NP - Krugman: Petrothoughts (Via Kevin Drom)

[David Morris]

Resolution 758 is a statement against Russia's annexing Eastern Ukraine.
Any further analysis is nitpicking. List the lies if you want.  Bottom
line, the invasion was not justified by any real threat to anyone. It was a
Putin PR stunt for a rabid home audience (fascism, anyone?).  That
Russian audience yurns for its former greatness, which was always an
illusion, except in the Arts, in which they excell.  Free Pussy Riot!

If you can condemn an entire government by its right wing, neo-nazi
component, then the US should top your list.  Our Tea Party is essentially
racist, xenophobic, and idiotic, with a nationalist red,white&blue
decorative styling. You suffer from an extreme fear of Naziism, and are
willing to excuse almost anything in its opposition.

Sincerely,
David Morris


On Tuesday, December 16, 2014, Thomas Eckhardt <thomas.eckhardt at uni-bonn.de>
wrote:

>  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:
>
> ' The 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,â he
> wrote in a recent commentary. â 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 â
> disastrous appointmentâ . At the same time, another infamous extreme right
> politician from the Svoboda party Yuriy Mykhalchyshyn, who once promoted
> Joseph Goebbelsâ 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 â separatism
> and terrorismâ . 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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