There is no “brown threat” in Ukraine. However, quite a few political forces and private individuals are interested in persuading the world that Ukrainians are Jew-hating neo-Nazis whose main goal in overthrowing the corrupt government was to get a chance to slaughter Jews.
Putin’s propaganda machine spreads these lies to justify the possible annexation of parts of the country. Putin is used to justifying his invasions into other countries by claiming that he only does so to protect somebody. Thus, a group in need of protection will be manufactured.
At the same time, Israeli organizations are also stoking the fears with the goal of trapping the few Jews who remain in Ukraine into making the mistake of their lives and moving to Israel.
The third group that is interested in creating an image of anti-Semitic Ukraine are, of course, anti-Semites. What better way to pretend that one is not an anti-Semite than by projecting the unacceptable quality onto a group of strangers?
This blog’s reader gave me a link to the following article from Al Jazeera, a news outlet that I always despised and now despise even more:
My sources point to a calm, adamant, confident Kremlin that will act to protect the millions of Ukrainians and Russian citizens who are at risk from the fascists and anarchists in general. The Jews are part of the population that Moscow will move to protect. My sources indicate that Russia will move to reinforce the military installations in Crimea and then prepare adequate means to help other regions where Russian citizens are concentrated, like Odessa.
Just as I’m saying: Putin will “protect” Ukrainians by invading their country, and the idiot Westerners will stand around, cheering this as a victory over fascism.
Clarissa's Blog 
In the meanwhile, nobody is mentioning the Russian neo-Nazis who are organizing to storm Ukraine. Link in Russian.
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You confirmed my suspicions. If there are random groups of thugs out there beating people, I trust that they will be dealt with appropriately.
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A lot of people make a big deal out of the 14th Waffen SS “Galician” Division to try and prove that their is some sort of Ukrainian-Nazi connection. But, while they demonize this combat unit they say nothing about the Russian 29th and 30th Waffen SS Divisions. The 30th was involved in war crimes in France. While the 29th was heavily involved in the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising in 1944 as well as early atrocities in Belorus. The head of the 29th Kaminski was so brutal and so given to rape and pillage that the Germans had him shot due to indiscipline.
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That article (Batchelor, on Al-Jazeera) is really bad. There is no research in it and the phrase “my sources tell me” is repeated many times.
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Exactly. I’m getting a suspicion that somebody from office support in some bureaucrat’s office in Moscow is trying to feel important by making these pompous declarations to the gullible journalist.
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It sure looks like it. I should not be shocked to see we are about to seriously let Russia invade, yet I am shocked (which proves I am not yet cynical enough, not yet realistic).
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Thank you Clarissa for your enlightened posts on Ukraine.
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// At the same time, Israeli organizations are also stoking the fears with the goal of trapping the few Jews who remain in Ukraine into making the mistake of their lives and moving to Israel.
My family doesn’t feel we made *any* kind of mistake by going to Israel. You yourself agree that life in Ukraine is horrible for most of its citizens, like in a 3rd world country. Add to it being discriminated against because of nationality. Why stay? Ukraine isn’t Jewish national dream or economic paradise.
In a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, the head of the European Jewish Association, Rabbi Menahem Margolin, urgently requested that Israel “send trained security guards to protect Jewish communities in Ukrainian cities and towns.”
Ukrainian Jewish communities throughout the country are seriously concerned and feel helpless in the face of a “growing wave of anti-Semitic attacks,” the letter stated, citing the recent examples of a Molotov cocktail thrown at a Chabad center in the eastern city of Zaporozhye, a threatening phone message left for a rabbi in Kryvyi Rih calling for him to leave the city, and anti-Semitic graffiti found in Kiev and other locations.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-urged-to-send-forces-to-guard-ukrainian-jews/
Is it all lies about rise in attacks?
I love how Arab Al Jazeera is for invading other countries to “protect” them, especially considering the numerous invasions in Muslim countries. The height of irony.
