Michael Collins

(10/14) Thousands of rioters demanded special recognition for the Ukraine Insurgent Army, a resistance group that allied with Nazi Germany during World War II. The Ukraine political party, Svoboda, staged the demonstrations.

Svoboda, an extremist right wing party, played an important role in the United States supported transition government of Arseniy Yatsenyuk. Its influence continues in the current government of President Petro Poroshenko. The United States and European Union have offered across the board praise for Poroshenko's government. (Image)

SpiegelOnline, Mar 17, reported that the German Society for International Cooperation supported Svoboda members of Ukraine's parliament in financial reform efforts. The society is a non-government organization funded by the German government. The Konrad Adenauer political foundation, tied to German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative party, provided legislative training and instruction for Svoboda reported by Spiegel in the same article.

What was the Ukraine Insurgent Army?

"The UPA [Ukrainian Insurgent Army] emerged in 1942 as one of several partisan armies in German-occupied Ukraine. At its peak, the faction claimed nearly a quarter of a million followers. Fiercely nationalist, the group’s raison d’être was to establish a free and independent Ukrainian homeland. While it directed much of its energy to combating the Axis invaders, the UPA always kept its eye on what it considered the real enemy: the communists. Military History Now, Mar 3

Initially, the army fought Nazi invaders. The army quickly formed an alliance with the German horde to fight Soviet Russian troops, the dominant force in the ground effort against the Nazis in Europe

Ethnic Cleansing - Poles and Jews

The army the Svoboda demonstrators seek to honor engaged in ethnic cleansing against Poles in what is now Western Ukraine and attacked and killed Ukrainian Jews

"The ethnic cleansing operation [of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army] against the Poles began on a large scale in Volhynia in late February (or Spring^[76]) of that year and lasted until the end of 1944.^[77] July 11, 1943 was one of the deadliest days of the massacres, with UPA units marching from village to village, killing Polish civilians." Wikipedia Oct 15

While he was a scholar at the U.S. Holocaust Museum, John Paul Himka wrote The Ukrainian Insurgent Army And the Holocaust (2009). He concluded "a crucial role in the decision to lure Jews to their death in the winter of 1943-44 when the Poles were already gone, was the Ukrainian nationalists’ identification of Jews with the hated Soviets." Himka pointed to the army's anti-Semitism without regard to their current enemy: "UPA participated actively in the destruction of the Jewish population of Western Ukraine. It had reasons of its own to kill Jews, and did so even when in open revolt against the Germans." (Click for video of riots)

Indisputable Evidence of Ukraine Nazi Sympathizers for the Corporate Media

The corporate media in the U.S. and Europe find it difficult to grasp and even more difficult to say that substantial portions of the Ukraine government and fighting forces (Azov and other punitive battalions) are outright Nazi sympathizers. To help them along, here is a spectrum of reporting on the riots and their purpose.

From the news source Secretary of State John Kerry warns us against reading:

"A mass nationalist protest near the Ukrainian parliament in Kiev has turned violent, with 15 policemen wounded and at least 50 rioters arrested. Radicals are demanding war veteran status for armed nationalist rebels who fought for the Nazis in WWII." RT, Oct 14

Israeli sources know the score on Svoboda:

"Thousands of Svoboda nationalist party supporters rallied earlier in the capital in celebration of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, whose struggle for independence for Ukraine was tainted by its collaboration with the Nazis." Haaretz, Oct 15

NBC tried to equivocate. You know the theme: there are always two sides to the story; never mind that one side (i.e., Nazi collaboration) is truly representative:

"The demonstration was held to commemorate the 72nd anniversary of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army which fought against both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union." NBC, Oct 14

It's time to recognize the utter failure of the Ukraine policy of President Barak Obama's neoconservative chaos crew. They helped create a government that attacked its own people in the Southeastern Ukraine, killing thousands. They turn a blind eye to a major faction of the ruling government's association with Nazi Germany, one of the vilest forces in world history. And, Obama and the neocons wasted our time and money over years creating this mess.

What can we expect next from the neocons -- support for Al Qaeda aligned groups in the Middle East? But wait …

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Top image: Svoboda Nazis: A 2013 Funeral, International Observatory of Ukrainian Crisis, May 19, 2014