In the latest Patreon talk, recorded on French Election Day, 4/24/2022, we explore the history of French fascism from the transnational corporate links of the early 20th century to the rise of the Front National. Particular emphasis is on the continuity from the Pre-WWII Cagoule, through the SS-aligned Vichy fascist milieu to the operations of the post-WWII fascist international. The talk highlights some of the French fascists in Dallas, Texas, 11/22/1963. Ukrainian television anchor quotes Adolf Eichmann verbatim in this video from UKRAINE 24. WFMU-FM is podcasting For The Record–You can subscribe to the podcast HERE. Mr. Emory emphatically recommends that listeners/readers get the 32GB flash drive containing all of Mr. Emory’s 43 years on the air, plus a library of old anti-fascist books on easy-to-download PDF files.
Ashton Kutcher is married to fellow thespian Mila Kunis, who was born in Ukraine. Kutcher tweeted “I stand with Ukraine.” Almost exactly nine years ago ” . . . . A Member of the Ukrainian Parliament from the far-right Svoboda Party [Igor Miroshnichenko] … sneeringly proclaimed that [Kunis] was not Ukrainian but a zhydovka. This deeply hurtful slur for a Jew was an alarming gutter effort to inject Jew-hatred into the acceptable bounds of mainstream Ukrainian discourse. . . . The most disturbing aspect of the story was the reaction from the Ukrainian ministry, which claimed that there is nothing wrong with calling Kunis the female version of a ‘dirty Jew,’ because the word is in their dictionary. . . .” Svoboda leader is shown above, right. WFMU-FM is podcasting For The Record–You can subscribe to the podcast HERE. Mr. Emory emphatically recommends that listeners/readers get the 32GB flash drive containing all of Mr. Emory’s 43 years on the air, plus a library of old anti-fascist books on easy-to-download PDF files.
An important book about the JFK assassination has been published. The late Hank Albarelli, Jr. has authored a lengthy tome, which draws together various, disparate elements involved in the Dallas coup in an important, timely manner.
Integrating operational elements of the domestic fascist political milieu, active and retired military professionals, the intelligence community (CIA in particular), the defense industry, the Texas and international petroleum companies, as well as dominant political organizations with the forces of international fascism, Albarelli and his assistants have opened a window onto what Mr. Emory believes are in the forces destroying our civilization.
Paramount, here, is the decisive role and position of international fascism in the events of 11/22/1963.
Fascism is generally represented as something of an antiquity and an aberration–an outlier in the development of our civilization.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Contemporary presentations of fascism are attenuated and superficial, covering neither the evolution of fascist networks through the decades, nor those networks’ inextricable relationships with past and present intelligence agencies and dominant corporate and allied political interests around the world.
In the first of these programs, we explore the account in the book of the role of French fascists in the assassination of JFK.
In the second, we chronicle the deep political connections of the French steel and iron makers, and their counterparts in the German steel and coal combines. United in their corporatist strategy, they saw anti-labor and anti-communist ideology as surmounting any nationalist considerations.
For many years, we have set forth the powerful French fascist organizations that attempted to overthrow the French government of Leon Blum and, finally, acted in concert with like-minded military officers, aristocrats and corporate individuals and institutions to subvert resistance to the Nazi invasion.
With the establishment of the Vichy collaborationist regime, elements such as La Cagoule contributed significantly to the governing and enforcing apparatus of the fascist administration.
We have covered La Cagoule for many years, including an in-depth exploration of the methodology and history of La Cagoule and related groups in Miscellaneous Archive Show 61 (recorded in September of 1994.) Relevant sides of this lengthy program are: Side “c”; Side “d”; Side “e”. (These segments, in turn, draw on documentation presented in Armies of Spies by Joseph Gollomb and Triumph of Treason by Pierre Cot. For further discussion of these topics and books, use the search function on this website.)
Furthermore, figures such as Monsieurs Filliol and Pierre Lafitte also served with the Nazis SS, the most prominent French element of which was the Charlemagne Division.
(In addition to Lafitte’s Nazi/SS/fascist collaboration, this “Man of a Thousand Faces” worked for a myriad of organizations: intelligence agencies, law enforcement agencies, and criminal networks, often overlapping those activities. The authors of Coup in Dallas posit that Lafitte may very well have been the “manager” for the JFK assassination operation in the U.S.)
Networking with, among others, Otto Skorzeny during the war, French fascists sought and found refuge and continued postwar employment in Spain under the fascist government of dictator Francisco Franco. Their relationship with Skorzeny continued after the war, and Skorzeny may well have been the “executive” planner of the assassination under whom Lafitte operated.
“. . . . And perhaps equally significant is Filliol’s history with Nazi SS Sturmbannfuhrer Otto Skorzeny. . . We now know that Skorzeny played the crucial role of logistical mastermind of the hit in Dealey Plaza. . . .”
(We have detailed Skorzeny’s vitally important role in postwar international fascism in numerous broadcasts, including AFA#22.)
Albarelli develops information about Skorzeny and Lafitte as central to the planning of the JFK assassination, and master assassin Filliol as being present in Dallas on 11/22/1963.
Manifesting grasp of both the “sweep” of fascism and its institutional connections, Albarelli highlights the fascist genesis of the French cosmetic giant L’Oreal, employer of Jean Filliol in Spain and his fellow French fascist Jacques Correze in both Spain and the U.S.
” . . . Once in Spain, Filliol soon established contact with Nazi Otto Skorzeny, who had been ‘resettled’ for the benefit of U.S. intelligence interests in the nation’s capitol. . . .
“. . . . There, Filliol quickly landed a secure and well-paid executive job with the international division of L’Oreal, a cosmetic and beauty products company. Today a very well-known company, L’Oreal was founded and operated by Eugene Schueller, a passionate anti-Semite and ultraright-winger. Schueller, during the 1930’s and the war years, financially supported La Cagoule . . . .”
“. . . . While in Spain, naturally, Correze became friends with Otto Skorzeny after being introduced to his fellow SS officer by former La Cagoule assassin Jean Filliol, by now the vice president of international marketing for L’Oreal. . . .”
When the Justice Department’s Office of Special Investigations began looking into Correze’s fascist and Nazi history, the probe quickly unearthed substantive allegations about Correze’s relationship to Filliol and his fellow fascist Gerard Litt and the latter pair’s presence in Dallas at the time of the JFK assassination.
