Were seven Ukrainian soldiers expelled from exercises in Germany for wearing Nazi symbols?! Take a look at the viral claims, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : Germany Expelled Ukrainian Soldiers Wearing Nazi Symbols!
The Russian media, and pro-Russia supporters, are claiming that Germany just admitted it expelled Ukrainian soldiers who were found wearing Nazi symbols.
RT : Germany admits to expelling Ukrainian soldiers over Nazi symbols
Seven soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were expelled from exercises in Germany for wearing Nazi symbols.
“Their training was immediately terminated, and the servicemen were sent back to their homeland,” stated in a report by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Wearing Nazi symbols in Germany carries a penalty of up to three years in prison.
Michael Weingardt : 🇩🇪🇺🇦- Germany expelled seven Ukrainian soldiers undergoing training in the country on Thursday due to their display of Nazi symbols, as reported by Kommersant. The training was abruptly stopped after the discovery of some soldiers wearing Nazi symbols.
Truth : Germany Expelled Only Seven Ukrainian Soldiers Wearing Nazi Symbols!
Here is what you need to know about Germany expelling Ukrainian soldiers wearing Nazi symbols!
Fact #1 : Germany Expelled Only 7 Ukrainian Soldiers For Wearing Nazi Symbols
First, let me point out that Germany did indeed expel Ukrainian soldiers after they wore “right-wing extremist symbols” while undergoing training by the Bundeswehr.
The German government revealed this in response (full PDF) to a question from the AfD (Aktion für Deutschland / Alternative for Germany) party, which is ironically a far-right populist party that was embroiled in a Neo-Nazi scandal in 2017!
AfD : Have right-wing extremist symbols (tattoos, items of clothing, etc.) been found on the Ukrainian soldiers trained in Germany, and if so, how many cases are there and what, if any, has the federal government done about it?
German Federal Government : Seven such cases were identified during training conducted by the Bundeswehr for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The training of the affected Ukrainian soldiers was immediately completed in coordination with the Ukrainian armed forces and the affected persons were returned to Ukraine. German soldiers who deal with members of the Ukrainian armed forces as part of the training support would be regularly taught and sensitized about right-wing extremist symbols. Ukrainian soldiers went through an instruction on Nazi symbolism after their arrival in Germany.
As you can see – Germany has a zero tolerance policy for Nazi symbols, immediately ending the training of those seven Ukrainian soldiers, and returning them to Ukraine.
Ukrainian soldier throwing away the Donetsk Republic flag in Lyman.
Fact #2 : Only 7 Soldiers Expelled Since 2022
However, this does not appear to a recent development, but cumulative through the last 1.5 years.
The EUMAM UA (European Union Military Assistance Mission Ukraine) was established on 15 November 2022 to train Ukrainian soldiers in Germany.
The German federal government did not state when those soldiers were identified – whether it happened recently, or when EUMAM UA first started, or anytime in between.
Fact #3 : Over 10,000 Ukrainian Soldiers Were Trained In Germany
While it is “shocking” that seven Ukrainian soldiers were caught wearing “right-wing extremist symbols”, they are an extremely minuscule minority. After all, over 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers were trained in Germany since EUMAM UA was established!
In 2023 alone, 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers were trained in Germany in more than 260 training sessions. Even if we only take into account the 2023 numbers alone, those seven soldiers account for only 0.07% of AFU forces training in Germany.
Fact #4 : Russia Itself Has Lots Of Neo-Nazis
What pro-Russia supporters won’t tell you is that Russia itself has lots of neo-Nazis, with a long history of neo-Nazism in Putin’s Russia. Unlike Germany, Russia does not appear to have any zero tolerance policy for neo-Nazis.
In fact, Russia has many neo-Nazis fighting in its invasion of Ukraine, as well as many soldiers wearing the same or similar right-wing extremist symbols or Nazi symbols!
If Russia wishes to rid the world of neo-Nazis, it should start in its own backyard…
Fact #5 : Russia Colluded With Nazi Germany In World War 2
It is also important to remember that Russia colluded with Nazi Germany, until Germany invaded the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa.
Multiple commercial agreements provided Nazi Germany with desperately needed raw materials, including oil.
