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. The Ukrainian Nazi influence has taken hold in Hong Kong: ” . . . . 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. . . . ” Azov appears to have influence in Brazil, as well, allegedly having recruited fighters from that country: ” . . . . The country’s simmering neo-Nazi movement, with its secret world of swastikas, hate propaganda and street violence, was being recruited by rightwing extremists in Ukraine to fight against pro-Russian rebels in the European country’s civil war. Ukraine’s Misanthropic Division, an extreme right group aligned with the Azov Battalion, an ultranationalist paramilitary group aligned with Kiev, was behind the recruitment drive, Mr Jardim, Brazil’s foremost neo-Nazi hunter, alleged. . . .”
In these programs, we continue discussion of the Azov milieu and its “Intermarium” outreach, in the context of Ukraine as a “pivot point” central to control of the World Island or Earth Island. The evolution of the Intermarium concept is fundamental to analysis of this phenomenon.
Ukraine’s significance as a global epicenter of burgeoning fascism extends to the region’s online, ideological and iconic manifestation. Two recent Canadian teens–Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky–who apparently killed three people in cold blood were influenced by Nazi culture and Azov Battalion manifestation in particular. ” . . . . A Steam user confirmed to The Globe and Mail that he talked to Mr. Schmegelsky regularly online. He recalled Mr. McLeod joining their chats as well. The user, whom The Globe is not identifying, provided photos sent by an account believed to be owned by Mr. Schmegelsky, showing him in military fatigues, brandishing what appears to be an airsoft rifle – which fires plastic pellets. Another photo shows a swastika armband, and yet another features Mr. Schmegelsky in a gas mask. The photos were reportedly sent in the fall of 2018, but the user said he stopped playing online games with Mr. Schmegelsky earlier this year after he continued to praise Hitler’s Germany. One account connected to the teens uses the logo of the Azov Battalion, a far-right Ukrainian militia that has been accused of harbouring sympathies to neo-Nazis. . . .”
Discussing Zbigniew Brzezinski’s doctrine of controlling Eurasia by controlling the “pivot point” of Ukraine. Fundamental to this analysis is the concept of the Earth Island or World Island as it is sometimes known.
Brzezinski, in turn, draws on the geopolitical theories of Sir Halford Mackinder, and, later contemporary Intermarium adovcates such as Alexandros Petersen.
Stretching from the Straits of Gibraltar, all across Europe, most of the Middle East, Eurasia, Russia, China and India, that stretch of land: comprises most of the world’s land mass; contains most of the world’s population and most of the world’s natural resources (including oil and natural gas.) Geopoliticians have long seen controlling that land mass as the key to world domination.
Most of the three programs highlighting the evolution and application of the Intermarium concept consist of reading and analysis of a long academic paper by Marlene Laruelle and Ellen Rivera. Of paramount significance in this discussion is the pivotal role of Ukrainian fascist organizations in the Intermarium and closely connected Promethean networks, from the post World War I period, through the time between the World Wars, through the Cold War and up to and including the Maidan coup.
Military, economic and political networking has employed the Intermarium idea, with what the paper terms the “ideological underpinnings” stemming from the evolution of the Ukrainian fascist milieu in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Some of the most important U.S. think tanks and associated military individuals and institutions embody this continuity: ” . . . . The continuity of institutional and individual trajectories from Second World War collaborationists to Cold War-era anti-communist organizations to contemporary conservative U.S. think tanks is significant for the ideological underpinnings of today’s Intermarium revival. . . .”
Program Highlights Include: Review of the incorporation of the Gehlen “Org” into the U.S. and Western intelligence apparatus; the key presence of the OUN/B and other Eastern European fascist groups into the Gehlen outfit; approval given to Gehlen for his deal with the Americans by Admiral Doenitz (who succeeded Hitler) and General Franz Halder (Gehlen’s “former” chief of staff); the incorporation of the OUN/B/Gehlen/ABN milieu into the Republican Party via the Crusade For Freedom; the key roles in the CFF played by Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, William Casey and George H.W. Bush; Allen Dulles and William Donovan’s wartime collusion with Nazi Germany to craft the Christian West entity; the formation of the Black Eagle Trust by John J. McCloy, Robert Lovett and Robert B. Anderson (this assured the continuity of both Japanese fascism and German Nazism in the postwar period).
