Who are the Azov Fighters and the ethnic-nationalists?
– and Why have the US & Nato been supporting Ukrainian neonazis?
The Azov nazi fighters were given a hero applause in Washington as being Freedom Fighters …even though they seek to forcibly de-diversify Ukraine and create a mono-ethnic-cultural nation. They all belong to the leading far-right neonazi party called the 'Right Sector' who are Ukrainian ethnic-nationalists seeking to eliminate Russian culture and language from Ukraine. They will accept ethnic Russians, but only if they agree to the 'de-russification' goal of a pure-Ukraine -- without regions or cities having non-Ukrainian culture or language. Derussification can be acceptable from a human rights perspective, but only if its aim is to deconstruct the dominance of Soviet norms in a post-Soviet nation. Yet it is not acceptable if its aim is to forcibly eliminate (or cleanse) Russian language and culture from all Russian-cultural citizens – because this would be an act of de-diversifying all regions in that nation, or in others words …destroy cultural diversity in order to establish a mono-ethnic and mono-cultural nation, without civil respect for a diversity of choices and lifestyles. This is why such an ideology has been called ‘neonazi’; and most of those who are in these ethnic-nationalist parties actually pride themselves as the progeny of Naziism, with their historical hero being the WWII Ukrainian far-right leader Stepan Bandera, who (with his fellow Ukrainian ethic-nationalists) was responsible for the massacres of hundreds of thousands of Polish and Jewish civilians during World War II.
These ultra-right nationalist groups (which are actually a small minority of the Ukrainian citizens) have been the main proponents for maintaining a war against all Russian-friendly and Russian-cultural citizens, and they usually have a distinct hatred of all Russian people and culture.
The Azov Battalion, as the military enforcers of Right Sector ethnic-nationalistic ideals, were the leading fighters in the Donbas regions of eastern and southeastern Ukraine, fighting against the 'breakaway donbas republics' — where the residents voted to have regional independence from the far-right Kyiv government that was trying to drive out ethnic-Russians and Russian-speakers, or anyone who opposes their mono-cultural ideal of a 'pure-Ukraine'. Those opposed or disagreeing with their nationalistic ideology are systematically labeled as 'traitors' and then either beaten, imprisoned or killed.
The Azov nazi fighters were the main proponents & instigators of terrorizing and bombing the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, ever since they voted to have regional independence from the far-right Kyiv governing party that had overthrown their Donetsk president and his parliamentary elected Party of Regions.
The Party of Regions (started in the eastern donbas) became the majority party in the Ukrainian parliament after the 2010 elections, and they advocated for regional semi-autonomy and were opposed to the anti-Russia political parties and the ethnic-ultra-nationalists who advocated for a compulsory de-russification of eastern and southern Ukraine. But then in 2014, the Russian-friendly president and parliament were forcibly overthrown, kicked out, then banned by the new pro-EU, pro-Nato, anti-Russian government, with help from the neonazi street thugs who later became the street police, national secret police, and in charge of arrests and prisons.
The Azov neonazis (now conveniently renamed something else, or simply incorporated into the regular army) along with the larger ethnic-nationalist ideologues have been central decision-makers in the Ukrainian government ever since the 2014 Maiden Revolution — in which the neonazis and the CIA were instrumental in making the protests into a violent overthrow of the president and Parliament. There is plenty of video evidence that the neonazi participants in the protests used small-fire weapons and molotov-cocktail bombs in multiple attacks on the capitol police and fundamentally changed a peaceful protest into an extremely violent clash; however the CIA involvement cannot be absolutely proven since it was secretly covert, yet there is evidence that the CIA spent around 5 billion$ in Ukraine during 2012-13, the money coming from the State Dept’s secret “black budget” of $50 Billion per year.
