Full appreciation and analysis of the historical and political depth of Ukraine as a pivot point–a nexus vital to control of the Earth Island and, consequently, the world–can be gleaned from examination of the extent of networking between Ukrainian fascists, other Central and Eastern European fascists and Third Reich intelligence. Note the massive presence of a Ukrainian/Nazi Fifth Column in the US, linked to and directed by Third Reich intelligence.
The Ukrainian nationalist alliance with Nazi Germany had as its foundation the understanding that Hitler would invade the Soviet Union and enlist the Ukrainians as allies.
This portion of the discussion overlaps material presented in FTR #907.
Key Points of Discussion and Analysis Include:
1.–The role of former Czarist intelligence agent Boris Brasol in the White Russian/fascist underground operating in conjunction with Axis intelligence. [Note: in FTR #511–a recap of Miscellaneous Archive Show M11–we noted Boris Brasol’s role as a conduit of funds between American industrialist Henry Ford and Adolf Hitler.]
2.–The presence in this milieu of General George Van Horn Moseley, who was: an aide to Douglas MacArthur; an aide to Senator Joseph McCarthy; as discussed in AFA #10, a plotter with Third Reich intelligence to overthrow FDR.
3.–Harry Bennett’s collaboration with Axis agent Father Couglin. Bennett was in charge of Hitler financial backer Henry Ford’s “Personnel Service,” which used professional criminals to attack Ford employees and union organizers. Bennett was a key member of the Michigan parole board and got some of the most vicious criminals in that state’s correctional system released into the service of Ford, where they continued to ply their trade.
4.–The key presence in this milieu of the OUN, which had a headquarters in Rome. ” . . . . In late 1940, the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists [OUN–D.E.] moved to Rome, where a correspondent of the official Ukrainian Fascist newspaper Svoboda, of New Jersey, was the paymaster of funds supplied in the United States. All members of the organization in Germany were in the Gestapo or the Regular Army from the moment war broke out in Europe. They kept up constant contact with their American associates. . . .”
The Ukraininan fascist milieu was exposed in by Alexei Pelypenko. A Roman Catholic priest, Pelypenko turned against the Axis after the Hitler-Stalin pact. No longer having confidence in Hitler’s plans to invade the Soviet Union and enlist the support of the Ukrainian fascists as a political and military ally.
Pelypenko and others sought to ally themselves with Britain and the U.S. in a Central European alliance that listeners/readers will recognize as a manifestation of the Intermarium. ” . . . . the action of the Moscow government in moving into East Poland and stopping the German advance and the signing of the pact between Hitler and Stalin caused him and his fellow Ukrainians to lose faith in the Germans’ carrying out their part of the agreement. He and his colleagues felt that they should throw their lot in with the British and work for the formation of a bloc of Slavic states, including Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, and ‘Ukrainia.’ These colleagues knew that it would be necessary to have British and American support to form the bloc and defend the area from Russian aggression. . . .”
Note, also, that the OUN assassinated the Polish Minister of the Interior. The assassin was said by Pelypenko to have been targeting FDR on behalf of the Axis. ” . . . . he [Pelypenko] revealed that a White Russian who had assassinated the Polish Minister of the Interior in 1934, was being imported to assassinate President Roosevelt. . . . ”
We conclude the program with discussion of the OUN’s murder of Polish Minister of the Interior Bronislaw Pieracki. According to Pelypenko, the assassin was going to be brought into the United States to kill FDR. Note that the assassination of Pieracki was planned at a meeting in Berlin.
