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submitted 1 week ago by jankforlife@lemmy.ml to c/memes@lemmy.ml

SlAvA UkrAnI!

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[-] AHemlocksLie@lemmy.zip 0 points 4 days ago

Oh neat, another shitty piece of "evidence" that doesn't actually prove the point at hand. I'm not saying it's a great look, but the vast majority aren't even in Ukraine, and given the height of the pins, it looks like there probably aren't even very many in Ukraine. If I'm wrong and there's a bunch of them in there, then it's still not good evidence since it can't make your point clearly.

[-] Johnny_Arson@hexbear.net 2 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

You dumb fuck, the upper right zoomed in part is Ukraine literally fucking covered in them. I keep coming back to this thread out of fascination because you seem to genuinely just be a credulous rube and a distillation of liberal denial of reality, but this one takes the fucking cake and I had to reply again.

You are either a crypto-fascist "pretending" not to see the Nazi scourge as what it is you are just that fucking stupid or unwilling to confront your misinformed preconceptions. Either way others here have spent far more energy than you deserve attempting to educate you so I will just say again: Go fuck yourself. Take this hostility you received here as a moment to reflect on your pigheaded refusal to acknowledge the actual reality in which we all live. You have been given more than enough to educate your self.

The next time you post on this site should be a fucking apology and heartfelt thanks to all those that had the patience to put up with your shit. You're fine with genocide as long as democrats do it and you're fine with Nazis. You fucking disgust me.

[-] AHemlocksLie@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 hours ago

Christ, you're 9 of the 18 notifications I have left including this one, and damn near everyone of them had you being a raging asshole. I've tried to listen to what people have to say, and I have openly and repeatedly invited people to bring new evidence, and here you are trawlimg my comment history to find new and exciting opportunities to insult me.

It's like you're trying to be such an asshole, nobody is ever willing to listen you or interact with you again, like you're actively trying to drive people away from ever learning to agree with you.

I've tried to read what everyone said and reply yo everyone, but you? You can go fuck yourself with a rusty rake. Your abuse has no educational value, so I won't be reading the rest in detail, I'll just be blocking you. Maybe I'll stumble into a Hexbear thread on accident again someday, but I'll remain blissfully unaware of your shit ass.

[-] FunkyStuff@hexbear.net 2 points 4 days ago

It's a NATO problem. It'd definitely be wrong to hold Ukraine to be uniquely responsible for NATO's legacy, and Ukraine isn't even formally part of NATO. If you want a full breakdown of the history of the NATO bloc's Nazi problem, have you read Michael Parenti's Blackshirts and Reds?

[-] AHemlocksLie@lemmy.zip 1 points 4 days ago

I'd rather actually get some evidence that Ukraine is as systematically rife with Nazis as people in here like to claim. Once again, for like the 5th or 6th time, I've openly stated I'm willing to consider the possibility if only someone can provide some evidence, and nobody can muster anything. I'm trying to stay open minded about it, but the fact that nobody can find anything more than a handful of group photos, it's starting to smell like a crock of shit.

[-] casskaydee@hexbear.net 1 points 1 day ago

There was lots of reporting on it in the mainstream media but it all suddenly stopped around... 2022. Huh

[-] casskaydee@hexbear.net 1 points 1 day ago
[-] AHemlocksLie@lemmy.zip 0 points 18 hours ago

Thank you for actually bringing sources. I've tried to find them myself, but search engines heavily favor current events, so it's difficult to find anything as old as these. I've probably asked literally a dozen times for sources in an honest attempt to engage with the subject, and so far, I'm FAR more likely to be verbally abused for not blindly agreeing than to actually receive information. Only one person before you has even done so much as to provide a couple names as decent starting points for research. The sheer amount of vitriol combined with a complete lack of genuine evidence was making me increasingly sure it was completely baseless.

https://www.reuters.com/article/opinion/commentary-ukraines-neo-nazi-problem-idUSKBN1GV2TC/

