Can We Thank Obama for the Rise of the White Supremacists Here?

I think that we can. Along with John McCain and other members of congress. Why should Obama take the blame for what's happening not just in this country, but in Ukraine, Germany and Italy? Because his administration decided to overthrow Ukraine's elected government, installed Neo Nazis in the government and watched as the Neo Nazis movement exploded. Hillary's BFF, Victoria Nuland who was the former Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs at the United States Department of State. She held the rank of Career Ambassador, the highest diplomatic rank in the United States Foreign Service.

US-Funded Neo-Nazis in Ukraine Mentor US White Supremacists

Short-sighted U.S. foreign policy that backs jihadists in the Middle East and neo-Nazis in Ukraine is once again blowing back on the United States.

Last month, an unsealed FBI indictment of four American white supremacists from the Rise Above Movement (RAM) declared that the defendants had trained with Ukraine’s Azov Battalion, a neo-Nazi militia officially incorporated into the country’s national guard. The training took place after the white supremacist gang participated in violent riots in Huntington Beach and Berkeley, California and Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017.

The indictment stated that the Azov Battalion “is believed to have participated in training and radicalizing United States-based white supremacy organizations.”

After a wave of racist violence across America that culminated in the massacre of twelve Jewish worshippers at a Pittsburgh synagogue, the revelation that violent white supremacists have been traveling abroad for training and ideological indoctrination with a well-armed neo-Nazi militia should cause extreme alarm.

Not only are white supremacists from across the West flocking to Ukraine to learn from the combat experience of their fascist brothers-in-arms, they are doing so openly — chronicling their experiences on social media before they bring their lessons back home. But U.S. law enforcement has done nothing so far to restrict the flow of right-wing American extremists to Azov’s bases.

There is one likely explanation for the U.S. government’s hands-off approach to Azov recruitment: the extremist militia is fighting pro-Russian separatists as a front-line proxy of Washington. In fact, the United States has directly armed the Azov Battalion, forking over anti-tank rocket launchers and even sending a team of Army officers to meet in the field with Azov commanders in 2017.

Though Congress passed legislation this year forbidding military aid to Azov on the grounds of its white supremacist ideology, the Trump administration’s authorization of $200 million in offensive weaponry and aid to the Ukrainian military makes it likely new stores of weapons will wind up the extremist regiment’s hands. When queried by reporters about evidence of American military training of Azov personnel, multiple U.S. army spokespersons admitted there was no mechanism in place to prevent that from happening.

Today, Azov boasts combat experience, unlimited access to light weapons, and supporters honeycombed throughout the upper echelons of Ukraine’s military and government. No longer just a militia, the organization has developed into a political juggernaut that can overpower Ukraine’s government. Two years ago, the group flexed its muscle on the streets of Kiev, bringing out 10,000 supporters to demand that the government bend to their will or face a coup.
**
Today, Azov leaders openly acknowledge that were it not for the U.S.-backed coup that unfolded in Kiev’s Maidan Square in 2014, their organization would never have developed into the powerhouse it is. As Semanyaka said this year, according to a summary:

The Ukrainian nationalist movement would have never reached such a level of development unless the war with Russia had begun. For the first time since the Second World War, nationalist formations have managed to create their own military wings, the brightest example being the Azov regime of the National Guard of Ukraine.”

Right-wing Maidan Revolution

The 2013-14 Maidan revolt was the cataclysmic event that Ukraine’s already potent ultra-nationalist camp had been waiting for. The protests erupted in Kiev’s Maidan Square after the democratically elected President Viktor Yanukovych refused to sign an economic association agreement with the EU. Celebrated in the West as a pro-Western movement guided by tech-savvy middle-class youth, EuroMaidan depended heavily for its success on phalanxes of black-masked hardmen from Right Sector (see appendix at bottom), an ultra-nationalist party that did battle with the government’s Berkut riot police.