The Soviet Union invaded Poland in partnership with Nazi Germany.
The Soviet Union invaded Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia, just after Germany invaded France, the Netherlands and Belgium.
The Soviet Union tried to join the Axis Pact, which consisted of Nazi Germany, Japan and Italy.
If Hitler did not make the mistake of invading the Soviet Union, it was likely that Europe would have been divided between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany as per the infamous Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Elon Musk just told advertisers on X to “f*ck yourself” for trying to blackmail him!
Advertisers Fleeing X After Elon Musk Controversy
Major advertisers like Apple, IBM, Disney, and Sony have pulled their advertising dollars from X (formerly known as Twitter) after several controversial comments by Elon Musk. It didn’t help that they discovered that their ads being shown next to anti-semitic and neo-Nazi posts.
Earlier this month, watchdog group Media Matters published a report claiming that X ran advertisements for major companies next to neo-Nazi posts. Musk would later file a lawsuit against the group.
But Musk escalated things when he publicly endorsed an antisemitic tweet which claimed that the Jewish communities have been “pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them“.
According to Sensor Tower, the biggest advertisers – Apple, IBM, Sony, Disney, Comcast (NBC Universal) and Paramount collectively cut off 7% of total US ad spend on X (Twitter. On top of that, half of the top X advertisers have ceased buying advertisements from a year ago (as of October 2023).
On Wednesday, 29 November 2023, Andrew Ross Sorkin interviewed Elon Musk at the 2023 DealBook Summit in New York. In that interview, Elon apologised for endorsing the antisemitic tweet, saying that he should not have replied to it.
But he was belligerent about the advertising crisis at X. He claimed that those advertisers were trying to blackmail him, and literally told them to go “f*ck yourself”. If that wasn’t enough, he singled out Disney CEO Bob Iger in his tirade:
I don’t want them to advertise. If somebody’s gonna try to blackmail me with advertising? Blackmail me with money?
Go f*ck yourself. Go. F*ck. Yourself. Is that clear? Hey Bob, if you’re in the audience, that’s how I feel. Don’t advertise.
Elon Musk also told his interview, Andrew Ross Sorkin, that he didn’t mind being hated for his controversial opinions.
But Musk admitted that the advertisers could kill X by boycotting it en masse.
What this advertising boycott is going to do is it’s going to kill the company. And the whole world will know that those advertisers killed the company.
What Musk may not have realised when he made those profane comments, was that he may well have helped to dig the grave for X.
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Did the Texas mall gunman, Mauricio Garcia, target only people of Chinese descent because he was anti-Asian?!
Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : Texas Mall Killer Targeted Only Chinese People!
People are sharing a photo of an Asian family, together with a photo of them lying dead on the ground, claiming that the Texas mall gunman was targeting only people of Chinese descent, because he was anti-Asian!
This is the post I received. The whole family of Chinese descent were killed in Texas by a gunman .. What a pity . Don’t go to US bro . The killer said he wants to kill all Asian people .
Out of respect to the deceased and their families, I will not be sharing the photo that shows them lying on the floor after being shot dead.
Instead, let me share with you this photo by Jon Raedle of Getty Images which conveys the deep grief of yet another American community traumatised by senseless gun violence.
Truth : Texas Mall Gunman Did Not Kill Chinese People At All!
This is yet another example of FAKE NEWS created by pro-CCP netizens, and promoted / shared by the Chinese 50 Cent Army (wumao, 五毛) and its supporters, and here are the reasons why…
Fact #1 : Viral Photos Were From 2023 Texas Mall Shooting
The two viral photos were from the recent mass shooting at the Allen Premium Outlets in Allen, Texas, which happened on Saturday, May 6, 2023.
Let me give you some context on this shooting, since mass shootings happen so often in the United States, it’s easy to mix up the details.
At 3:36 PM that day, 33 year-old Mauricio Martinez Garcia got out of his silver Dodge Charger, and started shooting at a crowd in the parking lot before making his way into the mall.
Armed with three guns and protected by a ballistic vest, he shot 15 people in just three to four minutes using an AR-15 style rifle.
