{"id":1371130,"date":"2022-03-11T06:52:21","date_gmt":"2022-03-11T11:52:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1371130"},"modified":"2022-03-11T11:55:59","modified_gmt":"2022-03-11T16:55:59","slug":"why-is-putin-constantly-calling-ukrainians-nazis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/why-is-putin-constantly-calling-ukrainians-nazis\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Is Putin Constantly Calling Ukrainians \u2018Nazis\u2019?"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwhy-is-putin-constantly-calling-ukrainians-nazis%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1371130&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2022\/03\/Putin.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.3.0\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>President Vladimir Putin stunned much of the West when he offered his supposed justification for launching a \u201cspecial military operation\u201d in Ukraine: The country is run by Nazis, he said. \u201cWe will seek to demilitarise and denazify Ukraine, as well as bring to trial those who perpetrated numerous bloody crimes against civilians,\u201d Putin <a href=\"http:\/\/en.kremlin.ru\/events\/president\/news\/67843\">explained<\/a> in a nationally televised speech on February 24.<\/p>\n<p>Near the end of his speech, he directly appealed to the Ukrainian military, \u201cYour fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers did not fight the Nazi occupiers and did not defend our common Motherland to allow today\u2019s neo-Nazis to seize power in Ukraine.\u201d Similarly, when \u201cGood Morning America\u201d Host George Stephanopoulos challenged Russian Foreign Secretary Sergei Lavrov for describing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a puppet of the Ukrainian Nazi movement, Lavrov <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-IDJ2yBcCrc\">replied<\/a>, \u201cI think the Nazis and neo-Nazis manipulate him, otherwise it is hard to account for how President Zelensky can preside \u2026 over a society where neo-Nazism is rife.\u201d<\/p>\n[embedded content]\n<p>Russian foreign policy hands and media spokespeople have repeatedly echoed the charge that Ukraine is a fascistic, ethnonationalist nation since the beginning of the latest hostilities. Why do Russian officials continually use that term? Is this mere gaslighting, or does Ukraine have ties to Nazi ideology \u2014 and, if so, what about Russia?<\/p>\n<p><strong>There has not been a Nazi nation since 1945<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s begin with the obvious: Ukraine is not a Nazi nation. There has not been a Nazi nation since 1945. President Zelensky is Jewish and lost relatives in the Holocaust. Zelensky has comprehensively rebutted the charge that he or his fellow Ukrainians are Nazi sympathizers. \u201cCould a people who lost more than 8 million lives in the battle against Nazism support Nazism?\u201d he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/ukraine-jewish-president-volodymyr-zelenskiy-how-could-i-be-a-nazi-vladimir-putin-war\/\">asked<\/a>. \u201cHow can I be a Nazi?\u00a0Explain it to my grandfather, who went through the entire war in the infantry of the Soviet army and died a colonel in an independent Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With that said, of course, Russia and Ukraine have a long, complex history intertwining with one another and the Jewish people for more than a millennium. Ethnic and other prejudices ran strong in the area. During World War II, after decades of Bolshevik oppression, some Ukrainians such as Stepan Bandera collaborated with the Nazis. But many opposed both Nazi and Communist occupation.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, ethnic and religious tensions did not end with either occupation. In the early 2000s, one of Ukraine\u2019s largest universities \u2014 the Interregional Academy of Personnel Management (sometimes known by its Ukrainian acronym, MAUP) \u2014 set up a teaching gig and, in September <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20060217005240\/http:\/www.adl.org\/learn\/extremism_in_america_updates\/individuals\/david_duke\/david_duke_20051103.htm\">2005<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/momentmag.com\/the-mysterious-tale-of-a-ukrainian-universitys-anti-semitic-crusade\/\">conferred<\/a> a <a href=\"https:\/\/davidduke.com\/david-duke-achieves-doctorate-in-ukraine\/\">Ph.D.<\/a> on David Duke. Duke\u2019s thesis became the kernel of his book \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/JewishSupremacism_203\/page\/n1\/mode\/2up\">Jewish Supremacism: My Awakening on the Jewish Question<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>International observers raise the greatest concern over a Ukrainian militia known as the Azov Battalion, which wears Nazi-era insignia \u2014 including the swastika \u2014 on its uniforms. Its founder, Andriy Biletsky, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2018\/mar\/13\/ukraine-far-right-national-militia-takes-law-into-own-hands-neo-nazi-links\">said<\/a>\u00a0Ukraine\u2019s purpose is to \u201clead the white races of the world in a final crusade \u2026 against Semite-led<em> Untermenschen<\/em> [inferior people]\u201d \u2014 a statement that is not Naziesque but Nazism. White nationalists from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spiegel.de\/panorama\/justiz\/ukraine-deutsche-soeldner-heuern-bei-rechtsextremem-freiwilligenbataillon-an-a-1177400.html\">around the world<\/a> have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/opinion\/msnbc-opinion\/fighting-russia-ukraine-sadly-appeals-far-right-extremists-n1290901\">traveled<\/a> to Ukraine to learn the art of warfare firsthand from Azov. After the UN <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/Documents\/Countries\/UA\/Ukraine_14th_HRMMU_Report.pdf\">accused<\/a> the Azov Battalion of torturing ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine in 2014, the then-president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, praised the group as \u201cour best warriors,\u201d and the group was officially incorporated into the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vice.com\/en\/article\/3ab7dw\/azov-battalion-ukraine-far-right\">Ukrainian National Guard<\/a>. The United States was so concerned that in 2018, Congress legally <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/defense\/380483-congress-bans-arms-to-controversial-ukrainian-militia-linked-to-neo-nazis\">banned<\/a> U.S. aid from going toward any \u201carms, training or other assistance\u201d to the Azov Battalion. And a year later, dozens of members of Congress <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vice.com\/en\/article\/59nqmq\/house-democrats-just-demanded-these-neo-nazi-groups-be-prosecuted-as-international-terrorists\">lobbied<\/a> the Trump administration to designate the Azov Battalion as a Foreign Terror Organization. Its official recognition, and the training it offers potentially violent extremists, remain genuine concerns.