By

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by The Grayzone.
Back in October 2019, as the war in eastern Ukraine dragged on, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky traveled to Zolote, a town situated firmly in the “gray zone” of Donbas, where over 14,000 had been killed, mostly on the pro-Russian side. There, the president encountered the hardened veterans of extreme right paramilitary units keeping up the fight against separatists just a few miles away.
Elected on a platform of de-escalation of hostilities with Russia, Zelensky was determined to enforce the so-called Steinmeier Formula conceived by then-German Foreign Minister Walter Steinmeier which called for elections in the Russian-speaking regions of Donetsk and Lugansk.
In a face-to-face confrontation with militants from the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion who had launched a campaign to sabotage the peace initiative called “No to Capitulation,” Zelensky encountered a wall of obstinacy.
With appeals for disengagement from the frontlines firmly rejected, Zelensky melted down on camera. “I’m the president of this country. I’m 41 years old. I’m not a loser. I came to you and told you: Remove the weapons,” Zelensky implored the fighters.
Once video of the stormy confrontation spread across Ukrainian social media channels, Zelensky became the target of an angry backlash.
Andriy Biletsky, the proudly fascist Azov Battalion leader who once pledged to “lead the white races of the world in a final crusade…against Semite-led Untermenschen”, vowed to bring thousands of fighters to Zolote if Zelensky pressed any further. Meanwhile, a parliamentarian from the party of former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko openly fantasized about Zelensky being blown to bits by a militant’s grenade.
Though Zelensky achieved a minor disengagement, the neo-Nazi paramilitaries escalated their “No Capitulation” campaign. And within months, fighting began to heat up again in Zolote, sparking a new cycle of violations of the Minsk Agreement.
By this point, Azov had been formally incorporated into the Ukrainian military and its street vigilante wing, known as the National Corps, was deployed across the country under the watch of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry, and alongside the National Police. In December 2021, Zelensky would be seen delivering a “Hero of Ukraine” award to a leader of the fascistic Right Sector in a ceremony in Ukraine’s parliament.
A full-scale conflict with Russia was approaching, and the distance between Zelensky and the extremist paramilitaries was closing fast.
This February 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukrainian territory on a stated mission to “demilitarize and denazify” the country, U.S. media embarked on a mission of its own: to deny the power of neo-Nazi paramilitaries over the country’s military and political sphere. As the U.S. government-funded National Public Radio insisted, “Putin’s language [about denazification] is offensive and factually wrong.”
In its bid to deflect from the influence of Nazism in contemporary Ukraine, U.S. media has found its most effective PR tool in the figure of Zelensky, a former TV star and comedian from a Jewish background. It is a role the actor-turned-politician has eagerly assumed.
But as we will see, Zelensky has not only ceded ground to the neo-Nazis in his midst, he has entrusted them with a front line role in his country’s war against pro-Russian and Russian forces.
The President’s Jewishness As Western Media PR Device
Hours before President Putin’s February 24 speech declaring denazification as the goal of Russian operations, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “asked how a people who lost eight million of its citizens fighting Nazis could support Nazism,” according to the BBC.
Raised in a non-religious Jewish family in the Soviet Union during the 1980’s, Zelensky has downplayed his heritage in the past. “The fact that I am Jewish barely makes 20 in my long list of faults,” he joked during a 2019 interview in which he declined to go into further detail about his religious background.
Today, as Russian troops bear down on cities like Mariupol, which is effectively under the control of the Azov Battalion, Zelensky is no longer ashamed to broadcast his Jewishness. “How could I be a Nazi?” he wondered aloud during a public address. For a U.S. media engaged in an all-out information war against Russia, the president’s Jewish background has become an essential public relations tool.
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A few examples of the U.S. media’s deployment of Zelensky as a shield against allegations of rampant Nazism in Ukraine are below (see mash-up video in above tweet):
- PBS NewsHour noted Putin’s comments on denazification with a qualifier: “Even though President Volodymyr Zelensky is Jewish and his great uncles died in the Holocaust.”
- On Fox & Friends, former CIA officer Dan Hoffman declared that “it’s the height of hypocrisy to call the Ukrainian nation to denazify—their president is Jewish after all.”
- On MSNBC, Virginia Democratic Senator Mark Warner said Putin’s “terminology, outrageous and obnoxious as it is—‘denazify’ where you’ve got frankly a Jewish president in Mr. Zelensky. This guy [Putin] is on his own kind of personal jihad to restore greater Russia.”
- Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn said on Fox Business she’s “been impressed with President Zelensky and how he has stood up. And for Putin to go out there and say ‘we’re going to denazify’ and Zelensky is Jewish.”
- In an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Gen. John Allen denounced Putin’s use of the term, “de-Nazify” while the newsman and former Israel lobbyist shook his head in disgust. In a separate interview with Blitzer, the so-called “Ukraine whistleblower” and Ukraine-born Alexander Vindman grumbled that the claim is “patently absurd, there’s really no merit… you pointed out that Volodymyr Zelensky is Jewish… the Jewish community [is] embraced. It’s central to the country and there is nothing to this Nazi narrative, this fascist narrative. It’s fabricated as a pretext.”
Behind the corporate media spin lies the complex and increasingly close relationship Zelensky’s administration has enjoyed with the neo-Nazi forces invested with key military and political posts by the Ukrainian state, and the power these open fascists have enjoyed since Washington installed a Western-aligned regime through a coup in 2014.
In fact, Zelensky’s top financial backer, the Ukrainian Jewish oligarch Igor Kolomoisky, has been a key benefactor of the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion and other extremists militias.

Backed by Zelensky’s Top Financier, Neo-Nazi Militants Unleash a Wave of Intimidation
Incorporated into the Ukrainian National Guard, the Azov Battalion is considered the most ideologically zealous and militarily motivated unit fighting pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Donbass region.
With Nazi-inspired Wolfsangel insignia on the uniforms of its fighters, who have been photographed with Nazi SS symbols on their helmets, Azov “is known for its association with neo-Nazi ideology…[and] is believed to have participated in training and radicalizing U.S.-based white supremacy organizations,” according to an FBI indictment of several U.S. white nationalists that traveled to Kiev to train with Azov.