The Allen Police Department was notified at 3:40 PM, but fortunately, there was an officer who was already at the mall on a different call. He engaged the shooter and killed him within minutes of hearing the gunshots. Otherwise, many more people would have been killed or injured.
The claim that he killed an entire Chinese family is nonsense – no Chinese people were killed in the Texas mall massacre.
Out of the 15 people Mauricio Garcia shot, eight were killed while seven were wounded, with three in critical condition. None of them are known to be of Chinese ethnicity.
Here is what we know so far about the eight people who were killed in the Texas mall mass shooting:
Three Members Of The Cho Family
Three members of a Korean American family were killed – husband Cho Kyu Song, 37, and his wife, Cindy Cho (nee Kang Shin Young), 35, as well as three year-old James Cho.
Their eldest son, William Cho, who just celebrated his sixth birthday four days before the tragedy, is the only surviving member of their family. He was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries, but his family members have recently confirmed that the schoolboy has been moved out of the ICU.
Two Members Of The Mendoza Family
Daniela Mendoza, 10, and her 8 year-old sister, Sofia, were killed by Mauricio Garcia. Their mother, Ilda Mendoza, remains in critical condition.
The two sisters are elementary school students at the Wylie Independent School District. Daniela was in fourth grade, while her sister was in second grade.
20 year-old Christian LaCour worked as a security guard at Allen Premium Outlets, who died while trying to save lives.
According to City of Allen Police Chief Brian Harvey, he evacuated one individual to safety, and was shot while “courageously remaining to help others”.
Aishwarya Thatikonda
27 year-old Aishwarya Thatikonda moved from Hyderabad, India, to Dallas five years ago to pursue her master’s degree at the Eastern Michigan University, and then worked for the last two years as a Project Engineer at Perfect General Contractors. She was just a few days away from turning 28.
Her friend who was shopping with her that day was injured in the shooting, but is currently in a stable condition in the hospital.
Elio Cumana-Rivas
32 year-old Elio Cumana-Rivas was the final victim to be identified on Monday, 8 May 2023.
Hailing from Venezuela, he worked as a delivery man in Texas to support his family back home.
Fact #3 : Mauricio Garcia Appears To Be A Neo Nazi
It is currently unknown why Mauricio Garcia decided to commit that senseless act of violence, but initial investigation showed that he was a neo-Nazi with mental health issues.
His profile on the Russian social media website, Odnoklassniki / OK.RU, included language praising Hitler, and references to neo-Nazi websites like The Daily Stormer. He posted multiple photos of his tattoos, which include the Nazi swastika and the SS sig runes. He also shared photos of people dressed in Nazi attire, with the caption, “My kind of people”.
Many of his posts also referred to his mental health. When he enlisted in June 2008, the Army quickly discharged him three months later before he could even complete his initial entry training for “mental health reasons”.
He also made a lot of misogynistic posts, complaining about women and making remarks common in the incel (involuntary celibate) community. He also praised the incel gunman who was responsible for the 2014 mass murder spree in Isla Vista, California.
Three weeks before the shooting, he posted more than two dozen photos of the Allen Premium Outlets, including details of the mall’s peak times. On 21 April, he posted a photo of the vest he would eventually wear on the day of the shooting – it had a Right Wing Death Squad (RWDS) patch.
In his final post, he lamented what his family might say about his actions, and wrote that no psychologist would have been able to fix him.
This is yet another example of Chinese propaganda created by the infamous Chinese 50 Cent Army (wumao, 五毛) or pro-CCP netizens. Only they are so callous as to abuse a tragedy just to promote their agenda. Shameless. Truly shameless.
All of the wumao articles that I looked at so far have proven to be false… in every instance. So please watch out for such false claims. Here is just the latest dozen,.
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Is Hungary preparing to prosecute George Soros for Holocaust atrocities?!
Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : Hungary Prepares To Prosecute George Soros For Holocaust Atrocities!
People are sharing a NewsPunch article that claims that the Hungary is preparing to prosecute “lifelong Nazi” George Soros for Holocaust atrocities!
Here is an excerpt from the very long article, so feel free to skip to the next section for the facts!
Hungary Prepares To Prosecute ‘Lifelong Nazi’ George Soros For Holocaust Atrocities
Hungarian prosecutors are preparing charges against 92-year-old Hungarian-American financier George Soros for aiding and abetting the murder of thousands of Hungarians during the Nazi occupation during World War II.
