That's unfortunate. The fact that Ukrainians fight alongside neo Nazis and have done for years, is a key part of Putin's started justification for why it's a moral invasion. This sort of censorship has kept the West blind to this reality. I've seen quite a few comments in recent days saying how ridiculous it is for Putin to claim the Ukrainians support Naziism given that their president is a Jew, but the reality is, the Azov Battalion has been around for a while and they aren't subtle about their beliefs. It weakens the West when people criticize "state controlled media" in Russia whilst being totally unaware of what's happening on the ground in Ukraine.
> The fact that Ukrainians fight alongside neo Nazis and have done for years, is a key part of Putin's started justification for why it's a moral invasion.
There you go: [0].
> The Azov Battalion has been around for a while and they aren't subtle about their beliefs. It weakens the West when people criticize "state controlled media" in Russia whilst being totally unaware of what's happening on the ground in Ukraine.
That is what this manipulation is all about. Tying many supporters to be indirectly supporting (and funding) a neo-Nazi battalion which Putin is referring to as the 'denazification of Ukraine' and using that as an excuse to invade. Now he will try to fallaciously accuse everyone of supporting neo-Nazis. It is a very bizzare thought process and reason to try to come up with to seize another country but given the evidence of praising these groups by Facebook (Meta) and other news companies, does sort of weaken the west.
The Russian media will try to find (or manufacture) evidence of such support and will just point to this: [0] and the racism happening on blocking non-Ukrainians and threatening to shoot them: [1]. Overall, it looks like a competition of who is the real neo-Nazi.
That is what it is, however it's not the reason I posted this.
The thing that I find interesting in this situation is this active decision that it is ok to come out in support of specific Neo-Nazi groups, as long as it's for the 'right reasons' and in the right language. And who, how and why (a private company, Meta) arbitrarily decides what those right reasons and language are.
> a few comments in recent days saying how ridiculous it is for Putin to claim the Ukrainians support Naziism given that their president is a Jew,
Probably taking their cue from propagandists in Western media outlets who don't mind painting Eric Zemmour, a Jewish journalist trying to run for the French presidency, as a racist and antisemite, all but implying that he has Nazi sympathies. But somehow Zelenski and his government are off limits?