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“You yourself agree that life in Ukraine is horrible for most of its citizens”
– You are confusing me with somebody. Hello, Clarissa here. 🙂 I insist – as I always have – that almost no one from the FSU countries should even consider emigrating anywhere. I further insist that the overwhelming majority of FSU immigrants does not manage to inscribe themselves into their new country, no matter how long they live there. Hence, immigration is a terrible mistake for our people in most cases and a severe trauma in the best of cases. No other possibility exists.
And I also insist that people in Ukraine and Russia are very happy and content with their existence.
“Ukrainian Jewish communities throughout the country are seriously concerned and feel helpless in the face of a “growing wave of anti-Semitic attacks,” the letter stated, citing the recent examples of a Molotov cocktail thrown at a Chabad center in the eastern city of Zaporozhye, a threatening phone message left for a rabbi in Kryvyi Rih calling for him to leave the city, and anti-Semitic graffiti found in Kiev and other locations.”
– That’s all they could find in the second largest country of Europe?? More happens every 30 minutes in France.
“I love how Arab Al Jazeera is for invading other countries to “protect” them, especially considering the numerous invasions in Muslim countries.”
– Whenever I see anything from that news outlet, it is extremely obvious that every piece of reporting is blatantly paid for.
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// almost no one from the FSU countries should even consider emigrating anywhere. I further insist that the overwhelming majority of FSU immigrants does not manage to inscribe themselves into their new country, no matter how long they live there.
It depends. In Israel, children of Jewish immigrants, including those who immigrated in their teens like me, definitely succeed. Many of adult immigrants didn’t succeed, but many did. In addition, people may take into account their children’s and grandchildren’s prospects: 1st world country, where they would never know antisemitism (which I was lucky to feel very little, but it still had a significant psychological impact), feel fully at home. Long term vs short term sort of thinking.
Culturally, unlike in US or other countries, FSU Jews of the 90ies influenced Israeli society too, not only being influenced by it, and the mainstream rhetoric is how they have contributed to the new-old home country, etc.
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” In Israel, children of Jewish immigrants, including those who immigrated in their teens like me, definitely succeed. ”
– Succeed in what?
“In addition, people may take into account their children’s and grandchildren’s prospects”
– If there is one line of argument that I find absolutely barf-worthy is “I’m emigrating for the sake of the children”. It’s as bad as “We had to stay married for the sake of the kids.” We all know how I feel about people who do such things to children.
‘1st world country, where they would never know antisemitism”
– But, in return, they will be discriminated against as non-religious Russian-speakers. The same testicles, once again. 🙂
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The problem is that if emigration weren’t an enormous trauma for both of us, we would not feel any need to have this discussion here. People never justify non-essential, easy choices.
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Well, I wouldn’t believe anyone who said there were NO neo-Nazis in Ukraine. There are nut-cases everywhere, and they pop up when there is a chance of media attention. Their visibility may have nothing to do with their real influence and may have more to do with some media savvy.
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p.s. “that’s all they could find…..etc” – good line. One has to distinguish between real political threats and real security threats. The Oklahoma City bombing represented a real homegrown militia right wing security threat, but at that point the crackpots’ political power was low to nil.
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// – Succeed in what?
Socially, economically, mentally feeling at home.
// – But, in return, they will be discriminated against as non-religious Russian-speakers. The same testicles, once again.
It’s not true. There are many non-religious, born in Israel Jews, so “non-religious” should be erased immediately. As for “Russian-speakers”, children who immigrated at young ages, f.e. 5 years-olds or even older, don’t have any accent, have a very limited knowledge of Russian (if at all) and aren’t perceived as “Russian” by society. Btw, most change names into Israeli ones out of their own desire to belong, and full-heartedly adopt norms of the only country they have ever known. Even I, unlike you, haven’t known FSU or Ukraine, for that matter.
Saying “same testicles” also trivializes the amount of antisemitism I heard of from my relatives’ life-stories. For instance, one Jewish woman asked my mother not to say word “Jew” aloud in her flat because of “people may hear.” It may be easy to ridicule her, but it shows something.