“. . . . According to two former employees of the department’s Office of Special investigations, both of whom declined to be identified in this book, the examination of Correze’s past quickly unearthed unexpected details about his links to Jean Filliol, Gerard Litt, and Otto Skorzeny, inclusive of detailed suspicions about Filliol’s and Litt’s presence in Dallas, Texas, at the time of the JFK assassination. . . .”
(We note in passing that John Loftus, the heroic author of The Belarus Secret, America’s Nazi Secret, Unholy Trinity and The Secret War Against the Jews worked for the Office of Special Investigations.)
The broader context of the Cagoulard elements in Dallas concerns the OAS attempts on the life of Charles De Gaulle, which overlap the JFK assassination. (We discussed those areas of overlap in, among other broadcasts, FTR#1162.)
One of the apparent areas of overlap between the OAS attempts to kill De Gaulle (with assistance from elements of CIA) and the Dallas coup is Jean Souetre, a skilled OAS assassin who, like Filliol and Lafitte, was networked with Otto Skorzeny.
” . . . . Skorzeny’s aide explained to Herbert that his superior was absent because he had ‘other things going on.’ The arrangements that were made for [Army Ranger officer Anthony] Herbert to meet with Skorzeny confirm Capt. Souetre’s commandos were fully aware of the nature of Skorzeny’s training schools, which they also attended. . . .”
Souetre was in Dallas on 11/22/1063 and was expelled from the country.
One of the important strengths of the Albarelli text is the integration of many of the strategic and operational elements involved with the JFK hit.
Numerous writers have set forth the role in the Dallas coup of elements of what Texans refer to as “The Ahl Bidness.”
In addition to despising JFK for his advocacy of Algerian independence from colonial master France, exploratory information indicated to Texas-connected petroleum interests that Algeria contained significant petroleum reserves on its territory and beneath its territorial waters.
Representative of the fascist connections in the JFK assassination highlighted in this book is the fact that Robert Schacht–a blood relative of Hjalmar Horace Greeley Schacht, Hitler’s finance minister who was deeply involved with Clay Shaw and Permindex–was the admissions director for Albert Schweitzer College, the first destination of Lee Harvey Oswald when he “defected” to the Soviet Union.
We also include a passage from Jim DiEugenio’s classic work on the Garrison investigation–Destiny Betrayed.
This passage places the Schacht family connection in greater depth.
Permindex was involved with, among other things, attempts on the life of French president Charles De Gaulle in conjunction with elements of CIA and the OAS. (We will discuss more about this in future programs.
Much of the second program discusses the actions of the Fifth Column in France prior to, and during, World War II. (For more about this Fifth Column, see Miscellaneous Archive Show M61.) It is important to note in this context, that Mr. Emory stresses that the analogy between the Fifth Column in France and its counterpart in the United States is not an exact one. There are significant differences between the situation in France before World War II and that in the U.S. today. Nonetheless there are similarities worth examining.
One should note that France was governed by a democratic coalition government under Leon Blum (the Social Front or Popular Front), which included the French communist party. Under the social pressures brought about by the Great Depression and the inability of liberal democratic governments to deal adequately with the social fallout from it, many countries experienced powerful fascist movements. Such was the case in France. Industrialists, financiers, aristocrats and members of the armed forces were among the fascist plotters that saw the elimination of the Blum government as a necessity. After initial failure in the plot by the fascist Cagoulards in 1938, many of the fascists acceded to power in the Vichy government after the German conquest.
With the escalating rhetoric and imposition of sanctions for China’s alleged genocide against the Uighurs in Xinjiang province, it is valuable to recall American-assisted atrocities during the Cold War.
In numerous programs, we have highlighted wholesale slaughter in Latin American countries, implemented by fascists operating in an international constellation coalescing around the USA.
That constellation was termed the International Fascista (or “Fascist International”) by Henrik Krueger, and is detailed in, among other programs, AFA #‘s 4, 19, and 22.
In addition, the role of the former World Anti-Communist League in the death squad activity in Central America was set forth in AFA #15.
In FTR#839, we presented Peter Levenda’s account of his visit to Colonia Dignidad in Chile–a Nazi encampment that served as an operational epicenter for Operation Condor, a CIA-assisted mass murder consortium composed of Latin American nations.
The essence of the Condor program was summed up by Argentinian General Antonio Domingo. (“Subversives” were killed for real or alleged: communism, atheism, Jewishness or union activities.) “. . . . First, we will kill all the subversives, then we will kill all of their collaborators, then those who sympathize with the subversives, then we kill those that remain indifferent, and finally we kill the timid. . . .”
A very, very important and superbly written and documented new book–The Jakarta Method: Washington’s Anticommunist Crusade & the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World by Vincent Bevins–chronicles the slaughter that the U.S. implemented in the developing world during the Cold War.
Listeners are emphatically encouraged to purchase and read the book.
Key Points of Discussion and Analysis Include: Review of the operational fundamentals of Operation Condor; the role of Colonia Dignidad as an epicenter of Condor activities; the 1976 Argentinian coup; the so-called “Dirty War” that followed that coup; the role in the Dirty War of Argentinian members of the P‑2 Lodge (Admiral Emilio Massera, Jose Lopez Rega); the assistance given by Ford Motor Company and Citibank in the murder of Argentinian union organizers; collaboration of the Argentinian and other Condor participants with the fascist “Stay Behind” armies set up by Frank Wisner; the assassination of Orlando Letelier in Washington D.C.; The close relationship between the countries of Central America; the acceleration in the 1960’s of the terror that had gripped Guatemala since the 1954 overthrow of Jacobo Arbenz; how the elimination of peaceful, pro-democracy activists and activism fed the growth of guerilla movements; the birth of the “White Hand” death squad; assistance given to the death squads by U.S. Green Berets; the practice of “disappearing” perceived political enemies or dissidents to terrorize their associates; the initiation of wholesale extermination of large populations of indigenous people; the nervousness and insecurity felt by the Guatemalan dictatorship following the ascent of the Sandinistas in Nicaragua; President Carter’s tamping down of U.S. assistance to Central American dictatorships; the pivoting of those dictatorships to gaining military aid and training from Israel and Taiwan; the training of the Contra rebels in Nicaragua by Argentine military death squad veterans; networking of Central American death squad personnel with Condor operatives in Franco’s Spain; Roberto D’Aubisson’s ascent in El Salvador; the assassination of Salvadoran Archbishop Romero; the massacre of over 900 residents of the El Salvadoran village of El Mozote; Ronald Reagan’s appointment of Elliot Abrams as Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights; Abrams’ characterization of The New York Times’ reportage on the El Mozote as “communist propaganda;” the role of The School of the Americas in the training of death squads; the military coup that brought Evangelical Christian Efrain Rios Montt to power in Guatemala; Rios Montt’s special affinity with Ronald Reagan; Rios Montt’s implementation of so-called “Model Villages;” the systematic destruction of the Guatemalan town of Ilom—part of the genocidal program enacted by the Guatemalan government against the indigenous Mayan population (termed genocide by Amnesty International).
