In a new article for RT, that you can read here, I discuss the recent march in Kiev in commemoration of the 14th SS Galicia Division. I conclude that Ukraine is not a fascist state but does have a fascism problem.
Since I wrote this, President Zelensky of Ukraine has condemned the march and told the Kiev city authorities to investigate why it was permitted. This is all well and good, but one has to ask what took him so long. Things like this are hardly a rarity in some bits of Western Ukraine. Does it only matter if it happens in the capital? Will Zelensky now put a stop to it throughout the country, or continue turning a blind eye as long as it stays clear of Kiev itself? I’m can’t say that I’m confident that it will be the former.
IRRUSSIANALITY 
This march, with 1 or 2 hundred attendees, doesn’t indicate any fascist (Nazi?) problem.
But this does:
https://odessa.strana.ua/331427-politsija-odessy-otkryla-uholovnoe-delo-iz-za-ispolzovanija-kommunisticheskoj-simvoliki.html
I don’t know if it’s exactly a ‘fascist problem’, but it sure feels like something from that general area, on the part of their government: appeasement of the far right and repressions against the left.
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Relates to this excerpt from the above blog post:
“Things like this are hardly a rarity in some bits of Western Ukraine. Does it only matter if it happens in the capital?”
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Over the decades, the pro-OUN/UPA element that’s most popular in Galicia and Wolyn, has expanded elsewhere including Kiev.
This started happening after Galicia and Wolyn became part of the USSR, resulting in people relocating. As Communism was crumbling and thereafter, the OUN/UPA crowd with Western support began having their views propagated.
Pro-OUN/UPA sentiment among Ukrainians is disproportionately represented on account of a fear factor element. The pro-OUN/UPA proponents can get nasty in a way that includes violence. Many keep quite to avoid unpleasant encounters.
Aiding the OUN/UPA crowd are some Western establishment types. I’ve heard multiple accounts of how such politicos are silent about the OUN/UPA wrongs at pro-OUN/UPA gatherings.
Some recent examples have been attributed to matters concerning Ben Hodges, Daniel Fried and Matthew Rojansky. It’s all about bashing Russia.
Ger hold of Bernadine Bailey’s “Captive Nations” book which is pro-OUN/UPA anti-Russian propaganda.
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Concerning Ukraine’s fsr right, this article reveals why Zelensky is oh so full of it:
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/05/01/ukr-m01.html
Recall that he was (supposedly) going to be a break from the typical playing of politics.
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When a couple of hundred unarmed skinheads in army boots were marching in Budapest, Western Europe, most loudly Germany, were demanding Hungary act on its “fascist problem”. The Hungarian Guard, as it was called, was outlawed and disbanded. When neonazis command entire battalions in Ukraine, Western Europe is fine with it. Western standards.
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hundred unarmed skinheads in army boots
What is the history of skinheads in Hungary? I am not familiar with that. They had anti-communist precursors? Trying to understand, see.
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People. Can look at the march in Kiev and think 100 or 200 people is nothing to be concerned about,
But that is only part of the story of what is going on in Ukraine
Ukraine has officially integrated Neonazi groups like Azov & Right Sector into its police, military & security services
It has rehabilitated Nazi collaborators & Holocaust perpetrators like Bandera, OUN & UPA as heroes
People who doubt this point to the fact zelensky is Jewish so it’s not possible they say
However the colourrevolution in 2014 was an alliance of pro Western liberals /oligarchs and the neo nazi groups who provided the muscle and violence on the maidan.
Its an unholy alliance and is destroying Ukraine
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>> Western powers have proven unwilling to confront Ukraine on this issue, while the Western media has… chosen to ignore it. Last week’s march in Kiev… failed to make the news in any major English-language media… Western commentators prefer to look the other way…
Dear Paul, don’t you think this conspicuous silence and last week’s “f****ing disgrace” Guardian article are all manifestations of the same phenomenon?
Nazis are bad, but Russia is worse. Vaccines are good, but Russia is bad, so a Russian vaccine has to be bad.
Anything, no matter how wonderful, is tainted if it’s good for Russia. And anything, no matter how vile, can be tolerated as long as it’s directed against Russia.
I wish I could add “this is an exaggeration, of course”, but lately, I really don’t feel like it is. For a certain influential and vociferous fraction of English-speaking elites, this is a modus operandi. At times it seems like nothing short of erasure of Russian cultural identity and statehood would satisfy them.
In other words, in 800 years since Aleksadеr Nevsky, not much has changed (making a mental note to light a candle to St.Aleksander at the Lavra when I’m in Piter this summer…happy Easter everyone!)
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Nazis are bad, but Russia is worse. Vaccines are good, but Russia is bad, so a Russian vaccine has to be bad.
