Neonazis in Kiev, the wider Ukrainian quagmire, and the coming new order: will the next separatist actions be on Ukraine's western borders to satisfy territorial aspirations by NATO members?
Historical claims can only ever be excuses, not legitimate reasons - where does one drop the marker and say: "To this year, but not further back"? Arbitrary as it can get, meaning it may be useful for understanding but not as anything else.
How about this to crank the aburdity up to 11: I and a great many other northern and western europeans of mainly germanic and celtic racial heritage have a significant amount of neanderthal DNA, in parts. So all Johnny-come-lately Heidelbergensis? Up sticks and leave. Ridiculous - "blut and boden" has a point, but it can't be used in a "Germany is where german is spoken" kind of fashion.
The issue is this: Russia has attacked a sovereign neighbour state. Was the attack warranted by an active threat to Russia? That's the issue. And it wasn't.
As for units using insignia - I will respect the reporting of this when the same journalists, politicians and media outlets make the same show of outrage and report on the constant use of nazi-symbolism by groups designated "victims" and "good guys" such as palestinians. 'Mein Kampf' is still one of the most sold books after the Koran in the Mid-East. Not meant as whataboutism, but to show the hypocrisy of the media's moral outrage at iconography when said outrage is selectivly applied for political reasons.
The swedish police's symbol, for comparison, is a pair of fasces beneath the national shield. Does that means swedish police are fascists? I've had to explain the iconography once or twice to italians. Not to mention the land of Dalarna. The emblem is two crossbow bolts forming an 'x', points up. Romanians, polacks and hungarians as well as russians I've worked with has more than once asked if it's a nationalist militia symbol. Semiotics sure is fun. Just look at where the doppeladler appears throughout history.
All military units use slogans. That some of these may overlap or have been used by others says nothing about a unit in question - again, that is pure misdirection. What have the irregulars been doing? Fighting Russian soldiers dressed up as civilians in the already occupied areas - "little green men" as the say. And fighting without proper uniform or insignia or fighting wearing the enemy's uniform as a cover is a war crime, not that Russia ever has acknowledged the concept except as a political tool.
Please don't read this as picking a side but as offering additional points of interest. Russia has several valid concerns, so has Ukraine - why both Russia and Ukraine couldn't instead expose the maneuvering by various US and EU interests that's led to this I don't understand.
I always appreciate your in-depth analysis on The parts of west Europe where the language barrier make it hard for some people to penetrate. (Few statistics came out of Russia and the Baltic states+ Central Asia lately for the same reason) and I commend you for doing the work.
On this situation however I have a different take. If you will take a step back, you might see that ‘ plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose’. I have written just a few words about it in regards to masks and if history is a teacher, you know..,we may be all on the same side but IT moves on. Regards!
The presence and use of ultra-nationalist/neo-nazi symbolism makes absolutely no sense prima facie.
From skull&bones to swastika to ss - it's all so historically burdened to such a degree that one has to wonder why would anybody defending his coutry (a worthy cause, something common people can relate to) use a symbol that can only introduce a suspicion of that persons motives.
By any stretch of the imagination, you don't have to be a neo-nazi to be able to defend yourself from an invader! So, this reeks of a false flag operation/special operation!
I say that as a Croatian who has witnessed how counter intelligence operations planned and carried out by KOS (Kontraobaveštajna služba, Yugoslavian military counter intelligence) were led against Croatian self determination efforts in August of 1991., hoping that, what was essentially a terrorist attack on a very specific targets (bombing of a Jewish synagogue/community space and cemetary), it would tarnish the international image of Croatia as a country seeking wide international recognition.
24 years later, we saw a swastika appear on a football field in Croatian city of Split (etched in the grass field one night before the match Croatia-Italy)! I'd argue - by the spiritual successors of vile scumbags who organized and carried out operations in August of '91.
Riddle me this, how could Croatia benefit from what went down in 1991 and 2015 and by extension how could Ukraine do the same today by using the same symbols?
Your Ukraine think-pieces are far more interesting than the Covid-related stuff, and even better than the Austrian commentary. Keep it up, and please consider doing your Austrian commentary in this Q&A format, too!
I just had a horrible realisation as to why russian forces are occupying the Chernobyl area.
Using a nuclear device on Ukraine is hopefully out of the question even for Putin. But what about a conventional explosive blasting away the protective materials around the reactors (or the sludge that's left rather) and sending that cloud of radioavtive particles sweeping in over Ukraine?
Or just blasting the sarcophagi open and collect the material to dump it in water reservoirs, especially those for agriculture?
I wonder where there is a line that would cause Germany and the rest of the EU to go: "Enough! It's time for Operation: Barbarossa II, and this time we won't stop until we hit the Pacific Ocean".
