Posted on 01/05/2024 3:12:00 PM PST by ransomnote
[H/T JonPreston]
Excerpted:
SNIPThe ‘Azov Debate’
Azov Regiment has been a point of heated debate since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Critics of the unit point to its ongoing use of Nazi symbols, and evidence of continuing links to Andrey Biletsky, a white supremacist, Azov founder and leader of the far-right National Corps political party. Until Russia launched its invasion, extensive reporting from Western media outlets documented comments from Azov commanders and members who openly endorsed neo-Nazi ideas.
Those who defend Azov, including some Western news outlets and opinion writers, claim that since it was integrated into Ukraine’s national guard in 2014, the regiment has been gradually deradicalized and today functions as an ordinary military unit. Focusing on the group’s neo-Nazi origins, they argue, lends credence to Russia’s claim that its invasion of Ukraine was necessary because the country was overrun with fascists and needed to be “de-Nazified.”
Last year, The Maple found that major Canadian news outlets adopted this position during the spring of 2022, when Azov fighters were engaged in an intensive battle against Russian forces in Azovstal. At this time, news stories began suggesting that the group’s Nazi ideology was consigned to its past, or the publications glossed over the issue entirely.
This culminated in a profile published by The Globe and Mail in August 2022 that critics said whitewashed Azov’s ongoing neo-Nazism and functioned as a piece of far-right propaganda, regardless of the reporter’s intent. The Globe reporter wrote that Azov “has a history of far-right leanings but is now part of the Ukrainian army.”
Writing in The Nation last June, The Forward correspondent Lev Golinkin accused Western media of whitewashing the neo-Nazi unit.
“This overnight normalization of white supremacy was possible because Western institutions, driven by a zeal to ignore anything negative about our Ukrainian allies, decided that a neo-Nazi military formation in a war-torn nation had suddenly and miraculously stopped being neo-Nazi,” he wrote.
“But the truth is that this is an easily debunked fantasy spun out by a handful of propagandists.”
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Not under NATO’s current composition.
What have Turkey and Hungary said? If they squawked about Finland and Sweden joining NATO, do you think they’d give the okay for Ukraine to join NATO? Hardly.
If Ukraine were ever to join NATO, one or more current NATO members would have to withdraw from the treaty beforehand. Because as it stands, there is no way Ukraine joins NATO.
Of course, this announcement by Stoltenberg may just be so much bluster; the same kind of bluster Russia announces on a regular basis. Do you forget that Russia announced it was placing its nuclear forces on high alert when it invaded Ukraine in February, 2022, and widely disseminated that? It’s called psy-ops. And everyone plays it.
If and when Ukraine joins NATO, let me know.
“That is an interesting way to respond to a conspiracy you agree is taking place.”
Too funny! I am challenging Putin’s claim of the de-nazification of Ukraine as a pretext for war. Putin claimed it; not me. That is not a conspiracy theory; it’s fact:
He claimed it. That’s why I said the “conspiracy theory” you allude to was not MY conspiracy theory.
As always with politicians. Ignore what they say. Watch what they do.
Orban won’t be there forever, and could be taken out via assassination or Color Revolution at any time.
These Globalists are not bound by these Bullsh!t Rules. It’s only clueless NormieCons (primarily in the USA) who still believe in this stuff.
“Orban won’t be there forever...”
Well, duh. Neither will you; and neither will I.
“...and could be taken out via assassination or Color Revolution at any time.”
According to many FReepers here, Orban is wildly popular in Hungary. Thus, if anything happened to Orban, the opposite result of what was intended would in all probability come to pass.
“These Globalists are not bound by these Bullsh!t Rules. It’s only clueless NormieCons (primarily in the USA) who still believe in this stuff.”
Ah, you’re one of those guys.
“Good. I agree. Putin is committing this conspiracy which has been proven fact. Its no longer a theory.”
Yes; Putin created the conspiracy theory. It is fact that he created it.
“So, it would appear that one’s attitude towards Nazis is “situational.””
Thanks for the admission.
“Yeap. Got it. Conspiracy theories exist. Nothing fabricated.”
Except, of course, the subject of the conspiracy theory; and that would remain a fabrication until such time as it is proved, when it would thus cease to be a theory.
Well, it was certainly situational with the Russians.
Remember when Azov cracked down on the Canadian Trucker protesters?
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