The program concludes with a presentation of the points of view of the Guatemalan survivors of the liquidation campaigns, perhaps most expressively communicated by one Domingo: “ . . . . I asked them what communism was. Domingo, the owner of the bus, had this answer: ‘Well, they said they were communists and communists were dangerous. But actually, the government are the ones who did all the killing. So if anyone was dangerous, if anyone was ‘communist,’ it must be them. . . .’”
This program continues discussion of the Uyghurs/“Uighurs” and the destabilization of China. This ongoing effort is one of an array of covert and overt operations against China.
Discussed in numerous programs, the Uighurs (also spelled Uyghurs) are heavily overlapped with various fascist elements. All of these are present in the history of the World Uyghur Congress.
1.–The narco-fascist regime of Chiang Kai-shek.
2.–The Grey Wolves, youth wing of the National Action Party. The group was a key element of the Turkish “Stay Behind” movement.
3.–Various Islamic terrorist offshoots of the Muslim Brotherhood, including Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.
4.–The Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations milieu, directly evolved from the Third Reich and the Gehlen organization.
5.–The Dalai Lama and his SS/Third Reich heritage.
Of great significance, once again, is the decisive presence of the National Endowment for Democracy, a U.S. intelligence cut-out founded by William Casey.
American and Western media draw on an American regime-change operation for much of their coverage–that organization is the World Uyghur [“Uighur”] Congress and numerous subsidiary elements.
Exemplifying the WUC milieu is Rushan Abas: ” . . . . Another influential organization spun out of the WUC network is the Campaign for Uyghurs. This group is headed by Rushan Abbas, the former Vice President of the UAA. Promoted simply as a Uyghur ‘human rights activist’ by Western media outlets including the supposedly adversarial Democracy Now!, Abbas is, in fact, a longtime US government and military operative. Abbas boasts in her bio of her ‘extensive experience working with US government agencies, including Homeland Security, Department of Defense, Department of State, and various US intelligence agencies.’ While working for the military contractor L3 Technologies, Abbas served the US government and the Bush administration’s so-called war on terror as a ‘consultant at Guantanamo Bay supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.’ Abbas ‘also worked as a linguist and translator for several federal agencies including work for the US State Department in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and for President George W. Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush’. Like so many of her colleagues, Abbas enjoyed a stint at Radio Free Asia. While Abbas once shared her history of collaboration with the US government in the open, she has attempted to scrub biographic information from her online presence following a disastrous publicity appearance in December 2019. During a Reddit’s ‘Ask Me Anything’ question and answer forum, participants blasted Abbas as a ‘CIA asset’ and frequent US government collaborator, prompting her attempt to disappear her bio from the internet. . . .”
The ostensibly “peaceful’ intent of the WUC can be evaluated against the background of the comments of former WUC Vice-President Seyit Tumturk: ” . . . . In 2018, Tümturk declared that Chinese Uyghurs view Turkish ‘state requests as orders.’ He then proclaimed that hundreds of thousands of Chinese Uyghurs were ready to enlist in the Turkish army and join Turkey’s illegal and brutal invasion of Northern Syria ‘to fight for God’ – if ordered to do so by Erdogan. . . . Shortly after Tumturk’s comments, Uyghur militants dressed in Turkish military fatigues and on the Turkish side of the Syrian border released a video in which they threatened to wage war against China: ‘Listen you dog bastards, do you see this? We will triumph!’ one fighter exclaimed. ‘We will kill you all. Listen up Chinese civilians, get out of our East Turkestan. I am warning you. We shall return and we will be victorious.’ . . .”
The program concludes with a look at the political history of William Casey, on whose watch as CIA director many of the U.S. intelligence fronts involved with the Uyghur destabilization effort were developed.
Key Aspects of Analysis of Casey Include: Casey’s Wall Street legal background and the manner in which it dovetailed with William Donovan and the OSS (America’s World War II intelligence service); Casey’s networking with Landsdale and others involved with the recovery of Golden Lily loot, in the Philippines, in particular; Casey’s possible role as a key implementer of the Black Eagle Fund; Casey’s role in setting up Capital Cities, a company that eventually bought ABC in 1985; Casey’s position as Capital Cities’ largest stockholder, including in 1985, when he was CIA director; the probability that Capital Cities was an intelligence front; Casey’s key positions in the Nixon Administration–Chairman of the SEC, Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs and head of the Export-Import Bank; the probability that Casey was with CIA throughout his post-World War II career; Casey’s friendship with both Allen and John Foster Dulles; Casey’s knowledge of how to “privatize” the CIA; Casey’s role as the handler of Ferdinand Marcos and his Golden Lily bullion; Reagan’s signing of Executive Order 12333, authorizing the CIA to enter into private relationships with PMF’s (private military foundations) for intelligence purposes, while permitting those relationships to be kept secret.
The program begins with review of Nazi/Gehlen/ABN links to anti-China efforts in Hong Kong and Xinjiang province.
In numerous programs, we have noted international networking between the Ukrainian Nazi Azov Battalion and elements around the world:
Azov is part of the “Intermarium Revival” that is seen as using Nazification of the Ukraine “pivot point” as a springboard for a global Nazi takeover.
American Nazis and white supremacists are among the elements networking with Azov and then “bringing it all back home” to their native lands.
Azov Battalion and Pravy Sektor (“Right Sector”) elements have decamped to Hong Kong, networking with the so-called “Pro-Democracy” forces and working on behalf of EU NGOs. This was discussed in FTR #1103.