” . . . . The assassination of Bronisław Pieracki, referred to as the Warsaw process in the Ukrainian historiography, was a well-orchestrated target killing of Poland’s top politician of the interwar period, Minister of Interior Bronisław Pieracki (1895–1934) by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) as a retaliation for the government policy of Pacification which was carried out by the police. OUN was formed in Poland as an amalgamation between a number of extreme right-wing organizations including the Union of Ukrainian Fascists.[2] From the moment of its founding in 1929, fascism played a central role in the organization, combining extreme ethno-nationalism with terrorism, corporatism, and anti-Semitism.[2][3] The chosen assassin, Hryhorij Maciejko pseudonym ‘Gonta’, was a trusted member of OUN.[4] The assassination plan was decided at an OUN meeting in Berlin. Maciejko was supplied with a makeshift bomb and a 7.65mm caliber pistol from Bandera.[1] In the morning of 15 June 1934 Maciejko (age 31) appeared at the Foksal Street in Warsaw in front of a social club frequented by Pieracki. He waited there for several hours undetected. The minister arrived in his limousine at 3:30 p.m.; however, Maciejko’s bomb failed. He pulled the gun and shot the minister from behind twice in the back of his head.[4] Maciejko escaped successfully with the help of OUN emissaries all the way to Czechoslovakia and further to Argentina. . . . ”
Ultimately, OUN personnel were involved in covering-up the assassination of JFK by helping to create the “Soviets did it” diversion. This was covered at length in FTR #876.
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.
Beginning an overview of burgeoning fascism around the world, this program commences with further documentation of the operation and heritage of fascism in Ukraine.
We begin with discussion of a Kyiv legal decision maintaining that the C14 militia of the Svoboda organization is not a neo-Nazi organization.
A lawyer for C14 asserts that the group, while nationalist, is not neo-Nazi in nature and labeling it a neo-Nazi group hurt its “business reputation”.
The Kyiv City Commercial Court agreed, ruling that Hromadske TV couldn’t establish that C14 – a group named after David Lane’s “14 words” white supremacist slogan – was actually a neo-Nazi group. As a result, Hromadske TV has to retract its tweet and pay 3,500 hryvnyas ($136) in court fees for C14.
This despite the fact noted in the article below that: ” . . . . [C14’s] own members have admitted to joining it because of its neo-Nazi ideology . . . .”
It’s a sign of how far along the mainstreaming of Ukraine’s neo-Nazi groups is in Ukraine: If you call the open neo-Nazis “neo-Nazis”, they can sue you and win.
As the article also notes, C14’s youth cadre is funded by the Ukrainian government: “ . . . . Nevertheless, C14 has received state funding for two years running from the Ministry of Youth and Sport to conduct “national-patriotic education” courses at summer camps for the country’s youth. . . . .”
In FTR #907,we noted the profound presence of the Ukrainian fascists in the United States, as well as their operational connections to the Third Reich. In FTR #1072, we noted the Ukrainian youth cadre in the U.S., and its affiliation with the OUN/B milieu in Ukraine.
Our next story fleshes out these connections, noting:
1. The CYM organization and its presence in the U.S.
2. The decisive involvement of post-World War II emigres in the growth of that movement.
3. CYM’s close affiliation with the OUN/B.
4. CYM’s uniformed, military orientation: ” . . . . Among the most popular activities are military-style games where campers are divided into two teams that have to dodge or capture their opponents by moving stealthily and organizing ambushes. . . . .”
Next, we highlight the fascist ascent in the Baltic states.
In Estonia, the EKRE party is implementing a fascist agenda, capitalizing on an anti-immigrant theme, in a country that has had little immigration.
In addition, the party has targeted the LGBT milieu and “globalization,” as well as resuscitating Nazi economic theory and practice.
After review of Carl Lundstrom’s financing of the Sweden Democrats, as well as Lundstrom’s central role in financing the Pirate Bay site (which hosted WikiLeaks, courtesy of Julian Assange’s fascist associate Joran Jermas/Israel Shamir), we delve into the operations of Lundstrom’s associates.
Utilizing the anti-immigrant theme utilized with great effect by fascists around the world, the Sweden Democrats are gaining ground on the Swedish political landscape.
Key points of discussion include: The Nazi origins of the Sweden Democrats; the Waffen SS background of one of the party’s founders; networking of the Sweden Democrats with fascists and reactionaries in other countries, including the U.S., France and Germany.
Resuming analysis from our last program, we begin by reviewing and supplementing discussion about the continuity of Nazism and fascism around the political and historical milieu of Subhas Chandra Bose.
Surya Kumar Bose is president of the Indo-German association. (S.K. Bose is the grandnephew and acolyte of Subhas Chandra Bose.) ” . . . . Surya, who has a software consultancy business in Hamburg and is president of the Indo-German Association . . . .”
