This is neither here nor there, but I was browsing Internet radio
stations earlier today and I came across one in a language that I did
not understand, but I paused to listen to it to see if I could identify
the language. I kept hearing the name Poroshenko over and over. I didn't
identify the language from listening to it, but that name gave me a very
big clue. I then checked to see where it was coming from and it was Ukraine.
_________________________________________________________________
J.K. Rowling
“ I mean, you could claim that anything's real if the only basis for believing
in it is that nobody's proved it doesn't exist! ”
― J.K. Rowling
On 12/12/2018 9:33 PM, Miriam Vieni wrote:
poroshenko troops nazi patch totenkopf
Ukraine December 10, 2018
NATO-Backed Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko Poses with Pro-Nazi Soldier
Ukraine President Poroshenko promoted a photo of himself posing next to a
soldier wearing a Nazi SS totenkopf patch.
By Ben Norton
Petro Poroshenko, the staunchly pro-NATO president of Western ally Ukraine,
posed for a photo op with a soldier wearing a Nazi symbol.
On December 6, the Ukrainian billionaire oligarch leader posted a photo on
multiple social media accounts that shows him standing with armed troops.
One of these Ukrainian soldiers is wearing a patch with a skull-and-bones
design called the totenkopf. This is a symbol closely associated with Nazi
Germany, and specifically the Third Reich's genocidal paramilitary the
Schutzstaffel (SS).
This photo op came while Poroshenko is imposing martial law and requesting a
NATO military buildup in the Black Sea.
The monitoring group Defending History, which tracks neo-fascism and Nazi
Holocaust revisionism in Eastern Europe, called attention to this photo:
Poroshenko posted this photo on both his official Twitter profile and
Facebook page.
In a follow-up tweet, Poroshenko also wrote "Slava Ukrayini!" This is a
Ukrainian nationalist slogan that was created in the 1920s by fascists who
later became Nazi collaborators. In August, Ukraine made this fascist salute
into the official greeting of its military. It was later also adopted by
Ukrainian police.
This is not the first controversy linking Poroshenko to a Nazi symbol. In
July, one of his advisers wrote on Facebook the neo-Nazi symbol "1488,"
which combines the white supremacist "14 words" with code for "Heil Hitler."
The Grayzone Project has previously reported on how the neo-Nazi Azov
Battalion was incorporated directly into Ukraine's National Guard, and how
the United States has armed and advised these fascists.
In late November, Poroshenko's government declared martial law, after a
questionable skirmish with Russian military. This decree gives the
government the authority to curtail elections, expression, movement,
meetings, and strikes.
Following the incident, Poroshenko requested a major NATO military presence
in the Black Sea, along with more weapons and an expansion of sanctions
against Russia. The billionaire chocolate oligarch turned president has
previously taken steps for Ukraine to join NATO.
The Grayzone Project also recently reported on how US-funded fascists in
Ukraine have trained American white supremacists.
In October, an activist from the violent Ukrainian neo-Nazi gang C14, who
collaborated with Kiev police to "purge" citizens from the Roma ethnic
minority, spoke at the US government-funded America House Kyiv.
Ben Norton
Ben Norton is a journalist and writer. He is a producer and reporter for The
Real News, and a contributor to the Grayzone Project and FAIR. Ben co-hosts
the Moderate Rebels podcast with Max Blumenthal. His website is
BenNorton.com, and he tweets at @BenjaminNorton.
https://bennorton.com