NP - Krugman: Petrothoughts (Via Kevin Drom)

[Thomas Eckhardt]

David Morris wrote:

> It is amazing how consistently  you seem to endorse Russia's
 > invasion of the Ukraine. Opposing that move is hardly the opposite
 > of "reproachment."

The word the author of the article you quoted from used was "rapprochement":

"A Russian crash may or may not come, but it's hardly out of the realm 
of possibility. And if it happens, even a modest rapprochement between 
East and West could help avoid a disastrous outcome."

What he is saying is that it might just make sense to de-escalate and 
have some talks before starting WW III. Sounds sensible to me.

Resolution 758 however -- which is full of lies, unproven allegations 
(MH-17, anyone?) and deliberate distortions of the truth -- amounts to a 
declaration of war. Blaming Russia for everything and providing lethal 
weapons etc. to the Ukrainian government *is* the opposite of 
rapprochement. That was my point.

I am not endorsing Russian support for the rebels  but I can understand 
the motives behind it. Russia reacts to what it perceives as an 
existential threat.

> Opposing Russia's invasion of  the Ukraine is not an endorsement of
 > fascism, either, as much as you have tried to play that card. Putin
 > is as fascist as they come, despite his Soviet trappings.

Guess what, tiring as it may be for you, I'll just "play that card" again:

--

"Moreover, some of the new MPs are not just far right but actual 
neo-Nazis. Take Andriy Biletsky, elected in a single-member district in 
Kiev with support from the People'€™s Front party led by Arseniy 
Yatseniuk. Biletsky was the head of an openly racist Patriot of Ukraine 
group which was involved in hate crimes against minorities, and later 
formed the core of the infamous Azov volunteer battalion, which uses 
neo-Nazi symbolism. He was celebrated as commander of the Azov battalion 
and assigned to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the police."

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/13/ukraine-far-right-fascism-mps

About Andriy Biletsky:

'€œThe historic mission of our nation in this critical moment is to lead 
the White Races of the world in a final crusade for their survival,” 
he wrote in a recent commentary. “A crusade against the Semite-led 
Untermenschen.'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/11025137/Ukraine-crisis-the-neo-Nazi-brigade-fighting-pro-Russian-separatists.html

--

'Biletsky is not the only neo-Nazi recently appointed to law enforcement 
bodies. In October, Vadym Troyan, another Patriot of Ukraine member and 
deputy commander of the Azov battalion, was appointed as the head of the 
police in Kiev Oblast province. A Kharkov human rights group called 
it a “disastrous appointment”. At the same time, another infamous 
extreme right politician from the Svoboda party Yuriy Mykhalchyshyn, who 
once promoted Joseph Goebbels’ A Little ABC of National Socialism and 
the 25-point NSDAP Program, will head up propaganda and analysis in the 
Security Service of Ukraine."'

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/13/ukraine-far-right-fascism-mps

'Elsewhere Mykhalchyshyn referred to the Holocaust as a "period of light 
in history".'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svoboda_%28political_party%29

--

"The efforts of the Government to safeguard the
territorial integrity of Ukraine and restore law and order in the 
conflict zone have been accompanied
by arbitrary detentions, torture, and enforced disappearances of people 
suspected of ‘separatism
and terrorism’. Most of such human rights violations appear to have 
been perpetrated by certain voluntary battalions
or by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU)."

http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/UA/OHCHR_eighth_report_on_Ukraine.pdf

Neo-Nazi death squads, in other words. The "voluntary battalions" are 
the spearhead of the so-called anti-terror operation of the government 
in Kiev. Which we support.

--
Etc. etc.
--

You want to give weapons, military advice and intelligence support to 
these people? Why on earth would you want to do that? And how does that 
not entail a partial endorsement of the worst kind of fascism?

Thomas

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