Soros is set to be charged with “knowingly and willfully” aiding and abetting the murder of Jewish Hungarians in Budapest from September 1942 to January 1943, according to a source in the prosecutor’s office in Budapest, Hungary.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s administration have been seeking justice for historical crimes committed by Hungarian Nazi collaborators and Soros is understood to have been using his vast resources to “hide in plain sight” for decades.
Prime Minister Orban has been warning about Soros’ corrosive influence on society for decades. “Europe must not succumb to the Soros network,” wrote Orbán recently.
Soros was born to a Jewish family in Hungary in 1930, and survived the Holocaust by collaborating with the Nazis. He has expressed a total lack of remorse for his actions, telling 60 Minutes in 1988 that if he didn’t do it, somebody else would have anyway.
Soros was been missing since at least March 5, shortly after news leaked about the impending charges. He was expected to attend a conference on his recent work on African education however he did not arrive.
The prosecution considers Soros fit to stand trial despite his advanced age, the prosecutor’s office said, however the case will be on hold until he is arrested.
Soros founded the Open Society Foundation in 1993 to help promote far-left values and open borders around the world. Laura Silber, a spokesperson for the foundation, told USA TODAY that the claim Soros aided and abetted Nazis is “100% false.”
US-based fact checkers have regularly defended Soros from claims that he was a Nazi during his teenage years. However, these same fact checkers are funded in part or wholly by Soros and they have failed to identify this conflict of interest while reporting on Soros.
Truth : Hungary Is Not Prosecuting George Soros For Holocaust Atrocities
This is yet another example of FAKE NEWS created and propagated by NewsPunch, and here are the reasons why…
Fact #1 : NewsPunch Is A Fake News Website
Like Real Raw News, NewPunch is a FAKE NEWS website that capitalises on making shocking but fake stories to generate page views and money.
It was founded as Your News Wire in 2014, before being rebranded as NewsPunch in November 2018. A 2017 BuzzFeed report identified NewsPunch as the second-largest source of popular fake news spread on Facebook that year.
Their articles have been regularly debunked as fake news, so you should NEVER share anything from NewsPunch. Here are some of their fake stories that I personally debunked earlier:
Fact #2 : No Evidence Hungary Is Prosecuting George Soros For Any Crime
There is ZERO EVIDENCE that Hungarian prosecutors are preparing to prosecute George Soros for any crime.
NewsPunch certainly offered no evidence to back up its claims that Hungarian prosecutors are preparing to prosecute George Soros for Holocaust atrocities.
The Hungarian government and media certainly made no mention of any legal action against George Soros, an American citizen who lives in New York.
Fact #3 : George Soros Was A Jewish Child During World War 2
The claim that George Soros is a lifelong Nazi who collaborated with them in World War 2 is laughably false.
George Soros (born György Schwarz on August 13, 1930) was only 9 years old when World War 2 broke out in Europe. On top of that, he was a Jew!
To protect themselves from antisemitism, his family changed their name from the German-Jewish name of Schwartz to Soros, which meant “next in line” in Hungarian. His family only survived the war by purchasing documents that declared them as “Christians”.
As a Jewish child, George Soros had to pose as the Christian godson of a Hungarian government official. He would personally witness the confiscation of Jewish property, calling it a very personal experience of evil.
Fact #4 : Tivadar Soros Saved Other Hungarian Jews
It is also ridiculous to claim that George Soros collaborated with Nazis, when his father, Tivadar Soros, was notable for helping to save other Hungarian Jews.
When George Soros was 13 years old, the Jewish Council asked kids like him to hand out deportation notices. His father recognised the list for what it really was, and asked George to warn them.
The Jewish Council asked the little kids to hand out the deportation notices. I was told to go to the Jewish Council. And there I was given these small slips of paper … I took this piece of paper to my father. He instantly recognized it. This was a list of Hungarian Jewish lawyers. He said, ‘You deliver the slips of paper and tell the people that if they report they will be deported.’ I’m not sure to what extent he knew they were going to be gassed. I did what my father said.
