Three years ago, describing an Australian white supremacist charged with massacring 49 people in New Zealand, the New York Times (3/15/19) wrote: “On his flak jacket was a symbol commonly used by the Azov Battalion, a Ukrainian neo-Nazi paramilitary organization.”
The New York Times (10/4/22) shares a “handout photo” from a paramilitary organization that was founded to “lead the white races of the world in a final crusade…against Semite-led Untermenschen.”
What a difference a war makes! A Times story (10/4/22) in the paper’s Ukraine War news roundup began:
Commanders of Ukraine’s celebrated Azov Battalion have held an emotional reunion with their families in Turkey, Ukrainian officials said, honoring the fighters released from Russian confinement last month as part of the largest prisoner swap since the start of the war.
“Celebrated” is an odd word to describe a group whose founder urged Ukraine to “lead the white races of the world in a final crusade…against Semite-led Untermenschen (subhumans)” (Guardian, 3/13/18). Its official logo features the Wolfsangel, a runic icon adopted by the SS that’s become “a symbol of choice for neo-Nazis in Europe and the United States,” according to the ADL. (To dispel any doubt about what the symbol means, Azov used to superimpose it on a Black Sun, a Nordic design beloved by Heinrich Himmler.)
The Azov movement has linked up with other far-right groups across Europe and in the United States, including the Rise Above Movement, a violently racist group based in Southern California (New Republic, 7/9/19). Azov is “believed to have participated in training and radicalizing United States–based white supremacy organizations,” according to an FBI report (RFE/RL, 11/14/18).
But Times reporter Enjoli Liston indeed went on to celebrate the group:
The group’s defense of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol—the southern port city decimated by Russian forces in the first months of the war—has become a powerful symbol of the suffering inflicted by Russia and the resistance mounted by Ukraine.
The story’s headline: “Released Azov Commanders Have an Emotional Reunion With Family Members in Turkey.” The accompanying photo shows the fascistic unit’s commander sharing a joyful hug with his wife.
Not a word in the eight-paragraph story gives any hint about the ugly far-right politics of the unit, incorporated since 2014 into Ukraine’s military structure (when it was rebranded as the Azov Regiment). The Times did, however, find space to convey to the Azov fighters, from Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska, “Thanks from Ukraine, from the president and all the people for whom they are fighting.”
ACTION:
Please tell the New York Times not to treat neo-Nazis as heroes.
CONTACT:
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Featured image: Emblem of the 2nd SS Panzer Division (left) compared with those of the Azov Battalion (center) and Azov Regiment (right).
Well, they aren’t Palestinian journos, are they?
“Please tell Fair.org, its writers and anyone who reads this ‘breaking’ news not to treat the neo-nazis, barbarian, war criminal Russian invaders as heroes.”
LOL. Find us a single FAIR.org article that treats Russians as heroes.
As Tom Q Collins and many other readers have no doubt already noticed, FAIR has not written a single word praising the Russian invasion of Ukraine nor has it described the people doing the invading in celebratory prose as the corporate media is doing when it tells us how marvellous these Ukrainian neo-Nazis are. Perhaps you would reply with examples to show how we are incorrect. Your use of the term ‘barbarian’ ought to be reconsidered, given its history as a term of racist abuse by actual Nazis about the Slavic peoples.
Please refrain from presenting neo-nazi’s as heroes; present sufficient historical context for USA readers to understand what is happening
The article “Released Azov Commanders have an emotional reunion with family members in Turkey”
does not achieve your usual journalistic standards. I’ve appended an image to make sure you know what I’m referring to.
Aspects left out are
a) the Azov battalion is an explicitly neo-nazi formation (check their insignia)
“Featured image: Emblem of the 2nd SS Panzer Division (left) compared with those of the Azov Battalion (center) and Azov Regiment (right).”
b) The Azov battalion has been attacking Ukrainian civilians and civilian infrastructure in the Luhansk and Donetsk provinces for 8 years,
c) the Azov battalion has taken over civilian buildings to use as firing positions in the war with Russia, making those buildings targets and/or using the civilians in them as hostages/shields, in violation of international law.
and probably
e) even though the Azov commanders were swapped by the Russians and are temporarily free, they are guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity and are still subject to prosecution in the International Criminal Court.
f) There is a strong likelihood that some of them will return to Ukraine and continue their criminal, neo-nazi, ethno-centric “cleansing” campaign.
Thank you for considering another perspective.
