Nebojsa Malic — RT.com April 2, 2022
During the last week of March, multiple major media outlets in the UK and the US ran stories about Ukraine’s ‘Azov Batalion’, seeking to whitewash almost a decade of previous reporting that clearly identified the unit’s Nazi sympathies and ethos. Supposedly acting independently, they nonetheless stuck to the same talking points and often the same verbiage, suggesting a concerted effort to spin the unit as heroic defenders of Ukraine against the alleged “real” fascists – the Russians.
The latest wave of the lionization of Azov began sometime before the Russian military operation – notorious was the much-publicized image of an AK-47-wielding Ukrainian granny training to repel invaders in the regiment’s camp. The last week of March, however, saw the puff pieces come in a tight group, like the bullet holes after an AK burst.
The first of the bunch was a ten-minute video, from Britain’s state-broadcaster BBC, on March 27, in which presenter Ros Atkins sought to debunk Russian “untruths” about Nazis in Ukraine. How can Ukraine be “held hostage” by Nazis when its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is Jewish, Atkins argues, pointing to his 73% of the vote, at the last election, and triumphantly declaring that, “No far-right groups have any formal political power in Ukraine.” Remember that word, “formal” – it does a lot of heavy lifting here.
Atkins’s piece set the tone for the articles that followed. Two days later, on March 29, the Financial Times ran a story describing Azov as “key to the nationwide resistance effort.” While it acknowledges that Azov was created in 2014 “by volunteers with nationalist and often far-right political leanings,” the FT shrugs off its Nazi connections.
Thus, the Nazi symbols used by the unit itself are described as “now claimed as pagan symbols by some battalion members.” This is taken at face value, but is literally untrue. The “Black Sun” (also known as the Sonnenrad) dates back to a mosaic commissioned in the 1930s by the Nazi SS head Heinrich Himmler, while the overlaid Wolfsangel rune – historical German, not Ukrainian heraldry – was used by several Wehrmacht and SS regiments, as well as the Dutch Nazis, during WWII. More to the point, the symbols themselves were picked out by Azov founder Andriy Biletsky – a notorious white supremacist – as he himself told another outlet back in 2014.
FT reporters actually get a quote from Biletsky – none of this sordid past is mentioned – but the key quote comes from one Anton Shekhovtsov, who claims that “Azov depoliticized itself” and its “history linked to the far-right movement is pretty irrelevant today.” We’re supposed to just take the word of a professional Ukrainian “expert on Russia’s connections to Europe’s far-right,” because, as Azov fighters themselves say, Russians are the real Nazis!
The cherry on top of the cake is a request by one Azov fighter – identified only as Kalyna – “not to confuse the concepts of patriotism and Nazism.”
Meanwhile, FT describes Stepan Bandera – the notorious Ukrainian nationalist who tried to collaborate with the Nazis and oversaw the mass murder of Poles and Russians – “a nationalist leader who opposed both Nazi and Soviet efforts to prevent Ukraine’s independence.”
That same day, March 29, CNN ran their own version of the story. Zelensky is Jewish, check. Azov has a “history of neo-Nazi leanings, which have not been entirely extinguished by its integration into the Ukrainian military,” but is “an effective fighting force,” check. Azov’s political wing only won 2.15% of the vote in 2019 – quoting a German researcher this time – check.
They too mention Biletsky, but say he allegedly spoke of wanting to “lead the White races of the world in a final crusade” – leaving out the part that says “against the Semite-led Untermenschen.” They then quote Azov denying he ever said so, and anyway they have “nothing to do with his political activities and the National Corps party” – even though CNN itself describes it as Azov’s “political wing.”
CNN also dredged up a 2019 quote from Arsen Avakov – police minister in the post-Maidan government – in which he claims that accusations of Nazi ties are “a deliberate attempt to discredit” Azov and the Ukrainian military. This is the same Avakov whom Ukraine’s chief rabbi, Yaakov Bleich, criticized in November 2014, saying he “continues to appoint people of questionable repute and ideologies tainted with fascism and right-wing extremism” [emphasis added].
