[Michael Tracey] Nazis Are Actually Fine Now, According to the Southern Poverty Law Center and Anti-Defamation League

Because even if not every Azov fighter actively subscribes to full-fledged Nazi ideology — which is plausible — they would still resoundingly meet the media’s typical criteria for instant explosions of hair-on-fire condemnation. There are currently mountains of evidence, much of which was contemporaneously gathered over the course of the ongoing war, that Azov “defenders” at the very least physically adorn themselves with unabashed Nazi symbols. Examples of such symbols that have been recently observed on their uniforms include the Wolfsangel, the Black Sun, and even a crest of a division of the SS — the paramilitary organization of the actual, historical Nazis. You know, the ones commanded by Hitler who exterminated lots of Jews. If a bunch of Trump supporters were running around with these symbols stitched onto their clothing, do you suppose the US media would be extra charitable in deciphering whether they really subscribed to Nazism?

At this very moment, you can log onto the ADL website and see the Wolfsangel, Black Sun, and other Azov-brandished iconography on the organization’s official list of “hate symbols” actively being “appropriated by Nazis.” This is the same ADL which evidently sees no need to make even a cursory statement about the pro-Azov rallies breaking out in the streets of the US. “Don’t think we have any comment here. Thanks for reaching out,” Todd Gitnick, the ADL’s Communications Director, told me when I asked if they had any thoughts on the “Azov!” chanters in NYC.

Likewise, the archives are still available on the SPLC’s website from just a few years ago — apparently a bygone era — when the organization would occasionally chronicle various activities related to what it called the “the notorious Azov Battalion.” In one item, they even quote an FBI special agent stating that “Azov Battalion, now a piece of the Ukrainian National Guard, is known for Neo-Nazi symbolism and ideology.” So I put the same question to the SPLC — simply asked if they had any thoughts on the NYC rally — and got this response from Marion Steinfels, a “Public Affairs and Communications Consultant” working for the organization: “Hey Michael, thanks for reaching out. I’m in touch with our team and will be back to you shortly.” Needless to say, they never got back to me. They’re very thankful I “reached out,” though.

Gee whiz, what a strange development: two of the most lavishly-funded advocacy organizations which had been zealously devoted to the cause of monitoring “Nazis” during the Trump years — when they would declare a state of emergency anytime a purported “Nazi” sneezed — now have absolutely nothing to say about open displays of support for a foreign Battalion whose uniforms are blatantly covered with what these organizations themselves identify as “hate symbols!” It also happens that Azov fighters are known for carrying out creepy torch-lit processions very similar to what was supposed to have been the end of the world when it happened that day in Charlottesville — but nevermind.

This sudden reversal on the purported threat of “Nazis” has implications well beyond revealing the comical fakery of some high-profile advocacy organizations. Since the US Government opened the money spigot two months ago to flood Ukraine with an endless supply of higher and higher-grade weaponry, any vestigial interest in ascertaining whether the Azov Battalion might obtain these weapons has vanished. Chief sponsors of legislation to continuously arm Ukraine, like Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), have publicly admitted not knowing or caring if their bills provide for any kind of mechanism to track whether “outright Nazis” will be the lucky recipients of US-made grenade launchers and tactical missiles. “I’m not considering any of that right now,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) when queried on the subject.