Fred Cook
Nice! Below my letter – though I’d compose it more simply and bluntly now –
“subject: nyt’s omitting azov’s far right agenda and fascist origins is inexcusable
Dear NYT,
__________________, subscriber here.
Re your 10/4 Enjoli Liston prisoner release piece – Ukraine’s wanting
to bury Azov’s far right agenda and fascist origins is understandable
– given their own failure to accept their own part in the Holocaust,
and how their backs are against the wall fighting back Russia; but the
American NYT’s omitting it is inexcusable.
And please don’t gimme some bullcrap about ‘covering it elsewhere,’ or
‘not what the story was about’ – this was no ordinary military defeat
or prisoner exchange:
the Azov resistance was not simply about doughty Ukraine standing up
to the end, but Azov’s declared knowledge of their likely fate as prisoners due
to their fascistic origins;
‘the deal’ of their being required to stay in Turkey is
incomprehensible without knowledge of this;
and Ukraine’s celebration of them as a symbol of resistance shows the
moral murkiness of war, and marks Azov’s ascendancy as a force in
Ukraine.
None of this can be grasped by the NYT’s servile parroting of
Ukraine’s happy reunion narrative.
Really disgusted with your sleazy professional ethics, ______________, NY, NY
Wait, people still read the New York Times as a piece of journalism? I thought most people placed it somewhere between Mad Magazine and Weekly World News these days
Whole thread well worth reading, but the quoted material below the link is on point. The author is originally from Moldova and now is a math teacher in Baltimore.
As Malamud points out, there are plenty of people in Europe (he could have added the US) who have neo-Nazi and fascist beliefs. Just as when the US allied with Stalin, a monster of the first order, Ukraine takes help from any of Ukrainians who want to defend the country from Putin’s completely lawless, savage attack. And from what I read, the people of Ukraine are celebrating those who are fighting against extermination and torture and war crimes of the Russian forces — even when those people are Azovs.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1497961143859650568.html
2) “Azov battalion”
Russians legitimize their war of conquest by claiming that Ukraine’s government a fascist/neo-Nazi junta. These claims are backed up entirely by the existence of the Azov battalion, the military wing of a far-right political movement in Ukraine…
Ukraine does have far-right organizations, which include people with fascist or neo-Nazi beliefs. The same can be said of any nation in Europe, including Russia. During the 14 revolution and the subsequent “hybrid warfare” waged by Russia, Ukraine used all the help it could get.
But portraying the revolution and Ukrainian government as led and dominated by these organizations is a bold-faced lie. Far-right parties’ support in Ukraine is extremely low, the country’s president is Jewish, it’s a much more tolerant, progressive nation than Russia…
Putin’s regime, with its anti-liberal ideology, its cult of military might, its revanchist sabre-rattling based int he myth of “The Great Motherland’s Historic Destiny”, its “Stabbed-in-the-back” historical revisionism fits the description of a fascist state to a T.
Your arguments are well-worn and still unconvincing. Ukraine is, so far as I know, the only nation whose government has incorporated an openly neo-Nazi unit into its armed forces. The lack of public electoral support for fascist candidates does not mean their organisations lack influence over the Ukrainian government; Zelenksky’s actions since taking office show this clearly.
As for Zelensky’s Jewishness, he has stated this is unimportant to him but that he wants to turn Ukraine into “a big Israel’. If we understand the far-right nature of apartheid Israel’s government, its nature as a settler-colonial state and its continuing violent repression of the Palestinian people, we will drop our illusions as to the allegedly liberal or democratic nature of his regime in Ukraine. His removal of democratic rights from media and from the Ukrainian working class over the last year or so are evidence of his intentions.
Those are regressive actions, aimed at pleasing the domestic far right and the international financial interests such as the IMF which are pressing Ukraine into further privatisations and looting of the state as was imposed on Russia so catastrophically in the 1990s – and which resulted in the rise of Vladimir Putin as a so-called solution.
2014 was a US-led coup, a revolution by far-right forces against the weak Ukrainian democracy. It was anything but good news for the Ukrainian people. Solutions to this crisis lie with a united international working class in solidarity against their ruling elites – Putin, Zelensky, Truss, Biden et al.
Oh, now I get it ! Russia is the actual victim in this invasion, Putin is the hero and the US is the cause of all the world’s problems. The twisted logic and fake facts (Hello Fox news) you attempt to present is mind boggling. Do you actually believe your own BS ? Which Университет did you attend in Russia ? Take your head out of your ass. Incredible.
LOL … personally I would like to see an occasional story on ‘Neo Marxists’ to ensure some balance on Fair.org.
Good Gawd, is your faculty for logic and linear reasoning that flawed?