Igor Kolomoisky, a Ukrainian energy baron of Jewish heritage, has been a top funder of Azov since it was formed in 2014. He has also bankrolled private militias like the Dnipro and Aidar Battalions, and has deployed them as a personal thug squad to protect his financial interests.
In 2019, Kolomoisky emerged as the top backer of Zelensky’s presidential bid. Though Zelensky made anti-corruption the signature issue of his campaign, the Pandora Papers exposed him and members of his inner circle stashing large payments from Kolomoisky in a shadowy web of offshore accounts.

When Zelensky took office in May 2019, the Azov Battalion maintained de facto control of the strategic southeastern port city of Mariupol and its surrounding villages. As Open Democracy noted, “Azov has certainly established political control of the streets in Mariupol. To maintain this control, they have to react violently, even if not officially, to any public event which diverges sufficiently from their political agenda.”
Attacks by Azov in Mariupol have included assaults on “feminists and liberals” marching on International Women’s Day among other incidents.
In March 2019, members of the Azov Battalion’s National Corps attacked the home of Viktor Medvedchuk, the leading opposition figure in Ukraine, accusing him of treason for his friendly relations with Vladimir Putin, the godfather of Medvedchuk’s daughter.
Zelensky’s administration escalated the attack on Medvedchuk, shuttering several media outlets he controlled in February 2021 with the open approval of the U.S. State Department, and jailing the opposition leader for treason three months later. Zelensky justified his actions on the grounds that he needed to “fight against the danger of Russian aggression in the information arena.”
Next, in August 2020, Azov’s National Corps opened fire on a bus containing members of Medvedchuk’s party, Patriots for Life, wounding several with rubber-coated steel bullets.
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Zelensky Failed to Rein In Neo-Nazis, Wound Up Collaborating with Them
Following his failed attempt to demobilize neo-Nazi militants in the town of Zolote in October 2019, Zelensky called the fighters to the table, telling reporters “I met with veterans yesterday. Everyone was there—the National Corps, Azov, and everyone else.”
A few seats away from the Jewish president was Yehven Karas, the leader of the neo-Nazi C14 gang.

During the Maidan “Revolution of Dignity” that ousted Ukraine’s elected president in 2014, C14 activists took over Kiev’s city hall and plastered its walls with neo-Nazi insignia before taking shelter in the Canadian embassy.
As the former youth wing of the ultra-nationalist Svoboda Party, C14 appears to draw its name from the infamous 14 words of U.S. neo-Nazi leader David Lane: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.”
By offering to carry out acts of spectacular violence on behalf of anyone willing to pay, the hooligans have fostered a cozy relationship with various governing bodies and powerful elites across Ukraine.

A March 2018 report by Reuters stated that “C14 and Kiev’s city government recently signed an agreement allowing C14 to establish a ‘municipal guard’ to patrol the streets,” effectively giving them the sanction of the state to carry out pogroms.
As The Grayzone reported, C14 led raid to “purge” Romani from Kiev’s railway station in collaboration with the Kiev police.
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Not only was this activity sanctioned by the Kiev city government, the U.S. government itself saw little problem with it, hosting Bondar at an official U.S. government institution in Kiev where he bragged about the pogroms. C14 continued to receive state funding throughout 2018 for “national-patriotic education.”
Karas has claimed that the Ukrainian Security Serves would “pass on” information regarding pro-separatist rallies “not only [to] us, but also Azov, the Right Sector and so on.”
“In general, deputies of all factions, the National Guard, the Security Service of Ukraine and the Ministry of Internal Affairs work for us. You can joke like that,” Karas said.
Throughout 2019, Zelensky and his administration deepened their ties with ultra-nationalist elements across Ukraine.

After Prime Minister Attends Neo-Nazi Concert, Zelensky Honors Right Sector Leader
Just days after Zelensky’s meeting with Karas and other neo-Nazi leaders in November 2019, Oleksiy Honcharuk—then the Prime Minister and deputy head of Zelensky’s presidential office—appeared on stage at a neo-Nazi concert organized by C14 figure and accused murderer Andriy Medvedko.
Zelensky’s Minister for Veterans Affairs not only attended the concert, which featured several antisemitic metal bands, she promoted the concert on Facebook.
Also in 2019, Zelensky defended Ukrainian footballer Roman Zolzulya against Spanish fans taunting him as a “Nazi.” Zolzulya had posed beside photos of the World War II-era Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera and openly supported the Azov Battalion. Zelensky responded to the controversy by proclaiming that all of Ukraine backed Zolzulya, describing him as “not only a cool football player but a true patriot.”
In November 2021, one of Ukraine’s most prominent ultra-nationalist militiamen, Dmytro Yarosh, announced that he had been appointed as an advisor to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valery Zaluzhny. Yarosh is an avowed follower of the Nazi collaborator Bandera who led Right Sector from 2013 to 2015, vowing to lead the “de-Russification” of Ukraine.

A month later, as war with Russia drew closer, Zelensky awarded Right Sector commander Dmytro Kotsyubaylo the “Hero of Ukraine” commendation. Known as “Da Vinci,” Kosyubaylo keeps a pet wolf in his frontline base, and likes to joke to visiting reporters that his fighters “feed it the bones of Russian-speaking children.”


Ukrainian State-Backed Neo-Nazi Leader Flaunts Influence on the Eve of War with Russia
On February 5, only days before full-scale war with Russia erupted, Yevhen Karas of the neo-Nazi C14 delivered a stem-winding public address in Kiev intended to highlight the influence his organization and others like it enjoyed over Ukrainian politics.
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“LGBT and foreign embassies say ‘there were not many Nazis at Maidan, maybe about 10 percent of real ideological ones,’” Karas remarked. “If not for those eight percent [of neo-Nazis] the effectiveness [of the Maidan coup] would have dropped by 90 percent.”
The 2014 Maidan “Revolution of Dignity” would have been a “gay parade” if not for the instrumental role of neo-Nazis, he proclaimed.
Karas went on to opine that the West armed Ukrainian ultra-nationalists because “we have fun killing.” He also fantasized about the balkanization of Russia, declaring that it should be broken up into “five different” countries.

“If We Get Killed… We Died Fighting a Holy War”
When Russian forces entered Ukraine this February 24, encircling the Ukrainian military in the east and driving towards Kiev, President Zelensky announced a national mobilization that included the release of criminals from prison, among them accused murderers wanted in Russia. He also blessed the distribution of arms to average citizens, and their training by battle-hardened paramilitaries like the Azov Battalion.