// People never justify non-essential, easy choices.
But something essential and not totally easy can also be right choice. There is no contradiction here.
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// Even I, unlike you, haven’t known FSU or Ukraine, for that matter.
I mean, haven’t *really* known.
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“Saying “same testicles” also trivializes the amount of antisemitism I heard of from my relatives’ life-stories. For instance, one Jewish woman asked my mother not to say word “Jew” aloud in her flat because of “people may hear.””
– Do you know how many times Jewish women said the same thing to my Ukrainian mother? The last time was about 10 days ago in Canada. The amount of absolutely vicious, disgusting things that I will never forgive and that I heard from my Jewish relatives about Ukrainians is enormous. And the only instance when I heard an anti-Semitic comment from the Ukrainian side of the family was from my cousin. The funny thing is that I blogged about that because it was so unusual. But I never blog about anti-Ukrainian things we hear from the Jewish side of the family simply because there are too many and I’m used to that.
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\\ – Do you know how many times Jewish women said the same thing to my Ukrainian mother? The last time was about 10 days ago in Canada.
They are still afraid of somebody hearing the word “Jew” even in Canada? 😦
\\ The amount of absolutely vicious, disgusting things that I will never forgive and that I heard from my Jewish relatives about Ukrainians is enormous.
Is it connected with the previous sentence?
\\ I never blog about anti-Ukrainian things we hear from the Jewish side of the family
It is disgusting too. However, I feel a difference between a woman seller at the market calling my grandmother a “name” because of not buying from her, and somebody inside Israel attempting to say anything against Jews. When you are a majority and in power, words of fringes of society aren’t perceived as dangerous as in the opposite direction.
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No. 🙂 They say this about Ukrainians. They despise Ukrainians and even my mother’s closest friend asked her not to say the word Ukrainian in front of her other, Jewish friends.
Nobody is afraid of being a Jew in Canada. It’s highly prestigious to be one. Id do SO MUCH BETTER if I took my father’s last name.
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My father taught me that, for a Jew and for an intellectual, nothing is more shameful than being part of a majority. I just remembered that I wanted to quote my favorite blogger in a post about this.
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// My father taught me that, for a Jew and for an intellectual, nothing is more shameful than being part of a majority.
I understand about intellectuals thinking for themselves and often (but not always, as if one must disagree with majority, even if it’s right) disagreeing.
As for “for a Jew” part, I can not ignore the context in which Jews could never have been capable of truly being part of a majority. If one would want the latter, while being unable to achieve that, there would be a painful inner conflict. However, adopting your father’s approach prevents such a conflict from being created and, even better, puts one in a superior position in regards to the unaccepting majority.
May be your father would hold a similar approach, had he been born in Israel, but “for a Jew” part would most likely be missing from the explanation. In Israel Jews are a majority of citizens, the chosen government is chosen by the majority of Jews, etc. Don’t explain myself too good, but hope you understand the idea.
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“As for “for a Jew” part, I can not ignore the context in which Jews could never have been capable of truly being part of a majority. If one would want the latter, while being unable to achieve that, there would be a painful inner conflict. However, adopting your father’s approach prevents such a conflict from being created and, even better, puts one in a superior position in regards to the unaccepting majority.”
– Exactly. And this is what created the greatness of the Jewish people. I don’t think I need to list for you the unparalleled achievements of the Jewish people in the Diaspora that crowds of people with “a country of their own” can’t even begin to equal. To give just one example, of course it is horrible that for as long as universities existed, Jews had to perform a lot better than non-Jews just to be admitted. Horrible, disgusting, wrong. But as a result of that, every other academic, intellectual, scientist, scholar is Jewish. Just at my department, here in the hard-core Midwest, half of the faculty members are Jews.
And it isn’t like Jews were achieving anything all that amazing before the Diaspora.
Or take the Ukrainians in the Diaspora and not in the Diaspora. It’s the same thing.
