The Helsinki Commission’s Paul Massaro posted images of his Azov flag and Stepan Bandera patch
While the official line of the US government is that Nazis don’t exist in Ukraine, a senior adviser at a major Washington foreign policy agency has been openly celebrating them.
Paul Massaro posted a photo of a patch honoring WWII Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera on Wednesday – only to delete it at a Polish friend’s request – and last week posed next to a signed flag of Azov, the notorious Ukrainian unit using an SS symbol as its own. The agency Massaro works for is the US Helsinki Commission, officially known as the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe.
“Hey, look what I've got,” the grinning Massaro tweeted around 9:30 in the morning, showing off his green pseudo-military jacket with a patch that read “Bandera is our father, Ukraine is our mother.” It bore the embroidered visage of Bandera and the logo of his OUN-B organization.
Less than two hours and 270,000 views later, however, the tweet was gone. “Deleted at the request of a good Polish friend. God bless Polish-Ukrainian friendship and may it remain strong forever,” Massaro explained.
The Polish problem with Bandera is that his Ukrainian nationalists were responsible for the massacres of ethnic Poles in present-day western Ukraine, which Warsaw has deemed a genocide.
Massaro’s official biography describes him as speaking fluent German and covering “German-speaking Europe and East Asia,” with no mention of Russian or Ukrainian. This has not stopped him from becoming one of the most outspoken champions of Ukrainian nationalism online, with daily torrents of tweets demanding the West “cancel” or “decolonize” Russia, ban its athletes from all competitions, and remove Moscow from the UN Security Council.
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“It arrived! Thank you, heroes. And congratulations on achieving the status of brigade!” Massaro tweeted last Thursday, posing with a flag of Azov that was signed and dedicated to him by the notorious neo-Nazi unit’s leadership. The post was viewed over three million times.
The wolfsangel on the banner is a German rune previously used by the SS panzer division ‘Das Reich’, which Azov founder Andrey Biletsky openly boasted to American reporters of appropriating. The ADL considers it a “hate symbol” used by American neo-Nazis – though the organization has not registered any protests about Massaro brandishing it in what looks to be his office.
The US government considered Azov a neo-Nazi and terrorist group just four years ago, passing a law against providing it with any aid. That provision seems to have been quietly repealed, as Washington sent over $100 billion worth of money, weapons and ammunition to Ukraine over the past year.
Set up in 1976, the Helsinki Commission is run by 18 lawmakers – nine from the House, nine from the Senate – and representatives of the Departments of Commerce, Defense, and State.
The transnational umbrella organization established by the same international protocol, known as OSCE, was charged with monitoring the “ceasefire” in Ukraine from 2015 to 2022. However, it received criticism from the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) for turning a blind eye to Ukrainian shelling of the Donbass.
https://www.rt.com/news/571536-massaro-azov-bandera-ukraine/
The prices of some life-saving medicines have soared to levels that are unaffordable for ordinary people in Venezuela as the United States has ramped up military presence in the Caribbean off Venezuela's coast, alongside escalating sanctions, blockades and military threats against the oil-rich South American nation since late August.
https://www.presstv.ir/default/Embeded/761400
At a northeastern suburb in the capital city Caracas, locals can still purchase most of the commonly used medicines at a major supermarket, where some antibiotics have been sold out, and some first-aid medicines and supplies have become too costly for ordinary residents.
"I'm here mainly to buy antibiotics. I have problems with my lungs. But I can't get all I want, such as vancomycin," said a resident named Alfonso.
"Recent tensions have affected the supplies and prices of drugs. The prices of cancer drugs, insulin drugs and albumin are very high, and most patients here cannot afford them," said Giovanna Gonzalez a ...
Russian President Vladimir Putin says Moscow is prepared to use military force to achieve the goals of its special military operation if Ukraine continues to delay peace talks.
During an inspection of a Russian armed forces command post on Saturday, Putin stressed that Moscow will not allow Kiev’s obstruction to prevent progress.
“If the Kiev authorities do not want to resolve the matter peacefully, we will accomplish all the tasks before us in the course of the special military operation by military means,” he said.
The Russian leader noted that the Ukrainian authorities are not moving toward a peaceful resolution, adding, “We see that even today, unfortunately, the leaders of the Kiev regime are in no hurry to resolve this conflict peacefully. I spoke about this a year ago in a speech at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”
Putin also received reports from Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov and commanders of Russia’s “Centre” and “East” military groups.
Meanwhile, ...
