Apr 21, 2022, 00:06 am
(This post was last modified: Apr 21, 2022, 00:06 am by Resurgence.)
Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis (lower left) watches as a neo-Nazi Azov Battalion fighter addresses the Greek parliament in a video segment after Zelensky’s speech.
![[Image: M0hT5ukA_o.jpg]](https://images2.imgbox.com/fd/4a/M0hT5ukA_o.jpg)
“Solidarity with the Ukrainian people is a given. But the Nazis cannot have a say in parliament.” These are the words of Alexis Tsipras, the former PM and leader of Greece’s left-liberal Syriza Party.
Tsipras was reacting to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s attempt to legitimize the Azov Battalion, an umbrella of far-right and fascist fighters trained by the US to battle Russians in Ukraine, as he toured foreign capitals to appeal for direct and indirect military support.
Zelensky stirred controversy with his April visit to Greek parliament in an effort to win support for his country’s anti-Russian war effort. Mariupol, home to a significant number of ethnic Greeks who have faced persecution from the neo-Nazi Azov Brigade, was a particular area of concern in Athens.
During his visit to parliament, Zelensky played a video featuring an Azov fighter who claimed that his relatives had fought the German Nazis in the Second World War. This was seen as a cynical attempt to whitewash the fascist organization. It was particularly painful for Greeks still haunted by the ghosts of World War II, when the country boasted a strong left that resisted the Third Reich.
Once the Nazis had been defeated and the British empire weakened, the US moved in to Greece with full-force to transform it into an anti-Soviet hub, terrorizing the Greek left and absorbing the nation into NATO. Since then, the Pentagon has viewed Greece and its neighbor Turkey as a strategic bulwark. Both countries act as logistical bridges between the pro-US Europe and the oil-rich Middle East.
NATO’s ongoing proxy war against Russia has brought these strategic interests into stark relief, triggering union strikes against the offloading of weapons headed for Ukraine and stirring a wave of public anger against Zelensky and his Greek hosts for their provocative publicity stunt in parliament.
The outrage has emanated directly from painful memories of Nazi occupation and the CIA’s sustained assaults on Greece’s post-war democracy.
Former PM Tsipras of the Syriza party tweeted: “The speech was a provocation” and an “historic sham.” Meanwhile, Syriza’s former Finance Minister, Yanis Varoufakis, who quit/was fired in 2015 for opposing his ruling party’s privatization and austerity agenda, issued an impassioned condemnation of the spectacle: “By bringing Nazis into the video call in front of the Greek parliament to speak on behalf of his government and by failing to make any comment on the Cyprus issue,” i.e. Turkey’s invasion, Zelensky “insulted the parliaments and the peoples of our countries.”
A majority of the Greek public joined the left leaders in expressing revulsion at Zelensky’s performance. Asked by pollsters this April for their impressions of the Ukrainian president’s speech before parliament, 50% of respondents described it as “very bad”, 15% called “bad”, while 16% said they were “neutral.” Only 11% of Greeks described Zelensky’s speech as “good” or “very good.”
From a poll by Greece’s Public Issue, April 2022.
![[Image: tBy9jFyf_o.jpg]](https://images2.imgbox.com/83/c3/tBy9jFyf_o.jpg)
Anti-NATO protests and massive public opposition to arming Ukraine shake Greek government
In October 2021, Greece and the US amended their Mutual Defense Cooperation Agreement to “deepen[] and expand[] on [their] partnership to maintain strong, capable, and interoperable militaries.” Soon after, Greek media reported: “A large number of helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles …, tanks, cannons, and artillery are expected to reach the Greek port near the border with Turkey in the weeks to come as part of an extensive military shipment that is of unprecedented scale.”
From Bulgaria and the German-based 21st Theater Sustainment Command, the US sent by rail forty-four M117 Guardian Armored Safety Vehicles to Greece, which arrived in November. The “Safety” epithet is propaganda. Jane’s reports that the vehicles were to be fitted with machine guns. It was expected that over one thousand vehicles would be delivered by April, half of which are meant for the Greek military. We are left to assume that the other half will go to Ukraine. The arrival of the US Army one month prior brought total US forces in Europe to 100,000: “a number not seen since 2005,” says Stars and Stripes.
PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis of the ruling New Democracy, the old CIA favorite, recently authorized lethal military equipment to Ukraine, declaring to parliament: “There can be no equal distances. You are either with peace and international law, or against them”—“international law” meaning support for US-British violations of international law. But the rhetoric has fallen flat.
Despite a barrage of pro-NATO propaganda that has ensured that 75 percent of Greeks condemn Putin, 60 percent are also critical of Zelensky.
Citing opinion polls, cultural professor Nikos Marantzidis commented: “Greek public opinion has a Russophile dimension, friendly feelings linked to history, a common culture based on Orthodoxy and for some, mistrust towards the West.” Given the history, it’s not hard to understand the roots of the latter.
More recent Greek polls suggest that 66 percent to 29 percent oppose their government’s decision to send weapons to Ukraine. Further, an overwhelming majority of Greeks believe their country should maintain a neutral role in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
The decades of torture, both physical and psychological, inflicted on Greece by the US and its fascist and quasi-fascist, post-War partners have insulated a large sector of the Greek citizenry against NATO’s propaganda. Instead of making the public cower and internalize their imperial subjection, Greeks have retained their traditional anti-war mentality.
As Athens brushes aside Greek popular opinion to join NATO’s war party, some Greek citizens are taking direct action to signal their disgust and concern over being used as pawns in the great game of power rivalry.
This April 10, Thessaloniki-based rail workers at the TrainOSE company launched a strike to protest the transportation of US military vehicles. Workers and the 12 unions backing them wrote: “We will not become complicit in the passage of the war machine through the territories of our country.”
With the popularity of PM Mitsotakis and his pro-US New Democracy party plunging since Zelensky’s speech, his government has reportedly announced a halt to arms shipments to Ukraine.
The US may be attempting an end-around by sourcing Russian-made weapons from Cyprus. Local media report: “Americans specifically asked for Cypriot anti-aircraft weapons, as well as attack helicopters.”
https://thegrayzone.com/2022/04/20/nazis...te-russia/
“Solidarity with the Ukrainian people is a given. But the Nazis cannot have a say in parliament.” These are the words of Alexis Tsipras, the former PM and leader of Greece’s left-liberal Syriza Party.
Tsipras was reacting to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s attempt to legitimize the Azov Battalion, an umbrella of far-right and fascist fighters trained by the US to battle Russians in Ukraine, as he toured foreign capitals to appeal for direct and indirect military support.
Zelensky stirred controversy with his April visit to Greek parliament in an effort to win support for his country’s anti-Russian war effort. Mariupol, home to a significant number of ethnic Greeks who have faced persecution from the neo-Nazi Azov Brigade, was a particular area of concern in Athens.
During his visit to parliament, Zelensky played a video featuring an Azov fighter who claimed that his relatives had fought the German Nazis in the Second World War. This was seen as a cynical attempt to whitewash the fascist organization. It was particularly painful for Greeks still haunted by the ghosts of World War II, when the country boasted a strong left that resisted the Third Reich.
Once the Nazis had been defeated and the British empire weakened, the US moved in to Greece with full-force to transform it into an anti-Soviet hub, terrorizing the Greek left and absorbing the nation into NATO. Since then, the Pentagon has viewed Greece and its neighbor Turkey as a strategic bulwark. Both countries act as logistical bridges between the pro-US Europe and the oil-rich Middle East.
NATO’s ongoing proxy war against Russia has brought these strategic interests into stark relief, triggering union strikes against the offloading of weapons headed for Ukraine and stirring a wave of public anger against Zelensky and his Greek hosts for their provocative publicity stunt in parliament.
The outrage has emanated directly from painful memories of Nazi occupation and the CIA’s sustained assaults on Greece’s post-war democracy.
