European Antisemitism

Many on the political left — and I say this as a socialist — quite enjoy the illusion that antisemitism is a disease of the political right, and it is popularly assumed that Jewish people themselves cannot be anti-Semitic. But nothing could be further from the truth. Antisemitism — or ‘Jew hatred’ — is a deep-seated form of racism which permeates European and North American, Western, culture and society, and one that can be and often has been internalised and reproduced by Jews in the West. Even today, 75 years after the liberation of Auschwitz, we encounter antisemitism everywhere. … More European Antisemitism

The Origins of Genocide

Not only is this about history — about something that happened in the past, the Holocaust is a warning for our future. With right-wing racism on the rise, with racist and intolerant parties and personalities again entering the mainstream of European and American politics, the Holocaust stands as a terrible reminder of what happens when we use hatred and intolerance as instruments to achieve our own patriotic and nationalistic political ends. The Holocaust remains the most important lesson of the twentieth century — and Trump, Brexit, and the war in Ukraine only serve to remind us that this is a lesson we need. … More The Origins of Genocide

The Propaganda War

Within Ukraine, there is clear evidence of a disinformation mill churning out outrageous anti-Russian propaganda that is repeated by western Ukrainian journalists in English on their social media pages for western consumption. Naturally, this is picked up by western media and treated — uncritically — as news from the war. It is interesting to note that Lapatina also contributes in English to The Guardian and The New York Times. … More The Propaganda War

But the President is a Jew!

A Jewish president of Ukraine in the context of a war with Russia serves a number of functions — and that is what Volodymyr Zelenskyy is, a US-NATO functionary: he’s the cost the Ukrainian Nazis have to pay the Americans and Israelis who are left feeling a little dirty after being in bed with them, he is clueless and will do what he is told (or, at least, do nothing), and he is the perfect cover in a propaganda war where Vladimir Putin has hit the nail right on the head by identifying the connection between the US and the Nazis. … More But the President is a Jew!

The Horror of Ukrainian Nationalism

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

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

How the US Instigated War in Ukraine

As the old democracies know, the people do not always vote as they should — and this is what happened in Ukraine. From 1996 the State Department had always taken an active role in helping Ukraine choose the political leadership Washington wanted, but when the people had other ideas in the 2010 presidential election the US began to rethink its approach. … More How the US Instigated War in Ukraine

Protecting the Ukrainian Nazis

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

US Involvement in Ukraine

US foreign policy strategists — or gamers — are not interested in defending Ukraine. They are interested first and foremost in weakening Russia. In this, then, Ukraine has been instrumentalised by the State Department as a theatre of war in which Ukrainians — trained and armed by the United States and its allies — will wage a protracted war of attrition against Russia which they simply cannot hope to win. Washington, however, does not need them to win. It needs them to fight for as long as they can and inflict as much damage on Russia as they can. This is ‘winning’ for the United States. … More US Involvement in Ukraine

Ukraine’s Darkest Secret

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