This one makes it clear that the Nazis exist in too large a capacity, but it also outright states that some of the claims that it's a Nazi regime are just not true. While few in number, they do seem to be receiving a concerning amount of freedom and power. This one makes it seem like the problem is bigger than I expected but still certainly not at the level people here like to portray it as. I can understand the inclination to make a deal to set aside differences temporarily and enable what they perceive to be a lesser threat to aid them against a greater mutual threat, but I'm not so sure it's a good idea.

https://thehill.com/opinion/international/359609-the-reality-of-neo-nazis-in-the-ukraine-is-far-from-kremlin-propaganda/

This one paints about the same picture, more prominent than I expected but still nowhere near the system issue portrayed by Russia.

https://www.fairobserver.com/region/europe/the-ukrainian-revolutions-neo-fascist-problem-14785/

This is the first thing I've seen that tries to construct a timeline that attempts to pin revolution at the culmination of Euromaidan on the fascistic elements of Ukraine. I've certainly heard the accusation here before, but nobody could ever offer anything resembling evidence of it, so this is interesting to see.

I've had a bit of trouble following just because the author uses a bunch of unfamiliar names and just assumes I understand them, so I may be misinterpreting things a bit, so correct me if I'm wrong, but it does sort of diminish its own message to some extent. For example,

Having gotten word of this radicalization and quasi-militarization, Yanukovich’s Berkut special police forces paid informal titushki thugs to beat up demonstrators on the night of November 30. The result was the radicalization and militarization of Maidan, and a vindication for the creation of the sotniki and Right Sector.

They're kinda trying to gloss over it, but it sounds like the government was brutalizing protesters, and a more militant wing of the protests eventually decided that wasn't gonna fly anymore. Sounds about right for a faction trying to suck up to Russia.

But the Maidan’s sotniki violated the February 21 agreement within hours. Rather than withdrawing from buildings and squares in Kiev, they occupied more buildings and threatened to take the presidential administration and kill Yanukovich. When Yanukovich fled Kiev for Kharkiv, the radicals stormed the parliament and oversaw the president’s illegal impeachment in violation of the constitutional procedure for such. They helped prevent the required quorum and kept down the pro-Yanukovich vote in the impeachment by detaining and sometimes beating deputies from his Party of the Regions. In other words, the ultra-nationalists and neo-fascists spearheaded the revolutionary seizure of power using significant force.

This actually raises an interesting question for this community. My understanding is that the unrest began primarily because the president defied the will of both the legislature and the people to overrule an attempt to build closer ties with the EU and move away from Russia. Feel free to correct me on that if you can provide good evidence for that, but it's my understanding of the cause.

So you have a president defying pretty much everyone to build ties with a nation that the majority want to move away from. It seems to be pretty widely accepted in this community that violence is an acceptable remedy to that sort of situation. Then is it acceptable for the wrong people to do the right thing here? Let's accept the premise that the violence of the revolution was driven by the fascist elements. If the government blatantly defies the people it governs and the legislature, is it acceptable for fascists to help correct that, assuming they correct the problem and stop? Obviously, Nazis aren't prone to stopping when they're winning, so that's a problem in its own right, but the waters become murky, and I'd never really considered the possibility of a Nazi faction ending up on the right side of... Anything at all. I really don't like the idea of working with the Nazis, but which is easier to deal with later, them or the government you've yet to overthrow? Do we let the broken clock be right twice a day, or do we step in to make sure they get absolutely no power at all?

Ultimately, I think it's a dangerous game at best to work with them, so probably not the right call. Still, Nazis are evil because they do Nazi shit, but that doesn't make everything a Nazi does evil by default. I dislike the can of worms this has opened. I'll have to think on this more. My gut reaction says tell the Nazis to fuck off, but... I dunno.

More importantly, for his organizational efforts on the Maidan, radical nationalist Parubiy was given the key post of chairman of Ukraine’s Security and National Defense Council. He would focus much of his activity on recruiting his “hundreds” and Right Sector-like groups into the Ukrainian army and National Guard prior and during the “antiterrorist” operation in the east.