With fighting underway, Azov’s National Corps gathered hundreds of ordinary civilians, including grandmothers and children, to train in public squares and warehouses from Kharviv to Kiev to Lviv.
On February 27, the official Twitter account of the National Guard of Ukraine posted video of “Azov Fighters” greasing their bullets with pig fat to humiliate Russian Muslim fighters from Chechnya.
A day later, the Azov Battalion’s National Corps announced that the Azov Battalion’s Kharkiv Regional Police would begin using the city’s Regional State Administration building as a defense headquarters. Footage posted to Telegram the following day shows the Azov-occupied building being hit by a Russian airstrike.<
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Besides authorizing the release of hardcore criminals to join the battle against Russia, Zelensky has ordered all males of fighting age to remain in the country. Azov militants have proceeded to enforce the policy by brutalizing civilians attempting to flee from the fighting around Mariupol.
According to one Greek resident in Mariupol recently interviewed by a Greek news station, “When you try to leave you run the risk of running into a patrol of the Ukrainian fascists, the Azov Battalion,” he said, adding “they would kill me and are responsible for everything.”
Footage posted online appears to show uniformed members of a fascist Ukrainian militia in Mariupol violently pulling fleeing residents out of their vehicles at gunpoint.
Other video filmed at checkpoints around Mariupol showed Azov fighters shooting and killing civilians attempting to flee.
On March 1, Zelensky replaced the regional administrator of Odessa with Maksym Marchenko, a former commander of the extreme right Aidar Battalion, which has been accused of an array of war crimes in the Donbass region.
Meanwhile, as a massive convoy of Russian armored vehicles bore down on Kiev, Yehven Karas of the neo-Nazi C14 posted a video on YouTube from inside a vehicle presumably transporting fighters.
“If we get killed, it’s fucking great because it means we died fighting a holy war,” Karas exclaimed. ”If we survive, it’s going to be even fucking better! That’s why I don’t see a downside to this, only upside!”
Alex Rubinstein is an independent reporter on Substack. You can subscribe to get free articles from him delivered to your inbox here. If you want to support his journalism, which is never put behind a paywall, you can give a one-time donation to him through PayPal or sustain his reporting through Patreon. He can be followed on Twitter at @RealAlexRubi.
Max Blumenthal is the editor-in-chief of The Grayzone, as well as an award-winning journalist and the author of several books, including best-selling Republican Gomorrah, Goliath, The Fifty One Day War, and The Management of Savagery. He has produced print articles for an array of publications, many video reports, and several documentaries, including Killing Gaza. Blumenthal founded The Grayzone in 2015 to shine a journalistic light on the United States’ state of perpetual war and its dangerous domestic repercussions. He can be followed on Twitter at @MaxBlumenthal.
@Reader
Nothing is settled. Ambassador Friedman made this very point in his very first interview and again in his interview with Caroline that Ted posted today. Paraphrasing:
He is quite correct. Of course, he is probably not looking for the Jordan River as the boundary in question, but hopefully that will be the line drawn, should the Right ever regain power. Machelli’s statement was, however, most likely a lie, as you suggest. She was entering the election of last year and positioning herself against an electorate that had moved to the Right, and such realities do bring out the lies in every politician. But there is no settled map, no specific plan. His first interview was with JPOST and in it, I believe this was the one, he was very clear that he was not happy with having to draw the boundaries, which led to the above paraphrased comment. I know you do not draw a distinction between Left and Right, Machelli and Bibi, but, if this were true, why would she bother lying? In any event we don’t agree on this point, but I thought I should share Friedman’s input, as it is quite relevant, I believe
@Ted
For my part, I am glad you brought this article back, as you likely knew from my previous comments. I think it is important that people have access to both sides of the story and these facts shared in this article are quite hidden from most people. I find Blumenthal to be an odious rotten egg, but his statements are either true or they are false. I think it would be beneficial for all to discover the reality of these facts. As some are likening Zelensky to first Churchill and then Moses, I think the distortions provided by the mainstream press are quite pleasing to many and seek no further confirmation, which can be the only reason these obviously false comparisons might be attempted. In any case, I have hoped for some time that others would enter into a civil discourse on this topic, and I believe this article might stir the interest of some to do exactly this.
The thing about Blumenthal that makes his hateful statements about Israel so distasteful is that he has only a foundation of false stipulations on which to base his anti-Zionist conjectured diatribes, which is typical of his ilk. I have, however, pursued this article on Zelensky and his surrender to the Nazi’s. I knew a good bit of what Blumenthal shared prior to his publication, and have confirmed most of what is left. But I am open to the research pursued by others and hope they will discuss it in a frank and friendly manner. I think we could all learn from the process, if nothing else, we might learn to discuss the topic with less emotion and more reason, or so I would hope.
@Reader
The map changes nothing. The plan was a starting map from which give and take would be pursued by the two parties if negotiations ever began, which it would not have. The plan had a 4yr sunset clause. In that time Abbas would have had to accept not just the Arab territories, but the entire plan including acknowledging Israel’s right to exist and her ownership of the non-Arab territories. He would never do so, quite simply because had he done so, he would have been killed for doing so. Hence, when he failed to accept the plan, the TSS would be finis, and the the failure of the TSS would give way to the legal resolution between the Palastinian Arabs on the East bank and the Palastinian Jews on the West bank, in the nations of Jordan and Israel, respectively – as history had designed before the many betrayals of the Hashemites and their soiled line of miscreants.
In fact, the Israeli’s were uncomfortable with the minor risk that Abbas might out-flank his minions and rival clans and accept the plan. Trump was not pleased as he had spent a good bit of political capital and time pursuing the Trump Peace Plan and was given to believe Israel would support it, which is reasonable. Still, he recognized their hesitancy, accepted their reluctance, shelved it and pursued the Abraham Accords in its place.
You seem to recognize that the Israeli’s demonstrated agency in refusing this plan, so where is the concerning dilemma with Trump’s plan. The problem with the TSS is that Israel has no agency in choosing to accept or refuse the American plans. Even now the TSS is being pushed again by the peace processors in their broken model of rewarding the terrorists while pressuring the Israelis to agree. Even as Israel has said “thank you, but no thank you” it falls on deaf ears. This was not Trump’s way.
