last week's satire is today's actual headline
last week's satire is today's actual headline
Yes, people who fought against the Russians aren't necessarily Nazis, but people who joined the SS voluntarily are.
I don't know the context, so I have to take the titles literally and in that case I don't see the problem. Not everyone who fought against USSR was a Nazi, which is a fact. Did this just fly over my head? It feels like I'm either missing something, or the connection between the headlines just isn't there.
OP linked the Politico article (it should be under the title/image on most clients) but having read it, this is one of those rare headlines that's actually worse in context. As OP mentioned it's about a recent controversy that was stirred up when Canada's parliament honored Yaroslav Hunka for fighting against Russia in Ukraine, despite his history as a volunteer for the Waffen-SS (an armed paramilitary group that played a major role in the Nazis seizing power and combat throughout WWII).
The article defends Hunka with the absurd claim that joining the muscle of the Nazi party doesn't make you a Nazi, maybe you just really didn't like the USSR! Even if you buy that excuse, the article provides no evidence whatsoever that it actually applies to Hunka, they don't even attempt to make that case. It then tries to draw an incredibly bad-faith equivalency between the USSR and Nazi Germany (and while I'm not going to say that Stalin was anything resembling a platonic ideal of leadership, there's a pretty big gulf between the USSR and Nazi fucking Germany). After that we get some nitpicking of the claims against Hunka (bringing up the fact that his unit was never convicted of war crimes, which completely glosses over the fact that his unit was, again, part of the Nazi's armed paramilitary). It then dismisses any criticism of Hunka or the Canadian Parliament's ovation for him as people being fooled by Russian propaganda through a series of absurd logical leaps. I think things are best summed up by this little nugget towards the end of the article:
However, any further discussion of the error has to be carefully phrased, as any suggestion that Canada is showing contrition for “honoring a Nazi” would acquiesce to the rewriting of history by Russia and its backers, and concede to allegations of Hunka’s guilt that have no basis in evidence.
Again, they are talking about a volunteer for the Waffen-fucking-SS. The muscle for the Nazi party.
I can't blame a Ukrainian who literally just endured a genocide against their people welcoming the people who kicked out their oppressors. I can't blame them if they took a gun from them to get revenge, either.
But yeah... the SS? That's beyond the rank and file, it's the ideological zealots. The Venn diagram of people fighting under a German flag an ideological Nazis might not be a perfect overlap... but the SS is.
there's a pretty big gulf between the USSR and Nazi fucking Germany
You're right.
Stalin alone has a higher body count than all of Nazi Germany, and the USSR went trucking along murdering people for almost six times as long as Nazi Germany existed.
War is awful and complicated. Much like in Finland things were complicated in the eastern european nations during WW2. Much like it is hard to blame Indian tribes that allied themselves with the Confederates during the American Civil War. Although, IIRC those tribes were also slavers.
I agree that the Maple MPs should have done due dilligence before honoring a member of the Waffen SS. The CBC is reporting that his family was hoping for him to just meet Zelensky not be put into the spotlight.
It's messed up that a 98-year-old has been pulled into this mess.
there’s a pretty big gulf between the USSR and Nazi fucking Germany
I mean the USSR killed way more people if that's what you mean?
Also don't forget the context; the USSR tried to genocide the Ukrainians (Holodomor), so you take whatever allies you can get.
it's about Yaroslav Hunka, the Waffen-SS volunteer who was recently honored by the Canadian Parliament.
The article is worth a read
And some people here just straight up agreed with it, now you know why it goes like this >.<
There's even one guy who compared nazis to native Americans.
Good place for someone to post that "you see how that's worse, right?" meme.
Lmaao
The headline I can agree with. But if you join the SS any distinction goes out the window.