by Stephen Lendman

A previous article discussed Ukraine heading for disaster. Facing fascist dictatorship. Civil war. Mass impoverishment.

Extreme deprivation. Troubled nuclear reactors. Possible bankruptcy. Even economic collapse.

A nation rife with problems. Plundered for profit. IMF-style complicit with corrupt Kiev officials.

In October, the Russia Insider web site headlined "Organ Harvesting in Ukraine: Troubling Revelations."

Saying "(b)odies of dead Ukrainian soldiers found with their stomachs cut open and organs missing."

Their hearts, kidneys and livers harvested. For huge sums recipients willingly pay.

"From a generous crop of the newly-dead who cannot speak for themselves…"

Mass Donbas graves included bodies with vital organs missing. Last June, Pravda reported organ harvesting in Ukraine, saying:

"Shocking information appeared on the social networks saying that the militia from Slavyansk found hundreds of corpses of National Guard soldiers during a night reconnaissance operation."

"The soldiers had had their stomachs ripped open and internal organs removed."

"In addition, the people living in the troubled territories, have seen well-equipped ambulance vehicles, armored cash collection vans and other special vehicles near hospitals of the Ukrainian army.Employees of international airports, for example, in Boryspil, said that there were many small aircraft chartered to transport special refrigerators that are used for transporting human organs."

Obama's new friends are ruthless. Stopping at nothing. Ukraine is a disaster already happened. A cancer in Europe's heartland.

Adrian Karatnycky is an Atlantic Council senior fellow. An establishment figure. He co-directs the "Ukraine in Europe" initiative.

He headlined a Washington Post op-ed "Warlords and armed groups threaten Ukraine's rebuilding."

On the one hand, absurdly saying "the danger of a major Russian offensive has faded…Ukraine is intelligently addressing its key challenges."

On the other, citing a new threat - "independently operating warlords and armed groups." Including neo-Nazi-infested Right Sector elements. Likeminded so-called volunteer brigades.

Oligarchs like Igor Kolomoysky fund them. Paramilitaries serving their interests. Dozens operate in Ukraine. Neo-Nazi infested.

Amnesty International discussed the Aidar Battalion. Operating in Lugansk. Saying "(w)hile hailed by many nationally as a committed fighting force, the Aidar battalion has acquired locally a reputation for brutal reprisals, robbery, beatings and extortion."

Its abuses "amount to war crimes, for which both the perpetrators and, possibly, the commanders would bear responsibility under national and international law."

Abducted victims were accused of being Russian collaborators. Torture and robbery followed.

One victim said he was forced to the floor at gunpoint. Kicked and beaten. His jaw broken. Held at a makeshift detention center.

With about 15 others. Terrorized. Blindfolded. Bound with tape. Released after their valuables were stolen.

Aidar and similar units "significantly (risk) aggravating tensions in the east of the country and undermin(e) the proclaimed intentions of the new Ukrainian authorities to strengthen and uphold the rule of law more broadly," said AI.

This and similar groups operate freely. Ukrainian authorities do nothing to stop them.

Some groups openly display Nazi insignia. Extremist Ukrainian soldiers were seen wearing swastikas.

They oppose peace. Making continued conflict more likely. Revealing Ukraine's dark side.

According to Karatnycky, "they threatened and kidnapped government officials…"

"(B)oasted that they will take power if Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko fails to defeat Russia, and they served as armed muscle in illegal attempts to take over businesses or seize local governments."

Last August, Dnepr-1 members abducted Ukraine's state land fund head. Prevented him from "replacing an official deemed inimical to business interests."

In mid-December, they interdicted a Russian humanitarian convoy. Before Christmas, Azov brigade members said they were "taking control of order in the eastern city of Mariupol…"

On their own. With no official approval. Criminal gangs running wild in Ukraine.

"A pattern of blatant disregard for the chain of command, lawlessness and racketeering is posing a growing threat to Ukraine's stability at a critical juncture," said Karatnycky."

