Immersed in US/Nato Make-believe

Canada's Parliament:
Immersed in US/Nato Make-believe


by Daniel Borgström
October 9, 2023


I've often wondered how much of the US/NATO propaganda do top-level national leaders really believe? I'm thinking about that again after watching the Canadian Parliament in action.

On September 22nd, Anthony Rota, Speaker of Canada's parliament, proudly presented his colleagues with a 98-year old Ukrainian veteran of World War II.

"We have in the chamber today Ukrainian war veteran from the Second World War who fought for Ukrainian independence against the Russians and continues to support the troops today even at his age of 98," Speaker Rota announced.

"His name is Yaroslav Hunka" Anthony Rota continued. "He is a Ukrainian hero . . . and we thank him for all his service."

Loud applause burst out in the chamber as several hundred Members of Parliament from all parties got to their feet and gave the old soldier a standing ovation. It was a proud moment for Yaroslav Hunka, and also for Anthony Rota, as well as for all the MPs who were present that day.

This historical event was captured on video, showing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau standing and applauding along with some 300 MPs and other top officials as well as Volodymyr Zelensky who was visiting. Shortly afterwards, however, there came some most unwelcome news, a revelation of who this Yaroslav Hunka really was -- a former member of the 14th Grenadier Division of the Waffen SS. The old warrior had been one of Adolf Hitler's soldiers.

That glorious moment of massive applause had now suddenly become a worst case PR scenario as videos went viral, and harsh words rolled in from all sides.

"It is beyond outrageous that Parliament has honored a former member of a Nazi unit in this way," said a spokesperson of a Jewish group, B'nai Brith. Others spoke likewise. Grandchildren of Canadian soldiers who'd fought the Nazis in WW II also expressed outrage. Polish Minister Przemyslaw Czarnek said he is taking steps to extradite Hunka to Poland to stand trial as a war criminal.

Conservative opposition leader Pierre Poilievre called this "the biggest single diplomatic embarrassment in Canadian history" and demanded that Justin Trudeau accept responsibility. "[Trudeau] always finds someone else to throw under the bus. Are you that person?" Poilievre said, pointing at Rota.

Anthony Rota took the fall and resigned. In a slightly ironic statement, the ex-speaker said, "I have subsequently become aware of more information."

So, Mr. Anthony Rota became "aware." But really, how could he and that large roomful of other top level Canadian leaders have been so abysmally unaware? How could they have not intuitively guessed who this soldier might very likely turn out to be?

Canada has been pouring $$$ and weapons into Ukraine. It's only to be expected that these persons -- Canada's leadership -- would have taken some interest in knowing where their guns and money were going, and would have acquainted themselves with Ukraine's history. Had they done so, they would've known about the Waffen SS units composed of Ukrainian soldiers. And they would've known that those Ukrainian Nazi units were notoriously brutal and participated in atrocities, massacring Jews, Poles and Roma.

This is not esoteric knowledge; it is well known, at least to anybody who was willing to listen. Canadian Jewish groups had been calling attention to this for some time, condemning the various Ukrainian memorials erected in Canada as well as in the U.S. and Australia that honor Ukrainian Nazi military units. But perhaps the MPs didn't hear them?

Nor is this recent news. I recall as far back as in the 1960s reading and hearing of Ukrainian units who fought with the Nazis and also served as guards in concentration camps. People read and talked about it, even back then.

This information is also reported in the independent websites, such as Dissident Voice, Consortium News, Global Research, Covert Action Magazine, the Black Agenda Report, the Grayzone and many others. People who read these websites would know who Stepan Bandera, his acolytes and their modern day progeny are. But I doubt that the MPs spend much time at independent websites. They probably read "authoritative" sources, as the corporate media prefer to consider themselves: the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Guardian UK.

What they seem to overlook is that the establishment media function as outlets for US/NATO propaganda, and people who immerse themselves in it are very likely to think and act exactly as those illustrious Canadian MPs did on Sept 22nd when it never occurred to them to wonder if the old Ukrainian veteran before them just might be one of Hitler's soldiers.

The corporate media hammer away with their theme that Ukraine is a democracy and reports of Nazi activity are just Russian lies and propaganda. But ex-speaker Anthony Rota learned at some cost to his political career that there really are Nazis out there.

So, back to my original question: Do those people in top-level leadership positions believe the propaganda? The answer appeared to be yes. That was my first thought on looking at this affair. Speaker Rota, who obligingly took sole responsibility for the scandal, said he had not informed anyone as to who his guest would be. And PM Trudeau claimed to have had "no advance notice." So it looks like they were all taken by surprise. Well, okay. It happens. But then came out a report that Trudeau had met with Hunka before the parliament meeting. Evidence for that is a Facebook posting by a family member, Theresa Hunka. So Trudeau knew who Yaroslav Hunka was?

And there are other questions, such as the possible role of Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, whose involvement in Ukraine would fill the pages of a thick book. She descends from Ukrainians, reportedly speaks the language and is well versed in the history. And she was there and applauded Yaroslav Hunka that day. Freeland is now busily telling everyone that this matter must be hushed up to prevent it from becoming Russian propaganda. She and others are urging that this be erased from the official parliamentary records -- which seems rather absurd since it's already been publicized internationally.

Some observers suggest that this affair was an attempt to rehabilitate and promote the Ukrainian Nazis, though of course they wouldn't frame it that way explicitly; this could've been a step along the way. Well, maybe, but even assuming that to have been the plan, I'm inclined to believe that the majority of those MPs were genuinely surprised and horrified to discover how far off the deep end they'd gone.

It's strange and ironic that they enthusiastically put guns in the hands of young neo-Nazis and yet are shocked to find that they've applauded an old Nazi.


DANIEL BORGSTRÖM
October 9, 2023