Nobody, anywhere, said that Russia – as in the country are the victims of the invasion of Ukraine. The point is that said invasion would never have occurred if not for the victimization of the people of Eastern Ukraine – the Donbass region – mostly Russian speakers – initially by the coup regime starting in 2014 and later by Zelensky’s government. In fact, if you actually knew anything about the situation beyond what you see in NYT or Yahoo! you would have known that Zelensky was elected on a platform to ease the tensions, bring peace and unity to the country, and end the war on the people of Donbass. You also would have known that the reason he didn’t actually do that (and didn’t adhere to the Minsk accords) was that he was threatened by …. you guessed it….Azov Nazis. It isn’t exactly a secret except in the manufactured and curated media bubble we find ourselves in here in the “democratic west.”
It’s pretty pathetic when someone can’t differentiate between media criticism and media praise for something. FAIR.org is under no obligation to present the Ukrainian/NATO side of the conflict as you obviously wish they would because they’re a media watchdog, not policy pushers or opinion generators. I mean for God’s sake have you not seen what people like Chomsky or Scott Ritter or anyone else with knowledge on the matter have said?
But you do you, Bradley. If you like glorifying Nazis, by all means do so, but don’t lecture us about it when we call you and the NYT out for it.
Yes Ken (or Karen LOL) you old white boomer. Now go off and shutup.
It is true that there should be a united international working class in solidarity against their ruling elites. That not only Ukraine, which in a wartime footing abolished many labour rights… has a poor labour record but so dos Russia. “Strikes were pretty much banned in Russia in 1993, by the neoliberal government that came to power [after the fall of the Soviet Union]. ” https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/russia-worker-labour-protests-strikes-employment/
But NEITHER of these problems should justify a savage unprovoked invasion. And yes there have been negotiations which Russia has for the most partt ignored. “NegotiationsIliya Kusa on April 11, 2022 “Ukraine insists on a return to the prewar status quo, meaning that Russian troops are to withdraw at least to the positions held before February 24. President Zelensky and his aides have constantly emphasized that Russia should contribute financially to Ukraine’s postwar reconstruction efforts and pay compensation to all war victims. Should Moscow refuse, sanctions are to be preserved even after a formal ceasefire agreement has been concluded. In addition, the Ukrainian authorities want the territories occupied in 2014 to remain subject to further negotiations. In the interim, Ukraine insists on the need for Moscow to withdraw its recognition of the self-proclaimed republics in the Donbas. It seems that Kyiv is ready to make concessions on its NATO membership aspirations and is ready to talk about neutrality under strong foreign guarantees, including Russia’s.”
Readers, pay attention to the notes of ‘woke imperialism’ wafting through this cope.
NYT Logic: “Russian Man like Orange Man. Orange Man Bad! Russian Man Bad! Nazi Man hate Russian Man. Nazi Man Good!”
“Not a word in the eight-paragraph story gives any hint about the ugly far-right politics of the unit,” What an ignorant statement.
Maybe because that’s not who they are anymore. Maybe you should do some research into that they believe now that they’ve tangled with Putin’s fascism. Do some journalism.
There seems be an ongoing promotion in media, including the NY Times, as if we have not enough local Nazis in the US.
I have no quarrel with the story but it begs the question, Why can’t this people want to defend their country as much as anyone else in Ukraine? As despicable as they are they can love their country enough to defend it from foreign invasion.
FAIR should do a story on the pro-Ukraine commenters who come out of the woodwork to object to any story that questions the proxy war in Ukraine. I suspect about half are going to be paid propagandists (I believe there’s been a study confirming this…) who, a la Paul Mason in the UK, take money from the state to spread a certain world view at the same time they say that anyone who disagrees with them is taking money from another state to spread a certain world view. But what about the other half? Where’s the passion coming from? The corporate Democrats and the pro-war neocons who the Democrats appoint succeeded in turning the war in Ukraine into a cultural issue, a Liberal cause. And the Liberal Democrat voters, along with an array of rah-rah war-loving Republicans, both citizens of dying Empire, seeing their and their children’s lives getting worse by the year, sit behind the desks at the jobs they despise, and tell themselves by that by posting, they themselves are fighting in the war they celebrate. They believe a cartoon: we Americans, we Europeans, we stand for democracy and freedom–at the very moment that they’re absolutely enraged at anyone who questions their cause or advances a counter-narrative. Even when it’s meticulously backed-up with supporting evidence, as FAIR’s articles always are.