This program continues analysis of the Azov milieu’s networking with fascist indidviduals and organizations at an individual level, at an organizational level and online.
Embracing “lone wolf” fascists around the world, as well as networking with fascist organizations and combatants who have joined the war in Ukraine’s Eastern provinces, Azov is recapitulating the “Intermarium” concept, minted by Polish head of state Josef Pilsudski in the period between the World Wars. Working with Croatians aligned with the “Neo-Ustachi’ milieu we have covered in many past programs, Azov is seeking to develop a nascent Eastern and Central European alliance of fascist and reactionary elements.
Of particular interest is the significance of the Ukrainian and Croatian fascist alliance, which will be explored at greater length in future programs.
Other programs highlighting the return of the Ustachi to power in the “new” Croatia include: FTR #‘s 49, 154, 766, 901.
Next, we note that The FBI arrested a US Army soldier for planning domestic terror attacks. Jarrett William Smith–charged with one count of distributing information related to explosives and weapons of mass destruction.
Smith has been in contact with the Azov Battalion. As early as 2016, he talked about traveling to Ukraine to join Azov. He joined the US military instead in June of 2017. After joining the military, Smith used Facebook to connect with another American who had traveled to Ukraine in 2017 to 2019 to fight with a group similar to Azov, which appears to be Pravy Sektor. This American reportedly acted as Smith’s mentor.
Using the encrypted messaging app Telegram, Smith discussed with an undercover FBI agent his plans for a car bomb attack against an unnamed major cable news network’s headquarters and distributed bomb-making materials. He also talked about attacks against members of antifa and interested in finding like-minded individuals to help him.
Looking ahead to other articles below, we note that: “. . . . Earlier this month, former FBI agent Ali Soufan, who runs the global security firm the Soufan Center, testified that 17,000 foreigners, including from the U.S. have traveled to Ukraine in recent years to gain paramilitary skills there. They fought alongside far-right groups like Azov and were returning home with those new skills. . . .”
Updating the story of Jarrett William Smith, we note:
1.–Smith’s apparent mentor is Craig Lang, another US Army vet.
2.–Craig Lang joined Right Sector, and then the Georgian National Legion in the Ukrainian civil war.
3.–Lang, along with fellow Army vet Alex Zwiefelhofer, is accused of robbing and killing the couple in an effort to get money to travel to Venezuela to “participate in an armed conflict against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.”
4.–After leaving Right Sector he joined the Georgian National Legion, which is also fighting in Ukraine.
5.–In previous programs, we have highlighted the apparent role of Georgian snipers in the Maidan provocation, the temporary role of former Georgian president Saakashvili as governor of Odessa, as well as UNA-UNSO combat activity in Georgia’s war with Russia. (UNA-UNSO is a branch of the UNA.)
6.–Zwiefelhofer also fought with Right Sector.
7.–The article below states that Lang and Smith were in contact in 2016, which is a year before Smith joined the US Army.
8.–The previous Vice article stated that the FBI said Smith got into contact with Lang after he joined the US Army in June of 2017.
9.–According to a June 23, 2016, conversation between Smith and Lang, Smith wrote, “No former military experience, but if I cannot find a slot in Ukraine by October I’ll be going into the Army … To fight is what I want to do. I’m willing to listen, learn, and train. But to work on firearms is fine by me too.”
10.–Lang responded, “Alright, I’ll forward you over to the guy that screens people he’ll most likely add you soon[ … ] Also as a pre-warning if you come to this unit and the government comes to shut down the unit you will be asked to fight. You may also be asked to kill certain people who become on the bad graces of certain groups.”
11.–It appears that Lang was prepping Smith both to fight against the Ukrainian government, if necessary and to be prepared to commit assassinations.