Azov’s Hong Kong compatriots have adopted the OUN/B slogan, now the official salute of the Ukrainian police and military. ” . . . . The interest has been mutual, with Hong Kong’s ‘democrats’ drawing inspiration from Ukraine’s pro-Western Euromaidan ‘revolution’ that has empowered far-right, fascistic forces. Hong Kong protesters have embraced the slogan ‘Glory to Hong Kong’, adapted from ‘Slava Ukrayini’ or ‘Glory to Ukraine’, a slogan invented by Ukrainian fascists and used by Nazi collaborators during WWII that was re-popularized by the Euromaidan movement. . . . ”
Joshua Wong–“boy wonder” and darling of the American MSM–has doubled down on affinity with Ukraine: ” . . . . ‘No matter the differences between Ukraine and Hong Kong, our fights for freedom and democracy are the same,’ Joshua Wong told The Kyiv Post in 2019. ‘[W]e have to learn from Ukrainians… and show solidarity. Ukraine confronted the force of Russia — we are facing the force of Beijing.’ . . . .”
The Hong Kong iteration of the OUN/UPA salute has become an anthem. In its coverage of the banning of that song by the Chinese authorities, The New York Times [predictably] fails to discuss the heritage of the slogan/song, nor the nature of the Ukrainian Nazi “troubadours” who brought it to Hong Kong.
In this context, it is important to remember that the National Endowment for Democracy–a U.S. intelligence “cut-out” founded by former CIA director William Casey–has helped finance the “pro-Democracy” forces in Hong Kong.
One of the leading propagandists concerning “mass incarceration of the Uighurs” is Adrian Zenz, a dogmatic End Times Christian, German national and “senior fellow in China studies at the far-right Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, which was established by the US government in 1983.”
The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation is an offshoot of the milieu of the OUN/B. ” . . . . an outgrowth of the National Captive Nations Committee, a group founded by Ukrainian nationalist Lev Dobriansky to lobby against any effort for detente with the Soviet Union. Its co-chairman, Yaroslav Stetsko, was a top leader of the fascist OUN‑B militia that fought alongside Nazi Germany during its occupation of Ukraine in World War Two. . . .” A key figure in the Azov Battalion (elements of which were present in Hong Kong) is Roman Zvarych, the personal secretary for Stetsko in the early 1980’s.
” . . . . formerly Yaroslav Stetsko’s private secretary, the U.S.-born Roman Zvarych (1953), represents a younger generation of the Ukrainian émigré community active during the Cold War and a direct link from the ABN to the Azov Battalion. . . . Zvarych participated in the activities of the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations in the 1980s. . . . In February 2005, after Viktor Yushchenko’s election, Zvarych was appointed Minister of Justice. . . . According to Andriy Biletsky, the first commander of the Azov battalion, a civil paramilitary unit created in the wake of the Euromaidan, Zvarych was head of the headquarters of the Azov Central Committee in 2015 and supported the Azov battalion with ‘volunteers’ and political advice through his Zvarych Foundation. . . .”
Networking with Isa Yusuf Alptekin at the Bandung (Indonesia) conference was Ruzi (or “Ruzy”) Nazar, an Uzbek national who fought in various Third Reich military formations, including the SS Dirlewanger Brigade. After the war, Nazar was a CIA operative networking with the National Action Party (or National Movement Party) of Alparslan Turkes.
Nazar represented the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations at the 1984 WACL conference in Dallas.
Discussed in numerous programs, the Uighurs (also spelled Uyghurs) are heavily overlapped with various fascist elements. All of these are present in the history of the World Uyghur Congress.
1.–The narco-fascist regime of Chiang Kai-shek.
2.–The Grey Wolves, youth wing of the National Action Party. The group was a key element of the Turkish “Stay Behind” movement.
3.–Various Islamic terrorist offshoots of the Muslim Brotherhood, including Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.
4.–As seen above, the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations milieu, directly evolved from the Third Reich and the Gehlen organization.
5.–The SS/CIA/Third Reich milieu of the Dalai Lama.
Of great significance, once again, is the decisive presence of the National Endowment for Democracy, a U.S. intelligence cut-out founded by William Casey.
American and Western media draw on an American regime-change operation for much of their coverage–that organization is the World Uyghur [“Uighur”] Congress and numerous subsidiary elements.
Exemplifying the WUC milieu is Rushan Abas: ” . . . . Another influential organization spun out of the WUC network is the Campaign for Uyghurs. This group is headed by Rushan Abbas, the former Vice President of the UAA. Promoted simply as a Uyghur ‘human rights activist’ by Western media outlets including the supposedly adversarial Democracy Now!, Abbas is, in fact, a longtime US government and military operative. Abbas boasts in her bio of her ‘extensive experience working with US government agencies, including Homeland Security, Department of Defense, Department of State, and various US intelligence agencies.’ While working for the military contractor L3 Technologies, Abbas served the US government and the Bush administration’s so-called war on terror as a ‘consultant at Guantanamo Bay supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.’ Abbas ‘also worked as a linguist and translator for several federal agencies including work for the US State Department in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and for President George W. Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush’. Like so many of her colleagues, Abbas enjoyed a stint at Radio Free Asia. While Abbas once shared her history of collaboration with the US government in the open, she has attempted to scrub biographic information from her online presence following a disastrous publicity appearance in December 2019. During a Reddit’s ‘Ask Me Anything’ question and answer forum, participants blasted Abbas as a ‘CIA asset’ and frequent US government collaborator, prompting her attempt to disappear her bio from the internet. . . .”
The ostensibly “peaceful’ intent of the WUC can be evaluated against the background of the comments of former WUC Vice-President Seyit Tumturk: ” . . . . In 2018, Tümturk declared that Chinese Uyghurs view Turkish ‘state requests as orders.’ He then proclaimed that hundreds of thousands of Chinese Uyghurs were ready to enlist in the Turkish army and join Turkey’s illegal and brutal invasion of Northern Syria “to fight for God” – if ordered to do so by Erdogan. . . . Shortly after Tumturk’s comments, Uyghur militants dressed in Turkish military fatigues and on the Turkish side of the Syrian border released a video in which they threatened to wage war against China: ‘Listen you dog bastards, do you see this? We will triumph!’ one fighter exclaimed. ‘We will kill you all. Listen up Chinese civilians, get out of our East Turkestan. I am warning you. We shall return and we will be victorious.’ . . .”
