The article below is not the reporting I am discussing here. The article below shows the continued genocide by Russia of the Ukriane people. The gossip that I heard today sought to understand and somewhat justify the Russian invasion. There is no rational that allows Russia to slaughter innocent people.
The comments come from someone who believes the Nazis are the Ukrainian military. That is not the case and I remind the leader of the Ukriane military is the commander and chief and he is Jewish. I think the Ukraine people have been in the hands of a man, namely President Zelensky, qualified to lead the country. He certainly has hands on time in the streets and in the killing fields. He does not sit at a desk without understanding what is transpiring across Ukraine.
Previous to the Russian invasion there was an extremist right wing group called the Azovs. They studied the methods of fighting, etc. It is my understanding they were involved in the Maidan in 2014. Why? Because they were battled trained. Azov shamelessly speaks to their philosophy as Nazis. In the USA we have similar people called White Supremacists/Nationalists. They do the same thing the Azov group has done. The difference in the focus of the two is startling.
To understand the Azov group one has to realize the Ukrainian national military was disarmed and mostly disbanded by the Pro-Russia faction of the Ukraine government. Instead of the national military, Yanukovych gave the Ukriane oligarchs power to organize and train militias acoss Ukriane to control the people. The national security of Ukriane was literally handed over to Russia at Russia's insistence. Basically, under the Yanukovych rule Russia saw Ukriane as a satellite to it's own power. Yanukovych was overseeing the country of Ukriane not as a sovereign country, but, as a state within Russia. The best example is the annexing by Russia of Crimea after the 2014 uprising. It is safe to say that the uprising in 2014 at the Maidan probably would not have happened without the Azovs.
Was the uprising a good thing? Yes. It separated Ukraine from Russia. The uprising in the Maidan began a backlash that ousted Yanukovych from power and sent he and his family to Russia. I am certain he would love to come back to rule over Ukraine as a state again. The people don't want it.
The reporting of Russia capturing Ukrianian people and forcing them into servitude to destroy their own country is a good illustration of Russia's perceived entitlement to the land and the people that populate that land.
- An advisor to Mariupol's mayor warned (click here) Russia plans to close off access to city
- He said 'filtration' of men still in the city has reached 'maximum momentum'
- He claimed Russian forces are using filtration camps and checkpoints to determine which of the city's residents could still be of use to Moscow
- Russia is doing this because the city is no longer habitable for many who remain, he said. Mariupol has been all-but reduced to rubble by Russian shelling
Basically, Putin is running out of men and believe pressing captured Ukrainians into service for Russia is going to give him a better hand to play. Putin is desperate. The Russian military has set up "filtration camps." Such a camp by any other name is a concentration camp. The Ukrainians are probably being treated as possessions and used as if they are Russia's chatel. We now know what has become of the men, but, what has become of the women and children the Russians have captured and placed in their filtration camps? Better name is reassignment camps.
At any rate, the Avozs exist because of Russian oppression. Now that the Ukrainian government has reconstituted it's national military, with this invasion by Russia, the Avozs have joined the ranks of the Ukrainian military and are fighting for their country.
In the USA White Supremacists/Nationalists are more interested in racism (click here). The use of "Nazi" by Putin is for the purpose of instilling fear that dates back to WWII. That is not the issue at hand. Additionally, most countries are not "melting pots" like the USA. So, when the Azov group is discussed in relation to Ukriane there is no racism involved. They are a fighting force with military training related to the Nazis, but, Ukrainians are Ukrainians.
Russia's invasion into Ukraine is about control and not about eradicating Nazis. If that was the case Russia and Ukraine might work together, but, since there has been little uprise since the Maidan, the Azov groups seem quite happy.
Vladimir Putin has no intention to allow Ukrainians the right to live and carry on their identities or their faiths. As far as Putin is concerned Ukrainians are a problem and they will be less and less a problem if they are eradicated. That is what this boils down to and the Azovs are not true died in the wool Nazis. They are Ukrainians that armed themselves in training during the time when Yanukovych was in power and disarmed the national military.
Putin is using the Nazis as scapegoats for his war against Ukrainians. There is no threat to any other country, except, Russia by the Avozs. Especially now, they are part of the Ukrainian mlitary.
We know for a fact that Russia is only interested in Russians because of the internal laws that have taken place by the Duma. The Russian diaspora was returned and given jobs, but, within a year after their return they had to declare their dual citizenship. In another year there was a fine for dual citizenship status. That fine was supposed to be paid annually. But, after a time that fine was dropped and all Russians had to declare their Russian heritage as their only identity and their only citizenship. The opportunity to have a dual citizenship in Russia was then criminalized.
This tightening noose around the Russian people has lead to political dissent. Well over half the Russian people do not approve of this level of oppression. They are unable to rid themselves of the oppression because of a very, very corrupt election process.
The resistence by Ukraine to become a Russian possession is real for real reasons and has nothing to do with the Nazis of WWII or racism.
By Adam Schreck and Mstyslav Chernov
Russian forces resumed scattered attacks on Kyiv, (click here) western Ukraine and beyond Saturday in an explosive reminder to Ukrainians and their Western supporters that the whole country remains under threat despite Russia’s pivot toward mounting a new offensive in the east.
Stung by the loss of its Black Sea flagship and indignant over alleged Ukrainian aggression on Russian territory, Russia’s military command had warned a day earlier of renewed missile strikes on Ukraine’s capital. Officials in Moscow said they were targeting military sites.
But the toll of war reaches much deeper. Each day brings new discoveries of civilian victims of a war that has shattered European security and plunged East-West relations to new lows. In the Kyiv region alone, Ukrainian authorities have reported finding the bodies of more than 900 civilians, most shot dead, since Russian troops retreated two weeks ago....