Along with Right Sector, the leadership of the far-right Svoboda Party assumed a prominent role at the Maidan, dubbing the protests a “Revolution of Dignity.” Svoboda co-founder Oleh Tyahnybok — who had once demanded an investigation of the “Jewish-Muscovite mafia” that he saw controlling Ukraine — appeared on stage at the square beside U.S. Senators John McCain and Chris Murphy when they arrived to encourage the protesters.
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The U.S. has not only kept silent about the wave of ultra-nationalist violence sweeping across Ukraine, it has been complicit in legitimizing the perpetrators. This November, America House Kyiv — a U.S. government-funded cultural center — hosted a speech by a uniformed leader of the neo-Nazi C14 gang, Serhiy Bondar. Months earlier, Republican House Majority Leader Paul Ryan and the NATO-funded Atlantic Council hosted Andriy Parubiy, the speaker of the Ukrainian parliament and co-founder of the fascist Social-National party, for a friendly exchange on Capitol Hill.Given the free rein and open acceptance right-wing extremists enjoy in post-Maidan Ukraine, it is no wonder the country has become a haven for fascists from across the West.

I can't excerpt this well enough to make sense so read the whole article.

ETA. Obviously Obama wasn't the only one responsible for the 2014 coup. The CIA and others have a long history of working with the Nazis going back to when they brought lots of the Nazis here from Germany after WWII and had worked with them before that. But this happened during Obama's tenure and people refuse to admit that he did the things he did while he was president.

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snoopydawg's picture

Soros' Open Society can usually be seen behind the scenes in many coups "color revolutions" that have been sweeping the Middle East and elsewhere. Putin has been warning people about the risks of the Neo Nazis and the media of course is saying that he is making it up.

This is utter propaganda bullshit and yet people believe that the people of Ukraine just decided to rise up and throw off their shackles. And that Russia was wrong to annex Crimea.

Keep the Spirit of the Maidan Alive

Ukraine is something of a miracle. A group of unarmed citizens rose up and overwhelmed a police force with orders to shoot to kill them. We are witnessing the birth of a new nation, a new Ukraine—with a limitless future made possible by people willing to sacrifice their lives for their country.

In order for Ukrainians to realize that future, the spirit of the Maidan must be preserved. They will need international support. It won’t be easy. Europe can only provide so much help, since the EU itself is in crisis. Russia looms, with its dominant military might, and neither Europe nor the U.S. has shown any appetite for armed conflict in this part of the world. Putin believes in displays of force; he flexes his muscle, and expects people to fall in line. He will do what he can to thwart progress, to keep the country mired in its corrupt past.

But that doesn’t mean Russia can defeat the new Ukraine. I think people are willing to endure what hardships Putin deals out in order to build a better future here. And my foundation is working with experts in Ukraine to create a strategy for keeping the spirit of the Maidan alive.

We can help support free and fair elections in May, and encourage parliament to pass laws giving candidates equal time on television to make their case to the country. The people of Ukraine should choose their own representative. And they must seize the moment to reform the judiciary. This is vitally important, and you can’t do it piecemeal.

The Neo Nazis have been attacking and killing Roma (Gypsies) and Jews with Israel's blessings and Israel is also arming the Neo Nazis. I posted an article about this last week which I will find and post the link. Max Bluementhal wrote both articles.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

@snoopydawg

and it is amazing to me that we can only find out this stuff by going to a different level of reporting in this world. Apparently there are some good guys in the FBI because that suit was filed by an FBI agent. I already had seen the photos of John McCain with the neo-Nazis in Ukraine, but I didn't know that Obama had a hand in blocking Congress from barring these weapons sales. And the fact that Israel supplies arms to neo Nazis is mind bending and backed up by other sources.
How ironic is it that we have basically funded the people who trained neo Nazis in the US to act up in places like Charlottesville!!
Our government is so fucked up it is impossible to keep up with it all. And Israel.... well, their own nastiness has depths we haven't even explored yet.
The only remedy I see is for people to continue to document as much of all this as possible and get it out to others in our country and overseas. And we MUST continue to expose what our CIA is up to 24/7.

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"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin

@snoopydawg There is a lot of information out there that Soros's main interests are philosophically anti-fascist. Yeah, I know. "not on my news feed". Yet, I don't think any of us here can truly know whose allegiances are to whom in this world anymore.

I personally would support all that are attempting to limit fascism, of course assuming that is their true intent.

