• Frank [he/him, he/him]
    ·
    edit-2
    3 years ago

    Russia has also sought to portray the Azovstal soldiers as far-right extremists. Some of the soldiers holed up in the steel plant are members of the Azov Regiment, which is a unit of the Ukrainian National Guard. It got its start as a volunteer battalion, founded in 2014 by far-right nationalists. But many of these extremists left after the battalion joined the armed forces, says Polina Beliakova, a research associate at the Center for Strategic Studies at Tufts University who has studied Ukraine's volunteer battalions. She says the Azov Regiment currently includes fighters with diverse political views and ethnic backgrounds.

    "if there’s a Nazi at the table and 10 other people sitting there talking to him, you got a table with 11 Nazis."

    Also, remember like two fucking months ago when Putin was going to use poison gas any minute? I guess he just didn't have any handy.

    • Puggo [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      But many of these extremists left after the battalion joined the armed forces...

      Oooooh, well that's perfectly understandable! Wait. Hold on. If all these "far right extremists" left, why has nobody changed the official unit emblem to get rid of the Nazi Wolfsangel???

      • Ram_The_Manparts [he/him]
        ·
        edit-2
        3 years ago

        It's always a good idea to trust the fascists when they tell you "were totally not fascists UwU"

      • Frank [he/him, he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        I'm sure they just found a bunch of wolfsangel and sonnenrad patches lying around and thought they looked cool. Their buddies probably pranked them with a prominent swastika tattoo while they were passed out.

        It's funny because the press could just say "These guys are Nazis but cooperation with them fulfills US foreign policy objectives. Sometimes we have to work with people we don't like." But instead they piss in your face and tell you it's raining.

        • Sephitard9001 [he/him]
          ·
          3 years ago

          Admitting that nazis fulfill our policy objectives would be pulling the curtain back a little too far

    • Wildgrapes [she/her]
      ·
      3 years ago

      The Russians just ran out of poison gas because they're so dumb that's why.