We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

US Training Nazis, Western Media Providing Cover

Click here to access article by Eric Draitser from New Eastern Outlook.
...the reality of Ukrainian fascism is obscured by vague assertions that such conclusions are merely “Russian propaganda,” that they are simply Kremlin talking points, and not statements of objective reality.

Indeed, influential political figures...and global media brands like The Guardian and FOX, have all rushed to the nearest camera or twitter account to proclaim that Ukraine is “free” and that we should “stand united” with it. Carefully embedded in these pleas is the notion that Ukraine is democratic, and that whatever “ultra-nationalists” – coded language for fascists and Nazis – exist, are merely a marginal influence at best.

Such vacuous statements belie the inescapable fact that Nazis make up an important strata of both the political and military establishment. Moreover, they are intended to provide cover for US policy which provides these elements with the support they need to both influence the political development of the country, and prosecute its illegal war against the people of Donetsk and Lugansk.
Draitser puts the spotlight on the important role that Nazi oriented figures are playing in Ukraine to serve the US Empire in its attempt to destabilize Russia and bring it under the Empire's control. However, his cynical perspective distorts and obscures some realities about democracy and capitalist rule.

Draitser evidently accepts capitalists' version of democracy (here I am wrong--see the comments section) as real democracy and obscures the pronounced capitalist affinity for the authoritarian methods of fascism whenever their class rule is at all threatened or whenever it advances their interests. If you need further clarification on this latter assertion, I suggest that you read some of my previous posts (especially my commentaries) here, here, and here.