I have seen evidence of Koch bros and Walton and Bezos etc being evil. Soros? Yeah, billionaire stuff is usually evil, and at the same time, none of the former are exactly putting their influence into anti-fascist causes. Soros has.

I guess it hasn't felt right for a while that so much energy is put into anti-Soros narration as a target, with much less regard for billionaires and corporations that are doing far more damage. What gives?

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Obama visibly refused to stand up to blatant, even violent racism. Whether it was Mitch McConnell's obstructionism,or defacing a temple, or shooting a black man in the back, he did nothing. Such cowardice was a red flag to racists throughout America.

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On to Biden since 1973

Raggedy Ann's picture

@doh1304
they were emboldened. Unknw

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"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

His ineffectiveness, to be kind, as President is pronounced because of the high hopes and opportunities afforded him. All he did was feather his own nest just like all the rest of America's modern heroes.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

gulfgal98's picture

@dkmich So much of this can be laid directly at the feet of Obama. Obama also paved the way for Trump and probably worse in the future.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

snoopydawg's picture

@dkmich

He had so many people believing that he would do what he said he would after they finally got through the Bush years. But the another reason I despise him is that he did diddly squat on climate change when there was still a chance to do something. Of course there are many, many more reasons but I'll stop here.

The first black president's legacy is slavery in Libya and the rise and support of neo Nazis in Ukraine and in this country. The irony of this is off the charts.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Lookout's picture

The CIA has had Russia in it's sights since there's been a CIA. The Ukrainian coup that we instigated has been as successful as our Iraq invasion...as in NOT!

Crimea created the excuse for sanctions against Russia despite the fact the 80+ percent of the people wanted to be a part of Russia. Yeah we protect and promote democracy around the world...as long as our puppets run the democracy.

Glad to see a little light shined on this blunder...thanks.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Including Trump with his birther BS. I think in the long term Obama's presidency did us a service by forcing us to confront our long time racism sooner than we might have otherwise.

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Beware the bullshit factories.

Anja Geitz's picture

@Timmethy2.0

Who can now be ripped out of their beds by a SWAT team in the middle of the night because the DHS has them on a suspected Terrorist List, slammed into Guantamo Bay without a trail or a lawyer, courtesy of President Obama who signed away their right to Habeas Corpus, will give a hearty thanks to his Presidency for bringing racism to light.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

@Anja Geitz @Anja Geitz
Of Obama's presidency before so many people started feeling disappointment with him. I think some of the disappointment comes from the incessant racism that was being echoed around the Country by people like Trump who wanted to whip up and exploit it for their own purposes.

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Beware the bullshit factories.

Anja Geitz's picture

@Timmethy2.0

As to how your response relates to my observation that we have very little to be "thankful" for in regards to Obama's Presidency.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

I arrive after several days to find another example of why C99 is such a breath of fresh air...

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@Linda Wood

comment on socialism to gjohnsit's essay, Socialism, Libertarianism, and Freedom. I apologize for the mistake.

But I wanted to say here that I think the article linked by snoopydawg is the most important media piece in the country right now and that the comments are well worth reading too.

https://consortiumnews.com/2018/11/17/blowback-us-funded-ukraine-neo-naz...

US-Funded Neo-Nazis in Ukraine Mentor US White Supremacists
November 17, 2018 • 80 Comments

Short-sighted U.S. foreign policy that backs jihadists in the Middle East and neo-Nazis in Ukraine is once again blowing back on the United States, as Max Blumenthal explains.

FBI: Azov Battalion Trained Rise Above Movement
By Max Blumenthal

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our government from arming Nazis, what exactly can we do to right this ship? Put another way, if arming Nazis is not treason, what is? We have a federal government openly arming Nazi military forces. We have to stop it. We are engaged in crimes against humanity. How is it possible that we are allowing Congress to waffle on this? How is it possible we are allowing Congress to waffle on aiding the Saudi government in Yemen?

The information in Blumenthal's article is nothing new, except possibly for the training of American Nazis. But published clearly, as it is, how is it not a call for a criminal complaint against every member of Congress who allows this to happen?

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