At the start of the Special Military Operation in February 2022 I warned of the blowback that, I asserted, would likely come if the West continued to pamper Nazi groups in Ukraine:
The U.S. aim is to create an insurgency in the Ukraine.
The Coming Ukrainian Insurgency – Foreign Affairs
Russia’s Invasion Could Unleash Forces the Kremlin Can’t ControlSince 2015 the CIA has trained Ukrainian groups for exactly that purpose.
CIA-trained Ukrainian paramilitaries may take central role if Russia invades – Yahoo
CIA support for Ukrainian Nazis has a long history.
Op-Ed: The CIA has backed Ukrainian insurgents before. Let’s learn from those mistakes – LA Times
A new Nazi insurgency in eastern Europe is an exceptionally bad idea. Fascist groups from everywhere would join in. A few years from now it may well lead to Nazi terror in many European countries. Have we learned really nothing from the war on Syria and the ISIS campaign?
Me and Ivan Katchanovski were probably the only ones who had warned of this:
Katchanovski adds that, “This is also going to have a dangerous effect on Ukraine and potentially other countries because now, basically, Nazis in Ukraine are made into national heroes.” He also noted that Azov (as well as Western governments) has consistently pressured Zelensky — including with threats, and even before Russia invaded — not to seek a peace deal with Russia or withdraw forces from the Donbas region. In February, Azov branded Zelensky a “servant of the Russian people” after he suggested that he might negotiate with Moscow.
Katchanovski said that the valorization of the Azov Regiment is comparable to how the West initially supported the predecessors of the Taliban in their fight against the Soviet Union’s intervention in the war in Afghanistan in the 1980s, and also risks inspiring yet more far-right activists from other countries to join the conflict in Ukraine in order to gain military experience, potentially causing a blowback effect if they make it home.
Yesterday one avid U.S. supporter of the fascists in Ukraine tried to assassinate the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump:
Jack Poso 🇺🇸 @JackPosobiec – 1:39 UTC · Sep 16, 2024
EXCLUSIVE: Attempted Trump assassin Ryan Routh appeared in a propaganda video for the AZOV BATTALLION in May 2022
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Routh, himself being too old to fight, had tried to hire foreign mercenaries to fight on the fascist side in Ukraine. He obviously targeted Trump because he had promised to dictate an end to the war in Ukraine.
Was Routh more than a lone wolf in this?
Edward Snowden @Snowden – 23:27 UTC · Sep 15, 2024
We know little so far, but w alleged Trump shooter's personal and public participation in military activity in Ukraine, it is hard to imagine this White House's agencies can claim zero contact—"clean hands." Something of an Oswald vibe, here. Congress should get answers.
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As more people start to think about potential ways to end the war in Ukraine the far-right in Ukraine is threatening to use violence to prevent that:
SIMPLICIUS Ѱ @simpatico771 – 18:13 UTC · Sep 15, 2024
⚡️🇺🇦Ukraine's most feared drone warlord threatens Zelensky:
A serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with the call sign "Madyar" openly and "without drama" threatens the Ukrainian government.
According to him, if someone negotiates with the Russian Federation "not in the interests of the Ukrainian people", then a million fighters will return from the front and overthrow such a government.
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The Washington Post tries to explain the issue:
‘Sprinkled with our blood’: Why so many Ukrainians resist land for peace
Ukraine is under pressure to cut a deal to end the war, especially if Trump wins, but there is likely to be fierce opposition from some soldiers and their families in the east.
It turns out that the 'so many' Ukrainians are not so many but a small radical minority that is willing to use force against politicians who want to take the necessary steps to make peace:
Polling, however, shows that Ukrainians are not ready to give up their land, especially among those soldiers in Donbas who have been fighting for it for the past 10 years.
…
[W]hile only 7 percent said they would join an armed protest in case of territorial concessions, that number more than doubled among soldiers and veterans — including those who have been fighting for the past decade, who have seen Russian forces raze the Ukrainian cities they capture to the ground, and who are now grappling with the prospect of losing their long-contested homeland.
The Post cites only few named sources in support of its thesis:
Vitaliy Barabash, the head of Avdiivka’s military administration, has been fighting Russia since 2014. The city was finally captured by Russia this winter after a decade of fighting.
…
He does not believe that Zelensky would sign a peace deal that would “abandon” Donbas — and said that it would be a “stupid mistake” to reason with Moscow. “Most people are hopefully that we will return to Avdiivka. They are ready to live in tents and rebuild this city.”
The report does not mention that Vitaliy Barabash, who is Jewish, was one of those who fought, and lost, with the fascist Azov battalion in Mariupol:
A Jewish Ukrainian soldier in the besieged Azovstal plant in Mariupol called on Israel on Wednesday night to intervene to save the garrison.
In a Facebook video posted by Jewish Kyiv-based entrepreneur and activist Ilgam Gasanov, Vitaliy Barabash said in Ukrainian, “It’s hard for me to speak, so my speech for me will be said by my brother, on behalf of all Ukrainian Jews who are together with me here.”
Barabash, also known as Benya, held a Ukrainian flag up to the camera as his friend read his statement, a Star of David tattoo clearly visible on Barabash’s hand.
Members of Azov and other 'nationalist' groupings in Ukraine are now experienced fighters. The have the means to fight as there are lots of Ukrainian weapons in unaccountable hands (machine translation):
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia in Ukraine, more than 270,945 weapons have disappeared or been stolen.
…
In less than 2024, more weapons were stolen or lost than in the whole of last year – 78,217 units. At the same time, it is 4 times more than before the start of a full-scale war.
These weapons can be easily smuggled into Europe to target any politician who dares to pressure Ukraine into accepting an end of the war.
The attempted assassination of Trump is only one of the first of such incidents. (The motives for the assassination attempt against the Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico are still unknown.)
Many such incidents, predominantly in Europe, are likely to follow.