Ukraine's interior minister, Arsen Avakov, is involved. Supporting them.

Providing heavy weapons. Including tanks and armored personnel carriers.

In September, he appointed deputy Azov commander/neo-Nazi Vadim Troyan Kiev regional police head. Feted him on Facebook.

Called him a respected commander. Said he'll form "the basis of a new national police force."

The Kharkov Human Rights Protection Group (KHPG) criticized his appointment. Calling him a well-known neo-Nazi.

Linked with Ukraine's Social-National Assembly. A group prominently displaying Nazi insignia. Anti-Semitic.

Simon Wiesenthal Center's Jerusalem office head, Eftraim Zuroff, called his appointment "very worrying…(S)ending the worst possible message about the intentions of the new Ukrainian government."

"If they are appointing people like this to positions of such importance and power is a very dangerous signal to the Jewish community of the Ukraine."

"This is a very strange way of convincing the justifiably concerned Jewish world that there is no intention to encourage fascist sympathies or neo-Nazi activities."

On New Year's day, thousands of neo-Nazis marched openly in Kiev and other Ukrainian cities.

Carrying torches. Honoring Nazi collaborator/mass murderer/Jew-hating Stepan Bandera. Commemorating the 106th anniversary of his birth.

Openly displaying his Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN-B) red and black flag. A symbol of Nazi extremism.

Neo-Nazi Svoboda party's slogan is "Ukraine for the Ukrainians." Bandera said the same thing. He wanted Ukraine ethnically pure. Mass extermination followed.

Svoboda earlier called itself Socialist-Nationalists. Bears erie resemblance to Hitler's National Socialism. Reflecting fascism writ large.

Hooliganism is longstanding fascist strategy. So is abolishing democratic freedoms. Eliminating rivals. War to achieve aims.

RT International said two Russian journalists were attacked and beaten during the Kiev march. A LifeNews reporter and cameraman.

A LifeNews statement said: "Unknown people pushed the journalist. Zhanna Karpenko fell and hit her head. Her phone was stolen."

Her camera was seized and broken. Right after she went on air. Police saw what happened, she said. Did nothing to stop it.

Russia's Investigative Committee official Vladimir Markin said an investigation into interfering with professional journalistic activity was initiated.

Russian Foreign Ministry press department deputy head Maria Zakharova condemned the assault, saying:

"A new attack on Russian journalists is another glaring fact of press persecution in Ukraine. (It's a) gross violation of the fundamental principles of freedom of speech."

She blamed Kiev authorities for not insuring press freedom, adding:

"It is important that anti-fascist organizations have their say in the matter, because it is no longer about some dangerous neo-Nazi tendencies in the center of Europe, but specific activities that in form and content copy Nazi traditions. Silence in this case is an act of approval."

Last October, Putin congratulated Ukrainian WW II veterans. Marking the 70th anniversary of Ukraine's liberation from Nazi occupation.

He said "today's most important task is countering attempts to revive fascist ideology. Preventing it from becoming resurgent. Repeating its past history.

"In the years of the Great Patriotic War in the hard and bloody battle for Ukraine, people could witness the spiritual power and unity of our multi-ethnic people in all their glory," he said.

"They witnessed the courage and steadfastness of our warriors-liberators, of partisans and workers of the home front."

"Our fathers and grandfathers together in one line they fought for freedom and independence of their motherland with courage and selflessness destroyed the enemy and brought nearer the long-awaited victory."

"We must carefully preserve the wonderful traditions of brotherly friendship and mutual help."

"It is extremely important to raise the younger generation on high patriotic values and actively resist any attempts to revive the Nazi ideology, to instigate ethnic hatred and falsify our common history."

Extremist elements infest today's Ukraine. Threatening freedom in Europe's heartland. Throughout Eurasia. Perhaps globally.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III".

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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