Ukraine's magical disappearing Nazis

Take a gander at Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral (ret’d) John Kirby, on the edge of a nervous breakdown as he discusses Russian depravity in Ukraine. Yup, the hardened military man has never before seen such heinous inhumanity. Maybe he should dust off his Abu Ghraib photo album. Kirby makes a point of dismissing the mentally unstable Putin’s claims that there are fascists in Ukraine. That’s become a standard trope throughout Western media. That’s why Globe & Mail “public editor” Sylvia Stead can dismiss Azov’s Nazi roots with the facile “we know there are no fascists in Ukraine because they elected a Jewish president.” That’s why today’s Sunday Star can bring us a 3/4 page story about the plight of the remnants of Azov trapped in Mariupol without even using the term “far right,” let alone “fascist” or “nazi.” The stench of Ukrainian fascism has been erased by an industrial-strength dose of the Washington-concocted disinfectant, “Nazi-be-gone.” But it was not always thus. Here’s a 2018 op-ed from Reuters; Ukraine's neo-Nazi problem. Note:If links not working,try Contrarian Ranter site at Substack. If google can't find it try Yahoo or Bing. Here’s a 2018 headline from The Nation; America's Collusion with Neo-Nazis. Here’s The Nation again, 2019; Neo-Nazis and the far-right are on the march in Ukraine. Here’s a 2019 photo-essay from The Guardian; Ultranationalism in Ukraine. Between 2014 and 2019, Amnesty International issued at least half a dozen reports documenting hate crimes by fascist elements in Ukraine, including attacks on ethnic minorities, LGBT groups, and political opponents. Several of those stories refer to the C14 group, which runs children’s summer camps in Ukraine. The “14” refers to the 14 words of the white supremacist slogan, “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.” But now it’s 2022, and abracadabra, Nazis be gone! John Kirby can’t find any. Joe Biden can’t find any. Justin Trudeau and Ukrainian ultra-nationalist Chrystia Freeland can’t find any, and certainly no journalist working anywhere in mainstream Western media can find any. All that Nazi talk was just Russian propaganda! So let’s rustle up a few more billions in military aid for those plucky patriots of the Azov Battalion before it’s too late. They’re fighting for our shared values, after all!