We note the genesis of the Indo-German association in Germany during World War II: ” . . . . ‘The DIG was set up on September 11, 1942, by Subhash Chandra Bose at Hotel Atlanta in Hamburg.’ . . . . Bose recounts, adding that the DIG today is the largest bilateral organisation in Germany, with 27 branches. As a consultant he often guides Germans keen on working in the booming Indian IT sector. He is also a founder-member of the German-Indian Round Table, an informal gathering that seeks to further mutual business interests. . . .”
Note, also, Surya Kuma Bose’s networking with Alexander Werth, the German translator for Subhas Chandra Bose’s German forces, which were folded into the Waffen SS at the end of World War II. ” . . . . Back in the day, Netaji’s stay in Germany had proved instrumental in shaping his struggle. Decades later, that legacy would play a pivotal role in shaping his grandnephew’s career. Bose came to Germany on the advice of Alexander Werth, Netaji’s German interpreter in the Indian Legion. . . .”
In an audio segment from 1985 (contained in FTR #1068), we accessed information from Spies and Traitors of World War II by Kurt Singer. That volume, written just after World War II, notes the participation in the German-Indian Society of German intelligence chief Admiral Wilhelm Canaris (head of the Abwehr.) This makes the DIG an element of political, economic, military and intelligence continuity from the World War II period to the present.
Recapping information about what we feel is an “Illegal Immigrant Psy-Op,” we review the pivotal role of a fake Facebook account in the generation of the immigrant caravan that became a propaganda football for Team Trump in the run-up to the 2018 mid-term elections.
We also noted the murder of Mollie Tibbetts, allegedly by Christian Rivera. Bearing similarities to the mind-control of RFK assassination patsy Sirhan Sirhan and the apparent role of the Polka-Dot-Dress Girl in that gambit, Rivera “blacked out” and has no memory of the murder.
Next we review Glenn Greenwald’s pivotal role in running legal interference for the leaderless resistance strategy, the literature published by the National Alliance, in particular.
We then briefly detail the leaderless resistance strategy as set forth by Louis Beam, noting that the Internet, social media, chat groups and bulletin boards dramatically amplify the reach of that strategy.
“The Turner Diaries,” published by the National Alliance, is highly influential in the milieu of the leaderless resistance. A novel, it was crafted as an instructional manual and tool of ideological inspiration to the Nazi movement.
Depicting a successful Nazi uprising against what is portrayed as ZOG (Zionist Occupation Government), the book opens with the confiscation of firearms by the authorities.
Although reaction to the recent shootings in El Paso and Dayton will not lead to the confiscation of firearms, any moves toward gun control will be portrayed as such in the fascist media and internet echo chamber.
In that context, we note that New Zealand shooter Brenton Tarrant intended his action to inspire gun control measures in the U.S., which he felt would lead to a Nazi uprising.
We conclude with review of Tarrant’s stay in Ukraine, and possible networking with the Azov Battalion.
Continuing the discussion from FTR #1076, the broadcast recaps key aspects of analysis of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
In our last program, we noted that both the internet (DARPA projects including Project Agile) and the German Nazi Party had their origins as counterinsurgency gambits. Noting Hitler’s speech before The Industry Club of Dusseldorf, in which he equated communism with democracy, we highlight how the Cambridge Analytica scandal reflects the counterinsurgency origins of the Internet, and how the Cambridge Analytica affair embodies anti-Democracy/as counterinsurgency.
Key aspects of the Cambridge Analytica affair include:
1.–The use of psychographic personality testing on Facebook that is used for political advantage: ” . . . . For several years, a data firm eventually hired by the Trump campaign, Cambridge Analytica, has been using Facebook as a tool to build psychological profiles that represent some 230 million adult Americans. A spinoff of a British consulting company and sometime-defense contractor known for its counterterrorism ‘psy ops’ work in Afghanistan, the firm does so by seeding the social network with personality quizzes. Respondents — by now hundreds of thousands of us, mostly female and mostly young but enough male and older for the firm to make inferences about others with similar behaviors and demographics — get a free look at their Ocean scores. Cambridge Analytica also gets a look at their scores and, thanks to Facebook, gains access to their profiles and real names. . . .”