George Soros would later call 1944 as “the happiest [year] of his life” because it gave him the opportunity to witness his father’s heroism.
Fact #5 : Nazi Germany Only Occupied Hungary In 1944
The claim that George Soros “knowingly and willfully” collaborated with Nazis, and aided and abetted the murder of Jewish Hungarians in Budapest from September 1942 to January 1943 is easily proven false.
Not only was he a child (as mentioned above), the Nazis only occupied Hungary in March 1944. So he could not possibly have aided the Nazis in killing Jews in Budapest 1-2 years earlier.
It is ludicrous for people to claim that George Soros is a lifelong Nazi, when he is a Jewish survivor of Nazi occupation of Hungary in World War 2, who personally witnessed other Jews getting taken away to be killed.
Since then, he has been a supporter of progressive and liberal political causes, which he supports through his Open Society Foundations. He has personally influenced the Fall of Communism In Eastern Europe.
He has donated billions on philanthropy promoting democracy and good governance, which makes him unpopular amongst nationalists and populists, who often create and/or spread conspiracy theories about him, including labelling him as a Nazi, amongst other things.
Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Are Nazis from Japan fighting for Ukraine against Russia?!
Take a look at the viral photos, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : Nazis From Japan Are Fighting For Ukraine Against Russia!
The Chinese 50 Cent Army (wumao, 五毛) and pro-CCP netizens are sharing photos of what they suggest are Nazis from Japan in Ukraine, helping to fight against Russia!
Japanese Nazis are fighting in Ukraine
Team Japanese in Ukraine
Anarchy is alive and in Ukraine
Note : I placed the misleading overlay to prevent the photos from being further abused.
Truth : Nazis From Japan Are Not Fighting For Ukraine Against Russia!
This is yet another example of FAKE NEWS created and propagated by the Chinese 50 Cent Army (wumao, 五毛), and pro-CCP netizens, and here are the reasons why…
Fact #1 : Photos Are Unrelated
After investigating the viral screenshot, I was able to confirm that they consist of two sets of photos that are unrelated.
The first set of photos, which show four soldiers in Ukraine, was posted by @rattionyade on February 10, 2023.
The second photo is completely unrelated to the first set of photos, and was posted by @xenovampiro (as well as other people) on February 12, 2023.
Fact #2 : Rising Sun Flag Is Not Japanese Nazi Flag
The Rising Sun flag is not the Japanese version of Germany’s Nazi flag. This is actually the Imperial Japanese Navy ensign called Jyūrokujō-Kyokujitsu-ki (十六条旭日旗) that was adopted on May 15, 1870 – over 150 years ago!
The Imperial Japanese Navy used it until the end of World War 2 in 1945. However, it was readopted and has been used by the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force on all its ships since June 30, 1954.
Fact #3 : Japanese Nazi Flag Photo Was From 2014
The photo showing men carrying Japanese Rising Sun and Nazi Germany flags was not taken recently, or even in Ukraine.
It is unknown who took this photo, but it was possibly a photographer from the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun, as the photo was posted by Asahi Shimbun editorial board member Itaru Tominaga (@tanutinn) on Twitter on August 2, 2015, with the description:
東京での日本の国家主義者のデモンストレーション。
彼らは安倍首相と彼の保守的な政治を支持している。
Japanese nationalist demonstration in Tokyo. They are supporting PM Abe and his conservative administration.
On further investigation, I found out that Tominaga deleted the tweet because it was misleading when he posted it – it was taken almost a year ago, on April 20, 2014 – the 125th anniversary of the birth of Adolf Hitler.
On that day, about 40 Japanese protestors marched through the busy entertainment area of the Ikebukuro district of Tokyo, bellowing racist chants about South Korea and China. While the Asahi Shimbun article is no longer available online, you can download a copy here.
In short – this viral photo was taken in Tokyo, Japan, on 20 April 2014, and had nothing to do with Ukraine or the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Fact #4 : Ukraine Has Foreign Volunteer Battalions Since 2014
Informal volunteer military groups were formed in spring 2014, from local militias and paramilitary groups, in response to the Russian military intervention in Ukraine.