--- The 2013-2014 Maiden protests were first organized by the pro-EU parties after the elected president did not sign an agreement with the EU that Ukraine would ditch their Trade Deals with Russia and shift the majority of their trade and investment-deals to EU companies & investment firms. The carrot in this EU Agreement was that Ukraine would receive a whopping 14 billion$ Loan from the IMF and that Ukraine might later on be allowed into the EU. The EU was relatively new, so young Ukrainians were drooling over the possibility that they might become part of the EU and thus gain more western products and prosperity. So the main populace of the protest were youth hoping that Ukraine will be accepted into the new EU. But the neonazi far-right parties had been [allegedly] paid and prepared by the CIA to launch a persisting militant assault on the Kyiv capitol to overpower the capitol police then overthrow the Russian-friendly government; and thus the overthrow of the Parliament.
So from 2014, the Ukrainian army regularly bombed the breakaway republics while the Azov fighters conducted urban terror attacks and fought the freedom militias (labeled rebels), Neither side ever achieved any significant gains, yet over 15,000 were killed in a period of 5 years.
Next, Ukraine had a 2019 presidential and parliamentary election, in which Zelensky (who was from the eastern donbas and who only spoke Russian) went up against the pro-Nato and pro-war incumbent. Yet Zelensky campaigned on a promise to end the government's corruption and to end the war against the breakaway republics and finally reestablish peace with Russia, and with these promises Zelensky won 70% of the votes.
In the beginning of his presidency, Zelensky replaced the previous corrupt government officials, and proceeded to establish peace talks with Putin, while trying to convince the Azov Battalion to stand down for a ceasefire while the negotiations took place. But the nazi Azov refused. and their leaders threatened Zelensky with a coup and being hanged from a tree. And many believe that the Western Powers also did not want negotiations for Peace, so it is speculated that the cia offered Zelensky a few million or so to continue the war, while the neonazis threatened him with death. Thus, within a few months of being president, Zelensky reversed his election promise to make peace and suddenly became pro-war.
See - Zelensky_was_elected_to_make_a Peace_with_Russia
So fast forward to now, the fanatic Ukrainian neonazis have plenty of Nato weapons, in order to carry out terrorist attacks on Russian residents and to launch attacks on Moscow; though this is somewhat stoppable with adequate border defense. Yet the problem remains that the neonazi Azov fighters can now use long range drones and missiles and even fighter jets to attack Russian territory.... and thereby Risk an escalation into a full-scale US-NATO vs Russia-China War.
– Thanks US & Biden & neocons for making all of us feel safe.
Yet after the US & European government-media brainwashing, since 2021, most people will have a difficult time groking that the US has been funding and weaponizing neonazis and corrupt government officials in Ukraine – in order to achieve the US Nato neocon Goal of weakening the Russian government and its military, along with the liberal capitalists Goal of profiting from a westernized Ukraine.
notice both the nazi and nato flag
Ukrainian “Democracy”?
As we've all been continuously reminded by the mainstream news media and by our governments – this war in Ukraine is a 'Battle for Democracy' ...as Democracy is being threatened by the evil authoritarian and autocratic Russia. But, how “democratic” is the Ukraine government? Before 2021, when a strove of Nato-provided weapons and a large mass of Nato-trained Ukrainian troops had gathered in Ukraine, and when in response Russian troops were being amassed near the Ukrainian borders; the mainstream global media and journalists did not have such a favorable opinion of Ukraine's so-called democracy and most of the articles about Ukraine were about the corruption in Ukraine's government or about its failing economy. Yet after Russia's invasion, all mainstream news media and journalism regarding Ukraine suddenly turned all positive and with nothing negative at all to say about the current government. In fact, all of the previous negatives and criticisms of Ukraine suddenly disappeared and were routinely censored, as the new narrative suddenly emerged about Ukraine's absolute 'saintliness' and Putin's absolute 'evilness', and any views out of line with this new narrative were routinely condemned as pro-Putin or Russian propaganda.
For example, no mainstream outlet or journalist dared to write or say that the Zelensky-led nationalist government had banned all political opposition parties, as well as maintaining the previous laws (since the 2014 revolution) banning all Russian-friendly political parties including the pre-2014 most-popular 'Party of Regions' that the far-right and pro-EU parties had overthrown. All the while, the various 'neonazi parties' have never been banned.