This is the first evidence I've actually seen that the problem could be considered systemic to any extent. It sounds like it's not to the extent people try to portray it as, but this does sound like the sort of thing that festers into rot if left untreated. The good news is he only seems to have held the position for a few months, so that was addressed. The bad news is he seems to have gotten elected into parliament. I would hope that was for his aid in the revolution, not for his fascistic views, but it's still concerning he'd be elected. Somewhat understandable given the recent revolution, that sort of thing can build a cult of personality, but still concerning and a mistake.

None of the above should be construed as a claim that all the forces in the post-Maidan government are neo-fascist, as some Russian statements state or imply.

Even this article denies the Russian stance that Ukraine is just swarming with Nazis, though.

That said, this does paint a picture of Nazis being given far too much leeway, which is concerning in its own right. I'd be interested in an update on the topic given this article is 12 years old.

https://socialistproject.ca/2019/01/why-does-no-one-care-that-neo-nazis-are-gaining-power-in-ukraine/

This is one I have some issues with, primarily because of the sources they're using. Many are gone, which makes the claims hard to verify, and some of the rest are using sources somewhat questionably. For example,

They’ve marched by the thousands through the streets to commemorate WWII-era nationalist formations who took part in ethnic cleansing. They’ve acted as vigilantes with little to no negative reaction from state authorities.

The source linked as "vigilantes" doesn't mention anything about vigilantes. Still, the claims seem mostly reasonable, but they'd take a little extra verification.

Members of Ukraine’s far-right also offer themselves up as thugs for hire – sometimes with deadly consequences. This summer, anti-corruption activist Kateryna Handziuk was the victim of a horrifying acid attack. In July, several extremists – who apparently were paid by corrupt local police to carry out the attack – doused her with sulfuric acid, burning her over 40 per cent of her body. She died from her injuries in November.

This is tragic, but it does seem to suggest Ukraine is trying to do something about corruption and has been for the last 7 years at least.

It’s time to talk about why Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, up for re-election in March, is happy to flirt with hardline nationalist rhetoric and hasn’t bothered to condemn incidents like last month’s attack on a peaceful protest.

The good news here is that Zelenskyy won instead, so the populace seems to have opted not to endorse that.

Like the last article, this one does make it seem that nationalists in Ukraine are a bigger problem than I expected but not the problem as it is frequently presented here.

https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/ukraine-anti-semitism-racism-and-the-far-right/

This one actually seems to downplay the issue more than the others. It still openly admits that there is definitely a problem with nationalist factions in Ukraine, but it goes out of the way to highlight that there's little public support compared to other countries like Germany, France, and Italy, so this actually gives me a little hope that the problem can be cleaned up once things are over with Russia.

Overall, my takeaway is that the truth was closer to the middle than I expected. Ukraine is most certainly not crawling with Nazis, but they have allowed nationalists and Nazis to operate with too much impunity. I would be very interested in seeing more up-to-date info if you know of anything worth looking at. I'm concerned that this is a case of trying to weaponize a rabid dog, but I'm holding out hope it can be fixed once they have the stability to look inward again.

Thank you again for taking the time to find some quality information for me to look over.

[-] Chana@hexbear.net 2 points 14 hours ago

Thank you for actually bringing sources. I've tried to find them myself, but search engines heavily favor current events, so it's difficult to find anything as old as these.

Go to a search engine. Select custom date range (desktop mode if on mobile). FIlter to before 2022. Easy. Very, very easy. There are also article written about this exact phenomenon of the shift of bourgeois media coverage once there was a chance for liberals to feel righteous in being Russophobic.

You did not try very hard. I spent literally 10 seconds on Google and found these kinds of articles.

I've probably asked literally a dozen times for sources in an honest attempt to engage with the subject, and so far, I'm FAR more likely to be verbally abused for not blindly agreeing than to actually receive information.

Because you present yourself as obstinate and combative. You say you want sources, but act like it's a demand or a bar for others to emet rather than a favor being done for you by people who aren't paid to educate you.

