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freshwest

(53,661 posts)
41. This eye-opening piece was linked by frazzle:
Sun Mar 2, 2014, 09:55 PM
Mar 2014

Last edited Mon Mar 3, 2014, 01:03 AM - Edit history (2)

to frazzled.

Ukraine: The Haze of Propaganda


by Timothy Snyder

From Moscow to London to New York, the Ukrainian revolution has been seen through a haze of propaganda. Russian leaders and the Russian press have insisted that Ukrainian protesters were right-wing extremists and then that their victory was a coup. Ukraine’s president, Viktor Yanukovych, used the same clichés after a visit with the Russian president at Sochi. After his regime was overturned, he maintained he had been ousted by “right-wing thugs,” a claim echoed by the armed men who seized control of airports and government buildings in the southern Ukrainian district of Crimea on Friday.**

Interestingly, the message from authoritarian regimes in Moscow and Kiev was not so different from some of what was written during the uprising in the English-speaking world, especially in publications of the far left and the far right. From Lyndon LaRouche’s Executive Intelligence Review through Ron Paul’s newsletter through The Nation and The Guardian, the story was essentially the same: little of the factual history of the protests, but instead a play on the idea of a nationalist, fascist, or even Nazi coup d’état.

In fact, it was a classic popular revolution. It began with an unmistakably reactionary regime. A leader sought to gather all power, political as well as financial, in his own hands. This leader came to power in democratic elections, to be sure, but then altered the system from within. For example, the leader had been a common criminal: a rapist and a thief. He found a judge who was willing to misplace documents related to his case. That judge then became the chief justice of the Supreme Court. There were no constitutional objections, subsequently, when the leader asserted ever more power for his presidency.

In power, this leader, this president, remained a thief, but now on a grand, perhaps even unsurpassed, scale. Throughout his country millions of small businessmen and businesswomen found it impossible to keep their firms afloat, thanks to the arbitrary demands of tax authorities. Their profits were taken by the state, and the autonomy that those profits might have given them were denied. Workers in the factories and mines had no means whatsoever of expression their own distress, since any attempt at a strike or even at labor organization would simply have led to their dismissal.


There is much more at the link, it's well worth the read:

http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2014/mar/01/ukraine-haze-propaganda/

It descibes an oligarchy that was strangling the people of Ukraine. That is why we saw so many peaceful protestors as it began and didn't stop. And former Red Army Ukrainians came to the aid of students, along with Russians and all the groups we can imagine. Gay activists worked with them.

The author, is described as:

Timothy Snyder is Housum Professor of History at Yale and the author of Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin. This month, he is to deliver a Philippe Roman Lecture on the origins of the Holocaust at the London School of Economics. (March 2014)

Titles he has written are:
#
Fascism, Russia, and Ukraine
March 20, 2014
#
Ukraine: The New Dictatorship
February 20, 2014
#
‘In the Cage, Trying to Get Out’
October 24, 2013

http://www.nybooks.com/contributors/timothy-snyder-2/?tab=tab-blog

He asks these questions:

Has it ever before happened that people associated with Ukrainian, Russian, Belarusian, Armenian, Polish, and Jewish culture have died in a revolution that was started by a Muslim? Can we who pride ourselves in our diversity and tolerance think of anything remotely similar in our own histories?

This article changed my mind where none of the blustering opinions at DU could have. I still want a just outcome for all these people and for Svoboda to be soundly smacked down. I see why the EU wants to deal with the new government and not Yanukovych.

I still see no villains other than on the personal level, and appreciate even more that we are NOT going to war over this. Now I think some have been misled and I admit to great confusion on this. I'm thinking Yanukovych did need to be taken out of power.

** I also understand why they may think that way. In their minds, they are fighting a war from long ago. They do not know a new way to deal with their own corrupt oligarchical rulers, so they must revert to old enemies.

JMHO.

