Thread by @HeerJeet

1. It's true that progressives are shying away from talking about Ukrainian fascists, sometimes for good reason: not wanting to lend credibility to Putin's cynical & dishonest smearing of all Ukrainian nationalism as fascist, not wanting to criticize people under attack

https://twitter.com/SamSacks/status/1500830893719666692

2. @DavidKlion & I had a discussion/debate about this in a recent podcast. I think the points we covered got at the nuances: In terms of electoral politics, fascists are very weak in Ukraine (much less so than in other Western countries & indeed in Russia).

3. It absolutely has to be underscored that Putin's smearing of Ukraine as fascist is cynical & hypocritical, not least because Putin is more than willing to ally with and enable fascists (both at home & abroad). I mean look at recent Russian propaganda.

https://twitter.com/KevinRothrock/status/1500231126606098434

4. It's not just that fascists are electorally weak in Ukraine. It's also that the dominant faction in Ukraine is now led by Zelensky, who is Jewish and whose version of nationalism is pluralist and liberal. That counts for a lot.

5. In absolute numbers, the Azov battalion is small. The two worries are: 1) in context of insurgency they could grow 2) mainstream organization, including outside Ukraine, will mainstream them. As here with NATO.

https://twitter.com/HeerJeet/status/1501243694590173188

6. I think it's important to figure out ways to support Ukrainian sovereignty and also marginalize the fascist right. In this discussion with @DavidKlion we delve more into this topic. jeetheer.substack.com/p/podcast-puti…