Only one person before you has even done so much as to provide a couple names as decent starting points for research. The sheer amount of vitriol combined with a complete lack of genuine evidence was making me increasingly sure it was completely baseless.

Then you need to rework the way you think.

This one makes it clear that the Nazis exist in too large a capacity, but it also outright states that some of the claims that it's a Nazi regime are just not true. While few in number, they do seem to be receiving a concerning amount of freedom and power. This one makes it seem like the problem is bigger than I expected but still certainly not at the level people here like to portray it as. I can understand the inclination to make a deal to set aside differences temporarily and enable what they perceive to be a lesser threat to aid them against a greater mutual threat, but I'm not so sure it's a good idea.

The article leads with a description of neo-Nazis forcing a town to change their budget at gunpoint. Those neo-Nazis were given this leeway by Kiev, they were shock troops for ethnic cleansing campaigns. As the people willing to do that work against "separatists" (people opposed to their own ethnic cleansing), they enjoyed and enjoy high posts in military and interior matters as well as state cover. From the article, "Since the Crimean crisis, the militias have been formally integrated into Ukraine’s armed forces [...]". Azov was later integrated more than described. "According to Schaaf and the Institute Respublica, Ukrainian extremists are rarely punished for acts of violence. In some cases — such as C14's January attack on a remembrance gathering for two murdered journalists — police actually detain peaceful demonstrators instead." THey toe the line of "To be clear, the Kremlin’s claims that Ukraine is a hornets’ nest of fascists are false: far-right parties performed poorly in Ukraine’s last parliamentary elections", focusing on the Duma as the only seat of political power, whereas the fact they are in the ministires and have carte blanche for violence is somehow not considered contradictory of this. Again, electoralism brain prevents thinking correctly, politically. "In an ideal world, President Petro Poroshenko would purge the police and the interior ministry of far-right sympathizers, including Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, who has close ties to Azov leader Andriy Biletsky," now where have you heard that name before? And look who is close to him. The far-right is "not a hornets' nest of fascists" but the interior minister has close ties to neo-Nazis and the neo-Nazi future deputy minister. "as well as Sergei Korotkykh, an Azov veteran who is now a high-ranking police official." are you getting a sense for how political power is not just elections?

"As one Ukrainian analyst noted in December, control of these forces make Avakov extremely powerful and Poroshenko’s presidency might not be strong enough to withstand the kind of direct confrontation with Avakov that an attempt to oust him or to strike at his power base could well produce. Poroshenko has endured frequent verbal threats, including calls for revolution, from ultranationalist groups, so he may believe that he needs Avakov to keep them in check. Avakov’s Peoples’ Party status as the main partner in Ukraine’s parliamentary coalition increases Avakov’s leverage over Poroshenko’s Bloc. An attempt to fire Avakov could imperil Poroshenko’s slim legislative majority, and lead to early parliamentary elections. Given Poroshenko’s current unpopularity, this is a scenario he will likely try to avoid."

Hmmmm. WHy do you think they say the Duma is not a hornets' nest of fascists but then go on to explain how their most powerful leader is beholden to a neo-Nazi?

Who is Josh Cohen? What is USAID? Do you know?

Anyways I'm not going to go through the rest. I just want to point out that you are not being media critical nor understanding the content at hand. This is what pro-Ukraine, anti-Russia liberal propagandists were saying about the Kiev regime before 2022, this is how little they could work with and how hard they had to work to paper over contradictions. This is in stark contrast to post-2022 articles that were fully Kiev regime apologetic, seeminglyc ould not take pictures of soldiers without neo-Nazi insignia, tried to fully ignore the preceding ethnic cleansing years in Donbas, and literally, very literally, celebrated actual Nazis as heroes. And yet, your response is to try and poke holes and to buy the propaganda narrative easily with not one whit of critical analysis.

See, you could be asking questions. You could say, "Okay I read that first one and it seems to be saying X, Y, Z. What do you think about that? Am I missing something?". But no. It's confident, 'it's not that bad and doesn't match what you all are saying'.

this post was submitted on 20 May 2026
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