Unfortunately it ain’t that easy. … or it doesn’t seem. I wish it was.
From within my nitwit perspective the Russian Corona vaccine was a challenge not only for “Western (UN?) established-medical-license-bureaucracies.
Russia with its early vaccine in this larger bureaucracy context may simply have, well what? ´Challenged–whatever expert bureaucrats within those institutions? Only those? …
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My apologies, I can’t remember if I already posted this link or not. My blogpost is a human interest story set against the backdrop of that Nazi march a couple of days ago.
An elderly Kiev resident publicly ranted and shamed the marching Nazis, told them to get the hell out of Kiev and return to their “Banderlandia”. I have not seen a follow-up, as to whether anything happened to that brave guy. The reporter said the police approached him, “but not to protect him.” Hopefully he’s okay. Today is also the anniversary of the Odessa massacre of 2014.
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Yes, you posted it. Good read!
Alexander Nevsky FTW!
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Thanks, Stephen! I sure hope that guy is okay.
Was following some stories and blogs yesterday about the Odessa march, Nazis marching to celebrate their burning alive of opponents 7 years ago.
Many commenters expressing disappointment at the people of Odessa, not one brave soul came out to even so much as reprimand the murderers. Some people saying Russia should take away Odessa’s medal as a “Hero City”.
Well, this is all true, but the Russian government is as much to blame as anybody, since they never gave the Odessan Resistance any hope that fighting back against these Nazis would bring them anything except another massacre.
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Hey Yalensis, that Odessa march was certainly beyond pale, but it looks like you missed on half of the news. People of Odessa have been bringing flowers to the massacre spot all day – the whole area in front of the building was literally covered in flowers. There were large crowds of people commemorating the victims, with icons, t-shirts with their faces and names, etc.
As for the Russian gov’t, what you think they should’ve done? Marched on Kiev? Anti-Russian sentiment in Ukraine after Crimea was at full 70%. It only bounced back down in 2018-19, but was up again recently. I think the long game has a better chance of success here: the more people see of the nazi parades, clamping down on opposition, stupid measures against the language, etc (not to mention the dire economic consequences), the more they’ll scratch their heads. What the Russian gov’t needs to do now is go on a full scale charm offensive aimed at the Ukranian people. But it should be smart and sincere. Which, of course, is easier said than done…
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Ukraine is making the choice to “tolerate” these Nazi.
What is Russia supposed to do with very little material to work with.
Russia had to get off its knees and find its own way back – no one helped them and at the first opportunity Ukrainians are jumping on the maidan insulting Russia that kept their economy going.
Crimea and Donbas were the only people that were prepared to come out and fight for the right to their historical truth and relationship with Russia.
The rest of the Ukrainians sat back waiting for the bright European future – and they still sit their waiting.
And blame Russia for their poor choices
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Thanks, Lola, sometimes I let my emotions get the better of me. Glad to hear that people were honoring the dead. Meanwhile, maybe tomorrow (or the day after) I have another blogpost in the works, this is about Odessa again. Another sh*tty move on the part of the Ukrainian Nationalists to ban the Odessa city anthem because it’s in Russian. One keeps wondering, when is the tipping point?
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Still on topic: I just posted this blogpost, again about Odessa.
Executive summary: Ukrainian “Language Ombudsman” Taras Kremin insists that Odessa needs to change its city’s anthem to something more Ukrainian. The existing anthem is a completely apolitical nostalgic song from an old Soviet operetta/movie; the problem is that the lyrics are sung in Russian.
Not surprisingly, since Odessa is a Russian city.
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On an unrelated topic, can I ask for a recommendation on a good book on 17th century Muscovy, particularly one that explains the schism that resulted in the Old Believers and/or Old Ritualists with the rest?
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Try Bellingham’s The Icon and the Axe.
You should find quite a bit on that topic there, though it is years since I last read it.
Amazon review:
“A sweeping, intricate description of Russian cultural history, spanning the pre-Romanov era through six centuries to the reign of Joseph Stalin. Flowing with ease through time and topic — from art to music, literature, philosophy, mythology and more — the book provides readers with an alluring portrayal of Russia’s proud heritage. Its impressive scope and lasting insights have made it a foundational text in Russian studies. In fact, it was this book, more than any other, that captured my imagination and propelled me toward the study of Russia and the Soviet Union.” –Condoleezza Rice, The New York Times
“A rich and readable introduction to the whole sweep of Russian cultural and intellectual history from Kievan times to the post-Khruschev era.” – Library Journal
Despite her fulsome praise for the book, Rice doesn’t really seem to have learnt that much about Russia though. It was she, after all, who, according to some, persuaded that oaf Saakashvili that Russia would be a pushover in a short, swift war in the Caucasus.
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