The Ukraine Ministry of Defence later formed 32 volunteer battalions called “Territorial Defence Battalions”, and the Ukrainian parliament voted on 6 October 2014 to allow foreign fighters to join the military. In December 2014, President Petro Poroshenko promising Ukrainian citizenship to foreign fighters who signed up to fight.
Ironically, volunteers from Russia formed the largest group of foreign fighters in Ukraine! Even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, about 3,000 Russian citizens signed up to fight for Ukraine.
Fact #5 : Volunteers From 60 Countries Now Fighting For Ukraine
In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the Ukrainian government established the International Legion of Territorial Defence of Ukraine.
By 6 March 2022, more than 20,000 volunteers from 52 countries signed up to fight for Ukraine against the Russian invasion. So it would not be surprising to find volunteers from Japan fighting for Ukraine.
@rattionyade, who posted the viral photo on the left, appears to be one of the Japanese volunteers fighting for Ukraine, as he often posts about his life in Ukraine.
Back in November 2022, it was revealed that volunteers from 60 countries are now fighting for Ukraine. Here are some of the units that were formed from those volunteers:
Canadian Brigade : Ukrainian-Canadian volunteers, including former servicemen from Canada
Norman Brigade : veterans from Canada, the United Kingdom, United States, Denmark, Norway, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, France, South Africa, and Poland.
Freedom of Russia Legion : former servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces, as well as other Russian and Belarusian volunteers.
Russian Volunteer Corps : formed from Russian volunteers who have been fighting for Ukraine since 2014.
Dzhokhar Dudayev Battalion : Mostly Chechen volunteers who fought in the First Chechen War and Second Chechen War against Russia.
Pahonia Regiment : Belarusian volunteers
Fact #6 : Russia Also Has Foreign Volunteer Forces
Foreigners have also signed up to fight on the Russian side, either as members of the Russian diaspora, for ideological reasons, or as mercenaries hired by the Russian government.
Serbian foreign fighters : International Brigade, Seventh Brigade, Serbian-Hussar Regiment, Ural Unit, First Slavic Unit, Batman Unit, Rezanj Unit, Jovan Šević Detachment
Spanish foreign fighters : Carlos Palomino International Brigade, DKO (Volunteer Communist Unit), Interunit
White nationalists, neo-Nazis, fascists and Christian extremists from Europe and North America : Continental Unity, Orthodox Dawn Battalion, Legion of Saint Istvan.
Syrian Arab Army : 25th Special Mission Forces Division
Fact #7 : This Is Just Chinese Propaganda
This appears to be yet another example of Chinese propaganda created by the infamous Chinese 50 Cent Army (wumao, 五毛), or pro-CCP netizens.
Here is just the latest dozen the other wumao articles and videos that I looked at so far:
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Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Find out why the US, Canada and Ukraine repeatedly voted against an anti-Nazi resolution in the United Nations!
Claim : US, Canada, Ukraine Voted Against Anti-Nazi Resolution!
Pro-Russia and pro-CCP netizens, as well as the Chinese 50 Cent Army (wumao, 五毛), are claiming that the US, Canada and Ukraine are the only three of four countries to vote against the anti-Nazi resolution in the United Nations.
Here is a recent example, which refers to a 2014 UN Resolution called “Combating glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fuelling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance“.
Why are the US, Canada, and Ukraine the only three of four countries in the world to vote NO to the UN resolution to combat Nazism and Neo-Nazism? In fact most European countries abstained, while the vast majority of the global south including China, India, Russia voted yes
Note : This photo has often been used as “evidence” that Ukraine and the US are pro-Nazi. The truth is – this is a digitally manipulated photo.
Here’s Why US, Canada, Ukraine Voted Against Anti-Nazi Resolution!
At first glance, it is easy enough to see why pro-Russia and pro-CCP netizens actually believe that the US, Canada and Ukraine are Nazi supporters.
Let’s go through the facts of this UN resolution, and find out why US, Canada and Ukraine voted against an anti-Nazi resolution.
Fact #1 : US, Canada, Ukraine Voted Against Anti-Nazi Resolution
First, let me confirm that the US, Canada and Ukraine did indeed vote No to a 2014 UN resolution called 2014 UN Resolution called “Combating glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fuelling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance“.