@Inna
Hello again. Let’s start with Azov. You say it is not a Nazi organization. How do you explain their Nazi oaths, Nazi insignia and discussions of the ubermench and purifying of the races? It has been well documented by BBC, though they have struck their Azov videos off the web. They look, sound, smell and act like Nazi’s to me. It is true that other nations including the US have Nazi groups as well as Russia, but Azov is a govt organization that was formed around a Nazi movement and was then encorporated as the elite unit in Ukraine’s forces. So it would be as if the KKK were brought into the US army and made the new Seal Team 7 for others to admire and aspire towards. So the Nazi’s in Russia, to my knowledge, are not organized as a unit, held up for the rest of the army to admire, but I will look for your comment on this, if you would share your input.
Here are a couple of quick articles where they are quite clearly shown to be Nazi’s.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28329329
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/11025137/Ukraine-crisis-the-neo-Nazi-brigade-fighting-pro-Russian-separatists.html
Next the Budapest Memorandum(BM). Three points:
1. The BM required Ukraine to maintain the rights of minorities which they failed to do when they brutalized the Russo-Ukrainians and killed 10K in the first year.
2. The BM required that the US, Britain and N. Ireland “refrain from economic coercion designed to subordinate to their own interest the exercise by Ukraine of the rights inherent in its sovereignty and
thus to secure advantages of any kind”. The US violated this by their Maidan Massacre that led to the Maidan Coup that lead to, well, everything else. We know this is true because of the leaked audio of Victoria Nuland and that of the Estonia ambassador, neither of which were denied as authentic at the time, even as they openly discussed their plot to overthrow the govt, released 2wks(Nuland) before the coup was enacted and formed the govt as she described in the video.
3. That Russia agreed that she would refrain from use of “their weapons… against Ukraine except in self-defense or otherwise in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations”. The Self-Defense article 51 of the UN Charter was invoked by Russia. It is more supportable than when this same pretext was employed to kill Serbians, Libyans or Iraqis. We can discuss this at length if you like, but it does require a detailed conversation, but I am up to the task if you are interested.
The Ukraine dilemma was brought before the ICC and the UNSC did call on the parties, Ukraine and the Separatist states to negotiate a settlement, as Sebastien has noted. Russia has demanded this be pursued for the past 8yrs. If it had been negotiated and settled, they would not have had the self defense pretext which they used to trigger their invasion.
There is a good bit more you mention, and more that you don’t, but I will wait to see if you respond to what I have raised so far, but we can discuss it all if you or others care to do so. I am, as I noted before, interested in your own input as well as those of others. The real problem is that no one seems to be interested in actual discussions, except Felix, and Felix is a bit testy, and has differences of political philosophy that distract from these conversations, with which we are not so far apart, I believe. No offense Felix, but I think this is a fair statement.
@FelixQuigley
I agree with you that Israel should be independent and that it must have real leadership.
I pray for this every day.
@Sebastien Zorn
Who cares who gave it to whom and why.
The point is that everything was decided in the early 90s and they have been implementing it while pretending all along that nothing has been finalized, that there will be negotiations, etc.
The fact that Area C under Israel’s control is slated for evacuation (of Jews, obviously) explains why Israel have been freezing the Jewish settlements there, turning a blind eye to the Arab settlement of it, permitting the EU to finance the Arab expansion – it is being done so that one day we’ll be put before a fait accompli that the so-called “Palestinian” state exists lawfully on its land and the so-called “settlers” will have to leave the “occupied Palestinian lands” or else.
The “disengagement” of 9,000 people from Gaza was bad enough and they suffered for years from the displacement.
Imagine half a million people streaming inside the Green Line or worse, leaving the country as refugees!
Now imaging the millions of Arab “refugees” streaming into Judea and Samaria which has been made Judenrein except for a few army units in the Jordan Valley sandwiched inside the Arab state.
Now imagine Israel 9 miles wide at its narrowest point from the Arab state border to the sea and a repeat of 1948.
@Inna
Isn’t that what the Minsk agreements were about which were ignored? Only states who are recognized signatories can go before those bodies.
@Reader I’m guessing that this alleged 50 percent is the unsettled land that the Jordanian king awarded to his cronies in perpetuity in 1948 after ethncally cleansing the Jews. Consider the source of this claim.
CORRECTION:
I meant that 50% of the Area C is already owned by the Arabs:
@Sebastien Zorn
Let me tell you a BIG SECRET which is a secret only to us, the stupid subjects of the PTB.
It is not a secret to the Israeli politicians (Left, Right, and Center), and Netanyahu or to their American “colleagues and partners” including Trump.
HERE IT IS [emphasis and capitalization are mine]:
I finally got around to reading this book, and when I got to this sentence, I couldn’t believe what I was reading.
Here is a proof (I am sure I can find more):
She confirms that most of the West Bank (aka Judea and Samaria) will be included in the borders of the Arab state, besides the Arabs own 50% of it already, but. of course, no one is going to “evacuate” half a million settlers!
It is impossible!
Here she is lying, probably even to herself because it is obvious that if a settlers don’t move, they will be slaughtered.
So the map that I posted is what they are aiming for, and when all is said and done, that 30% “partial sovereignty” in the valley will be ALL Israel is going to get.
They are boiling the frog slowly, and the frog appears to be about 80% cooked.
Blumenthal is writing what he is supposed to write. It’s for the people on the left and those who are unfamiliar with the subject. A typical propagandist piece. Go to his site and see for yourself.
Wow, so many wrong and strange comments to this absolutely ugly article. It looks like Russian TV. You most probably do not watch Russian TV. I lived in Russia for 40 years and its propaganda is very familiar to me. Sorry, I did not have time to read all the comments, but in fact, the subject is simple. In 1994 The Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances was signed. It gave Ukraine independence in exchange for 13000 nuclear warheads that Ukraine returned to Russia. Since that time Russia constantly tried to create a situation that would allow her to invade Ukraine. It took the Crimea, then created these artificial entities DNR and LNR. People in these so-called republics died because of Russian activity, not Azov. Ukraine is an independent country. If Russian-speaking people were unsatisfied, they could appeal to the UN and The International Criminal Court in Hague. These organizations were founded exactly to avoid wars. Russia does not have any legal rights to invade Ukraine. Are you sure that everything that you read about Azov is true? This neo-nazi label is false. Don’t you know how many fascist organizations exist in the US? Similar organizations are in Russia. Don’t you know how anti-Semitic Russia is? Don’t you know how many provocateurs Russia sends to Israel? What Russia is doing in Ukraine now cannot be excused. If as they say there were 14,000 killed people since 2014, and these people were killed by Russians disguised as Ukrainian “nazis”, does not justify murdering much more people on both sides and wiping Ukrainian cities off the map.
