Thread by @ggreenwald

Ukraine's President Zelensky suspends 11 opposition parties, using the same rationale Putin invokes when doing so: they're subversive, with ties to foreign enemies. One of the parties has 10% of elected seats in Ukraine's parliament:

economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/internati…

This is a great, nuanced article by @arisroussinos on serious neo-Nazism in Ukraine's military. It's false to say Ukraine is run by Nazis, worse to claim it justifies Russia's invasion. But the West is radically and dangerously minimizing their power:

unherd.com/2022/03/the-tr…

As Roussinos writes: Europe "has many extreme Right-wing groups, but only in Ukraine do they possess their own tank and artillery units, with the state’s support." @fbfsubstack adds vital nuance. Russia's claims are false, but the West's erasure also is:

niccolo.substack.com/p/saturday-com…

One of the creepiest parts about watching Western discourse on war -- let again led by neocons and their fans -- is that what was, *until 3 weeks ago*, common to hear in the most mainstream press is now taboo, declared "Russian disinformation" for, say, warning of Azov's power.

No rational person thinks Ukrainian neo-Nazi militias justify this war. But it's dangerous madness to scoff at the impact of arming them, as the West is doing. Look at this video on Azov's threat from the most mainstream of all -- @TIME -- *9 months ago*:

https://twitter.com/TIME/status/1350428277610065925

Every country has neo-Nazis but none in Europe has anything close to what Ukraine has: a state-supported explicit neo-Nazi battalion, now more armed than ever. It doesn't preclude support for Ukraine. But it should preclude arming Azov or turning their adherents into heroes.

For those *justifying* Zelensky's ban on 11 opposition parties by citing war -- of course neocon-led discourse will exploit war to justify suspension of political rights: see 9/11 -- Zelensky banned 3 opposition TV stations in Feb, 2021, 13 months ago:

dw.com/en/ukraine-zel…

The liberal veneration for the neocon who is arguably most responsible for the torrent of post-9/11 lies and pro-war propaganda under Bush/Cheney, @DavidFrum now of @Atlantic and @CNN, still with enormous amounts of unwashed blood on his hands and teeth, is just wild to watch: