Roman Protasevich: How western govts are aiding neo-Nazis

The European Union and the United States have castigated the Belarus Government in harsh phrases, adopted by strategic motion, after a flight carrying Roman Protasevich landed in Minsk, the capital of Belarus. Protasevich was arrested quickly after and his arrest was condemned as an try and silence dissidents.
Western governments have hailed Roman Protasevich as an ‘opposition leader’ and a ‘journalist’. Some have even gone as far as to say that he’s a ‘hero’. But revelations which have come since then that don’t paint an excellent image of the 26 yr outdated ‘activist’.
Roman Protasevich: His affiliation with neo-Nazi militia Azov Battalion
Grayzone reported on the twenty sixth of May that Protasevich has intensive hyperlinks to neo-Nazi teams in Ukraine. The ‘activist’ labored for the Azov Batallion, an explicitly neo-Nazi militia in Ukraine, of their press service. Images have surfaced that present the ‘activist’ in a navy uniform holding an assault rifle.
There are additionally pictures out there that present him sporting a neo-Nazi t-shirt with Swastikas on it (to not be confused with the Hindu swastika, which is a logo of prosperity). According to the report by Grayzone, there’s additionally vital proof to recommend that he’s a western asset cultivated to undermine Russia and Belarus.
Grayzone had earlier reported that the Azov Battalion had obtained weapons and navy coaching from the United States of America to help them within the Ukrainian civil conflict and focus on logistics and additional cooperation. The Azov Battalion is reportedly a White-Supremacist group.
Russia’s everlasting consultant to the United Nations Dmitry Polyansky mentioned that the ‘activist’ was needed on account of his neo-Nazi hyperlinks. He acknowledged, “Mr. Protasevich indeed was a blogger but before becoming one, he had been a combatant in Ukraine and fought in the ranks of the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion, together with neo-Nazi and far-right groups.” “I think this is why the Belarusian authorities requested an international arrest warrant for him,” he added.
The coup in Ukraine pushed by the Euromaidan protests additionally noticed the participation of neo-Nazi parts. Western state media such because the BBC declare that they didn’t appeal to a lot consideration however do admit that they performed a serious function within the clashes with the Police in central Kiev.
All of this clearly factors in direction of the truth that the USA and western governments are collaborating with neo-Nazis as a way to undermine Russia and its allied international locations. The case of Aleksei Navalny follows an identical trajectory.
The problematic previous of Aleksei Navalny
Aleksei Navalny has earlier referred to Muslim migrants as cockroaches and advisable the usage of handguns in opposition to them. Apart from that, his assist inside Russia is vastly exaggerated within the western press and he stays a fringe determine in Russian politics thus far.
Amnesty International withdrew its ‘prisoner of conscience’ standing for Navalny after his controversial feedback went viral on social media. Amnesty mentioned that it’s “no longer able to consider Aleksei Navalny a prisoner of conscience given the fact that he advocated violence and discrimination and he has not retracted such statements.”
New: @AmnestyUK withdraws designation of Navalny as a “prisoner of conscience.” In e mail, Amnesty says it is “no longer able to consider Aleksei Navalny a prisoner of conscience given the fact that he advocated violence and discrimination and he has not retracted such statements.” pic.twitter.com/E9m0e6lzT8— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) February 23, 2021
Considering Roman Protasevich, Belarus faces new sanctions and western governments have lower off the nation’s aviation hyperlinks over what they name the arrest of a ‘journalist’. But fairly clearly, he was not a ‘journalist’ per se and is definitely a western backed asset.
That western governments are brazenly backing neo-Nazis solely goes on to verify the little or no extent to which ‘human rights’ determine of their overseas coverage. For all their speak of ‘tolerance’ and ‘human rights’, they’d not hesitate to again neo-Nazis if it helps them obtain state goals.
Why lionizing Roman Protasevich is just not a good suggestion
As University of Ottawa professor Paul Robinson argues in his article for Russia Today, “Describing Protasevich as a “journalist” or “reporter,” and portray him as a democratic activist, with out mentioning his far-right connections, deprives readers of understanding the complete image.”
“Facts shouldn’t be suppressed just because they are politically inconvenient. Democratic principles rule out the notion that uncomfortable truths should be locked away in a cabinet, only to be let out when it’s safe for the public to know them. Once we head down that path, any pretense of democratic freedom goes out the window. People deserve to know the truth,” he provides.
The professor additionally observes that such agenda-driven reporting has opposed penalties. He wrote, “Ukraine is a prime example of this sad reality. The pro-Western revolutionaries who overthrew president Viktor Yanukovich in 2014 did so with the support of far-right groups, despite championing a more liberal stance themselves. Both they and their Western backers pretended that the neo-Nazis didn’t exist, or if they did, assumed they weren’t a problem. But others did notice them, and their presence helped to delegitimize the new government and sparked rebellion in eastern Ukraine.”
Robinson additionally takes offense to Politico journalist Leonid Ragozin describing Protasevich as a ‘healthy part of society’. He concludes, “Protasevich’s murky past is irrelevant to the rights and wrongs of his arrest, and it may indeed deflect attention from the misdeeds of the Belarusian state. But that doesn’t mean that we should act as if that past doesn’t exist – people deserve to hear the full story. Fair reporting requires one to tell the truth – the whole truth, and nothing but the truth – not only the bits of it that suit the agenda.”
While it’s reputable to oppose his arrest on the grounds that it’s unjust to arrest dissidents merely for opposing the federal government, it doesn’t seem wise to lionize a person with such problematic opinions. And evidently, selling neo-Nazis as ‘heroes’ would have devastating impression for the area particularly and the world as a complete.