Comes up all the time. Blumenthal has nevertheless a very good and insightful position on the war. We gain much knowledge from reading him ON THIS.
And since there is SO MUCH IGNORANCE on this issue it would be criminal not to publish it
I removed this post because many people reminded me of Blumenthal’s antisemitism.
But then I read the comments and decided to reinstate the post as the comments were very important.
What say you?
@Reader
This is what Israel was supposed to sign off on but fortunately didn’t.
I agree with you there, bu as Edgar pointed out, the PA only had 4 years to accept it but Israel could apply limited sovereignty at once and the rest when the PA reneged. Problem was that Trump could n’t guarantee he’d be in office then and the international community is notorious for ignoring fine print, or even bold, as we saw with San Remo, 242, and Oslo.
Russia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Russian_military_bases_abroad
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/589595-russia-suggests-military-deployments-to-cuba-venezuela-an-option/
I actually supported Huckabee in 2016 during primary season when I read
https://www.timesofisrael.com/huckabee-israels-claim-to-judea-and-samaria-stronger-than-us-tie-to-manhattan/
But Trumps 2 state solution at least put the ball in the PAs court gor compliance and he exchanged tabling it for the Abraham Accords.
@Reader
I agree with you there, bu as Edgar pointed out, the PA only had 4 years to accept it but Israel could apply limited sovereignty at once and the rest when the PA reneged. Problem was that Trump could n’t guarantee he’d be in office then and the international community is notorious for ignoring fine print, or even bold, as we saw with San Remo, 242, and Oslo.
Russia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Russian_military_bases_abroad
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/589595-russia-suggests-military-deployments-to-cuba-venezuela-an-option/
I actually supported Huckabee in 2016 during primary season when I read
https://www.timesofisrael.com/huckabee-israels-claim-to-judea-and-samaria-stronger-than-us-tie-to-manhattan/
But Trumps 2 state solution at least put the ball in the PAs court gor compliance and he exchanged tabling it for the Abraham Accords.
@Sebastien Zorn
NO, Russia doesn’t have bases all over the world, the US does – 800 – 900 of them.
The US has divided the whole world into its military zones and I posted the maps which nobody wants to look at.
I am posting this et AGAIN (LOOK AT THE MAP!):
This is what Israel was supposed to sign off on but fortunately didn’t.
@Felix. Actually, far from being imperialist, Trump was the first president since Carter in the late 70s, not to start any new wars, but he did so without empowering America and Israel’s enemies. You shouldn’t confuse bluster as a negotiating tactic with results.
Add to the list of the ways Trump helped Israel the fact that he gave unconditional support to the IDF taking any necessary actions and never pressured Israel to stand down unlike Biden who got Israel to stop bombing Gaza after 11 days.
As for imperialusm? Who isn’t? Russia gas bases all over the world.
@Peloni Good point @Honeybee On the orher hand, Moses didn’t vote to condemn Israel 14 times and abstain the other three since leading the Ukrainians out of Egypt in 2020 and 2021.
Passover, so far, was about Ukraine.
The Biden administration’s seder makes a mockery of Passover and the Jews
The White House put on a “People’s Seder” to distract US Jews from its complicity in the latest acts of terror from Iran to Israel.Op-ed.
@Felix Re Trotsky. Whatever. We’ve had this conversation> Glad you are on board. I am a paiotic American and a Zionist Jew however I believe Israel should be independent and neutral. America First And Israel First. Israel should wean herself off the aid, instead enfafing in mutual colloborations on certain high tech projects. But, the problem is avoiding or weathering UN Security Council sanctions. Solutions, please?
@Felix
What a tragedy it is that you can not see the great gains this friend has offered you.
He used the Jews? Really? Is he using them still? The superficial stuff of which you reference is the stuff of legend to our people. Denied the right to our heritage, our capital and a peace that would include a survivable boundary, Trump set many things right that were held as wrong for far too long against the rule of any reason. Your calumny at denying this fact places you alongside the likes of those who opposed him supporting the simple reality that among other great gains, Jerusalem is our Eternal Capital, and that, like all nations, the Jews have a right to their sovereignty, to respond to mortal threats and to expect reciprocity for violations of international law. He extended the protection of our children in American schools and the list goes on and is well known to us all as are the benefits such superficial stuff would allow our people.
As to your requirement that his friendship need provide the war-weary US with yet another foreign war as proof of his friendship, it is a high bar you place for friendship, and I submit it is arbitrarily placed above the many actions he took acting as the greatest friend to both Israel and the Jewish people. In fact, if Trump is no friend to Israel, Israel is damned to stand friendlessly lost in a chasm of disingenuous claims of victimhood. You hold yourself and our people at too great a price to ever accept friendship, and failing to recognize friends from foes you would lead us all to an unfortunate course of events.
Be honest, your unceasing hatred of the man stems from your political ideology, such as it is, that castigates capitalists as villains, and, of course, Trump truly is the greatest capitalist of all time, rendering every action he takes as superficial, in your eyes of course.
In fairness and truth, Trump would have settled the Iran dilemma had the presidency not been ripped from his grasp. But I would not count him as a friend simply because of this fact. I would count him as a friend because he has been the greatest of friends, championing our people against great odds, great betrayals and great challenges, and to do otherwise would demonstrate my great ignorance and my even greater ingratitude. This would be above my ability to countenance or consider, and I would simply recognize his great support of our people as the firmest grasp of friendship that any may ever be privileged to witness. It stands as a great pity that you are so blind as to the troubles he took to support our people – a true tragedy indeed..
Mr Peloni when all is reckoned up you will not be forgiven by the Jewish people. I did not say me. I would not ever say me. The issue at stake is the welfare of the Jewish people
Excuses cannot be made for Trump. And you especially provided the cover he needed to betray the Jews.