Last but not least, there’s the Times of London on March 30. Its story opens with the emotional description of a funeral for an Azov soldier killed in the fighting outside of Kiev.
They too dismiss Nazi iconography as maybe rooted in Ukraine’s “original pagan faith,” though they admit to “Azov’s trademark Wolfsangel, also used by Nazi Germany.”
“We are patriots but we are not Nazis,” is a quote attributed to Azov officer Yevgenii Vradnik, and gives the the story its title. Towards the end, the Times quotes an Azov commander in Mariupol, who accuses the Russians of being “the real Nazis of the 21st century.” Check and check.
As an aside, Azov members are apparently really good at sticking to the message – and knowing their audience and which buttons to push. For example, the Times piece repeatedly mentions their praise of the British NLAW anti-tank rockets.
Contrast this to the some of the сoverage Azov got in the West before 2022. Back in January 2021, TIME magazine called them a militia that had “trained and inspired white supremacists from around the world.”
“Azov is much more than a militia. It has its own political party; two publishing houses; summer camps for children; and a vigilante force known as the National Militia, which patrols the streets of Ukrainian cities alongside the police,” the TIME article says, noting that “it also has a military wing with at least two training bases and a vast arsenal of weapons, from drones and armored vehicles to artillery pieces.”
They also paraphrase the words of Azov’s “head of international outreach” Olena Semenyaka, who told them during a 2019 tour of the Cossack House that the group’s mission was to “form a coalition of far-right groups across the Western world, with the ultimate aim of taking power throughout Europe.”
Before the events of 2014, Biletsky led a “neo-Nazi terrorist group” called Patriot of Ukraine, whose “manifesto seemed to pluck its narrative straight from Nazi ideology,” says TIME. In an interview after the coup, he told the magazine he picked out Azov’s insignia. No mention of “pagan” symbols, either, only a reference to the Black Sun and Wolfsangel being “used by Germans” in WWII.
Even Bellingcat, that “open-source intelligence collective” apparently serving as a conduit for the British intelligence agenda, has raised red flags about Azov. Here they are in October 2019, complaining about how the militants browbeat Zelensky into not withdrawing from the Donbass as required by the Minsk agreements.
Though the “far-right groups” have “negligible popular support and virtually nonexistent electoral power” – remember Atkins’s talking point earlier? – they “continue to have success mainstreaming themselves in Ukrainian politics and society,” said Bellingcat.
This isn’t exactly the first time the corporate and state media in the West have run cover for a group they themselves had until recently described – correctly – as extremist. For example, just last year, the US public television sought to whitewash Al-Qaeda affiliates in Syria – the Al-Nusra Front, later “rebranded” as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham – as “moderate rebels.”
Politics and war make for strange bedfellows, sure, but if your bedfellows are open admirers of Adolf Hitler and Stepan Bandera, perhaps it’s time to revisit that 2012 BBC Three comedy sketch and ask, “Are we the baddies?”
“The last week of March, however, saw the puff pieces come in a tight group, like the bullet holes after an AK burst.”
Now that’s what I call writing! Elmore Leonard and Mickey Spillane couldn’t have put it better. That’s showing them “Nazi” loving hacks! Sharper than the edges of Himmler’s Wolfsangel rune is the pen of the man who wrote that line. He wrote that line because there is no such thing as having too much “Holocaust” in your reading diet and there are “Nazis” in your cornflakes.
I think they’re building up zelenstein to be “murdered by the russians” — because they can’t mean him to carry on as he is. Imagine how it would be if they were painting johnstein or the geriatric in the black house in that way. It would never stick, and it won’t stick with zelenstein either.
If the Western media supports it, you know it’s Jewish and anti-White.
Its official the ADL supports the aZOGs, well we knew that anyway. So called “neo nazi” groups in America were led by jews such as the “nazi low riders” so we shouldn’t be surprised. We also know that some so called nationalist groups in Europe have been getting in bed with these MF’s so dont be surprised if the
waters get murky. Just try having a political discussion with the dimwits of the EDL .