Counter-points:
Historical claims can only ever be excuses, not legitimate reasons - where does one drop the marker and say: "To this year, but not further back"? Arbitrary as it can get, meaning it may be useful for understanding but not as anything else.
How about this to crank the aburdity up to 11: I and a great many other northern and western europeans of mainly germanic and celtic racial heritage have a significant amount of neanderthal DNA, in parts. So all Johnny-come-lately Heidelbergensis? Up sticks and leave. Ridiculous - "blut and boden" has a point, but it can't be used in a "Germany is where german is spoken" kind of fashion.
The issue is this: Russia has attacked a sovereign neighbour state. Was the attack warranted by an active threat to Russia? That's the issue. And it wasn't.
As for units using insignia - I will respect the reporting of this when the same journalists, politicians and media outlets make the same show of outrage and report on the constant use of nazi-symbolism by groups designated "victims" and "good guys" such as palestinians. 'Mein Kampf' is still one of the most sold books after the Koran in the Mid-East. Not meant as whataboutism, but to show the hypocrisy of the media's moral outrage at iconography when said outrage is selectivly applied for political reasons.
The swedish police's symbol, for comparison, is a pair of fasces beneath the national shield. Does that means swedish police are fascists? I've had to explain the iconography once or twice to italians. Not to mention the land of Dalarna. The emblem is two crossbow bolts forming an 'x', points up. Romanians, polacks and hungarians as well as russians I've worked with has more than once asked if it's a nationalist militia symbol. Semiotics sure is fun. Just look at where the doppeladler appears throughout history.
All military units use slogans. That some of these may overlap or have been used by others says nothing about a unit in question - again, that is pure misdirection. What have the irregulars been doing? Fighting Russian soldiers dressed up as civilians in the already occupied areas - "little green men" as the say. And fighting without proper uniform or insignia or fighting wearing the enemy's uniform as a cover is a war crime, not that Russia ever has acknowledged the concept except as a political tool.
Please don't read this as picking a side but as offering additional points of interest. Russia has several valid concerns, so has Ukraine - why both Russia and Ukraine couldn't instead expose the maneuvering by various US and EU interests that's led to this I don't understand.
I always appreciate your in-depth analysis on The parts of west Europe where the language barrier make it hard for some people to penetrate. (Few statistics came out of Russia and the Baltic states+ Central Asia lately for the same reason) and I commend you for doing the work.
On this situation however I have a different take. If you will take a step back, you might see that ‘ plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose’. I have written just a few words about it in regards to masks and if history is a teacher, you know..,we may be all on the same side but IT moves on. Regards!
"but this is such a high-risk endeavour that I consider it very likely right now"
You mean "unlikely"?
The presence and use of ultra-nationalist/neo-nazi symbolism makes absolutely no sense prima facie.
From skull&bones to swastika to ss - it's all so historically burdened to such a degree that one has to wonder why would anybody defending his coutry (a worthy cause, something common people can relate to) use a symbol that can only introduce a suspicion of that persons motives.
By any stretch of the imagination, you don't have to be a neo-nazi to be able to defend yourself from an invader! So, this reeks of a false flag operation/special operation!
I say that as a Croatian who has witnessed how counter intelligence operations planned and carried out by KOS (Kontraobaveštajna služba, Yugoslavian military counter intelligence) were led against Croatian self determination efforts in August of 1991., hoping that, what was essentially a terrorist attack on a very specific targets (bombing of a Jewish synagogue/community space and cemetary), it would tarnish the international image of Croatia as a country seeking wide international recognition.
24 years later, we saw a swastika appear on a football field in Croatian city of Split (etched in the grass field one night before the match Croatia-Italy)! I'd argue - by the spiritual successors of vile scumbags who organized and carried out operations in August of '91.
Riddle me this, how could Croatia benefit from what went down in 1991 and 2015 and by extension how could Ukraine do the same today by using the same symbols?
Your Ukraine think-pieces are far more interesting than the Covid-related stuff, and even better than the Austrian commentary. Keep it up, and please consider doing your Austrian commentary in this Q&A format, too!
I just had a horrible realisation as to why russian forces are occupying the Chernobyl area.
Using a nuclear device on Ukraine is hopefully out of the question even for Putin. But what about a conventional explosive blasting away the protective materials around the reactors (or the sludge that's left rather) and sending that cloud of radioavtive particles sweeping in over Ukraine?
Or just blasting the sarcophagi open and collect the material to dump it in water reservoirs, especially those for agriculture?
I wonder where there is a line that would cause Germany and the rest of the EU to go: "Enough! It's time for Operation: Barbarossa II, and this time we won't stop until we hit the Pacific Ocean".