Israel Condemns Kiev Torchlight Celebration of Ukrainian Nazi Collaborator

The Jewish Press (.com) ^ | January 2, 2021 | David Israel

[Navy Patriot]

The Israeli embassy in Kiev, Ukraine, on Saturday condemned a torchlight march of Ukrainian nationalists who celebrated the birthday of Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera.

“Israel condemns the nationalist march in honor of Stepan Bandera. Any attempt to glorify those who supported Nazi ideology defiles the memory of Holocaust victims in Ukraine. We are demanding a thorough investigation of the antisemitic manifestations that took place during the march in accordance with the law adopted in Ukraine in 2021,” the Embassy said in a stern statement.

The march drew special attention in light of the threat of a Russian invasion. Andriy Tarasenko, leader of the nationalist party Right Sector, said, “Today, when there is a war with the occupier at the front, and the struggle against the ‘fifth column’ continues in the rear, we remember and honor the memory of Stepan Bandera.”

[NorseViking]

I heard there was the issue of Bandera flags flying on campus where the Ukrainian refugees were housed in 2014.

[dfwgator]

Yeah, you’re not going to make friends in Poland waving flags of Bandera.

[NorseViking]

I seriously wouldn’t mind if Poland takes over Lvov but I think Poland is as interested as Russia is interested in the rest of Ukraine - not much. Too many spiteful deadbeat clowns to deal with.

[Navy Patriot]

I have heard of that, I believe it is a false construct, and it has been called “Blood Libel” and have read about it in several histories of European Nations.

[NorseViking]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kielce_pogrom

[dfwgator]

Best would be Western Ukraine joining the Visegrad Group.

[NorseViking]

I think Visegrad group makes no sense. In current form, it is a neocon project with the idea to isolate Russia from Europe.

[Vlad0]

The Population is largely Ethnic Polish or groups associated with Polish Tradition and Culture.

The languages spoken are always interesting. There are (at least) three: Russian, Ukrainian and Polish. here's a map of their geographic dominance in the Ukraine.

Wikipedia:

"Ukrainian (native name: украї́нська мо́ва, romanized: ukrainska mova, IPA: [ʊkrɐˈjinʲsʲkɐ ˈmɔwɐ]), historically also called Ruthenian,[9] is an East Slavic language of the Indo-European language family, and is one of Slavic languages, which are part of a larger Balto-Slavic branch. It is the native language of Ukrainians and the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic script (see Ukrainian alphabet)."

So, what's interesting is that they use the Cyrillic script, which says they are much closer to the Russian cousins, linguistically, than their Polish ones. More:

Historical linguists trace the origin of the Ukrainian language to the Old East Slavic of the early medieval state of Kyivan Rus. After the fall of the Kyivan Rus as well as the Kingdom of Ruthenia, the language developed into a form called the Ruthenian language. Along with Ruthenian, on the territory of modern Ukraine, the Kyiv version (izvod) of Church Slavonic was also used in liturgical services.[10] The Ukrainian language has been in common use since the late 17th century, associated with the establishment of the Cossack Hetmanate. From 1804 until the Ukrainian War of Independence, the Ukrainian language was banned from schools in the Russian Empire, of which the biggest part of Ukraine (Central, Eastern and Southern) was a part at the time.[11] It has always maintained a sufficient base in Western Ukraine, where the language was never banned,[12] in its folk songs, itinerant musicians, and prominent authors

Here's a little map of how these languages descended. Note how Russian and Ukrainian are on the same branch, and Polish is quite far away from them.

What about religion then? Are they like the Poles in their near universal Roman Catholicism?

Nope, not hardly. Overwhelmingly Orthodox, again, smiliar to the Russian religion.

So they talk like Russians, pray like Russians, and act like Russians. How then you say that they are "Ethnic Polish". Nothing I am seeing indicates that.

[dfwgator]

I see more as the logical continuation of Międzymorze, keeping both Russia and Germany away from Central Europe.

[Navy Patriot]

I disagree, I am convinced that NATO is not in Poland's best interests, Poland should be run by Poles who don't have to kowtow to American, German or French policy.

Poland supported NATO and US policy in the ME and Syria, and now they get to take ME Muslim (illegal) immigrants driven through Belarus by American Policy, NOT Russian Policy.

However Poland should be whole, those that freely want to live in Poland should be in Poland, with their property.

[NorseViking]

I think Patriot specifically mentions Galicia, not Ukraine as a whole. Lvov and Ternopol are culturally different from the rest of the country due to Polish and Austrian influence.

[Navy Patriot]

The best response, if one is warranted, is to recognize people’s right to be stupid.

With their own lives, but no one else's.

[dfwgator]

Well this is the conundrum Poland has always faced, being smack dab in between Russia and Germany. Yet are they strong enough to go it alone? Of course they learned their lesson from 1939 that relying on the West won’t be enough.

[Thunder90]

Israel publishing Russian propaganda, the same Russians supplying Syrian and Iranian forces, and Hezbollah in Syria with weapons to attack Israel.

[NorseViking]

Central Europe is insolvent without German and Russian ties. The Polish Empire is a bad idea right now for the same reason it was a bad idea before - it never ended well for Poland. Previously it was a vehicle for Sweden to hurt Russian and German interests. Now it is essentially a neocon tool. The primary goal of the people behind the idea is to downgrade Russia and Germany. It is not in the Polish interest to play these games to the detriment of powerful neighbors in the condition when the sponsors are far away. A more viable plan is to be a bridge between Russia and Germany and profit off it. The same is true for Ukraine.

[kearnyirish2]

I wasn’t in Poland before WWII, but I never accepted that Poland was as antisemitic as portrayed for the simple reason that so many Jewish people lived there. It isn’t logical.

[TheConservativeTejano]

Bribe Biden and you can get away with anything.

The Nazi regime is the most hated group in Europe and probably still is the most hated regime.

[Navy Patriot]

Actually, Vlad, I was speaking about that smaller Polish speaking section of Western Ukraine only.

I did not include Ukrainian speakers with Russian as you did (you are correct about the similarities in Ukrainian and Russian languages) because I was focusing on only Western Polish areas.

You are also correct in there is a whopping Russian Speaking presence throughout Ukrainian Ukraine, especially in the East, but that doesn't mean the much smaller Polish areas are not Polish.

Your argument simply goes to Ukraine being Russian with much smaller areas being Polish, Romanian and Belarus.

[Navy Patriot]

A more viable plan is to be a bridge between Russia and Germany and profit off it. The same is true for Ukraine.

Interestingly, both Poland and Ukraine could do this without being Socialist, Marxist or Nazi, ... if the US, UK, EU and NATO would knock off the interference.

The Russian construction of Nord Stream 1 & 2 should have illustrated this, but immediately Germany politicized the pipelines and moved to gouge profit from them at the expense of their NATO "Allies" citizens.

[NorseViking]

The current energy crisis in Europe is a good example. It is almost entirely the result of the Polish-Ukrainian-Lithuanian war on the Russian pipelines. Ironically, the above countries are the biggest losers. It was for the promise of American LNG by neocons, which is finally coming, except for $2100 per tcu, as contrary to $145-285 for the Russian gas not so long ago.