2.–The parent company of Cambridge Analytica–SCL–was deeply involved with counterterrorism “psy-ops” in Afghanistan, embodying the essence of the counterinsurgency dynamic at the root of the development of the Internet. The use of online data to subvert democracy recalls Hitler’s speech to the Industry Club of Dusseldorf, in which he equated democracy with communism: ” . . . . Cambridge Analytica was a company spun out of SCL Group, a British military contractor that worked in information operations for armed forces around the world. It was conducting research on how to scale and digitise information warfare – the use of information to confuse or degrade the efficacy of an enemy. . . . As director of research, Wylie’s original role was to map out how the company would take traditional information operations tactics into the online space – in particular, by profiling people who would be susceptible to certain messaging. This morphed into the political arena. After Wylie left, the company worked on Donald Trump’s US presidential campaign . . . .”
3.–Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie’s observations on the anti-democratic nature of the firm’s work: ” . . . . It was this shift from the battlefield to politics that made Wylie uncomfortable. ‘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,’ he says. ‘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.’ . . . .”
4.–Wylie’s observations on how Cambridge Analytica’s methodology can be used to build a fascist political movement: ” . . . . One of the reasons these techniques are so insidious is that being a target of a disinformation campaign is ‘usually a pleasurable experience’, because you are being fed content with which you are likely to agree. ‘You are being guided through something that you want to be true,’ Wylie says. To build an insurgency, he explains, you first target people who are more prone to having erratic traits, paranoia or conspiratorial thinking, and get them to ‘like’ a group on social media. They start engaging with the content, which may or may not be true; either way ‘it feels good to see that information’. When the group reaches 1,000 or 2,000 members, an event is set up in the local area. Even if only 5% show up, ‘that’s 50 to 100 people flooding a local coffee shop’, Wylie says. This, he adds, validates their opinion because other people there are also talking about ‘all these things that you’ve been seeing online in the depths of your den and getting angry about’. People then start to believe the reason it’s not shown on mainstream news channels is because ‘they don’t want you to know what the truth is’. As Wylie sums it up: ‘What started out as a fantasy online gets ported into the temporal world and becomes real to you because you see all these people around you.’ . . . .”
5.–Wylie’s observation that Facebook was “All In” on the Cambridge Analytica machinations: ” . . . . ‘Facebook has known about what Cambridge Analytica was up to from the very beginning of those projects,” Wylie claims. “They were notified, they authorised the applications, they were given the terms and conditions of the app that said explicitly what it was doing. They hired people who worked on building the app. I had legal correspondence with their lawyers where they acknowledged it happened as far back as 2016.’ . . . .”
6.–The decisive participation of “Spy Tech” firm Palantir in the Cambridge Analytica operation: Peter Thiel’s surveillance firm Palantir was apparently deeply involved with Cambridge Analytica’s gaming of personal data harvested from Facebook in order to engineer an electoral victory for Trump. Thiel was an early investor in Facebook, at one point was its largest shareholder and is still one of its largest shareholders. In addition to his opposition to democracy because it allegedly is inimical to wealth creation, Thiel doesn’t think women should be allowed to vote and holds Nazi legal theoretician Carl Schmitt in high regard. ” . . . . It was a Palantir employee in London, working closely with the data scientists building Cambridge’s psychological profiling technology, who suggested the scientists create their own app — a mobile-phone-based personality quiz — to gain access to Facebook users’ friend networks, according to documents obtained by The New York Times. The revelations pulled Palantir — co-founded by the wealthy libertarian Peter Thiel — into the furor surrounding Cambridge, which improperly obtained Facebook data to build analytical tools it deployed on behalf of Donald J. Trump and other Republican candidates in 2016. Mr. Thiel, a supporter of President Trump, serves on the board at Facebook. ‘There were senior Palantir employees that were also working on the Facebook data,’ said Christopher Wylie, a data expert and Cambridge Analytica co-founder, in testimony before British lawmakers on Tuesday. . . . The connections between Palantir and Cambridge Analytica were thrust into the spotlight by Mr. Wylie’s testimony on Tuesday. Both companies are linked to tech-driven billionaires who backed Mr. Trump’s campaign: Cambridge is chiefly owned by Robert Mercer, the computer scientist and hedge fund magnate, while Palantir was co-founded in 2003 by Mr. Thiel, who was an initial investor in Facebook. . . .”