Providing political context for the Covid-19 outbreak, the next three programs explore the propagandizing of the Uighur (also spelled “Uyghur”) population of Xinjiang province. The alleged detention of “millions” of Uighurs in Xinjiang province has been the foundation for U.S. economic sanctions against China. It has been a major propaganda vehicle as well.
(We have followed the Uighurs and the destabilization of China for years, beginning with FTR #348.)
One should not fail to note that the efforts of “Team Uighur” are part of the full court press against China
Like the so-called “pro-democracy” movement in Hong Kong, the organizations that makeup “Team Uighur” are inextricably linked with U.S. intelligence. (We discussed the National Endowment for Democracy’s funding of the “pro-Democracy movement” in Hong Kong in FTR #‘s 1091, 1092 and 1093. NED was founded by William Casey, who was deeply involved with the creation of many of the other U.S. intelligence fronts and affiliates that have generated the Uighur propaganda.)
At a deeper historical level, “Team Uighur” is inextricably linked with the generating forces of international fascism.
The Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders receives financing from the National Endowment for Democracy. The Jamestown Foundation–another element in “Team Uighur” also has its genesis with William Casey and the Reagan administration. The widely repeated “study” generated by the NCHRD is based on interviews of eight individuals–this in an are with a population of 20 million. ” . . . . In a 2018 report submitted to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination – often misrepresented in Western media as a UN-authored report – CHRD ‘estimate[d] that roughly one million members of ethnic Uyghurs have been sent to ‘re-education’ detention camps and roughly two million have been forced to attend ‘re-education’ programs in Xinjiang.’ According to CHRD, this figure was ‘[b]ased on interviews and limited data.’ While CHRD states that it interviewed dozens of ethnic Uyghurs in the course of its study, their enormous estimate was ultimately based on interviews with exactly eight Uyghur individuals. . . .”
One of the leading propagandists concerning “mass incarceration of the Uighurs” is Adrian Zenz, a dogmatic End Times Christian, German national and “senior fellow in China studies at the far-right Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, which was established by the US government in 1983.”
The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation is an offshoot of the milieu of the OUN/B. ” . . . . an outgrowth of the National Captive Nations Committee, a group founded by Ukrainian nationalist Lev Dobriansky to lobby against any effort for detente with the Soviet Union. Its co-chairman, Yaroslav Stetsko, was a top leader of the fascist OUN‑B militia that fought alongside Nazi Germany during its occupation of Ukraine in World War Two. . . .” A key figure in the Azov Battalion (elements of which were present in Hong Kong) is Roman Zvarych, the personal secretary for Stetsko in the early 1980’s.
” . . . . formerly Yaroslav Stetsko’s private secretary, the U.S.-born Roman Zvarych (1953), represents a younger generation of the Ukrainian émigré community active during the Cold War and a direct link from the ABN to the Azov Battalion. . . . Zvarych participated in the activities of the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations in the 1980s. . . . In February 2005, after Viktor Yushchenko’s election, Zvarych was appointed Minister of Justice. . . . According to Andriy Biletsky, the first commander of the Azov battalion, a civil paramilitary unit created in the wake of the Euromaidan, Zvarych was head of the headquarters of the Azov Central Committee in 2015 and supported the Azov battalion with ‘volunteers’ and political advice through his Zvarych Foundation. . . .”
Zenz has also generated his figures from highly questionable sources: ” . . . . Like the CHRD, Zenz arrived at his estimate ‘over 1 million’ in a dubious manner. He based it on a single report by Istiqlal TV, a Uyghur exile media organization based in Turkey . . . . Far from an impartial journalistic organization, Istiqlal TV advances the separatist cause while playing host to an assortment of extremist figures. One such character who often appears on Istiqlal TV is Abdulkadir Yapuquan, a reported leader of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), a separatist group that aims to establish an independent homeland in Xinjiang called East Turkestan. . . .”
The “pro-Democracy” movement in Hong Kong also features Ukrainian Nazi elements–part of what we have called the “Earth Island Boogie.”
In numerous programs, we have noted international networking between the Ukrainian Nazi Azov Battalion and elements around the world:
1.–Azov is part of the “Intermarium Revival” that is seen as using Nazification of the Ukraine “pivot point” as a springboard for a global Nazi takeover.
2.–American Nazis and white supremacists are among the elements networking with Azov and then “bringing it all back home” to their native lands.
3.–Azov Battalion and Pravy Sektor (“Right Sector”) elements have decamped to Hong Kong, networking with the so-called “Pro-Democracy” forces and working on behalf of EU NGOs. This was discussed in FTR #1103.
Azov’s Hong Kong compatriots have adopted the OUN/B slogan, now the official salute of the Ukrainian police and military. ” . . . . The interest has been mutual, with Hong Kong’s ‘democrats’ drawing inspiration from Ukraine’s pro-Western Euromaidan ‘revolution’ that has empowered far-right, fascistic forces. Hong Kong protesters have embraced the slogan ‘Glory to Hong Kong’, adapted from ‘Slava Ukrayini’ or ‘Glory to Ukraine’, a slogan invented by Ukrainian fascists and used by Nazi collaborators during WWII that was re-popularized by the Euromaidan movement. . . . ”
Joshua Wong–“boy wonder” and darling of the American MSM–has doubled down on affinity with Ukraine: ” . . . . ‘No matter the differences between Ukraine and Hong Kong, our fights for freedom and democracy are the same,’ Joshua Wong told The Kyiv Post in 2019. ‘[W]e have to learn from Ukrainians… and show solidarity. Ukraine confronted the force of Russia — we are facing the force of Beijing.’ . . . .”
The program concludes with attenuated discussion of Third Reich veteran and CIA officer Ruzi (also “Ruzy”) Nazar. A veteran of the SS Dirlewanger Brigade, Nazar was liaising with the fascist National Action Party (also “National Movement Party”) of Alparslan Turkes at the time its Grey Wolves cadre was involved with shooting the Pope, an act that appears to have been a provocation.
In AFA #‘s 14 and 21, we noted that Nazar represented the Anti Bolshevik Bloc of Nations at the 1984 WACL conference in Dallas, Texas.