Take the Catalans in Spain. The best literature in Spanish is written by people in Catalonia. The best economy, the best art, the best architecture. I promise you that the second they get “the country of their own”, we will never hear from them again.
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In any case, the general point I’m making is: that leaving one’s own culture, language, everything that is familiar to one, becoming a second-class citizen for life only because of the desire to be a member of the ethnic majority is not an idea I can ever understand.
I was part of the ethnic majority on my mother’s side before emigrating, and I can’t say it was doing anything special for me. Just the opposite, I couldn’t wait never to see my people again. 🙂 🙂
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Still, most Jews during history haven’t been and aren’t professors or intellectuals, getting only the suffering and discrimination. For instance, Sholom Aleihem’s autobiographical novel was hard to read because of the degradation and alien to me mentality of small town Jews then.
From what I understand about your position, you don’t share the view that nationalism is worth suffering for. I don’t share the view that intellectual achievements of some Jews are worth pogroms, Holocaust and continuing discrimination. For instance, when any crisis happens like now in Ukraine, Jews are accustomed to “lie low.” It is degrading to one’s soul, no matter one’s number of degrees.
It seems as if your position, partly like of a usual nationalist, is “I want my people to be great, thus it’s good for them to be beaten into it.”
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“For instance, Sholom Aleihem’s autobiographical novel was hard to read because of the degradation and alien to me mentality of small town Jews then.”
– As if small-town Ukrainians or Russians lived – or live even today – any better.
“From what I understand about your position, you don’t share the view that nationalism is worth suffering for.”
– I’m against actively seeking out suffering for anything at all. 🙂
“I don’t share the view that intellectual achievements of some Jews are worth pogroms, Holocaust and continuing discrimination”
– And here we go again, assigning weird ideas to me and debating them passionately. 🙂
“For instance, when any crisis happens like now in Ukraine, Jews are accustomed to “lie low.” ”
– You seem to have a very bad – and, I have to say, a completely unjustified vision of the Jewish people. If there is a people incapable of “lying low”, it’s the Jews.
“It seems as if your position, partly like of a usual nationalist, is “I want my people to be great, thus it’s good for them to be beaten into it.”
– No, that’s your position because you are the one who voiced it. 🙂
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// In any case, the general point I’m making is: that leaving one’s own culture, language, everything that is familiar to one, becoming a second-class citizen for life only because of the desire to be a member of the ethnic majority is not an idea I can ever understand.
You immigrated yourself, and understand that there is more than one reason for immigration: economic, national, etc.
As if Jews in FSU countries haven’t been 2nd-class citizens.
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“As if Jews in FSU countries haven’t been 2nd-class citizens.”
– ????? After the collapse of the 1991, you mean? Obviously, not.
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Just read:
A hate-filled protest took place on the streets of Paris on Sunday, with thousands of marchers chanting, “Jew, France is not for you,” the French JSS News reported.
JSS News said police counted 17,000 protesters (the protest groups claimed they numbered 120,000). 150 were arrested and 19 policemen suffered injuries, including one who was seriously wounded, according to AFP.
http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/01/27/hate-filled-protest-in-france-attracts-thousands-crowd-chants-jew-france-is-not-for-you-video/
The Israeli Embassy has donated 300 Anne Frank-related books to Tokyo public libraries after hundreds of copies were recently found vandalized.
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/.premium-1.576792
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Old, but interesting article about France:
http://mag.newsweek.com/2014/02/07/french-anti-semitic-comedy.html
I began searching about France since on Israeli news site I read today’s article about Jewish young men attacking anti-semitic people there, and it all sounds frightening. It will be on Israel TV in an investigative program. Couldn’t find better translation, but if you google
VIa Google Translate:
Ayash , we found out , is not in Paris anymore. He [in] Israel, and hanging around like a caged lion . Slowly we began to get the information. An incredible story about a group of Jewish youths decided to take the law into their own hands , literally , and with a wave of violence and anti-Semitism sweeping France pulled her fist .