12.–Given everything we know about this case at this point, it appears that Right Sector was sending a potential recruit into the US Army to learn the kinds of skills that would be useful for neo-Nazi terror campaigns and that recruit was arrested for disseminating those skills and planning exactly that kind of terror campaign.
Against the background of 17,000 foreign fighters gaining paramilitary experience in Ukraine, a Vice piece from July notes that Ukraine really is becoming a nexus for the international far right. That is precisely what the Azov Battalion has been working on doing.
In that context we note that:
1.–Foreign fighters have taken the combat skills honed in Ukraine’s war to other European nations. ” . . . . Researchers warn that Ukraine is radicalizing far-right foreign fighters in the same way Syria has with jihadis — albeit on a smaller scale — creating a global network of combat-tested extremists who pose a security threat that is now beginning to manifest itself. . . .”
2.– ” . . . . [Kacper] Rekawek said Ukraine fulfilled the need, expressed by many ideologues on the extreme right, for a ‘safe space’ for Nazis outside the West, where they could network and organize beyond the prying eyes of domestic security services. . . .”
3.–Russian fascists have fought on both sides of the conflict–a harbinger of possible fascist subversion of Putin should they gain the upper hand in Russia after their return.
4.–” . . . . Swedish neo-Nazis who joined on the Ukrainian side saw it as essentially ‘the continuation of the Second World War on the eastern front. You are white Europe and you’re fighting Asia, in the form of Russia.’ . . . .”
5.–” . . . . Joachim Furholm, a Norwegian neo-Nazi and recruiter for Azov said their efforts would also help white nationalist forces in the one country where he believed they had the best shot of coming to power. . . .‘It’s like a Petri dish for fascism… and they do have serious intentions of helping the rest of Europe in retaking our rightful lands,’ he said. . . .”
We conclude by noting that House Democrats are lobbying that the Azov Battalion be labeled a Foreign Terrotr Organizaation. This would facilitate attempts to neutralize combatants who had served with Azov upon their return to this country.
Good luck with that!
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. . . .”
4.–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. . . .”
5.–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. . . . .”
6.–Is networking with members of a group called RAM, some of whom were arrested by the FBI upon their return from Europe. violence.
7.–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. . . . .”
8.–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.’ . . . ”
9.–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. . . .”
In this program, we note the operations and positioning of the Azov milieu both in Ukraine and globally.
Azov is among the fascist elements opposing Ukrainian president Volodomyr Zelensky’s efforts at brokering a piece with separatists in the ethnically Russian Eastern provinces of Ukraine. Amidst angry street demonstrations against the peace plan with the separatists, Zelensky met with some of the fascist groups, who have threatened to overthrow his government if he goes forward with the peace plan. The fascists enjoy the support of former president Petro Poroshenko.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Honcharuk and Minister of Veterans Affairs Oksana Koliaga attended an event organized by elements associated with C14 (the street militia of Svoboda) and Azov. Featuring Sokyra Pekurna–a Nazi metal band–the rally represented a further mainstreaming of the OUN/B successor organizations in Ukraine.
Further complicating the issue is the fact that the Azov Battalion has taken up positions in the town of Zolotoe, at the front of the ongoing war. They have said that they will not withdraw, a threat which, if borne out, will torpedo the peace process.
Concluding the broadcast, we “dolly [the camera] out” and begin an in-depth examination of the Azov international milieu. Embracing “lone wolf” fascists around the world, as well as networking with fascist organizations and combatants who have joined the war in Ukraine’s Eastern provinces, Azov is recapitulating the “Intermarium” concept, minted by Polish head of state Josef Pilsudski in the period between the World Wars. Working with Croatians aligned with the “Neo-Ustachi’ milieu we have covered in many past programs, Azov is seeking to develop a nascent Eastern and Central European alliance of fascist and reactionary elements.
Of particular interest is the significance of the Ukrainian and Croatian fascist alliance, which will be explored at greater length in future programs.
Other programs highlighting the return of the Ustachi to power in the “new” Croatia include: FTR #‘s 49, 154, 766, 901.
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