In a previous post, we noted the “pro-Democracy” elements in Hong Kong having adapted the salute of the Ukrainian fascist OUN/B (and their UPA combatant wing) “Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the Heroes!” to their political lexicon. This followed the decampment of elements of the Ukrainian Nazi Azov Battalion and Pravy Sektor (Right Sector) to Hong Kong. Their Eastern sojourn was underwritten by an EU NGO. Azov’s Hong Kong compatriots have adopted the OUN/B slogan, now the official salute of the Ukrainian police and military. ” . . . . The interest has been mutual, with Hong Kong’s ‘democrats’ drawing inspiration from Ukraine’s pro-Western Euromaidan ‘revolution’ that has empowered far-right, fascistic forces. Hong Kong protesters have embraced the slogan ‘Glory to Hong Kong’, adapted from ‘Slava Ukrayini’ or ‘Glory to Ukraine’, a slogan invented by Ukrainian fascists and used by Nazi collaborators during WWII that was re-popularized by the Euromaidan movement. . . . ” The Hong Kong iteration of the OUN/UPA salute has become an anthem. In its coverage of the banning of that song by the Chinese authorities, “The New York Times” [predictably] fails to discuss the heritage of the slogan/song, nor the nature of the Ukrainian Nazi “troubadours” who brought it to Hong Kong.
This program supplements past coverage of Facebook in FTR #‘s 718, 946, 1021, 1039 noting how Facebook has networked with the very Hindutva fascist Indian elements and OUN/B successor organizations in Ukraine. This networking has been–ostensibly to combat fake news. The reality may well highlight that the Facebook/BJP-RSS/OUN/B links generates fake news, rather than interdicting it. The fake news so generated, however, will be to the liking of the fascists in power in both countries, manifesting as a “Serpent’s Walk” revisionist scenario.
Key elements of discussion and analysis include:
1.–Indian politics has been largely dominated by fake news, spread by social media: ” . . . . In the continuing Indian elections, as 900 million people are voting to elect representatives to the lower house of the Parliament, disinformation and hate speech are drowning out truth on social media networks in the country and creating a public health crisis like the pandemics of the past century. This contagion of a staggering amount of morphed images, doctored videos and text messages is spreading largely through messaging services and influencing what India’s voters watch and read on their smartphones. A recent study by Microsoft found that over 64 percent Indians encountered fake news online, the highest reported among the 22 countries surveyed. . . . These platforms are filled with fake news and disinformation aimed at influencing political choices during the Indian elections. . . . ”
2.–Narendra Modi’s Hindutva fascist BJP has been the primary beneficiary of fake news, and his regime has partnered with Facebook: ” . . . . The hearing was an exercise in absurdist theater because the governing B.J.P. has been the chief beneficiary of divisive content that reaches millions because of the way social media algorithms, especially Facebook, amplify ‘engaging’ articles. . . .”
3.–Rajesh Jain is among those BJP functionaries who serve Facebook, as well as the Hindutva fascists: ” . . . . By the time Rajesh Jain was scaling up his operations in 2013, the BJP’s information technology (IT) strategists had begun interacting with social media platforms like Facebook and its partner WhatsApp. If supporters of the BJP are to be believed, the party was better than others in utilising the micro-targeting potential of the platforms. However, it is also true that Facebook’s employees in India conducted training workshops to help the members of the BJP’s IT cell. . . .”
4.–Dr. Hiren Joshi is another of the BJP operatives who is heavily involved with Facebook. ” . . . . Also assisting the social media and online teams to build a larger-than-life image for Modi before the 2014 elections was a team led by his right-hand man Dr Hiren Joshi, who (as already stated) is a very important adviser to Modi whose writ extends way beyond information technology and social media. . . . Joshi has had, and continues to have, a close and long-standing association with Facebook’s senior employees in India. . . .”
5.–Shivnath Thukral, who was hired by Facebook in 2017 to be its Public Policy Director for India & South Asia, worked with Joshi’s team in 2014. ” . . . . The third team, that was intensely focused on building Modi’s personal image, was headed by Hiren Joshi himself who worked out of the then Gujarat Chief Minister’s Office in Gandhinagar. The members of this team worked closely with staffers of Facebook in India, more than one of our sources told us. As will be detailed later, Shivnath Thukral, who is currently an important executive in Facebook, worked with this team. . . .”
6.–An ostensibly remorseful BJP politician–Prodyut Bora–highlighted the dramatic effect of Facebook and its WhatsApp subsidiary have had on India’s politics: ” . . . . In 2009, social media platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp had a marginal impact in India’s 20 big cities. By 2014, however, it had virtually replaced the traditional mass media. In 2019, it will be the most pervasive media in the country. . . .”
7.–A concise statement about the relationship between the BJP and Facebook was issued by BJP tech office Vinit Goenka: ” . . . . At one stage in our interview with [Vinit] Goenka that lasted over two hours, we asked him a pointed question: ‘Who helped whom more, Facebook or the BJP?’ He smiled and said: ‘That’s a difficult question. I wonder whether the BJP helped Facebook more than Facebook helped the BJP. You could say, we helped each other.’ . . .”
In Ukraine, as well, Facebook and the OUN/B successor organizations function symbiotically:
(Note that the Atlantic Council is dominant in the array of individuals and institutions constituting the Ukrainian fascist/Facebook cooperative effort. We have spoken about the Atlantic Council in numerous programs, including FTR #943. The organization has deep operational links to elements of U.S. intelligence, as well as the OUN/B milieu that dominates the Ukrainian diaspora.)
Overlapping cybersecurity outfit CrowdStrike, the Atlantic Council has been at the forefront of the “Russia” was behind the high-profile hacks meme:
CrowdStrike–at the epicenter of the supposed Russian hacking controversy is noteworthy. Its co-founder and chief technology officer, Dmitry Alperovitch is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, financed by elements that are at the foundation of fanning the flames of the New Cold War: “In this respect, it is worth noting that one of the commercial cybersecurity companies the government has relied on is Crowdstrike, which was one of the companies initially brought in by the DNC to investigate the alleged hacks. . . . Dmitri Alperovitch is also a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. . . . The connection between [Crowdstrike co-founder and chief technology officer Dmitri] Alperovitch and the Atlantic Council has gone largely unremarked upon, but it is relevant given that the Atlantic Council—which is is funded in part by the US State Department, NATO, the governments of Latvia and Lithuania, the Ukrainian World Congress, and the Ukrainian oligarch Victor Pinchuk—has been among the loudest voices calling for a new Cold War with Russia. As I pointed out in the pages of The Nation in November, the Atlantic Council has spent the past several years producing some of the most virulent specimens of the new Cold War propaganda. . . . ”
In May of 2018, Facebook decided to effectively outsource the work of identifying propaganda and misinformation during elections to the Atlantic Council, so choosing someone like Kruk who already has the Atlantic Council’s stamp of approval is in keeping with that trend:
” . . . . Facebook is partnering with the Atlantic Council in another effort to combat election-related propaganda and misinformation from proliferating on its service. The social networking giant said Thursday that a partnership with the Washington D.C.-based think tank would help it better spot disinformation during upcoming world elections. The partnership is one of a number of steps Facebook is taking to prevent the spread of propaganda and fake news after failing to stop it from spreading on its service in the run up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election. . . .”