Quote:The Greek blocking weapons from being sent to Ukriane
"STOP fueling a war, go home NATO" pic.twitter.com/F8zQnbyxRG
— Sphithiphithi Evaluator (@_AfricanSoil) April 8, 2022
Former PM Tsipras of the Syriza party tweeted: “The speech was a provocation” and an “historic sham.” Meanwhile, Syriza’s former Finance Minister, Yanis Varoufakis, who quit/was fired in 2015 for opposing his ruling party’s privatization and austerity agenda, issued an impassioned condemnation of the spectacle: “By bringing Nazis into the video call in front of the Greek parliament to speak on behalf of his government and by failing to make any comment on the Cyprus issue,” i.e. Turkey’s invasion, Zelensky “insulted the parliaments and the peoples of our countries.”
A majority of the Greek public joined the left leaders in expressing revulsion at Zelensky’s performance. Asked by pollsters this April for their impressions of the Ukrainian president’s speech before parliament, 50% of respondents described it as “very bad”, 15% called “bad”, while 16% said they were “neutral.” Only 11% of Greeks described Zelensky’s speech as “good” or “very good.”
From a poll by Greece’s Public Issue, April 2022.
Anti-NATO protests and massive public opposition to arming Ukraine shake Greek government
In October 2021, Greece and the US amended their Mutual Defense Cooperation Agreement to “deepen[] and expand[] on [their] partnership to maintain strong, capable, and interoperable militaries.” Soon after, Greek media reported: “A large number of helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles …, tanks, cannons, and artillery are expected to reach the Greek port near the border with Turkey in the weeks to come as part of an extensive military shipment that is of unprecedented scale.”
From Bulgaria and the German-based 21st Theater Sustainment Command, the US sent by rail forty-four M117 Guardian Armored Safety Vehicles to Greece, which arrived in November. The “Safety” epithet is propaganda. Jane’s reports that the vehicles were to be fitted with machine guns. It was expected that over one thousand vehicles would be delivered by April, half of which are meant for the Greek military. We are left to assume that the other half will go to Ukraine. The arrival of the US Army one month prior brought total US forces in Europe to 100,000: “a number not seen since 2005,” says Stars and Stripes.
PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis of the ruling New Democracy, the old CIA favorite, recently authorized lethal military equipment to Ukraine, declaring to parliament: “There can be no equal distances. You are either with peace and international law, or against them”—“international law” meaning support for US-British violations of international law. But the rhetoric has fallen flat.
Despite a barrage of pro-NATO propaganda that has ensured that 75 percent of Greeks condemn Putin, 60 percent are also critical of Zelensky.
Citing opinion polls, cultural professor Nikos Marantzidis commented: “Greek public opinion has a Russophile dimension, friendly feelings linked to history, a common culture based on Orthodoxy and for some, mistrust towards the West.” Given the history, it’s not hard to understand the roots of the latter.
More recent Greek polls suggest that 66 percent to 29 percent oppose their government’s decision to send weapons to Ukraine. Further, an overwhelming majority of Greeks believe their country should maintain a neutral role in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
The decades of torture, both physical and psychological, inflicted on Greece by the US and its fascist and quasi-fascist, post-War partners have insulated a large sector of the Greek citizenry against NATO’s propaganda. Instead of making the public cower and internalize their imperial subjection, Greeks have retained their traditional anti-war mentality.
As Athens brushes aside Greek popular opinion to join NATO’s war party, some Greek citizens are taking direct action to signal their disgust and concern over being used as pawns in the great game of power rivalry.
This April 10, Thessaloniki-based rail workers at the TrainOSE company launched a strike to protest the transportation of US military vehicles. Workers and the 12 unions backing them wrote: “We will not become complicit in the passage of the war machine through the territories of our country.”
Quote:Fierce protests in #Greece against #NATO and military aid for #Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/e2fSMgPzjD
— Zrada2022 (@zrada2022) April 10, 2022
With the popularity of PM Mitsotakis and his pro-US New Democracy party plunging since Zelensky’s speech, his government has reportedly announced a halt to arms shipments to Ukraine.
The US may be attempting an end-around by sourcing Russian-made weapons from Cyprus. Local media report: “Americans specifically asked for Cypriot anti-aircraft weapons, as well as attack helicopters.”
https://thegrayzone.com/2022/04/20/nazis...te-russia/