By Angel Guerra Cabrera on March 3, 2022
Ukranian neo nazis
The February 2014 coup d’état in Ukraine marks a turning point in that country’s contemporary history, in which Washington comes to occupy a preeminent position. From that moment on, far-right forces, inspired by Stepan Bandera’s ultra-nationalism and sympathy for Nazism, have had a decisive influence in Kiev and thus in the implementation of a xenophobic and Russophobic-oriented policy suffered by millions of ethnic Russians or Russian speakers, particularly in the east of the country; in particular, in the Dombas area, seat of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, recently recognized by Russia. Against its inhabitants, described as “nadas” by President Volodomir Selensky, a practice of bloodthirsty hostility has been followed by extreme right-wing and neo-Nazi gangs, such as the Azov regiment of the National Guard of Ukraine. I am not going to narrate the history of Bandera but I underline its cruelty in the razing of hundreds of Ukrainian villages and in the massacre of Jews, Tatars, Cossacks and communists.
That coup, produced in the context of Euromaidan, had one of its antecedents in an authentic popular revolt. But that protest was not enough to overthrow the constitutional president Viktor Yanukovych, despite his unpopularity at the time. What was needed – says the experienced Catalan journalist Rafael Poch de Feliú – “was a shock force, disciplined, and ready to put its body on the line… That force was the extreme right armed with the nationalist ideology of the “Banderovski” tradition, supported by the oligarchs and the Western geopolitical godfathers. The subway plot of complicity, financing, advising and training of Western secret services (American, Polish and German) had hardly taken hold when forty leading Western politicians, among them leading figures of the United States (EU) and the foreign ministers of Germany, Poland, Baltic countries, etc. passed through the square of Kiev handing out solidarity and pastries. It was this second Maidan that brought about the change of regime in a context of pitched battles with arson and seizure of ministerial headquarters in the midst of an indiscriminate massacre of demonstrators and policemen (a total of a hundred, plus more than a dozen policemen) by precision shooters… which precipitated the fall of the government and the flight of the president”. Victoria Nuland, US Under Secretary of State, then and now, was one of those frontline US figures who orchestrated the installation of the far-right groups, the real power in Kiev since 2014. I reiterate that it was Washington’s role as a major player in the bellicose action that pushed Putin to military action in Ukraine.
Biden intends to take advantage of this threatening situation to pose as a leader of “the West”, of freedom and democracy. Regarding the Ukraine-Russia rivalry, the tenant of the White House affirmed that “nations have the right to sovereignty and territorial integrity”. Where in Latin America and the Caribbean have we seen the US respecting this principle? You don’t even have to go back to the 19th century, in the second half of the 20th century alone our region witnessed flagrant US violations of those principles in Guatemala, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Grenada and Panama, the last three through direct invasions. Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua are current examples of a U.S. policy that flatly denies its assertion, not to mention Puerto Rico. The country over which Biden presides, for example, is the only one that formally recognizes Israel’s annexation of the Syrian Golan Hills or Morocco’s annexation of Western Sahara, both occupied by military force. If Biden were telling the truth, he would not resist recognizing the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and would cancel the decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the Hebrew state. Biden added that the US “stands up to bullies”, which is laughable if it were not so pathetic. When is he going to stop having among his main allies the current governments of Colombia, Israel and Saudi Arabia? More than two centuries of history, Mr. Biden, reveal the hypocrisy contained in your statements. When, by the way, are you going to lift the cruel blockades on Cuba and Venezuela instead of preaching about the tragedy in Ukraine?
Cuba, by the way, has shown the way for a political solution in Ukraine, far from the unbalanced resolution approved yesterday at the UN: Dialogue and negotiations, not war, are the only way to solve the conflict. Cuba advocates a serious, constructive and realistic diplomatic solution to the current crisis in Europe, by peaceful means, which guarantees the security and sovereignty of all, as well as regional and international peace, stability and security.
Source: La Pupila Insomne, translation Resumen Latinoamericano – English