Since autumn 2018, Facebook has looked to hire a public policy manager for Ukraine. The job came after years of Ukrainians criticizing the platform for takedowns of its activists’ pages and the spread of [alleged] Russian disinfo targeting Kyiv. Now, it appears to have one: @Kateryna_Kruk.— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) June 3, 2019
Kateryna Kruk:
1.–Is Facebook’s Public Policy Manager for Ukraine as of May of this year, according to her LinkedIn page.
2.–Worked as an analyst and TV host for the Ukrainian ‘anti-Russian propaganda’ outfit StopFake. StopFake is the creation of Irena Chalupa, who works for the Atlantic Council and the Ukrainian government and appears to be the sister of Andrea and Alexandra Chalupa.
3.–Joined the “Kremlin Watch” team at the European Values think-tank, in October of 2017.
4.–Received the Atlantic Council’s Freedom award for her communications work during the Euromaidan protests in June of 2014.
5.–Worked for OUN/B successor organization Svoboda during the Euromaidan protests. “ . . . ‘There are people who don’t support Svoboda because of some of their slogans, but they know it’s the most active political party and go to them for help, said Svoboda volunteer Kateryna Kruk. . . . ”
6.–Also has a number of articles on the Atlantic Council’s Blog. Here’s a blog post from August of 2018 where she advocates for the creation of an independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church to diminish the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church.
7.–According to her LinkedIn page has also done extensive work for the Ukrainian government. From March 2016 to January 2017 she was the Strategic Communications Manager for the Ukrainian parliament where she was responsible for social media and international communications. From January-April 2017 she was the Head of Communications at the Ministry of Health.
8.–Was not only was a volunteer for Svoboda during the 2014 Euromaidan protests, but openly celebrated on twitter the May 2014 massacre in Odessa when the far right burned dozens of protestors alive. Kruk’s twitter feed is set to private now so there isn’t public access to her old tweet, but people have screen captures of it. Here’s a tweet from Yasha Levine with a screenshot of Kruk’s May 2, 2014 tweet where she writes: “#Odessa cleaned itself from terrorists, proud for city fighting for its identity.glory to fallen heroes..” She even threw in a “glory to fallen heroes” at the end of her tweet celebrating this massacre. Keep in mind that it was month after this tweet that the Atlantic Council gave her that Freedom Award for her communications work during the protests.
9.–In 2014, . . . tweeted that a man had asked her to convince his grandson not to join the Azov Battalion, a neo-Nazi militia. “I couldn’t do it,” she said. “I thanked that boy and blessed him.” And he then traveled to Luhansk to fight pro-Russian rebels.
10.–Lionized a Nazi sniper killed in Ukraine’s civil war. In March 2018, a 19-year neo-Nazi named Andriy “Dilly” Krivich was shot and killed by a sniper. Krivich had been fighting with the fascist Ukrainian group Right Sector, and had posted photos on social media wearing Nazi German symbols. After he was killed, Kruk tweeted an homage to the teenage Nazi. (The Nazi was also lionized on Euromaidan Press’ Facebook page.)
11.–Has staunchly defended the use of the slogan “Slava Ukraini,”which was first coined and popularized by Nazi-collaborating fascists, and is now the official salute of Ukraine’s army.
12.–Has also said that the Ukrainian fascist politician Andriy Parubiy, who co-founded a neo-Nazi party before later becoming the chairman of Ukraine’s parliament the Rada, is “acting smart,” writing, “Parubiy touche.” . . . .
In the context of Facebook’s institutional level networking with fascists, it is worth noting that social media themselves have been cited as a contributing factor to right-wing domestic terrorism. ” . . . The first is stochastic terrorism: ‘The use of mass, public communication, usually against a particular individual or group, which incites or inspires acts of terrorism which are statistically probable but happen seemingly at random.’ I encountered the idea in a Friday thread from data scientist Emily Gorcenski, who used it to tie together four recent attacks. . . . .”
The program concludes with review (from FTR #1039) of the psychological warfare strategy adapted by Cambridge Analytica to the political arena. Christopher Wylie–the former head of research at Cambridge Analytica who became one of the key insider whistle-blowers about how Cambridge Analytica operated and the extent of Facebook’s knowledge about it–gave an interview to Campaign Magazine. (We dealt with Cambridge Analytica in FTR #‘s 946, 1021.) Wylie recounts how, as director of research at Cambridge Analytica, his original role was to determine how the company could use the information warfare techniques used by SCL Group – Cambridge Analytica’s parent company and a defense contractor providing psy op services for the British military. Wylie’s job was to adapt the psychological warfare strategies that SCL had been using on the battlefield to the online space. As Wylie put it:
“ . . . . When you are working in information operations projects, where your target is a combatant, the autonomy or agency of your targets is not your primary consideration. It is fair game to deny and manipulate information, coerce and exploit any mental vulnerabilities a person has, and to bring out the very worst characteristics in that person because they are an enemy…But if you port that over to a democratic system, if you run campaigns designed to undermine people’s ability to make free choices and to understand what is real and not real, you are undermining democracy and treating voters in the same way as you are treating terrorists. . . . .”
Wylie also draws parallels between the psychological operations used on democratic audiences and the battlefield techniques used to be build an insurgency.
We have covered the origin, activities and expansion of the Ukrainian Nazi Azov Battalion in numerous programs. Part of the Ukrainain armed forces, this Nazi unit:
1.-Has spawned a civil militia which achieved police powers in many Ukrainian cities. “. . . . But Ukraine observers and rights groups are sounding the alarm, because this was not a typical commencement, and the men are not police officers. They are far-right ultranationalists from the Azov movement, a controversial group with a military wing that has openly accepted self-avowed neo-Nazis, and a civil and political faction that has demonstrated intolerance toward minority groups. . . .”