Here was how the voting went :
Total voting membership : 193
Members voting Yes : 132
Members voting No : 4 (US, Canada, Ukraine, Palau)
Members abstaining : 51 (including all EU member states)
Members who did not vote : 6
Fact #2 : This Is Old News From 2014
This is old news from 2014 that is being resurrected due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Russia calls their invasion of Ukraine a “special operation” to “denazify Ukraine”, and they justified it by claiming that Ukraine is full of Nazis.
Hence, pro-Russia and pro-CCP groups, including the Chinese 50 Cent Army (wumao, 五毛), have been promoting this story as “evidence” that the US, Canada and Ukraine are pro-Nazi.
Fact #3 : Resolution Was Presented By Russia To Justify Annexation Of Crimea
The 2014 UN resolution was presented by Russia as a way to justify its annexation of Crimea in March 2014.
That was why Ukraine joined the US and Canada in voting against the resolution. All European Union member states abstained en masse from the resolution for the same reason.
Speaking to European Voice before the vote, Lithuania’s foreign minister, Linas Linkevičius, said that “no one should doubt that we are condemning fascism”, but, he continued, “under cover of this condemnation, Russia is pursuing its own agenda”.
It was not that those countries support Nazism or facism. It’s because they do not agree that Russia should use it as a pretext to attack other countries.
Fact #4 : Ukraine First Voted No In 2014
This resolution has actually been presented on a yearly basis since 1980, but Ukraine only started to vote no in 2014, after Russia annexed Crimea.
Their official reason for Ukraine voting No though was because the document did not reflect the crimes of the Stalin regime :
Andrey Tsimbalyuk, Ukraine’s Representative in the UN, said in 2014: “Until Stalinism and neo-Stalinism are judged with the same degree, as Nazism, neo-Nazism and other forms of intolerance, Ukraine will not be able to support this document.”
This is why pro-Russia and pro-CCP netizens only mention the 2014 resolution, but not the earlier versions. That was the first time Ukraine voted against the resolution.
Did Russian annexation of Crimea turn Ukrainians into Nazis? Or did they simply dislike Russia’s use of Nazism to justify their illegal invasion of Ukraine?
Thanks to a CCP supporter, Wan Chun Hong, I confirm that United States has voted against each instance of this resolution as far back as 1985.
The United States also abstained from voting for this resolution in the 1980 resolution, together with 17 other countries.
The US reason for voting against the resolution was to defend the freedom of speech. As Nicholas Hill, the Deputy US Representative for ECOSOC explained on November 12, 2021 :
The United States Supreme Court has consistently affirmed the constitutional right to freedom of speech and the rights of peaceful assembly and association, including by avowed Nazis, whose hatred and xenophobia are vile and widely scorned by the American people. We nevertheless firmly defend the constitutional rights of those who exercise their fundamental freedoms to combat intolerance and express strong opposition to the odious Nazi creed and others that espouse similar hatreds.
For these reasons, the United States has voted against each new version of this resolution since 2005 and is, again, compelled to vote “No” on this resolution, and calls on other States to do the same.
Nazism is also far less of a problem today than white nationalism, or Russian and Chinese aggression against their neighbours.
CCP supporter, Wan Chun Hong, intended to use the 1985 UN Resolution as evidence that Western countries were really supporters of Nazism.
There is one problem though – two countries voted No against the measure called “Measures to be taken against Nazi, Fascist and neo-Fascist activities and all other forms of totalitarian ideologies and practices based on racial intolerance, hatred and terror“.
One was the United States. The other was Israel. Does Israel voting against that anti-Nazi resolution mean that the Israelis are also pro-Nazis, like the United States?
CCP supporters would like us to believe that, because they think we are idiots.
Fact #7 : Russia Is Using Resolution To Justify Attacks On Neighbours
Russia has been using this resolution to justify its attacks on its neighbours, as Nicholas Hill also pointed out in the same November 12, 2021 explanation :
[T]he United States must once again express opposition to this resolution, a document most notable for its thinly veiled attempts to legitimize Russian disinformation campaigns denigrating neighboring nations and promoting the distorted Soviet narrative of much of contemporary European history, using the cynical guise of halting Nazi glorification.