Ok, did NOTSEE the anti-semantics coming – but when is a nazi not a nazi? Is there a special cognitive dissonant, or maybe a new pro-noun to whitewash/supplement the facts?
Who knew? A Jew in name only (comedian no less) would lead the remnants, and the ‘free world’ would cheer lead to somehow stifle those Ruski hordes? Will there be legalized betting on a false flag, or do”we” even need one?
Will Joe sanction popcorn???
Stay tuned – same batshit time, same batshit channel!
Politics and war make for strange bedfellows indeed!!!
Slowly we see the connection between nazis and zionists… And they have one thing in common… They are not interested in humans, but in their greather goal… That explains why they are in every government of this world… Especially in the top functions…
As Lewis states above, correctly, this is another hit piece against the white nations of the west. RT is a government controlled, propaganda outlet and the Russian government is a ZOG.
“The first of the bunch was a ten-minute video, from Britain’s state-broadcaster BBC, on March 27, in which presenter Ros Atkins sought to debunk Russian “untruths” about Nazis in Ukraine. How can Ukraine be “held hostage” by Nazis when its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is Jewish, Atkins argues, pointing to his 73% of the vote, at the last election, and triumphantly declaring that, “No far-right groups have any formal political power in Ukraine.” Remember that word, “formal” – it does a lot of heavy lifting here.”
Why call them nazis? Why not call them who they are, Ukrainians defending their nation? Why did we call the Germans ‘nazis’ (national socialists) when we never called the British ‘conies’ (conservatives) or the Americans ‘repies’ (Republicans)? You see, this, again, is more jewish propaganda, constantly bringing in WW2, the holocaust, jewish suffering, into every conflict there is. It has to continually be promoted to keep it fresh, in the mind of the controlled public. And we also see ‘far right’ again, like ‘nazi’ continually indoctrinating the public to accept anything far right as ‘nazi’ or ‘fascist’ or evil.
I’m far right. I don’t hate anyone. I don’t want to see anyone harmed or murdered, but as ‘far right’ I reject all forms of state control. I’m not a national socialist. I’ve never affiliated with any political organization, simply because we don’t, never have and will never need any form of government/state, regardless. The simple way to run a society is to remove the police and the armed forces and arm the citizens. That’ll immediately end crime and pedophilia. But of course, it would also mean removing the NON nationals from that land, responsible FOR the crime in the first place.
America ‘was’ the model for the republic. A country, with a series of guidelines in their constitution, allowing citizens to be armed in order that they defend themselves and loved ones from attack AND ALSO to remove any corrupt governments that sought to do them harm. We, in the UK, used to be allowed to carry guns…and knives, but that all came to a halt when, after 70 years of continued legislation to disarm the British public, they put their freemason, kiddie fiddler into a school in Scotland, with a gun. And many even say that that story is a dubious one, possibly one of the earlier false flags. And of course, the rise of the black gangs, in London along with the Paki and Bangla gangs we got more gun and knife violence.
So the article is another hit piece on anything right of centre in politics. It has to be continually drilled into the public that anything right wing is bad, even though right wing is what defends the nation from harm. Stupid people, with no common sense, believing the garbage their fed daily.
Ratchild: Greetings President Zelensky.
Zelensky: Hello. I have this growing white nationalist Nazi problem in the Ukraine. A large proportion of the population has Nazi sympathies such as the Azov Battalion. I’m afraid if they get too big they could attempt to take over the State.
Mosestein: I see, yes we need to rectify this situation. I’ll talk to Vlad & discuss how we could stage a war between you & Russia, where we have our ‘World Without Nazism’ program based & liquidate the Azov Battalion & thousands of Ukrainian civilians..While that is going on, we’ll export millions of white Ukrainian females to negro-wog infested Western cities where they will be pimped out & mate with monkeys..
Zelensky: Excellent. We’ll hype up in our mass media all sorts of diversionary explanations for the war, thus leading the moronic goyim astray.
Mosestein: Of course, we’ll even get them to support Putin & Communist Russia’s genocide against their own race in the Ukraine..
Zelensky: Shalom.
