The Whitewashing of Neo-Nazis: Lev Golinkin & Ben Makuch on How Far Right Is Exploiting Ukraine War
By Democracy Now!
Multiple reports are reinvestigating the neo-Nazi fighters and militias involved in the war both in Russia and Ukraine. “You have neo-Nazis on both sides of this conflict,” says Ukrainian American journalist Lev Golinkin, a longtime reporter on the far right in Ukraine and Russia who is critical of the Western media’s normalization of groups like the Azov Battalion. “We are sending a very dangerous message that if you’re the right type of neo-Nazis, we will not only work with you, we will celebrate you,” Golinkin notes.
We also speak with national security reporter Ben Makuch, whose investigations reveal the networks connecting Ukrainian and Russian militias and American neo-Nazis. An anti-Putin Russian militia that carried out attacks inside Russia in May was led by a neo-Nazi who has maintained links with American neo-Nazis. In a new piece, Makuch also shares the story of an American military veteran wanted for murder who is now fighting for ultranationalist groups in Ukraine. “We know there has been secretive pipelines and networks,” says Makuch. “That still exists.”
Here’s what others had to say:
@alexgoslar4057
Politics and Hypocrisy are cousins with a good relationship.
@ozgipsy
This conversation has been happening since the invasion started. I am amazed that the mainstream media took this long to work it out.
@no2war274
“North Korean levels of propaganda and it’s disturbing”. Exactly my thoughts lately and that professional journalism is dying across the board.
@jeffreyfrance63
I remember when DN would’ve been the first media to report this….not the one that waits a year and a half to tell us something that even the MSM knew ten years ago.
@kornobi_3165
As much as things change…nothing actually changes.
@puffwheat9
I never thought in my 66 years I would ever hear of something like the “right type of Neo-Nazi” in my lifetime.
@2Truth2you
“The best way to control the opposition is to lead it ourselves.”
@bettycrocker6692
In defense of Stanford: the Hoover Institute of War and Peace is there, and the historians and political scientists of this Institute are grateful to host ideologues and combatants of both sides to examine history in the making.
@wckvn
Keep in mind that any symbols that are tied to Nazi groups are outlawed in Poland and Germany. That also includes Azov’s logo.
@edfederoff2679
Why is it such a surprise that the age-old adage, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” – also applies now, to this conflict?
@Eyeofthestorm812
Amy, I’m glad to see you’re reporting on this issue. I had stopped listening to democracy now during Covid when your reporting was so biased , and then recently with the reporting on the Ukraine conflict being so bent toward our so-called left politics. I am glad I stumbled upon this. It gives me hope for the future of your program that was a spearhead for investigative reporting, and a standard for questioning big business big Pharma and the military industrial complex.
@pirjo3685
Thank you for such an in-depth view of the situation. I feel that you in a short timeframe managed to somewhat present the dangers as well as what’s being done right now. One point though, the end was very much US focused. Comparing Ukraine after the war to Texas is rather short sighted, as their culture is closer to it’s European neighbors. Both Switzerland and Finland have high ratio of guns in their population, without having the same problems that you do in the US.
@meancookie89
My issue with all of this is the elites are okay with all of this as well as regular American and European citizens !!!
@Loveandotherchaos
This cognitive dissonance makes me painfully aware of the answer we always asked ourselves growing up of “how did the people let the nazis gain so much power?” I once thought, “surely we’ve grown enough to never let it happen again.” I’m only 22 and this society feels uninhabitable too often and I’ve thought of KMS several times because it is hard to see hope in the bigger picture with all of these crises accumulating. I’m privileged enough to be Canadian, albeit a daughter of a scoop baby and a poor survivor of many abuses our gov refuses to appropriately address, but our culture and political climate needs a massive reform if we have any hope at all of surviving as a species, and canada desperately needs to move away from depending on the USA. I’ve been pressed about the azov battalion and the like since the start of this war and it’s extremely isolating. Hitler was inspired by our residential schools, the USA brought nazis to America through operation paper clip, Ukraine just outright has neo nazi battalions who’ve killed thousands prior to the war, etc etc etc…. How can I in good conscious be proud of my country when so many of us are okay with any of this? How can I help set things right without threatening my own basic needs? What information am I missing, am I too selfish to know more or is propaganda and information erasure more effective than I anticipate? … is the great filter our own bigotry and desire to destroy ourselves/each other? Will we survive all that is to come?, we are already seeing countless people dying everyday. Do we have any greater cosmic/divine purpose or are we equivalent to a (hopefully benign) tumor – maybe one day scheduled to be disposed of? It all fucking snowballs when I give it a moment’s thought and I feel suffocated by the weight of it. My heart goes out to all affected by this, and I will continue to pray for the soul retrieval of those lost on the battlefield and civilian casualties. We are very clearly in world war three.
@gamernerd7139
I think this is an indication of the frustration of the West in Ukraine. The situation has become so worse there that they need shockers to keep people distracted from what is happening in the battlefield there.
@duoweisa1974
I have seen numerous videos, in which Ukraine soldiers did Nazi salutes and put Nazi symbols on their body, uniforms, and vehicles. They are pretty proud of doing it.
@nuchok
DN is a couple of years late. The Jimmy Dore Show, Glenn Greenwald, The Greyzone, Aaron Maté have all been speaking on this for a long time and they’re always ahead of the game.
@tothelighthouse9843
Excellent journalism, thanks for highlighting this issue.
I’ve definitely pondered the afterward–Ukraine flooded with weapons, flooded with men released from the military but looking for a new battle, flooded with neo-nazis who’ve moved closer to the centres of military & political power, all amidst a nation ravaged by war, with poverty, decimation, hardship, destruction, fear & anger everywhere.
What rises out of that kind of maelstrom? What has America wrought?