Here is a list of territories that Russia has occupied so far :
Transnistria : seized from Moldova in 1992
Abkhazia and South Ossetia : seized from Georgia in 2008
Crimea, and parts of Donetsk and Luhansk : seized from Ukraine in 2014
Parts of Donetsk and all of Luhansk : seized from Ukraine in 2022 (ongoing)
This is really nothing more than Russian propaganda to justify their invasions of other countries, reminiscent of what Nazi Germany did in the 1930s.
Russian and Chinese propaganda have also tried to introduce fake claims like NATO had been planning to invade Russia from Ukraine, or that they created COVID-19 in Ukrainian biological labs.
Fact #8 : Russia Colluded With Nazi Germany In World War 2
Russian and Chinese propaganda avoid mentioning how the Soviet Union colluded with Nazi Germany, and was responsible (in part) for starting World War 2 in Europe.
The fascist ideology of Nazi Germany did not gel well with the communist ideology of the Soviet Union, which was why relations between the two countries deteriorated once Hitler came into power.
But the Soviet Union warmed up to the Nazis, and actively colluded with Nazi Germany before and during World War 2… up until Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa.
Multiple commercial agreements provided Nazi Germany with desperately needed raw materials, including oil.
The Soviet Union invaded Poland in partnership with Nazi Germany.
The Soviet Union invaded Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia, just after Germany invaded France, the Netherlands and Belgium.
The Soviet Union tried to join the Axis Pact, which consisted of Nazi Germany, Japan and Italy.
The Soviet Union provided Nazi Germany with the means to avoid the economic blockade, and continue their invasion of Europe.
If Hitler did not make the mistake of invading the Soviet Union, it was likely that Europe would have been divided between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany as per the infamous Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.
In these pictures from 23 August 1939, you can see Soviet Foreign Minister, Vyacheslav Molotov, signing the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact; and Stalin shaking hands with German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, after signing the pact.
Vyacheslav Molotov signs the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (left), Stalin shaking hands with Ribbentrop after signing the pact (right)
Fact #9 : United States Was Anti-Nazi Long Before Russia
Russian and Chinese propaganda always skim over the inconvenient fact that the United States was anti-Nazi long before Russia.
While Russia was actively colluding with Nazis, and partnering with Nazi Germany in dividing up Central Europe; the United States not only prepared for war against Germany, it shared critical technology with Britain and provided them with tremendous amounts of armaments through the Lend-Lease Act.
Russia would also end up benefiting from the US Lend-Lease Act, which saw the US producing and shipping US$50.1 billion worth of military equipment and supplies (equivalent to US$690 billion in 2020) to Allies.
Fact #10 : United States Prevented Soviet Union’s Collapse
Russian and Chinese propaganda also (intentionally?) forget to point out that it was the United States that helped to prevent the Soviet Union’s collapse during the German invasion in 1941.
It took the German armed forces less than 6 months to advance within 20 miles of the Kremlin. The complete capitulation of Russia was stopped, in part, by a prodigious amount of arms and equipment sent by the United States :
400,000 jeeps & trucks
14,000 airplanes
8,000 tractors
13,000 tanks
1.5 million blankets
15 million pairs of army boots
107,000 tons of cotton
2.7 million tons of petrol products
4.5 million tons of food
Reminiscent of the military aid that Ukraine is now receiving from the United States and other members of NATO, the US Lend-Lease Act supplied the Soviet Union with $11.3 billion ($180 billion in 2020 currency) worth of aid from 1941 to 1945.
Without such large amounts of aid from the United States, it was likely that Russia would today be part of a Greater Nazi Germany, or at least a vassal state of Nazi Germany.
Stalin himself acknowledged the value of American support to his aide and future USSR leader, Nikita Khrushchev, who said :
I would like to tell about some remarks Stalin made and repeated several times when we were “discussing freely” among ourselves. He stated bluntly that if the United States had not helped us, we would not have won the war. If we had had to fight Nazi Germany one on one, we could not have stood up against Germany’s pressure, and we would have lost the war.
We should note that the US helped Russia, even though the US was at that time a neutral country, and Russia was responsible for kicking off World War 2 by colluding with Nazi Germany to invade Central European countries.
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
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