The Origins of Ukraine’s Fascists & Why It Matters, w/ Historian Tarik Cyril Amar

For those who just discovered Ukraine two months ago, the fact that Ukrainian nationalism has been dangerously intertwined with fascism might sound like Russian propaganda. But is it?

How powerful is the Ukrainian far right? Are they really linked to Nazis? Why is the corporate-owned media denying this? 

To place this war and the Ukrainian far right in its historical context, Rania Khalek was joined by Tarik Cyril Amar, a historian from Germany, who is currently associate professor of history at Koc University in Istanbul, working on Russian, Ukrainian, and generally East European history. 

TIME CODES

0:00 Intro

2:48 Origins of right-wing Ukrainian nationalism

5:03 Ukraine during Soviet times

8:32 Ukrainian collaboration with Nazis in WW2

14:27 Ukraine after the Soviet collapse

16:43 Post-Soviet right-wing nationalisms & historical revisionism

21:23 Understanding Ukraine’s far right factions

27:50 Is the US arming neo-Nazis in Ukraine? 

33:44 Azov Battalion infiltration of military 

38:21 Media whitewashing Nazis

49:48 2014’s contribution to rising far right 

58:30 Far right threats against Zelensky

1:06:26 Boon to the global far right

1:11:07 Broken NATO promises to Russia

1:19:55 What alternatives did Putin have?

1:25:46 Threat of a more militarized Germany & Europe

1:39:51 Where to follow Tarik