Of course the nazi hunt had to happen. Few articles about how Ukraine had a Jewish PM in the previous government and a Jewish president now. Many articles about a fringe movement likely to literally bleed out in case Russia launch a major offensive.
Same with the damned language issue. I hear Russian being spoken way more often than Ukrainian in Kyiv, and none looks like they are afraid. Besides, a language is not an ideology but just a language.
Meanwhile it's not considered a problem with all the leftists all over Europe supporting the obviously fascist regime in the Kremlin.
When looking at extremists we must, in my opinion, always look at how dangerous they are. I think men wearing suits and hiding behind veils of respectability are more dangerous than flag waving kids. For the record, I'm a liberal centrist and will not endorse the right or left.
The actions and events resulting from of a persons ideology should play a more important role when evaluating political movements I think. I am as much in opposition to the far-right, who in many European countries are pro-Putin, as anybody else.
But I still find the left wing of politics much more dangerous than the right. Not because of their ideology but because of their "achievements". The left supported the USSR, and now Russia, but they keep getting away with it.
The left hide behind so called peace movements and are still well represented in many governments in Europe. They actively obstruct any push back towards Putin's regime, and the war and terror it has caused. That is a real and present danger to European security and democracy.
The far right in Europe is of course also a real problem, but not as dangerous as the far left. The far right tend to out itself wherever it appears and behave in such an outrageous way that it has a hard time getting enough support to get real power.
Whenever far right extremism in Ukraine, it does exist, is discussed ask yourself this: In how many countries could a Jewish person be elected president, without the heritage even being an issue?
In super liberal Sweden it is stated in the constitution that the Swedish monarch, and the spouse, must be a member of the Swedish Lutheran Church. No freedom of religion for the head of state. How tolerant are other countries?
Look at Hitler's actions against Austria, Sudetenland and the rest of Czechoslovakia. What is the difference compared with Putin's actions against Crimea, Donbass and the rest of Ukraine? Same arguments about one people, one country.
I would even go as far as to say Putin is worse than Hitler in the above comparison. Way more people have died in Donbass compared with when Hitler took Austria and Czechoslovakia.
Now Putin is preparing for his own version of September 1st 1939 after having completed Anschluss och Belarus already. 100s of thousands of soldiers on the borders, crazy demands, delusions of grandeur, historical purpose of restoring an empire.
Still, the leftists defend Putin. Gerhard Schröder might be the best, worst, example but there are many others. They outright defend Putin and Russia, and are working hard to find legit reasons for Russia's actions, even though those match Hitler's until summer 1939 perfectly.
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Yesterday Swedish Public TV, @svt, ran a documentary about Russia that had so many pieces of Russian propaganda lies in it that it was pulled within 24 hours after complaints from viewers. They even got the cover photo wrong, it's from Kyiv. naringslivets-medieinstitut.se/svt-backar-om-…
@svt I am, to say the least, furious about how the Russia Crisis is covered by media in Sweden. Despite many good articles and TV-pieces I don't understand why they still let propaganda slip through so easily. Facts are out there, just check them before publishing.
@svt In December I wrote a long letter to a newspaper requesting a correction of an article. They answered politely but no correction came, damage done but no repair. The same happened again later with the same newspaper.
This one is worth reading. Putin is trapped in his own trap, and considering he only fights when he can safely win and is afraid of admitting any losses a new offensive against Ukraine is unlikely. But the risk is still too big to ignore. nytimes.com/2022/01/28/opi…
As before Putin is uniting his enemies. Who expected a strong alliance of democracies to form so quickly, and in Germany ostpolitik is under pressure, London might go after dirty money, Paris has aligned itself with the US. All things we thought impossible only six months ago.
If we are lucky Finland and Sweden will seriously consider NATO membership too.
They are not "Russia-backed separatists" in Donbass. They were created by, and are controlled by, Russia. Time to kill the false and dangerous narrative about independent fighters once and for all. Good one by @PaulNiland. @cepa#Ukraine#RussiaCrisis cepa.org/west-must-ackn…
@PaulNiland@cepa I challenge news media who use the phrase "Russia-backed separatists" to find traces of such a movement before the spring of 2014, even until the very day the violent groups took control of areas of the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts in Ukraine.
Would the "Russia-backed separatists" be able to fight on their own, without Moscow's support? If Russia said the "separatists" should stop fighting, could then continue anyway? Do they have that power?
Germany could just say it out loud: We lack the spine to take a stand against Russia, and since the U.S. and NATO protect us we have no reason to take a stand in the first place. Better enjoy the benefits from not spending on the military and do business with the autocrats too.
Sweden on the other hand stands on the barricades for human rights, at least as long as it doesn't have a negative business impact on HM, Volvo, Ericsson, IKEA, Atlas Copco, Scania, Alfa Laval, or any other Swedish business.
Germany's original sin is that didn't use all its powers to push back against aggression from the very beginning. It should have learnt this lesson after WWII. ft.com/content/25b54d…
Where Germany got the idea about a strategic partnership with Russia from is also a mystery to me. My Mother always told me to never associate with criminals. Germany should have known this too. It was obvious what kind of Putin is even before he became president.
Further, even if Germany liked to see Nord Stream 1 and 2 as commercial energy projects it was obvious they were Molotov - Ribbentrop part II for Russia. A knife is lethal even if it can also be used to cut potatoes.
Americans, and others, who claim that Russian speakers in Ukraine are pro-Russia because of the language they speak should ask why English speakers in America revolted against England and created the United States. Because it's about ideology and belonging, not language.
Then look at ethnicity. How many of the Americans who revolted against the English were ethic Englishmen? I bet a large part of the supporters of American independence were ethic Englishmen, so why did they revolt? Because was not about ethnicity, it was about ideology.
Americans typically identify along certain shared values and are proud to call themselves Americans. Despite this I have met many Americans who express pride in their heritage. Was JFK foremost an Irishman or an American? Heritage is one thing, current identification another.