She is wrong to assert, Yanukovych's 'government fell not because of a plot, but because special Ukrainian forces, with advisers from Moscow, killed dozens of demonstrators.' She appears to be unaware that ARD German television found evidence that much of the murderous sniper fire came from the Hotel Ukraina, which was tightly controlled by Kiev's protesters.
She fails to mention the European Union-mediated agreement struck between the opposition and Yanukovych, only to be rejected by protesters led by extreme right-wing members of Svoboda and Pravy Sektor. Highly respected sociologist, Volodymyr Ishchenko -- an expert in civil disturbances in Ukraine -- claimed that the far right had hijacked the protest.
Russia responded to the coup by taking Crimea."
Dr. Anton Shekhovtsov, an expert on Ukraine and right-wing parties in Europe says this about Pravy Sektor (Right Sector). "What is frightening, however, with Pravy Sektor itself is that it comprises many groups that I would call neo-Nazi. Fortunately, they also constitute a minor element of Pravy Sektor, but they are there. Dmitro Yarosh, who is the leader of the Trident, of Trizub-it's the name of the organization -- it may be not racist itself, but it cooperates with the real nasty people who are part of the Pravy Sektor, like Patriot of Ukraine." ["Crisis in Ukraine: The Role and Responsibility of the West." Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, February 7, 2014.
Nevertheless, in a column titled, "A veiled threat to Ukrainian Jews" Ms. Rubin goes to great lengths, admittedly without any proof, to blame Russia for the obviously fake fliers -- requiring Jews to register with the Donetsk People's Republic -- distributed outside a synagogue in Donetsk. But she whitewashes the anti-Semitism of the genuine neo-Nazis who led the protesters in their violent coup against a democratically elected government.
Yes, admits Ms. Rubin, Svoboda was denounced as "neo-Nazi" by the World Jewish Congress. But it "appears to be moderating its positions." In the one sentence she devotes to Pravy Sector, Ms. Rubin simply notes that "Its leaders publicly insist the group is not anti-Semitic." Well, that settles it then. Doesn't it?
In her most recent opinion column on 21 May 2014, titled "Ukraine's pivotal revolution," Ms. Rubin spouts more propaganda. Once again it was a largely peaceful revolution lead by heroic protesters seeking the new liberal world order for Ukraine, not a protest transformed into a violent anti-Russia coup led by Pravy Sektor (Right Sector). Once again it was all about Putin, "with his bare-chested machismo, his homophobia, his odes to tradition and religious orthodoxy, and his disdain for the West." Once again, Ms. Rubin failed to utter a single word about Russia's legitimate national interests.
Once again there was her unwarranted certainty that "the violence of the revolution's last days sparked by a pro-Russian government's murder of demonstrators, was only a coda to months of peaceful protests." In fact, a definitive conclusion has yet to be reached on the matter of the murder of demonstrators. However, Ms. Rubin, as well as readers seeking information that challenges her blatant propaganda, are advised to read an article by Yulia Latynina titled "The Rise and Fall of Right Sector."
Ms. Latynina is a fierce critic of President Putin, but she makes a few observations about Right Sector and its leader, Dmitry Yarosh, that challenge Ms. Rubin's propaganda. First, she assists in the demolition of Ms. Rubin's canard about months of peaceful protests by claiming that Right Sector figured prominently in the heavy fighting on Hrushevsky Street on Jan. 19." (Even the New York Times reported the use of stun grenades by protesters as early as 1 December 2013.) Ms. Rubin, wake up!
Second, she speculates that "someone close to Yanukovych gave Right Sector money so they would stop fighting." But, "like a true revolutionary, Yarosh took the money, bought weapons with it and continued to fight."
Third, Ms. Latynina notes that on February 20th, the center of Kiev "was closed off, no cars moved and people were dropping like flies under a hail of snipers' bullets." Yet, to get and from his meeting at the presidential residence "Yarosh would have had to pass through the gauntlet of sniper fire. What guarantee did he have that snipers would not shoot at him, or that he would manage to return alive from that meeting?"
Fourth, Ms. Latynina notes that "not a single Right Sector member was among the 100 Maidan protesters who died."
Finally, Ms. Latynina suspects that President Putin "sincerely believed that the European Union is financing Right Sector." Then, she concludes by observing, "Obviously, the EU is not financing Right Sector, but the organization definitely did receive a large sum of money from someone."
There was a time when I thought Trudy Rubin was a thoughtful voice on world affairs and a credit to an often abysmally poor Stinky Inky. However, after Russia's annexation of the Crimea -- which shocked the new liberal world order people to their core -- Ms. Rubin seems to have degenerated into yet another anti-Putin mainstream media crank.
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