When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Canada, its House of Commons warmly welcomed him and a Ukrainian World War II veteran, Yaroslav Hunka, 98. Hunka was given a standing ovation until it was discovered that he was part of a Waffen-SS division. A literal Nazi was given a salute, which made for an embarrassing public relations error that cost House of Commons Speaker Anthony Rota his job, resigning due to the fallout from the incident.
If you vote for Trump or go to church or say that boys can’t become girls, they’ll call you a Nazi.
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) September 25, 2023
If you’re a literal Nazi who wore the Nazi uniform as member of Nazi Germany’s army during World War II, they’ll say you’re merely “Nazi-linked” if you share their politics. https://t.co/ProGUvCcPo
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tried to do damage control but then went off on a weird tangent about how we need to be mindful not to fall into the hands of Moscow and Russian disinformation campaigns. With Congress barely avoiding a shutdown due to a promise that a separate vote on a Ukraine aid package would occur later, it seems any bad news must be treated in a crisis management setting. How else would you explain Politico carrying water for Nazis? Our friends at RedState were aghast, and so should you. Bonchie was prophetic: the media would explain that Hunka’s division didn’t commit war crimes, so they’re not evil or something. Well, Politico took the bait:
Dude, it’s literally verbatim. Incredible. pic.twitter.com/UpkMZxuT6B
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) October 2, 2023
Do not doubt me. That's the theme after Politico debased itself on Monday by publishing an explainer defending the Waffen SS.
Why, you might be asking, would a major press outlet choose to do such a thing? It all started when the Canadian parliament, Justin Trudeau, and Volodymyr Zelensky gave a standing ovation to a former member of the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division. Part of the broader 1st Galician Division that was manned by Ukrainians and German conscripts during World War II, the group's primary mission was to hunt down and murder partisans while terrorizing anyone who opposed Adolf Hitler's regime.
[…]
The article makes the exact defense that I predicted, namely that the 14th Waffen SS wasn't convicted of war crimes.
According to Russia’s ambassador in Canada, Hunka’s unit “committed multiple war crimes, including mass murder, against the Russian people, ethnic Russians. This is a proven fact.” But whenever a Russian official calls something a “proven fact,” it should set off alarms. And sure enough, here too the facts were invented out of thin air. Repeated exhaustive investigations — including by not only the Nuremberg trials but also the British, Canadian and even Soviet authorities — led to the conclusion that no war crimes or atrocities had been committed by this particular unit.
And what about Zelensky? Shouldn’t he issue something about this trip-up? Anything? He skated by without breaking a sweat, probably because if we did have a shutdown in DC, most of the aid packages from the Pentagon would have remained largely intact, not impacted by the shenanigans on the Hill.
But the Left's lack of principle led them down this dark and unnecessary road. The shutdown antics did largely overshadow this fiasco in Ottowa. Politico dredged it back up.
Zelensky just slinked away from that Canada Nazi fiasco without mentioning anything about it or apologizing.
— Emma-Jo Morris (@EmmaJoNYC) October 1, 2023