@Felix
I do not look for forgiveness from you Felix, just a coherent argument that does not employ your superior tone, threatening manner and belittling tactics. You are an intelligent man capable of successfully making your point without employing such limits upon your words. I look forward to conversing with you when you are more interested in conversing without such handicaps to limit your ability of expression. Til then….(see next post)
@Honeybee
I suppose as some have likened Azov’s 60K terrorists to Leonidas’ 300 Spartans, we can stretch any comparison to make some sense of things even if it defies credulity to accept the comparison.
Regarding Zelensky and Moses, Moses led his people, our people, to the promised land, ripping them free from the grip of Pharaoh’s slavery. He came from a position of power and preeminence to ultimately act as G_d’s messenger leading a doubting people to settle in a land in which he himself would never have a share. He brought G_d’s law to instruct his people and fulfilled the commitment to a successive generation.
To compare to this great leader of our ancestry, you compare a man whose meager beginnings were cast aside to gain great wealth and position, gaining grifted wealth to provide foreign accounts and foreign homes, both of which his people would never hold any share. He gained these gifts by providing a promise to his people of making peace if it cost his life, only to fail and support the move towards certain war. Hence, I do not see him as a savior of his people, not his Ukrainian people and certainly not his Jewish cousins on whom he is constantly condescending and attacking as failing their debt to assuage his failure in achieving peace in Ukraine. As to his doing “business” with Nazi’s, he has to play the cards he was dealt, but there is no heroism in striking a deal with political terrorists and exchanging his promise of peace for his war weary nation into a fulminate war with a nuclear power. Hence, his rising to the occasion has failed to succeed in anything thus far for his people and it is unlikely that anything positive for Ukraine will come from this continued war which he could and should have evaded had he the strength of commitment that he pledged when taking office. Of course, he did bravely betray the laws of Ukraine by disbanding his opposition and arresting his opponents, but neither of these bold action would include the Nazi’s who were restricting him from enacting his promised policy of peace – in fact, it was likely done to support the Nazi policy he is now even more trapped to support.
No doubt there are anatomical similarities between Moses and Zelensky, but as I see it, these are the greatest similarities to be seen between the two, or that and the marital similarities of which you spoke. It is fair to speculate that his actions may leave the successive generation in Ukraine in a better position, if for no other reason than that they might be led by someone more capable than himself. If true, this could be claimed as another similarity between Moses and our wealthy cousin who caters to Nazi policies and whose popularity continues to evade my comprehension. Perhaps it is because of the distance from the fire, but then again, are we not each distant from that fire?
The teaming up of the editor with Mr Peloni and then both swinging Israpundit behind Trump has been a disaster for the Jewish people in every way.
History will show in a tragic form that Trump has been a disaster for the Jewish people.
Trump used the Jews.and having used them mouthed oaths against Bibi.
Trump was no friend. He was careful to do superficial stuff.
But only the one thing mattered. He had to destroy the Mullahs and destroy their Nuclear Bimb.
Refused to do. Did not do.
Sebastien of course didn’t Leon Trotsky advocate the Jews forming their own independent state. But I oppose you because you seek to tie Israel behind the United States of America and I oppose completely present Israeli leadership.
Peloni which is not your actual name
No matter how many teams you put out does not disguise the reality that you seek to tie Israel and Zionism to the Fascism of the United States of America and for that you will not be forgiven.
@Felix Right now, are you aware that this is how you are sounding?
https://youtu.be/aKdo1xwVK7s
As an ex-Marxist and before that, Dada Anarchist, , myself, I am finding this quite amusing.
Still., I am impressed and appreciative that you are pro-Zionist which is rare among leftists, these days,
@Honeybee Good point, if speculative.
https://youtu.be/-mHhr-aaLnI
@Peloni Good point.
At this time of Passover, I can’t help but be aware of the comparison of Zelensky to Moses. Both were sketchy Jews, married outside the faith. Reluctant when tasked, but heroically rose to the occasion. Yes, he does business with neo-nazis, right now it is “any port in a storm” Easy to criticize far from the fire.
Ted: Please refrain from scolding Felix. Balloons full of hot air are so much fun to poke.
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Israel’s economic and technological strengths provide important assets that should of course not be used to abuse our friends, but they should be relied upon to demonstrate the righteousness of Israel pursuing her own survival. In short, Israel must demonstrate that she possesses the strength to lead alone when her great ally, the US, chooses to lead her to her ruin. In doing so, she will strengthen her hand with the weak kneed Sunni states who see the Jewish State cravenly cowering and carrying out US policies such that should the Sunnis follow Israel, they would simply be following her following the US, which was never the path that attracted them to support Israel in the first place. Israel should, of course, have reasons to delineate her differences with her allies, significant reasons relating to significant threats, and to that extent she should expose them for what they are, as well as the reasons for her actions. By doing so, she will gain a greater support of the Sunnis who have a similar interest in pursuing their own survival, and thereby check the actions by the US oligarchs, as Bibi demonstrated in Obama’s second term. Furthermore, by cultivating her relationship with Putin rather than abusing it towards US interests, Israel could have brought about another check on American power over the Jewish State regarding the UNSC which is now solely in the hands of the US oligarchs.
Regarding Trump who you foolishly choose to abuse with your retorts, I have demonstrated his strength of true friendship that has allied himself in earnest measure alongside the Jewish people and particularly the Jewish state. But even with Trump, should he push the Israelis to a path that would threaten her future, the daylight must be allowed to shine and let him draw close to his Jewish ally to extinguish the resulting light of such differences. He has, however, demonstrated no such differences with our people, far from it. Even in his Trump Peace Plan, he did not force it upon the Jewish State when it became apparent that the enormous benefits of its limited risks were too much for Israel to accept. It was a great mistake to have passed on the vehicle to put an end to the TTS forever, but it did demonstrate a responsibility by the Jewish State to form her future and fashion her own path. Trump recognized this and supported it with the sponsorship and substitution of the Abraham Accords, which were the result of Israel’s leadership and dedication to her own survival. It is of course the very loss of this leadership and dedication to her own survival that will lead the Abraham Accord partners to move closer towards the US at the expense of Israel, who is at a great risk of being seen to be leading no on as it follows others to her doom.
