Is it simply by bad accident that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Canadian Parliament applauded a Nazi while Vladimir Zelenskyy, Ukraine president was also present? The Ukraine leader unfortunately has a lot of neo-Nazi, extreme nationalist and anti-democratic baggage he carries around with him. Some of it seems to have landed with him in Ottawa, literally and figuratively. And there is so much of it, is it any wonder that the West keeps falling over it, sometimes with awful embarrassment as Trudeau, the House of Commons Speaker and many found themselves experiencing? There is sadly more on all of this with implications for India’s relations.
From the preceding, it would be best for the West from NATO to the EU to learn more fully that their proxy to fighting Russia needs more to fully clean up its act, including denouncing the pro-Nazi legacy of some of what it sees as heroes. Some of the so-called celebrated leaders and Nazi collaborators, Ukraine has, includes Stephen Bandera of which there are statutes. Then there is the Azov regiment attached to the Ukraine military with Nazi regalia and ideas and well beyond. But despite the venerated Simon Wiesenthal Institute in Vancouver expressing their major concerns about anti-Jewish forces in Ukraine or Israelis protesting as the headline’s states in the Times of Israel, “Ukrainian PM, minister attended neo-Nazi concert in Kyiv”, Zelenskyy may not even still be willing to leave his highly questionable baggage at home. But worst to keep it in close company in political alliance.
Let us first look, further on this regarding Canada. Firstly. how a former member of the Waffen SS, Yaroslav Hunka, once part of a division sworn to absolute Adolf Hitler loyalty, got two standing ovations in parliament with Zelensky lauding too with Trudeau. Some might argue that it was not coincidental that the president of Ukraine was present during one of the very most embarrassing moments in the history of Canada’s parliament. While we do not know whether Kiev had a hand in getting Hunka invited to the Canadian Parliament, surely Zelenskyy would have known about this individual’s checkered past or those in his immediacy connections. And what this Waffen division, HUNKA and Banda did to Hungarian, Poles, Russian and especially Jewish minorities. And NATO certainly is not willing to bring it up sufficiently so as to avoid any major disunity in getting Putin and Russia at all costs? Because NATO would make a deal with the Devil more than a few would say to do anything to defeat and likely break up Russia up? Even with huge collateral damage to the South.
Nazism or neo-Nazism, especially seem to be more than seeping back into the West and certainly expanding through and from Ukraine, Russia’s major neighbour. That is not to say that Russian President Putin and others in the Kremlin do not overplay the card to make Ukraine seem overall thoroughly under control of Nazi-like leaders and needs to be de-nazified. But these worries are at least partly justified and by not being concerned enough about them what next embarrassing moments will western parliaments and other institutions face from Zelenskyy’s “entourage”?
India may be justifiably throwing it hands up in horror with all this related growing racism in the West, too against brown and black colour people when the Narendra Modi government so energetically promotes global inclusion. And tries hard to get Canada, in particular to take Khalistan extremism with the seriousness it deserves. It is not acceptable to just pick and choose what terrorism the West, including Canada wishes to fight even on its home territories. This includes too often ignoring Pakistani types and machinations at home or abroad that have been devastating or very harmful, specifically to India at times.
There seems to be a pattern here. The West is more and more losing its spiritual and moral backbone to do consistently what is right by its values imbedded in the universal rights that Canada drafted. Add to this its its Judeo-Christian cultural base and with wider religious positive influences, such as by the peace-loving majority of constructive Indian immigrants and descendants who fear this Khalistan extremism, as well as many other Canadians.
Canada is certainly not the only western country with some guilt on these matters even displaying or overly supporting hegemonic attitudes to others especially the South. Pray I say for the West. Certain behaviour by it on Khalistan extremism and Nazism of recent should cause great worry. And be signals to the West to better manage the serious rights violations in their own countries, indeed before unnecessarily and some may say hypocritically dumping on India and other countries in the Global South.
Peter Dash writes widely on geopolitics.