Exposing troubling ties in the U.S. to overt Nazi and fascist protesters in Ukraine.
Image via Business Insider
As the Euromaidan protests in the Ukrainian capitol of Kiev culminated this week, displays of open fascism and neo-Nazi extremism became too glaring to ignore. Since demonstrators filled the downtown square to battle Ukrainian riot police and demand the ouster of the corruption-stained, pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovich, it has been filled with far-right streetfighting men pledging to defend their country’s ethnic purity.
White supremacist banners and Confederate flags were draped inside Kiev’s occupied City Hall, and demonstrators have hoisted Nazi SS and white power symbols over a toppled memorial to V.I. Lenin. After Yanukovich fled his palatial estate by helicopter, EuroMaidan protesters destroyed a memorial to Ukrainians who died battling German occupation during World War II. Sieg heil salutes and the Nazi Wolfsangel symbol have become an increasingly common site in Maidan Square, and neo-Nazi forces have established “autonomous zones” in and around Kiev.
An Anarchist group called AntiFascist Union Ukraine attempted to join the Euromaidan demonstrations but found it difficult to avoid threats of violence and imprecations from the gangs of neo-Nazis roving the square. “They called the Anarchists things like Jews, blacks, Communists,” one of its members said. “There weren’t even any Communists, that was just an insult.”
“There are lots of Nationalists here, including Nazis,” the anti-fascist continued. “They came from all over Ukraine, and they make up about 30% of protesters.”
One of the “Big Three” political parties behind the protests is the ultra-nationalist Svoboda, whose leader, Oleh Tyahnybok, has called for the liberation of his country from the “Muscovite-Jewish mafia.” After the 2010 conviction of the Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk for his supporting role in the death of nearly 30,000 people at the Sobibor camp, Tyahnybok rushed to Germany to declare him a hero who was “fighting for truth.” In the Ukrainian parliament, where Svoboda holds an unprecedented 37 seats, Tyahnybok’s deputy Yuriy Mykhalchyshyn is fond of quoting Joseph Goebbels – he has even founded a think tank originally called “the Joseph Goebbels Political Research Center.” According to Per Anders Rudling, a leading academic expert on European neo-fascism, the self-described “socialist nationalist” Mykhalchyshyn is the main link between Svoboda’s official wing and neo-Nazi militias like Right Sector.
Read more at AlterNet
This is outstanding reporting by Max Blumenthal.
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The Progressive Democrat 
Yep, that’s scary stuff. I’m not surprised by any of it. It’s not over, til it’s over. We won’t know how this will turn out for some time. It could be the beginning of a civil war. And here I thought this had gone pretty well, in comparison with some of the other coups.
I’m wrong again!
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No, you are not wrong. This is scary stuff. A civil war would be in the interests of no one. If ever there were a situation in which Russia and the United States had good reason to work together, this is it.
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Wow, another week passes and everything you thought you knew is topsy-turvy.
There are many factions in the Ukraine, not just white supremists. It’s as confusing as any of the recent coups.
Anywhere there are people fighting for something, there are many groups with their own interests.
At least the protests accomplished getting Yanukovich out of the Ukraine, but he still thinks he’s the President. All these deposed leaders go through the same steps.
They always say the opposition is a bunch of foreigners, terrorists, and whoever they are they’re backed by the west or CIA plants…spies.
They can’t come to terms with the fact they are no longer wanted as a leader. I think they are delusional. When they’re ousted the delusion turns into full blown insanity.
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