This was longer than I had intended, but it does quite represent my views, such as they are, for Israel’s great success and long term survival, which has always been the greatest light guiding my views.
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@Felix
You know me so little that you characterize me quite poorly. I have never changed my position on this topic, not in many years. In fact, if you have read anything I have written on this topic, you could not be blind of my position on these matters, but since you are, allow me to expose my rabid expectation for Israel vis a vis her allies. Israel is neither sovereign nor vassal, as she has wavered between these two positions over time. Only when she has demonstrated her sovereignty over the years has she gained the respect of her allies and the fear from her enemies, which is the proper result of exercising leadership. Hence, my greatest desire is for Israel to pursue its own interests with a respectful appreciation of the allies she has developed over the years. This would clearly include the US, Russia and her Sunni allies.
Regarding the US specifically, as daylight is drawn into these relationships, as with the TSS and Iran, she should, and she must, allow that light to be exposed and let the relevance it will play in that growing oligarchic nation come to whatever result it must, but she should demonstrate to the US oligarchs that she has the strength and temerity to choose her own course and seek out her own survival over the indebtedness to these reckless power barons, who have too much Jewish blood baked into their terrible plots against our people. Their plans, if enacted, will only result in our people losing everything, which is unacceptable at any price or for any friendship.
/1
Alex: Six murder/ mass murder cases in all this year, all seemingly connected to Gazprom:
https://www.newsweek.com/every-russian-oligarch-who-has-died-since-putin-invaded-ukraine-full-list-1700022
Adam, I assume you referred to the killings of Russian oligarchs in Moscow and Catalonia (not UK):
https://www.businessinsider.com/2-russian-oligarchs-found-dead-spain-moscow-reports-2022-4?inline-endstory-related-recommendations=
I doubt that these were murder-suicides; but beyond that, I don’t know what to make of them. So much money is involved, it has a gangland look to it. Who benefits? Why were the families targeted? So many world leaders and influencers have a part in this drama, I wonder if we’ll ever know the who, what, where and why of it.
Mr Belman
You tell me to stop it
That is a personal cum political attack on me and my right to speak and it is obviously untrue when you stop and analyse it.
The issue at stake here is that someone going by the name of Alan Dalgliesh is a supporter of a Fascist, namely Zelensky, who through his association with Azov and other Fascist groups in Ukraine, certainly and without a doubt links himself to the Holocaust of the Jews
And yet I find myself being attacked.
It is me who is being attacked here which is quite amazing.
Furthermore there are people like Dalgliesh on this site who are filled with hatred for Russia and Russians. That hatred was a central component of the Nazis. And yet they call themselves Jews.
Then there are people like you who seek to tie the Jewish people to American Imperialism to the equally Fascist wing of American Imperialism which is the Republican party even though I have put forward in plain words the genocidal words of Trump, where he imagined Imperialism sailing up and down the coast of Russia with Nuclear Submarines. Peloni described that as Trump just engaging in Trumpian diplomacy.
Yet I am attacked.
Finally Israel now is in its worst crisis under the leaders that have existed since it’s inception. You have no alternative and your Jordan Option has got nowhere despite your endless promises. Since you ask people to place all their hopes on that you are a totally bankrupt political figure inside the Jewish movement.
The problem in politics with Peloni is that he is seeking to tie the Jewish movement behind a wing of American Imperialism when their survival depends on the opposite, being an independent nation. It is that independence that Peloni obviously fights against by his near rabid support for Imperialism.
And that is what I am fighting for. The independence of the Jewish nation against the schemes of the United States of America.
@Felix
You hardly ever comment without attacking some other commenter. You think you are better than everybody else and that gives you the right to attack them.
I am tired of your air of superiority. You are not near as great as you think you are.
STOP IT.
@Sebastien
@Adam
It is true that they are anti-Zionists and this is no recent revelation. Still, their comments displaying their anti-Zionism is not related to this article. The falseness that they exhibit in their BDS and PA Arab support is not related to the facts they share here, however. Unless you believe there views on Zionism is relatable or that these facts are in some way distorted or half described, their anti-Zionism is just one folded feather in their cap. In fact, I shared a video by a Jeremy Corbyn loving Leftist yesterday, not because I share his values, LOL, but because he lives in Lviv and speaks openly of the extent of the Nazi reach in the society and state in which he lives. It is not an endorsement of him or his beliefs on Zionism or PA Arabs or the loathsome Corbyn, but just for the statement of his testimony which is quite supportable by the report I shared from Oleksiy Kuzmenko, among other sources.
Likewise, this article by Blumenthal/Rubenstein is all quite supported as factually stated to the best of my ability to confirm it. There are some related reports left out of this article that might have been included such as the violent attack on Porshenko just days prior to Zelensky’s success in the 2019 election. The attack was made by followers of Yarosh who is noted in the above article to later openly threaten Zelensky’s life and was later still to be appointed as a senior military advisor by Zelensky. I found the assertions made by these two authors in this article to be quite accurate. If, however, you find their content to have strayed from the facts, I would consider it a favor to hear of it.
I would, of course, prefer to read these facts in the column of some other writer I hold in higher esteem than Blumenthal/Rubenstein with whom I am quite at odds on many topics. However, given the censors and media manipulation, I would prefer to read the truth by PA supporters than be left blind to consider only the limits of what the media censors consider is supportive of their accepted state-approved narrative, which I find more and more reason to challenge.
@Adam
“Max Blumenthal is a longtime anti-Zionist Jew”
That he is.
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/max-blumenthal-and-anti-zionists
So is Alexander Rubenstein
https://medium.com/@RealAlexRubi/how-pro-israel-lobbyists-are-causing-deep-schisms-in-the-american-left-592fe60384f3d
@Felix
You really should read what I wrote. As I noted, if you care to ridicule others, do as you care, as you must, or as you like. Just leave me and my handle out of your games and insulting tactics. Also, I didn’t call for your words to be removed, as I am not given towards censoring people’s thoughts or their expressions no matter how ridiculously spoken or poorly intended – such Twitteresque tactics are quite loathsome to me and are not consistent with anything I would ever support, much less advocate. I do, however, object to having my name included in your ridicule of others as it stymies conversations and open debate which is the greater use of communication, IMO. Hence, I would ask that you do you without including me and I will do the same for you. I don’t speak for others and I will not sit silent when my name is used without my support of the purpose in which it is employed. Furthermore, if you are offended by my request as you do seem to be, well, this was honestly not my purpose, but deal with it as you see fit. Attack or ridicule who you like including myself, but I do ask that you leave my name out of your limiting games.
