Zelensky Admits Neo-Nazi Azov Battalion Has Integrated With Ukraine’s Military and We’re Supposed to Be Okay With That

Who remembers when CNN, Fox News, and the rest of their cronies in corporate media opposed Neo-Nazis? In fact, calling a Trump supporter (or even President Trump himself) a Nazi was a common practice for regular guests of the most progressive news outlets, including CNN. But with Neo-Nazis making up large chunks of the Ukrainian military, everyone’s suddenly supposed to be okay with it.

Here’s Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledging that the Neo-Nazi Azov Battalion has “fully integrated” with the Ukrainian military:

Bret Baier asked Zelensky about Azov Battalion's shooting of Russian POWs.

Zelensky's answer? "They are what they are."

Zelensky also claims that some were prosecuted after 2014 and given prison sentences. He doesn't mention that those convictions were overturned. pic.twitter.com/5m3EOlJhU6

— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) April 2, 2022

Political commentators and newly anointed foreign policy experts on social media have pulled out every cliché, platitude, and song lyric they could find in order to justify the integration and maintain Zelensky’s status as the “Hero of Democracy.” Desperate times call for desperate measures. All is fair in love and war. Every rose has its thorn. Or whatever.

CNN went so far as to cheer for the Neo-Nazis as long as Zelensky approves of them. According to The Conservative Treehouse:

Following increased scrutiny of the Ukranian army after videos surfaced showing torture of Russian soldiers by the notorious Azov battalion {Go Deep}, CNN writes an article saying that not all Nazis are bad Nazis.

The article would normally be embarrassing for the same media outlet that has criticized their political opposition as “right-wing extremists” and “Nazis”; however, given the nature of CNN needing to promote the interests of the U.S. State Department, it is not surprising.

(VIA CNN) – President Vladimir Putin framed the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a “special mission” to protect Russian speakers from genocide at the hands of ​”neo-Nazis.” […] For the Kremlin, Exhibit A in this special mission is the far-right Azov movement, part of the military and political landscape in Ukraine for nearly a decade.

Azov’s military and political wings formally separated in 2016, when the far-right National Corps party was founded. The Azov battalion had by then been integrated into the Ukrainian National Guard.

An effective fighting force that’s very much involved in the current conflict, the battalion has a history of neo-Nazi leanings, which have not been entirely extinguished by its integration into the Ukrainian military.​

In its heyday as an autonomous militia, the Azov Battalion was associated with White supremacists and neo-Nazi ideology and insignia. It was especially active in and around Mariupol in 2014 and 2015. CNN teams in the area at the time reported Azov’s embrace of neo-Nazi emblems and paraphernalia. (read more)

As long as the west supports the Nazis to advance their political interests, western media support Nazis.  As soon as the Ukraine conflict is settled, apparently it will be ok to go back to criticizing Nazis – or something.

This revelation is much more important than viewers of corporate media propaganda realize. Having a common enemy can often unify opposing forces in ways that allow cooperation as we’ve seen in various iterations across conflicts in the Middle East and Africa over the last few decades. But integration is a completely different scenario. It tells us that the ideological divide between the Azov Battalion and Ukraine’s military proper was not very far off. The question we should ask is whether the Azov Battalion wasn’t as Nazi-esque as we’ve been led to believe or if the Ukrainian government is closer to Nazism than media will ever tell us.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian people continue to suffer.

The normalization of accepting Nazis as long as they’re fighting the bad guys isn’t just happening in Ukraine. American corporate media is offering zero push-back. That tells us their “Hero of Democracy” narrative supersedes all others.