Tag: Neo-Nazis

The Horror of Ukrainian Nationalism

Thursday 24 March 2022

There is nowhere else in the world where ideological Nazis enjoy the legal and political protection Nazis in Ukraine do. In January 2018 the Kyiv city municipal council signed an agreement with the ultra-nationalist C14 group, allowing them to form a ‘municipal guard’ — an auxiliary police force — to work with the Ukrainian national police, and twenty one other towns and cities have relationships like this with the far-right. … More The Horror of Ukrainian Nationalism

Why Ukraine’s Nazis are Different

Tuesday 22 March 2022

Ukrainian Nazis, however, are fairly unique in the fact that they have both a historical link and a political line of succession to the Nazism of the Third Reich, to the Schutzstaffel (the SS), and to the Nazi extermination camps. The Nazism of the Svobado Party, the Azov battalion, and many of the other Nazi groupings in Ukraine is a fossilised and authentic Third Reich Nazism. … More Why Ukraine’s Nazis are Different

Protecting the Ukrainian Nazis

Wednesday 16 March 2022

An old bait and switch happened. No longer are we to be concerned. The focus has moved from the far-right’s military strength and its danger to Ukrainian democracy to its irrelevance within the democratic institutions and lack of popular support. Because so few people vote for the Nazis and because ‘Zelenskiy is Jewish,’ there is nothing to worry about. The narrative of Nazis being a threat to Ukraine was replaced with deflectionary asides about Putin’s fixation on the heroic myths of the Second World War and the Jewishness of the Ukrainian president. … More Protecting the Ukrainian Nazis

Ukraine’s Darkest Secret

Saturday 5 March 2022

The Maidan, that is the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, was a defining moment for Ukrainian Nazis. Far-right and neo-Nazi groups, with their distinctive red and black flags and paramilitary outfits were a highly visible element of the protests and uprising. They were instrumental in Kyiv in ousting the government, and their support was quickly sought by the new ‘democratic’ regime. This, of course, is one of the most difficult parts of the story for non-Ukrainians to get their heads around, and — like much of the politics of Ukraine — it is complicated. … More Ukraine’s Darkest Secret