Kick for an interesting read...different from our MS Cable Media. KoKo Mar 2014 #1
and they're both wrong. doesn't make russia any better. do try not to use GLBTs as pawns... dionysus Mar 2014 #2
! "do try not to use GLBTs as pawns" sibelian Mar 2014 #3
No one here said Russia is any better YoungDemCA Mar 2014 #9
it's been implied a lot, or posited that we are "just as bad", all the time here. dionysus Mar 2014 #12
I meant "no one in this thread" YoungDemCA Mar 2014 #14
oh, okay. in that context you're right. dionysus Mar 2014 #15
The Putin Propaganda copy and paste crowd Pretzel_Warrior Mar 2014 #4
he's dreamy.. and ultra liberally n stuff... stickin it to the meal ol PTB of the west! dionysus Mar 2014 #6
how is pointing out that there are creeps and bigots on both sides in the cali Mar 2014 #8
I agree about the need for the right wingers in Ukraine Pretzel_Warrior Mar 2014 #16
If you recognize that Putin is square in the middle in terms of Eastern Orthodox politics... Junkdrawer Mar 2014 #34
Oh, is that the meme now? YoungDemCA Mar 2014 #10
Yeah, that article is just chock full of Putin Putin Putin. progressoid Mar 2014 #17
Really? Lolol. That's your defense? Pretzel_Warrior Mar 2014 #19
Defense? progressoid Mar 2014 #22
The article is about the reactionary right's seizure of power in the wake of the revolution Scootaloo Mar 2014 #26
There has been a steady stream of exaggerations about malevolence of Pretzel_Warrior Mar 2014 #27
Pardon me if I'm reading you wrong, but... Scootaloo Mar 2014 #30
gays are allowed to adopt in ukraine JI7 Mar 2014 #5
UPDATE: The Banning of Gay Adoption was in 2011 by Ukraine... KoKo Mar 2014 #13
You'll have to be more specific. On what day did this new government in Pretzel_Warrior Mar 2014 #18
I just searched on the Guardian and found no article saying adoption laws were changed Bluenorthwest Mar 2014 #21
I searched POSTER #5 's statement about NEW Ukraine Parliament COUP banning Gay Adoption... KoKo Mar 2014 #37
2011 was when Yanukovych was president. pampango Mar 2014 #44
Not if they're in a same-sex relationship, actually Scootaloo Mar 2014 #29
So both Russia and Ukraine are bad when it comes to LGBT rights. Cali_Democrat Mar 2014 #7
Agreed. YoungDemCA Mar 2014 #11
They didn't "Invade" Ukraine... They protected their Bases in Russian KoKo Mar 2014 #20
Ok...just looked at a map. Crimea is part of Ukraine. nt Cali_Democrat Mar 2014 #23
Yes...it is. Maybe do a Google or Wiki (although their stuff is often partisan or KoKo Mar 2014 #25
I'd like a link about your claim about the adoption rules. Thanks again. Bluenorthwest Mar 2014 #24
Poster #5 said that New Parliament introduced it..but they were Incorrect... KoKo Mar 2014 #38
It wasn't MY Claim but Poster #5...JI7 KoKo Mar 2014 #40
So you would support the US pouring 10K troops into Guantanamo and securing the area around it? nt geek tragedy Mar 2014 #28
Well, given that Cuba doesn't recognize any US right to Guantanamo... Scootaloo Mar 2014 #32
Same difference. The current Ukrainian government didn't sign that deal with Russia nt geek tragedy Mar 2014 #33
So every time the govermnet changes, that invalidates previous agreements? Scootaloo Mar 2014 #35
No, but such agreements aren't a waiver of sovereignty. nt geek tragedy Mar 2014 #36
They have a 30 year lease on that base that absolutely no one was threatening. pampango Mar 2014 #45
Svoboda represents the 10% in Ukraine. Putin's party, the majority. joshcryer Mar 2014 #31
But in 2011 in the Ukraine .... KoKo Mar 2014 #39
This eye-opening piece was linked by frazzle: freshwest Mar 2014 #41
"Democracy Now" interviewed Professor Snyder & Nicolai Petro in Ukraine Discussion KoKo Mar 2014 #42
...1 KoKo Mar 2014 #43
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