Azov Fighters Are Ukraine's Greatest Weapon And May Be Its Greatest Threat

[Purveyor]

The battalion's far-right volunteers' desire to 'bring the fight to Kiev' is a danger to post-conflict stability

Shaun Walker in Mariupol
theguardian.com, Wednesday 10 September 2014

"I have nothing against Russian nationalists, or a great Russia," said Dmitry, as we sped through the dark Mariupol night in a pickup truck, a machine gunner positioned in the back. "But Putin's not even a Russian. Putin's a Jew."

Dmitry – which he said is not his real name – is a native of east Ukraine and a member of the Azov battalion, a volunteer grouping that has been doing much of the frontline fighting in Ukraine's war with pro-Russian separatists.

The Azov, one of many volunteer brigades to fight alongside the Ukrainian army in the east of the country, has developed a reputation for its fearlessness in battle.

But there is an increasing worry that while the Azov and other volunteer battalions might be Ukraine's most potent and reliable force on the battlefield against the separatists, they also pose the most serious threat to the Ukrainian government, and perhaps even the state, when the conflict in the east is over. The Azov causes particular concern due to the far-right, even neo-Nazi leanings of many of its members.

Dmitry claimed not to be a Nazi, but waxed lyrical about Adolf Hitler as a military leader, and he believes the Holocaust never happened. Not everyone in the Azov battalion thinks like Dmitry, but after speaking with dozens of its fighters and embedding on several missions during the past week in and around the strategic port city of Mariupol, the Guardian found many of them to have disturbing political views, and almost all to be intent on "bringing the fight to Kiev" when the war in the east is over.

more...

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/10/azov-far-right-fighters-ukraine-neo-nazis

[The Magistrate]

1. Let Me See If I Can Follow The Snake With Its Tail In Its Mouth, Sir

The presence of these units on the line is proof the Kiev government is a pack of Nazis.

They intend, after the fighting is over, to go overthrow the Kiev government.

So the Nazis want to overthrow the Nazis.

Because they are not Nazi enough? Or because they are not so good at being Nazis? Or are not real Nazis?

What is most likely to happen is that, when the fighting comes to a halt, these bodies will be dispersed without too much incident.

[Cayenne]

2. Who is going to 'disperse' them, the cowards that won't fight now?

[The Magistrate]

3. Should They March On Kiev, Sir, They Will Be Greeted Harshly

They do not have enough force to prevail.

Usually the solution to demonstrations by demobilized units is back pay.

[PeoViejo]

6. There will be few left to fight

People like this make good Cannon Fodder.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

4. There are about 400 of them.

Unless we are talking about a battalion of genetically engineered supermen, I hardly doubt they pose a huge threat to either the Russian army or the Ukrainian government.

[Igel]

5. It's a purism argument.

One can only support those who are pure and perfect. To point out an imperfection is to imply completely crap-dom.

Some people actually think like that. The world is divided into the perfect and those who are pure evil, and to have truck with pure evil is guilt by association.

Some people use this as a way to undermine support for people they oppose and expect the argument to be taken seriously.

Of that group, some take it seriously and insistently blind themselves to imperfections and flaws among those they support. They find excuses to say they aren't really flaws, or that it's all propaganda. Those folk are scary in their single-minded blind zeal. The truth doesn't matter when you have the Truth.

The remainder are merely cynical or trolls, knowing that their argument is false yet works against the simple minded and weak willed.

The mercenary are those who are reliably one one but flip the setting on their public persona from blind faith to pure cynicism or back as necessary for the sake of disruption and continuing the argument.