ACTION ALERT: NYT Celebrates Neo-Nazi Azov Unit
Three years ago, describing an Australian white supremacist charged with massacring 49 people in New Zealand, the New York Times (3/15/19) wrote: “On his flak jacket was a symbol commonly used by the Azov Battalion, a Ukrainian neo-Nazi paramilitary organization.”
What a difference a war makes! A Times story (10/4/22) in the paper’s Ukraine War news roundup began:Commanders of Ukraine’s celebrated Azov Battalion have held an emotional reunion with their families in Turkey, Ukrainian officials said, honoring the fighters released from Russian confinement last month as part of the largest prisoner swap since the start of the war.
“Celebrated” is an odd word to describe a group whose founder urged Ukraine to “lead the white races of the world in a final crusade…against Semite-led Untermenschen (subhumans)” (Guardian, 3/13/18). Its official logo features the Wolfsangel, a runic icon adopted by the SS that’s become “a symbol of choice for neo-Nazis in Europe and the United States,” according to the ADL. (To dispel any doubt about what the symbol means, Azov used to superimpose it on a Black Sun, a Nordic design beloved by Heinrich Himmler.)
The Azov movement has linked up with other far-right groups across Europe and in the United States, including the Rise Above Movement, a violently racist group based in Southern California (New Republic, 7/9/19). Azov is “believed to have participated in training and radicalizing United States–based white supremacy organizations,” according to an FBI report (RFE/RL, 11/14/18).
But Times reporter Enjoli Liston indeed went on to celebrate the group:The group’s defense of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol—the southern port city decimated by Russian forces in the first months of the war—has become a powerful symbol of the suffering inflicted by Russia and the resistance mounted by Ukraine.
The story’s headline: “Released Azov Commanders Have an Emotional Reunion With Family Members in Turkey.” The accompanying photo shows the fascistic unit’s commander sharing a joyful hug with his wife.
Not a word in the eight-paragraph story gives any hint about the ugly far-right politics of the unit, incorporated since 2014 into Ukraine’s military structure (when it was rebranded as the Azov Regiment). The Times did, however, find space to convey to the Azov fighters, from Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska, “Thanks from Ukraine, from the president and all the people for whom they are fighting.”
ACTION:
Please tell the New York Times not to treat neo-Nazis as heroes.
https://fair.org/home/action-alert-nyt-celebrates-neo-nazi-azov-unit/
Will the Germans Cave One More Time?
by Ray McGovern Posted onOctober 11, 2022
Have the Germans learned anything since 1933? We are about to find out, now that they face a choice they have bent over backwards to avoid.
Will the Germans dutifully obey U.S. diktat on sanctions (and suffer economic-collapse-mit-frostbite this winter)? Or will they rise out of several post-World War II decades of vassalage; deal independently with Russia; and open the spigot for Nord Stream 2?
It is now clear that the saboteurs, who on Sept. 26 attacked the Baltic pipelines from Russia to Germany, thought they had denied Germany the more sensible (spigot) option. But (surprise, surprise), they screwed up.
A day before the sabotage I noted: "On the sanctions front, German politicians may not be able to resist turning on the spigot to North Stream 2, lest the European economy and the European people freeze this winter."
This, of course, was no secret to the sabotage’s intellectual authors (almost certainly Berlin’s NATO allies – whether in Washington, London, Warsaw, or Vilnius). That the Germans had come to a similar conclusion is suggested in what journalist Pepe Escobar reported just three days after the sabotage; namely, that the Germans and Russians had been holding secret talks to find some way out of Germany’s dilemma. According to Pepe:
"Diplomatic sources confirm that Berlin and Moscow were involved in a secret negotiation to solve both the NS and NS2 issues. So they had to be stopped – no holds barred."
Twists and Turns
On Oct. 6, Escobar put it succinctly in his Nord Stream 2 Offers Germany a Date with Destiny:
"The twists and turns of the Nord Stream 2 (NS2) saga have yielded yet another stunning game-changer.
"It started with Gazprom revealing that the Line B string of NS2 is intact … and may ‘potentially’ be used to pump gas to Germany.
"Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Novak followed up, with a caveat: restoration of the whole system … is possible, and "requires time and appropriate funds". But first, in Russia’s order of priorities, the perpetrators must be conclusively identified.
"Subsequently in Vienna, attending the OPEC+ meeting, Novak remarked the Russian Federation is "ready to supply gas through the second line of Nord Stream 2. This is possible if necessary".
"So we know it’s possible. ‘Necessary’ will depend on a political decision by Germany."
Will the Germans Cave One More Time? - Antiwar.com Blog
Ray McGovern works with Tell the Word, a publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in inner-city Washington. His 27-year career as a CIA analyst includes serving as Chief of the Soviet Foreign Policy Branch and preparer/briefer of the President’s Daily Brief. He is co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).