Photo: Canva Collage
This article was first published by Truthmeter.mk (North Macedonia), within the framework of Western Balkans Anti-Disinformation Project.
The post, in an attempt to justify the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, in the spirit of pro-Kremlin disinformation, twists the theses by blaming the EU and NATO for the war and vilifying them as fascist. Such accusations do not support the facts, Russia is the one who started the war, and the EU and NATO are only helping Ukraine to protect its territorial integrity
We analyze a Facebook post that says:
Bravo to my favorite, Trump, a fighter for peace, not like these neo-Nazi-fascists and pedophiles from the EU and NATO who only want tears, blood, and death.
It is not true that the European Union and the United States are neo-Nazis, as the post wants to portray. This narrative is in line with the pro-Kremlin disinformation that everyone is “Nazi” except Russia.
As EuVsDisinfo reports, for many years Russian state-controlled media outlets have claimed that various countries and entities are run by Nazis, or are guided by Nazi ideology. Examples are well documented in the EUvsDisinfo database from 2015. There, for example, it is claimed that Moldova is run by fascists, as are the Baltic states and Poland. Furthermore, it is also claimed that Europe “supports” fascism, as does the European Parliament.
The claim that the European Union is Nazi and its connection to fascism is completely contrary to the real commitments and goals for which the Union was formed in the first place. It is a political and economic union of 27 member states primarily located in Europe, with policies that ensure the free movement of people, the flow of goods, services and capital in the internal market, common policies for trade, agriculture and regional development.
On October 25, 2018, the European Parliament announced that it was concerned by the increasing trend of normalization of fascism, racism, and xenophobia and called on all European Union member states to ban neo-fascist and neo-Nazi groups.
MEPs are urging national governments to effectively ban neo-fascist and neo-Nazi groups and all other foundations and associations that glorify Nazism or fascism. The European Parliament called on member states to clearly condemn and sanction hate crimes, hate speech by political figures who use hatred and violence. They also added that member states need to counter the spread of racism, fascism, xenophobia online in cooperation with social media companies.
From this it becomes clear that the European Union’s commitments are not only not fascist, but are also firmly based on anti-fascist policies, recommendations, and actions.
As for NATO, it is not a fascist organization, but rather a defensive alliance with the main goal of protecting its members from external threats. NATO’s official policies are that it does not seek confrontation, but is nevertheless prepared to protect and defend its allies.
On March 1, 2007 in Brussels, in a speech by former NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, he stated:
“Yes, NATO is an association of Western countries. Yes, with the exception of secular Muslim Turkey, NATO is predominantly an Alliance of Christian countries. Each December, the NATO compound here in Brussels is illuminated by a huge Christmas tree. But the values that NATO stands for are not uniquely Christian. The values that we promote and defend through our engagement are universal values. The right of women to go to school is a universal right. The right to choose your own religion, and not having to fear the death penalty for doing so, is a universal right. The right to elect your democratic government in a free and fair election is a universal right.
These are the values we are defending, from the Balkans to Afghanistan. They are non-negotiable. But they are neither uniquely Western, nor are they uniquely Christian. Indeed, I believe that countries from all parts of the globe, and from all major religions, should be able to agree on them. For they are the true foundation for mankind’s survival in the 21st century,” he says, among other things in his speech.
This means that NATO, like the EU, supports and promotes diversity, different cultural identities, and democratic rights for all equally. This is in no way fascism.
As for the narrative in the post about a “pedophile EU”, it is associated with the disinformation and propaganda spread by the Kremlin, which is dedicated to the West in an attempt to justify the aggressive Russian military invasion of Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, as reported by the French Le Monde (02.03.2023), in his address to the nation on February 21 (2023), accused the West of making pedophilia “the norm.”
“A wild attack typical of the Kremlin leader, but one which resonated with the most far-out conspiracy circles, such as the QAnon community which spreads disinformation about pedophile elites in the White House,” Le Monde writes.
“What is difficult is to distinguish between propaganda manufactured by Kremlin strategists and the multitude of Russian and French conspiracy circles that gravitate to them and can be manipulated,” said Pierre-André Taguieff, a political researcher and author of several books on conspiracy theories.
There is no initiative in the EU to legalize paedophilia, which is considered a crime. The Directive on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child pornography is just one document that represents the EU’s unwavering fight against the crime of paedophilia.
Finally, the post claims that it was the EU and NATO that wanted “blood, tears, and death.” And this supports the pro-Kremlin disinformation that Russia is not to blame for the war in Ukraine, that the war was started by the EU and NATO, and Russia is only defending itself. On February 24, 2022, Russian troops launched an attack on Ukraine ordered by President Putin, who announced a “special military operation” in the early hours of the morning, despite warnings from world leaders that the move could lead to the largest war in Europe since 1945.
The attack was preceded by Russian President Putin’s decision on February 21, 2022, to recognize the independence of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, which have been under the control of pro-Russian separatists since 2014. This decision allowed Putin to directly send Russian military units into Eastern Ukraine, where sporadic clashes between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists were already underway.
Since the beginning of Russia’s aggressive military invasion of Ukraine, Kremlin propaganda has repeatedly attempted to distort the narrative, or rather to impose a series of justifications for its attacks. The truth is that it was Russia that carried out an unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
The EU provides military and financial assistance to Ukraine, which has the right to defend itself from Russian military invasion and protect its territorial integrity.
Since February 2022, the European Council and the Council of the European Union have been meeting regularly to discuss the situation in Ukraine from different perspectives.
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“Russia must stop its atrocious war immediately. The European Union will stand by Ukraine with steadfast support for as long as it takes,” stated the conclusions of the European Council of 9 February 2023.
EU leaders have repeatedly called on Russia to immediately cease its military actions, unconditionally withdraw all forces and military equipment from Ukraine, and fully respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence. They stressed Ukraine’s right to choose its own destiny and praised the people of Ukraine for their courage in defending their country.
The EU has shown unity and strength and provided Ukraine with humanitarian, political, financial, and military support.
NATO also condemns Russia’s brutal and unprovoked military aggression against Ukraine, an independent and democratic state and a close NATO partner. NATO and its allies support Ukraine in its indisputable right to self-defense. Military assistance includes weapons, equipment, and financial assistance to the Ukrainian military. Humanitarian assistance includes medical, food, and other supplies for civilians, while financial assistance comes in the form of grants, loans, and guarantees.
From all of the above, we can conclude that the post we are analyzing is untrue.
