propaganda video of its fighters training and passing out artillery to residents of Kharkiv, transforming them into combatants. film.twitter.com/RVL1nyWkfw
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) March 1, 2022
On February 27, the official Twitter account of the National Guard of Ukraine posted video of "Azov Fighters" greasing their bullets with pig fat to humiliate Russian Muslim fighters from Chechnya.
Azov fighters of the National Guard greased the bullets with lard against the Kadyrov orcs👊
Бійці Азова Нацгвардії змастили кулі салом проти кадировських орків👊
Підписуйтесь на наш телеграм канал https://t.co/SBQltMr4bM film.twitter.com/A1ci7tZL8r
— НГУ (@ng_ukraine) February 27, 2022
A day later on, the Azov Battalion's National Corps announced that the Azov Battalion's Kharkiv Regional Police force would brainstorm using the city's Regional State Administration building as a defense headquarters. Footage posted to Telegram the following day shows the Azov-occupied building being hitting by a Russian airstrike.
Besides authorizing the release of hardcore criminals to join the boxing against Russian federation, Zelensky has ordered all males of fighting age to remain in the country. Azov militants have proceeded to enforce the policy by brutalizing civilians attempting to abscond from the fighting around Mariupol.
According to one Greek resident in Mariupol recently interviewed by a Greek news station, "When you try to exit yous run the risk of running into a patrol of the Ukrainian fascists, the Azov Battalion," he said, adding "they would kill me and are responsible for everything."
Footage posted online appears to show uniformed members of a fascist Ukrainian militia in Mariupol violently pulling fleeing residents out of their vehicles at gunpoint.
BREAKING 💥 Ukrainian NAZI are preventing people from leaving Mariupol and are shooting at them.
Residents of #Mariupol do non move around the city, Mariupol will soon be liberated!#EndTheBandera#StopUkrainianNazism
#Ukraine #Russian federation #DPR #LPR #DNR #LPR #Donbass pic.twitter.com/AakZGyNxQx— Deus Abscondis (@Deus_Abscondis) Feb 26, 2022
Other video filmed at checkpoints around Mariupol showed Azov fighters shooting and killing civilians attempting to flee.
On March 1, Zelensky replaced the regional administrator of Odessa with Maksym Marchenko, a one-time commander of the extreme right Aidar Battalion, which has been defendant of an array of war crimes in the Donbass region.
Meanwhile, as a massive convoy of Russian armored vehicles bore down on Kiev, Yehven Karas of the neo-Nazi C14 posted a video on YouTube from inside a vehicle presumably transporting fighters.
"If we get killed, it's fucking great because it means nosotros died fighting a holy state of war," Karas exclaimed. "If nosotros survive, it'southward going to exist fifty-fifty fucking improve! That's why I don't run across a downside to this, only upside!"
thegrayzone.com
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Source: https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2022/03/05/how-ukraines-jewish-president-zelensky-made-peace-with-neo-nazi-paramilitaries-on-front-lines-of-war-with-russia/
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