2.–Has as its spokesman Roman Zvarych. In the 1980’s, Zvarych was the personal secretary to Jaroslav Stetzko, the wartime head of the Nazi collaborationist government in Ukraine. Stetzko implemented Nazi ethnic cleansing in Ukraine during World War II.
3.–Wields influence with in the Ministry of the Interior through Vadim Troyan, the former deputy commander of Azov who is now deputy minister of the interior. ” . . . . The deputy minister of the Interior—which controls the National Police—is Vadim Troyan, a veteran of Azov and Patriot of Ukraine. . . . Today, he’s deputy of the department running US-trained law enforcement in the entire nation. Earlier this month, RFE reported on National Police leadership admiring Stepan Bandera—a Nazi collaborator and Fascist whose troops participated in the Holocaust—on social media. The fact that Ukraine’s police is peppered with far-right supporters explains why neo-Nazis operate with impunity on the streets. . . .”
3.–Gets arms and training from the U.S., despite official restrictions on such activity. ” . . . . The research group Bellingcat proved that Azov had already received access to American grenade launchers, while a Daily Beast investigation showed that US trainers are unable to prevent aid from reaching white supremacists. And Azov itself had proudly posted a video of the unit welcoming NATO representatives. . . .”
4.–Is fulfilling their strategy of networking with Nazi and fascist elements abroad, including the U.S. ” . . . . FBI Special Agent Scott Bierwirth, in the criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday, noted that Right Brand Clothing’s Instagram page contained a photo of RAM members meeting with Olena Semenyaka, a leading figure within the fascist, neo-Nazi scene in Eastern Europe. In Ukraine, Semenyaka is an important voice within the Militant Zone and National Corps organizations and the Pan-European Reconquista movement, all of which have ties to the notorious Azov Battalion. Bierwirth said Azov Battalion, now a piece of the Ukrainian National Guard, is known for neo-Nazi symbolism and ideology and has participated in training and radicalizing U.S.-based white supremacist organizations. . . . .”
5.–Is networking with members of a group called RAM, some of whom were arrested by the FBI upon their return from Europe. violence.
6.–Is utilizing Ukraine’s visa-free status with the EU to network with other European fascist groups. ” . . . . ‘Their English has gotten better,’ Hrytsenko said, referring to Azov members behind the group’s Western outreach. . . . . Another thing that has helped, Hrytsenko noted, is that Ukraine’s break from Russia and move toward the European Union has allowed Ukrainians visa-free travel, making Azov’s outreach easier logistically. . . . .”
7.–Is looking to connect with more “respectable” European right-wing groups than they have in the past, this as a possible vehicle for Ukraine’s entry into the EU. ” . . . . Skillt, the Swedish national who fought as a sniper in the Azov Battalion, is one of them [critics]. ‘I don’t mind [Azov] reaching out, but the ones they reach out to… Jesus,’ he told RFE/RL, in an allusion to RAM. He added that he had recently distanced himself from Azov because of that association and others with far-right groups in Europe. Skillt, who runs a private intelligence agency in Kyiv and said his clients ‘really don’t enjoy bad company,’ argued that the group has made a mistake by not reaching out more to right-wing conservatives who could help with ‘influential contacts in Europe [so] you don’t get branded a neo-Nazi.’ But Semenyaka described praise of Azov from foreign ultranationalist groups who are increasingly welcoming it as evidence that the organization is taking the right path. And she said it isn’t about to let up. Next, she said, Azov hopes to win over larger, more mainstream far-right and populist Western political forces who ‘can be our potential sympathizers.’ ‘If crises like Brexit and the refugee problem continue, in this case, partnerships with nationalist groups in Europe can be a kind of platform for our entry into the European Union.’ . . . ”
8.–Was awarded the job of election monitoring by the Ukrainian government in their recent elections. ” . . . . They are the ultranationalist National Militia, street vigilantes with roots in the battle-tested Azov Battalion that emerged to defend Ukraine against Russia-backed separatists but was also accused of possible war crimes and neo-Nazi sympathies. Yet despite the controversy surrounding it, the National Militia was granted permission by the Central Election Commission to officially monitor Ukraine’s presidential election on March 31. . . .”
Supplementing discussion about the Azov milieu networking with foreign fascists, we note that alleged Christchurch, New Zealand, shooter Brent Tarrant had apparently networked with Azov during a visit to Ukraine:
1.–Brent Tarrant, allege Christchurch, New Zealand, Mosque shooter, had apparently visited Ukraine. ” . . . . His manifesto alludes to visits to Poland, Ukraine, Iceland and Argentina as well. . . .”
2.–Tarrant may have been a beneficiary of the aforementioned visa-free travel that EU association has for Ukraine. “. . . . Three quarters of them say the country is headed in the wrong direction, despite the fact that Ukraine has moved closer to Europe (it now has visa-free travel to the EU, for instance). . . .”
3.–Even “The New York Times” noted the possible contact between Azov and Tarrant. “. . . . The Ukrainian far right also appears to have ties in other countries. Australian Brenton Tarrant, accused of slaughtering 50 people at two mosques in the city of Christchurch in New Zealand, mentioned a visit to Ukraine in his manifesto, and some reports alleged that he had contacts with the ultra-right. The Soufan Center, a research group specializing on security, has recently alleged possible links between Tarrant and the Azov Battalion. . . .”
4.–A private intelligence group–the Soufan Center–has linked Tarrant to the Azov Battalion. ” . . . . .In the wake of the New Zealand mosque attacks, links have emerged between the shooter, Brent Tarrant, and a Ukrainian ultra-nationalist, white supremacist paramilitary organization called the Azov Battalion. Tarrant’s manifesto alleges that he visited the country during his many travels abroad, and the flak jacket that Tarrant wore during the assault featured a symbol commonly used by the Azov Battalion. . . .”
Concluding with a piece of grotesque, unintentional comedy, “The New York Times” cited the fact that Mr. Zelensky, the new Ukrainian president, is a non-practicing Jew as proof that Russian statements about Ukraine being dominated by Nazis and anti-Semites is nothing but propaganda. The fact that the Azov’s Nationa Corps militia served as election monitors was not mentioned. ” . . . . the near total silence on his Jewish background has demolished a favorite trope of Russian propaganda — that Ukraine is awash with neo-Nazis intent on creating a Slavic version of the Third Reich. . . .”
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