CounterPunch: Ukraine: The Sovereignty Argument, and the Real Problem of Fascism

[newthinking]

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/03/10/ukraine-the-sovereignty-argument-and-the-real-problem-of-fascism/

March 10, 2014
“Going into the woods to fight Jewry and other filth..."

by GARY LEUPP

The two most important questions shaping the discussion of events in Ukraine should, in my opinion, be:

1. How (relatively) important is Kiev’s claim on sovereignty over the Crimea, transferred from Russia to Ukraine by the stroke of Nikita Khrushchev’s pen in 1954?

and

2. How (relatively) important is it that neo-fascist groups, in particular the Svoboda Party, played a significant if not decisive role in the toppling of the elected President Viktor Yanukovich, installing Arseniy Yatsenyuk (who has announced in advance an “unpopular” austerity regime); and now hold major cabinet posts, including minister of defense, and control the National Security Agency?

SNIP

Neo-fascists in Cabinet Posts

Some have noted that, for the first time since 1945, neo-fascists hold cabinet posts in a European country. They include the Ukrainian interim defense minister, Ihor Tenyukh (a naval commander who has studied at the Pentagon and favors NATO membership); deputy prime minster for economic affairs Oleksandr Sych (chief Svoboda ideologist who as a member of parliament co-authored a bill banning abortion, who’s said that women have the right to avoid pregnancy by “leading an orderly life”); minister of agriculture Ihor Svaika (an agro-oligarch); and minister of ecology Andriy Moknyk (who has served as Svoboda’s envoy to Italy’s neo-fascist Forzo Nuovo. Group).

Other appointments worth noting include the National Security Council chief, Andry Parubiy (co-founder of Svoboda, leader of the U.S.-backed “Orange Revolution” in 2004, and “security commandant” during the Maidan protests directing attacks by the paramilitary organization “Right Sector”); and Deputy NSC chief, Dmytro Yarosh (founder of the “Right Sector”). The Prosecuter-general, Oleh Makhnitsky and Minister of Education Serhiy Kvit are also members of the Svoboda Party.

[Catherina]

2. A most thoughtful post. Welcome to DU

[Catherina]

12. I hope all your interactions here remain as pleasant as the ones you've had so far

I'm looking forward to your contributions. Please PM me if you have any questions about some of the site features or anything else.

Welcome again

[functioning_cog]

4. NAZZIIISS!!

[msanthrope]

5. What pro-Putin fluff....since CP's association with Israel Shamir, the publication has

become increasingly slavish to Putin. Disgusting.

[newthinking]

6. Sure, everything is about Putin vs US. Nuance and real people

are out the window? I really don't care about the nationalist propaganda war that both the west and Putin are obviously engaging in. That approach leads to posturing, sharp actions, and obliterates the voices of the people affected. This is a complex situation with more than one valid viewpoint and despite what is being claimed there is a very real risk of civil war breaking out.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. Oh, shush. They're really nice fascists who are just misunderstood.

[newthinking]

9. It is somewhat frightening how we are softening our stances on neo-nazi/far right

groups.

Let alone the way that DU has embraced an overthrow by factions that are further right than the tea party. Even the more "moderate" faction has extremest viewpoints toward freedom of choice, Gay rights, fundamentalist right wing economics, and include a hefty component of evangelicals and fundamentalist (Ukraine has the largest percentage of evangelicals in Europe and these are their parties).

But nary a peep.

[Catherina]

13. Not everyone in the EU. Germany is bringing this up at the next PACE meeting

they're extremely concerned because the rise of the xenophobic, neo nazi and racist groups to KEY POSITIONS in Ukraine is emboldening groups all over Europe. But you'll only read about this in German papers on page B. Right now there's money to be made and lots of it. When it comes to profit, the servants of capital will align with any scum group out there, like the always have. Hitler did not get where he got without the support of a the industrialists of his time, known as multinational corporations today.

[Zorra]

10. Thank you! They are simply struggling for the kinder, gentler, "new democratic fascism". nt

[Bad Thoughts]

8. Rus or Reich

I love how Leupp carelessly handles the term Rus, in all its imperial meaning, in order to dismiss the notion of Ukraine's territorial integrity. Apparently, Russia has no obligation to meet its international commitments because once Ukraine and Russia were conceptualized by someone in power as one entitiy.

[geek tragedy]

11. Whereas Russia just has gentle souls like Vladimir Zhironovsky nt

[snooper2]

15. I kind of wonder why these counterpunch idiots

and a bunch of far left posters here are looking for any reason to support Putin's invasion?


It's mind blowing actually.....

I'm sure Pootie likes it, but can the only justification REALLY be-

"American government against Pooties invasion, America=bad - take other side?"

[geek tragedy]

18. it's the old USSR fan club. leftwing authoritarianism, militarism, and imperialism

are okay in their book

ironically, of course, Russia isn't waging war on behalf of social justice, it's doing so for its own crass rightwing and selfish purposes

Leupp even goes so far as to justify in advance a Russian invasion and annexation of most of Ukraine:

Don’t they know that the Russian state traces its origins to Kievan Rus in the early ninth century, before there was a “Russia” or “Ukraine”? Don’t they know that Ukraine only emerged as a state after the Mongol invasions, and then as a satrapy of Poland, before joining Russia in 1654 by the Treaty of Pereyaslav? And then not as an independent kingdom but as a Russian principality?

Don’t they realize that that Russian principality of Ukraine for over two centuries was centered in the region west of the Dnieper River, and that the Russian speaking eastern section was only added after the Bolshevik Revolution, with the inception of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic?

leftwing fascists, rightwing fascists, both ain't worth a bucket of cold piss

[FSogol]

20. Exactly. They're getting the band back together!

[geek tragedy]

21. meanwhile in El Salvador former FMLN leaders are getting along

quite well with the us government, things are gradually thawing with Cuba, etc etc

[HereSince1628]

16. Q on background...didn't fascism remain in Europe to the fall of Franco?

[polly7]

19. K&R. nt.

[Octafish]

22. But it's good for the neo-cons and Wall Street.

And that's what still counts.