Ayash , we discovered , is the leader of this underground . From his apartment in Tel Aviv he is giving the orders , and the guys perform. Here, raid the bookstore in which Holocaust denier signs up his new book , there beating the old man who dared to try to kidnap Israeli flag at a private event the organization members invaded [don’t understand the meaning of it in Hebrew either] , here loot Office which organized the flotilla Pro – Palestinian in Gaza , and there organizing protests and deterrence against the hated by Jewish community in France , comedian anti-Semitic Diidona , the man who brought to the world the opposite arm ( salute Canal ) .
We tried to see the world from their eyes for a moment . Eyes of young Jews who grew up on the stories about Entebbe operation , but on the street , when someone threw them a curse racist , their father warned them to keep quiet . Children who admire the IDF , but bypassing the home of anti-Semitic bully, as is told them in the Jewish school .
This story is confusing . When you hear the charismatic man , you can understand why he is proud that ‘we are the Jews who strike back . ” When you see his people rioting in the street, you recall actions “price tag” . Perilous border , and they are swinging it wildly. One thing is certain . Their anger is at the silence . The silence of the parents who resigned to live without honor.. Silence of the Parisian street which at best is standing by, while hundreds of people are again saluting .
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“It will be on Israel TV in an investigative program”
– Why am I not surprised?
When people need to work hard to convince themselves that a decision they made was the right one, this tells us they think they made a mistake.
I, for instance, do not seek out news about how everything is horrible in Ukraine or Russia. I seek out news of how everything is great and improving. The situation around Crimea is a letdown, of course. But otherwise, I want to hear that people in those countries are doing good.
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\\ Why am I not surprised?
When people need to work hard to convince themselves that a decision they made was the right one, this tells us they think they made a mistake.
It will be on Israeli TV in Hebrew, not on Russian Israeli TV channel. 🙂 The watchers (most of them) haven’t immigrated and neither had their parents.
Almost all commentors to the article were in the spirit of “great, protect the honor of the Jewish people,” but I am worried this group is crossing a limit. If they want Entebbe operation (by IDF), they have to immigrate to Israel, not attempt to beat up antisemitic, much larger in numbers groups abroad.
What I found interesting in the article from February 6, 2014 was:
There are about 5 million Muslims in France. Youth unemployment is at 25 percent, and closer to 50 percent among Muslims. Demographic projections by Pew Research predict that the French Muslim population will approach 7 million by 2030.
If a half of young Muslims are unemployed, how is their immigration helpful to France? Do you have any thoughts?
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“It will be on Israeli TV in Hebrew, not on Russian Israeli TV channel. ”
– What’s the difference? Everybody is still a very recent immigrant.
“If a half of young Muslims are unemployed, how is their immigration helpful to France? ”
– Helpful? I think it’s an absolute disaster. What was the point of bringing in so many people who will never adapt is still a mystery to me. France and Belgium are ghettoizing to an extreme degree. Neo-fascism is on the rise. These countries are becoming unlivable for everybody. The whole thing is a sorry mess.
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Found a similar article in English:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/175677#.Uw917Pl_uuI
Worth looking at, imo.
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\\ – Helpful? I think it’s an absolute disaster. […] France and Belgium are ghettoizing to an extreme degree.
You have previously said that for Swit. (the country which recently voted for limiting immigration) it was helpful. Did Swit. bring less people? Western people?
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France and Belgium had colonies, and so they say – at least, this is the official version – that this is a way of normalizing relations with the former colonies.
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Another explanation actually has to do with the Holocaust, as weird as that sounds. The European countries are expiating their refusal to help the Jews during the Holocaust, they say, by accepting any immigrant who claims to be a refugee.
I’m getting both the colonial and the Holocaust explanations from Europeans I know who are very much in favor of open immigration into their countries. I once expressed a very tentative doubt about whether this approach to immigration was reasonable, and a colleague from France almost bit my head off. She pretty much called me a Holocaust-denier. Curiously, this colleague doesn’t live in France any longer.
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