@Adam
Peloni
So you compose a massive chunk of text directed against the use of ridicule.
I don’t care about your thoughts on the use of ridicule.
Mr Belman can remove my posts if he decides. I never ever object to Ted.
BUT YOU ARE NOT EDITOR
In the meantime get used to ridicule and read some literature
@Felix
I would respectfully request that you please not employ me in derision or ridicule of others. I find such low borne tactics to reflect a hollow argument that will only convince others that you have nothing serious to share, and for myself, I always have a reason to support my beliefs, or I will simply remain silent until I can form a belief from the reasons shared by others. It is not my intention to be overly harsh, but I deeply disrespect the use of ridicule while any argument can be made to persuade others of their mistaken perceptions, and if you find it useful, I would very much prefer not to be made a party to your attempt in its use.
I would also suggest that it is not a repeat of 1933. These modern Nazi’s are far better at controlling their narrative on the international stage. They have succeeded in luring powerful nations to supplement their cause while pursuing other interests. The consequence is a mighty pyramid scheme of fake news, false reports and revisionist history, all of which is open to exposure by simple reason, solid evidence and careful attention to the recent past. It is for this reason that I suggest to you to use a stronger argument than ridicule to blunt their vast pattern of massive distortions, or you will simply fail to succeed where you might have succeeded in not failing with a better strategy than offering a little humor when a strong argument is better suited. IMHO, of course.
Shhhhhj Peloni don’t upset Adam’s conspiracy theories.
His conspiracy theory is that Zelensky sent Azov into battle to eliminate them.
WTF…
NO rather by this stage all the Fascist militias are totally integrated with the state
And Zelensky has closed all political parties and totally controls the press
And western Media are there. Follow the BBC. They ARE THERE.
Is repeat of Nazis 1933 on
All supported by West
And Biden pledges to reach no deal to end this nightmare
With risk of a nuclear false flag by Biden. This is why Ted we must zero in on Bucha.
Now we need to know immediately every word from Trump including silence and see how he follows up
@Adam
The Azov was home based in Mariopol, they were not sent there. The war did not begin in February 2022 when the Russian army invaded, but 8yrs ago when Azov and others free-lance volunteer forces seized the initiative to invade the Dombas area. Prior to this, the army failed to attack the the Dombas area because of the people standing in the street to oppose the oncoming tanks, and the army turned back. The volunteer battalions of Aidar, Azov, Tornado and others (see this link:
https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/ukraine/volunteers-bn.htm) refused to allow their Russo-citizenry to ignore the Nationalists control over them and launched an attack on their fellow Ukrainians in Dombas. Due to the unbridled ferocity of these self motivated actions of these volunteers and ignoring the rights of their fellow citizens, they were not stopped by people standing in the streets and civil war broke out and led to many in the Ukrainian army to defect to the defense of Dombas, which made the govt even more dependent upon, and controlled by, Azov and her sister battalions. Their attack upon the Dombas was quite successful, and for this they were incorporated en masse without reform into the ranks of the govt forces. They took Marioupol as their home base of operations which, in part, led to 2 million ethnic Russian-Ukrainians fleeing from the govt-sponsored brutality that BBC had documented in years past. In the first year of the Dombas war over 10K people were killed.
So, Zelensky did not send them to the Dombas as a reinactment of the 300 Spartans buying his nation the few days necessary to thwart their enemies, to which many have compared this sacrifice. Azov was hired them following their unsanctioned reign of terror over the Dombas in the months following the Maidan and Odessa Massacres.
The forces in Mariupol are also not the limit of the Nazi’s in the country, as the state-empowered C14 will easily attest towards. There has also been an effort by the Nazi movement to incorporate themselves into every element of the Ukrainian armed forces as attested by Oleksiy Kuzmenko’s analysis which is a very important piece of the Nazi/Far Right puzzle in Ukraine:
https://www.illiberalism.org/far-right-group-made-its-home-in-ukraines-major-western-military-training-hub/
You may be familiar with Kuzmenko’s association with Bellingcat, though this factor is less significant in my eyes than I believe it is to your own.
In so far as what will come afterward, should the Russians denazify Azov once and for all, it is uncertain. It will be claimed as you have that this will eliminate the Nazi issue. I am not convinced of this with the report of Kuzmenko. I find it more likely that the further lionization of the Nazi’s will serve a vital role in motivating and empowering those radical companies throughout the Ukrainian forces, and other such aligned groups in Europe to perpetuate this plague. Perhaps I am wrong in my suspicion and this will end the control of the Nazi’s over the Ukraine govt, but I am unconvinced of this premise at this point.
Some disturbing recent reports about events likely to be Ukraine war-related in both Russia and the West.
Two Russian “oligarchs,” are said to have died under mysterious circumstances, along with their entire families, within the last few days. In one case, an “oligarch’ living with his family in London, the victims were hacked to death with a hatchet, suffering numerous blows to the head, except for the oligarch himself, who was found hanged to death in his bathroom.
The other dead “oligarch” and his entire family lived in a dacha north of Moscow.They all died in very similar circumstances as those of the London family. All members of this oligarch’s family had died of multiple gunshot wounds, except for the oligarch himself, was found dead in his bathroom with one pistol shot to the head. Again, both “oligarchs” were killed within one day of each other. Both had strong ties to the Russian oil and gas industry, and Russian prosectors have been investsging corruption in this industry for some moths now. Did Putin decide it was best to get rid of the two main suspects now? That would spare the Russian government a very embarrassing trial that
would likely have made public a lot of stories of corruption in business circles with close ties to the government.
Important article. Everyone should read it.
Max Blumenthal is a longtime anti-Zionist Jew.
No one seems to have noticed that by sending Azov into the Mariupol death-trap, he has assured that few if any of them would return alive. True, he may give posthumous medals to those who gave the last full measure of devotion to their country, even if it means distributing medals (deserved, in my opinion) to the Azov warriors families. But there won’t be many men with neo-Nazi pasts left in the Ukrainian army.