7.–The use of “dark posts” by the Cambridge Analytica team. (We have noted that Brad Parscale has reassembled the old Cambridge Analytica team for Trump’s 2020 election campaign. It seems probable that AOC’s millions of online followers, as well as the “Bernie Bots,” will be getting “dark posts” crafted by AI’s scanning their online efforts.) ” . . . . One recent advertising product on Facebook is the so-called ‘dark post’: A newsfeed message seen by no one aside from the users being targeted. With the help of Cambridge Analytica, Mr. Trump’s digital team used dark posts to serve different ads to different potential voters, aiming to push the exact right buttons for the exact right people at the exact right times. . . .”
Supplementing the discussion about Cambridge Analytica, the program reviews information from FTR #718 about Facebook’s apparent involvement with elements and individuals linked to CIA and DARPA: ” . . . . Facebook’s most recent round of funding was led by a company called Greylock Venture Capital, who put in the sum of $27.5m. One of Greylock’s senior partners is called Howard Cox, another former chairman of the NVCA, who is also on the board of In-Q-Tel. What’s In-Q-Tel? Well, believe it or not (and check out their website), this is the venture-capital wing of the CIA. After 9/11, the US intelligence community became so excited by the possibilities of new technology and the innovations being made in the private sector, that in 1999 they set up their own venture capital fund, In-Q-Tel, which ‘identifies and partners with companies developing cutting-edge technologies to help deliver these solutions to the Central Intelligence Agency and the broader US Intelligence Community (IC) to further their missions’. . . .”
More about the CIA/DARPA links to the development of Facebook: ” . . . . The second round of funding into Facebook ($US12.7 million) came from venture capital firm Accel Partners. Its manager James Breyer was formerly chairman of the National Venture Capital Association, and served on the board with Gilman Louie, CEO of In-Q-Tel, a venture capital firm established by the Central Intelligence Agency in 1999. One of the company’s key areas of expertise are in ‘data mining technologies’. Breyer also served on the board of R&D firm BBN Technologies, which was one of those companies responsible for the rise of the internet. Dr Anita Jones joined the firm, which included Gilman Louie. She had also served on the In-Q-Tel’s board, and had been director of Defence Research and Engineering for the US Department of Defence. She was also an adviser to the Secretary of Defence and overseeing the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which is responsible for high-tech, high-end development. . . .”
Program Highlights Include: Review of Facebook’s plans to use brain-to-computer technology to operate its platform, thereby the enabling of recording and databasing people’s thoughts; Review of Facebook’s employment of former DARPA head Regina Dugan to implement the brain-to-computer technology; Review of Facebook’s building 8–designed to duplicate DARPA; Review of Facebook’s hiring of the Atlantic Council to police the social medium’s online content; Review of Facebook’s partnering with Narendra Modi’s Hindutva fascist government in India; Review of Facebook’s emloyment of Ukrainian fascist Kateryna Kruk to manage the social medium’s Ukrainian content.
In FTR #1074, we highlighted Facebook’s appointment of Kateryna Kruk to be its Public Policy Manager in Ukraine. Kruk is very close to the Atlantic Council, which was effectively positioned by Facebook to handle its management of “Fake News.” The Atlantic Council is a foundational element of the push for a new Cold War and has profound links to both U.S. intelligence and the fascist/Nazi milieu that grew out of the Reinhard Gehlen spy organization. In addition to having worked with Svoboda during the Euromaidan protests, Kruk has manifested other Nazi and fascist affiliations: 1.) In 2014, she 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. 2.) In March 2018, a 19-year neo-Nazi named Andriy “Dilly” Krivich was shot and killed by a sniper. Krivich–pictured above, at right–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.) 3.) Kruk 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. 4.) She 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.” . . . .
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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