Ever since the 2022 invasion, Ukraine’s SBU security service has been on a rampage against any and all voices of internal political opposition. grayzone news
In addition, after the invasion in February 2022, the news media and public dialogue in Ukraine has been highly regulated and censorship is regular – as any voiced public opposition or dissenting views of the government's actions, or of the war, are systematically squashed with threats, imprisonment, and even murder, under the “justifying” pretext of any opposition as being traitorous or treasonous. Any public or even social-media talk that had a Russian-friendly opinion became a very dangerous act, and many Russian-friendly voices have been arrested if their voiced opinions got beyond private conversations and became publicly known.
Over the past two years, half of the TV channels in Ukraine have been accused of pro-Russia sympathies and have thus been removed, while all remaining news media are obliged to relay only the point of view and information provided by government officials. At first, just after the 2022 invasion, when Russian forces stopped advancing (or when Ukrainian forces stopped them, depending on the point of view), public discussions about making a peace deal were still permitted, and the Ukrainian government were in peace talks with Russia. But after the end of March 2022, when the peace talks and proposed peace deal brokered in Turkey was suddenly abandoned and the leading Ukrainian peace negotiator was suddenly murdered, just after the UK's Boris Johnson showed up in Kiev to meet with Zelensky – all public opinions about negotiating a peace deal have been censored and decried as treasonous.
So, in late March 2022, the Ukrainian government declared martial law and a sedition law which permits the government police to imprison anyone “suspicious” of not being loyal to the Ukrainian government. All people, groups, and opposition parties with any differences of opinion, or with any government criticism, have been media banned and in some cases imprisoned or killed. Opposition leaders have been rounded up and have disappeared into prisons (run by the neonazis), and their property has been seized. The sedition law established life imprisonment with property confiscation as the maximum penalty for individuals found guilty of treason. So far under this law, there have been numerous mayors and other elected officials jailed for treason because they surrendered to the Russian army or because they were accused of being Russian sympathetic. Under this law, anyone who speaks favorably of Russia is regarded as a traitor, and if anyone is discovered posting a Russian-perspective or Russian-friendly opinion on social media, they can be imprisoned and tortured, or simply executed by the “security forces” headed by neonazi government officials. Even anyone daring to voice their opinion that the government should broker a peace deal is now regarded as a traitor and can be imprisoned, interrogated or killed.
To further combat internal dissent, the Ukrainian government encourages its citizens to speak up against “traitors” and “collaborators,” or people who behave “suspiciously” by criticizing the actions of government or military authorities. This allows extreme nationalist groups, who favor immediate execution of Ukrainian traitors without trial, to quickly execute anyone suspected of being a traitor, and without any investigations by the government. Though less severe than execution, videos posted from Kharkiv on YouTube have shown alleged collaborators and Russian sympathizers being physically forced to kneel in public and tied to polls with plastic wrap, as “Ukrainian loyalists” rip their clothes and beat them as punishment.
Then in December 2022, the Zelensky government banned the Russian Orthodox Church, even though before 2022 the majority of religious people in eastern and southeastern Ukraine belonged to the Russian-speaking Church. The government authorities confiscated all of the Church's money, property and religious relics from over 350 buildings, interrogated over 800 people, and imprisoned its religious leaders. Government authorities stated that the Church's religious followers should now belong to the more recently created Ukrainian-speaking 'Ukrainian Orthodox Church'.
In addition to the laws that make any political disagreements illegal and subject to imprisonment, including the banning of any public statements asking for peace talks, the Ukrainian army has absolute authority in all localities, and ever since February 2023 Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 60 are required to serve in the army at any moment if asked, and they have been barred from leaving the country. More recently, since spring, all boys 16 and older have been encouraged to fight on the frontlines, and many recruits in the Ukrainian army have been forcibly snatched off the streets, parks and workplaces.
Only pro-war and pro-Zelensky views are allowed, and any differing views are labeled and punished for treason, or being Russian agents. Sure sounds democratic to me.
Essentially, the current Ukrainian government policy is to not allow any diverse or different views. Basically, it is a 'one party only' and 'only one view allowed' kind of democracy.