An anti-government barricade, in Kiev, in one the past few wild days in that city:
Anti-government barricade, Kiev, Feb. 2014
This is a still from the 2:05 mark in this video (graphic content), from the Russia Today world-news service. If you look closely at the video footage, you see a red-and-black flag, flying high and clear, at the center. A closer shot (top left):
Close-up shot of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army flag
What is this red-and-black flag? I wondered. I searched. I found it:
It belonged to the The Ukrainian Insurgent Army [UIA]. The UIA was a radically-anti-Communist, nationalistic paramilitary group in the 1940s, whose goal was the elimination of Communism and the overthrow of Soviet rule. The UIA was the “military wing” of a Ukrainian nationalist political party. They were actively pro-German in WWII.
It belonged to the The Ukrainian Insurgent Army [UIA]. The UIA was a radically-anti-Communist, nationalistic paramilitary group in the 1940s, whose goal was the elimination of Communism and the overthrow of Soviet rule. The UIA was the “military wing” of a Ukrainian nationalist political party. They were actively pro-German in WWII.
It’s an oddly-untold story, which I first learned when in Estonia in 2007: An enormous number of non-German Europeans volunteered to serve, under arms, “with the Germans” in WWII (i.e., to fight against the USSR). There were entire Ukrainian divisions in the field, outfitted and supplied by the Germans. (Most European nations had at least one full regiment (thousands of men), I’ve learned; there were even a couple of Norwegian regiments; Norwegians formed the core of a division nicknamed Nordland . In my time in Berlin, I came across the dramatic history of Nordland’s last stand in the April 1945 Battle of Berlin.
Half a million non-Germans served in foreign divisions to fight in the East. “Better dead than Red”, they said.
Half a million non-Germans served in foreign divisions to fight in the East. “Better dead than Red”, they said.
These thoughts occur to me, as I hear news that seems very much like war coverage:
Ukrainian anti-government paramilitaries carrying a man injured by a government sniper
Anti-government protestor-paramilitaries in Maidan Square(?)
Maidan Square, Kiev, Ukraine, Feb. 20th(?) 2014
Spotting the flag of this “Ukrainian Insurgent Army” suggests that things are not quite as the U.S. media wants/is-able-to report. The hard-core of the anti-government side probably doesn’t want some kind of soft-bellied, free-market, “gay-rights” liberal-democracy. No; no. They don’t want that, at all, I’m thinking.