Good article. You know that because of the number of 77th brigade shills crawling out of the wood work, like white elephant and Bob Smith? Along with the usual Anti semetic Lewis Jones.
Zionists are not Jews they hide behind the Jewish persona so that they can scream anti semetism when it suits them.
The war in the Ukraine is a proxy war exactly the same as Syria was where they used terrorist groups to try and oust the democratically elected Assad. In the Ukraine they are using CIA trained and equipped Nazis, not neo Nazis but out and out second world war style Nazis.
The war is not about Putin, Putin like Biden and BoJo are puppets of the elite where borders and seperate countries don’t exist. This is about destroying food supplies. Destroying the supply of Gas And Oil supplies, causing a financial colapse all in the name of the “Great reset” At the root of all this is agenda 21.
The shills are trying to protect this agenda and like the rest of us will eventually fall foul to it. Shills, you are paid liars digging your own and your families graves. Part of agenda 21 is a 90% population reduction, do you think that you and your family will be part of the 10% left, good luck with that. Consider the world that you are helping to build, and research agenda 21. Stop doing what your doing and see the bigger picture before it is too late.
I am for white people defending the white societies they and their ancestors built. I am for defending the rights of sovereign nations and am adamantly opposed to leftist globalism and “one world government”. I am for anyone who recognizes organized Jewry as the satanic malignant cancer it is and endeavors to expose and destroy it.
I am adamantly opposed to the current system of “central banking” and believe a nation’s currency should be backed by something of actual value. I am vehemently opposed to authoritarian trans-national bodies having any say over sovereign nations. I vehemently support citizens regaining control over the governments of their states and nations and removing/destroying the criminal cartels that have hijacked them. I am for legislation which demands truth in “news” media, or at least requires media to post notices before and during every broadcast that what they are about to show is for entertainment purposes only and may have no basis in actual truth.
@ White Elephant
I know a woman who went to Dunblane Primary School. She didn’t start at school until a few years after the massacre.
Her elder brother, though, was in attendance on the day that Thomas Hamilton went berserk. Her brother was a little boy, cowering under his desk, as the shooting began. He is now a tattoo artist locally and his entire face, apart from his eyelids, is fully tattooed. It’s as if he has never stopped hiding.
andyay,
Dunblane was exceptionally convenient don’t you think? The final mail on the coffin of the right to bear arms?
The report, for Dunblane has been placed under 100 years closure. It means it can’t be released to the public for 100 years from the event in 1996.
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/11901710.who-is-really-being-protected-by-dunblane-100-year-ban/
Also there’s an interesting take here:
https://gumshoenews.com/boston-sandy-hook-port-arthur-dunblane/
What do I think? I don’t know really. In all situations I ask ‘cui bono’, like most on here.
Depends on how you raise them. After we were divorced, my ex was out for the weekend, leaving the kids at home alone. The eldest was 14, and they noticed two shady characters casing the house. They only had one firearm, so they drew lots as to who would use it. No hiding.
Nazi in it’s original incarnation was used by the pharisees to describe the Nazarene Christians.. the Nazarenes or Naziri… a mixed group of shamanic terrorists led by a charismatic assyrian greek with magical powers who worshipped the ‘Mother’ and ‘Father’… and sought to turn the babylonians and their Evil system inside out using their own powers and scribblings..
This group scared the Holy ‘Sh*te’ out of the establishment..
and still does..
@ White Elephant
Yes, indeed, sir. Dunblane was a freemasonic plot, which utilized military intelligence personnel to ensure its achievement. It was, as you say, a means to leverage the surrender of the arms of British citizenry.
Real children were involved, however, who were innocent to the malefaction.
I’m wondering now, how many of those children were tied, by family, to the British armed forces? The brother and sister, whom I wrote of, I know, are the son and daughter of an officer of the Royal Navy. I hadn’t ever thought about it before and, apart from anything, as far as I can remember, there aren’t too many naval ports in Stirlingshire.
I might make some tippy-toe-discreet enquiries.
[Is it Stirlingshire or Perthshire? I’m not actually sure.]