I heard quite a bit about the far-right nature of the Azov regiment in US https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/25/world/europe/militias-russia-ukraine.html and have been hearing “far-right” associated with the Azov regiment in NZ TV news. I think/hope that this article was an exception…?
The Times of Israel insist that the supposedly “reformed” Azov regiment now has Jewish members. https://www.timesofisrael.com/senior-zelensky-adviser-40-jewish-heroes-fighting-in-mariupol-steel-plant/ . An author at Monash says “The Azov Regiment has been repeatedly reconstituted; its extremist early leaders such as the odious Andriy Biletsky are long gone, and, more recently, its fearsome, pseudo-pagan regimental emblem has been abandoned.” https://lens.monash.edu/@politics-society/2022/08/19/1384992/much-azov-about-nothing-how-the-ukrainian-neo-nazis-canard-fooled-the-world
Additionally we see little media attention and little here about the even larger Neo-Nazi and ultra-nationalist, croney capitalist, expansionist, anti democracy neo-Fascist movements (some of which Putin is the de facto leader of) in Russia. e.g. ‘The Russian Imperial Movement which subscribes to a monarchist ideology, partly derived from a belief that Russia should be led by a descendent of the Romanov dynasty, the family of the last Russian tsar.” https://www.rferl.org/a/russian-neo-nazis-fighting-ukraine/31871760.html
The NY Times has in fact been reporting in the last year on the Azov Battalion… describing them as “right wing” https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/25/world/europe/militias-russia-ukraine.html The Times of Israel insists that Jewish members are in the new “reformed” Azov Regiment https://www.timesofisrael.com/senior-zelensky-adviser-40-jewish-heroes-fighting-in-mariupol-steel-plant/ . But who knows? We do know that not a single far right
On the other hand many are now saying that “The Azov Regiment of 2022 bears little relation to the ragtag militia the Azov Battalion of 2014, formed from a few dozen football hooligans, and – yes – far-right extremists.
Crucially, in late 2014, Azov was absorbed into the Ukrainian National Guard, allowing greater state oversight, with considerable attention paid to cleansing the ranks of far-right elements, in what should be recognised as an example of successful deradicalisation.
The Azov Regiment has been repeatedly reconstituted; its extremist early leaders such as the odious Andriy Biletsky are long gone, and, more recently, its fearsome, pseudo-pagan regimental emblem has been abandoned.
Both Shekhovtsov and Gomza describe Azov as “depoliticised”, with Umland writing “its recruits now join not because of ideology, but because it has the reputation of being a particularly tough fighting unit”.” https://lens.monash.edu/@politics-society/2022/08/19/1384992/much-azov-about-nothing-how-the-ukrainian-neo-nazis-canard-fooled-the-world … Azov did use the Black Sun symbol in the past, but connecting it exclusively to Azov is incorrect, because the latter simply used the already available and wide-spread far-right imagery.”
We should all be shocked for the New Zealand government supporting this Neo Nazi regime in Ukraine. The white supremacist who murdered some 50+ Muslims in Christchurch some years ago belongs to exactly the same criminals who have been killing their own people in Eastern Ukraine over the last eight years. Prime. Minister Jacinda Ardern is applying double standards.
Fact Check: The Rise Above Movement is 100% a far left org. in America.
Seems a author of this trash simply decided to make extra cash by write total lay about patriotic official battalion.
And, I can guess who paid to Jim “with love from Russia” . Make sure you pay American taxes from dirty russian-terrorists money.
Seems the author of this trash, simply decided to make extra cash by write total lie about patriotic official battalion.
And, I can guess who paid to Jim “with love from Russia” . Make sure you pay American taxes from dirty russian-terrorists money. I have no doubts that Jimmy’s roots from moldova has a smell of russian-terrorist state.
This website is run by Marxists like Putin. They would rather support an actual genocidal dictator like Putin than to question marxist propaganda.
#totallie
Seems the author of this trash, simply decided to make extra cash by write total lie about patriotic official battalion.
And, I can guess who paid to Jim “with love from Russia” . Make sure you pay American taxes from dirty russian-terrorists money. I have no doubts that Jimmy’s roots from moldova has a smell of russian-terrorist state.
Those “neo-nazis” are now the most respected and beloved heroes in the Ukraine. They are the modern equivalent of the 300 Spartans, except that a lot more of the Azov regiment survived. They deserve to be treated like heroes because they are exactly that. Just because you dont like the politics of their founder doesnt give you any right to try and censor them, and you cant do that anyway because they are better people than you and the whole world knows it. Take this garbage article and shove it in the garbage along with the piece of trash who wrote it.
That is nothing to do with the mirroring of the logo right? Author?