<\/p>\n<p>While this particular concern is real, it is far from complete. The Azov Battalion is no more representative of the average Ukrainian than the KKK represents the average American. The Azov Battalion has anywhere from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2022\/3\/1\/who-are-the-azov-regiment\">900<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spiegel.de\/panorama\/justiz\/ukraine-deutsche-soeldner-heuern-bei-rechtsextremem-freiwilligenbataillon-an-a-1177400.html\">2,500<\/a> members, compared to a Ukrainian military of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/world\/ukraine-russia-military-comparison-1.6365115\">200,000<\/a>. Ukrainians, perhaps understandably, say the unsavory elements associated with the Azov Battalion concerns them less than the prospect of annihilation by Russia\u2019s war machine. Vladimir Putin and his surrogates have made a prosecutor\u2019s case for a war of choice.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, most of these same arguments could be made against Russia. David Duke has made <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/david-duke-to-russia-with-hate\/\">several speaking tours<\/a> of Russia. Aleksandr Dugin, who has been said to exert significant influence over Putin, has <a href=\"http:\/\/projects.aljazeera.com\/2015\/07\/hate-groups\/\">ties<\/a> to white nationalists around the world, <a href=\"https:\/\/thinkprogress.org\/russian-american-nationalists-washington-5bd15fd18eaf\/\">including<\/a> in the United States. The first white supremacist group ever to be <a href=\"https:\/\/2017-2021.state.gov\/united-states-designates-russian-imperial-movement-and-leaders-as-global-terrorists\/index.html\">named<\/a> a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department, under President Trump, was the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justsecurity.org\/68420\/confronting-russias-role-in-transnational-white-supremacist-extremism\/\">St. Petersburg<\/a>-based Russian Imperial Movement (RIM). The UN also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/Documents\/Countries\/UA\/Ukraine_14th_HRMMU_Report.pdf\">accused<\/a> the leaders of the self-proclaimed People\u2019s Republics of Donestk and Luhansk of committing war crimes in 2014 and of having \u201cundermined the human rights of the estimated 2.7 million people residing under their control.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>CRT tactics to justify total war<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Vladimir Putin\u2019s use of the incendiary Nazi terminology serves two purposes. Labeling his opponents as fascists serves to delegitimize the Ukrainian government\u2019s existence, while tapping into the most patriotic memory latent in the memory of the Russian people. Russia still calls World War II, which cost <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/World-War-II\/Costs-of-the-war\">18 million<\/a> lives due directly to the war and perhaps as many as <a href=\"https:\/\/sovietinfo.tripod.com\/ELM-War_Deaths.pdf\">26.6 million<\/a> total, the \u201cGreat Patriotic War.\u201d Nearly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.history.com\/news\/8-things-you-should-know-about-wwiis-eastern-front\">a million women<\/a> served in the Soviet war effort as snipers and guerrillas. These staggering losses, and the advice of Communist agent Alger Hiss, allowed Joseph Stalin to bully Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill into giving him the Eastern bloc nations as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/outlook\/yaltas-idealistic-goals-doomed-by-missteps-and-conflicts\/2020\/04\/23\/f52bd20c-742c-11ea-87da-77a8136c1a6d_story.html\">buffer zone<\/a> to Russia\u2019s west \u2014 one that many analysts speculate Putin aims to recreate.<\/p>\n<p>The enormous factual and logical flaws that occur by calling Ukraine \u201cNazi\u201d are ultimately beside the point of a propaganda phrase intended to dredge up emotions (specifically, hatred and fear). The term \u201cNazi\u201d delegitimizes anyone associated with it, truthfully or erroneously. Putin calling Zelensky\u2019s Ukraine a \u201cNazi\u201d government is not meant to reflect the everyday reality on the ground. Like the advocates of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/what-is-critical-race-theory-breaking-down-the-ideology-thats-hitting-schools-across-the-country\">Critical Race Theory<\/a> branding the United States \u201csystemically racist,\u201d the term exists only to portray the constitution of the targeted nation as incapable of reform, as \u201ctrash\u201d that needs to be removed. History proved historical Nazis could not be trusted, negotiated with, or even relied upon to surrender when the war became hopeless. They must be obliterated \u2014 precisely as Vladimir Putin appears intent on doing.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em>member<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Vladimir Putin stunned much of the West when he offered his supposed justification for launching a \u201cspecial military operation\u201d in Ukraine: The country is run by Nazis, he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1371130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1371130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1371130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1371130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1371130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1371130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1371130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}