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Thread: Coronavirus with an R0 of 3 or beyond

  1. #991
    Senior Member donk's Avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by Chris View Post
    Good question, but I don't think there's any definite answer yet.

    The general idea with Novel viruses, such as this one, is that due to evolution, over time they mutate to be less deadly, but more contagious. It is to the advantage of any virus that it evolves in a way that allows it to spend the maximum amount of time in as many host bodies as possible. This would indicate that the new UK strain will become the dominant one globally, until another one comes along.

    It is scary stuff, the tier 4 restrictions they have just introduced in large parts of the UK are essentially wartime measures. The UK is being cut off from the rest of Europe, and this is on top of a no-deal Brexit which will happen in a matter of days. Things are bleak over here in MittelEuropa, but the UK looks like its bearing the brunt of this pandemic.

    Meanwhile, I'm reading that Thailand, a semi-third-world country, with high levels of corruption, government incompetence and a pretty thread-bare healthcare system has only had 5000 Covid cases so far during the whole year, even though they were the first country to be hit after China.

    What the actual fuck and what the hell am I doing in frosty, locked down Europe, when I could be sipping cocktails on a (deserted) Thai beach if I had made slighty different life choices a few years ago...
    Dang...I used to try to make choices to get me outa the states before the insanity of predatory global capitalism started REALLY crumbling in the majority of the “civilized” population centers, but instead am witnessing the dumbest coup attempt in human history, with the dumbest political party ever refusing to stop.

    Now there’s noise the UK mutant thread is suspected to be in Colorado...the geographic center of the insane asylum. Sure we will handle it well, we got Mr Monsanto coming for Dept of Ag, I suspect Biden will put the very best Big Pharma guys in charge of critical human health depts
    What is the purpose of your presence?

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  3. #992
    Administrator Aragorn's Avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by donk View Post
    Dang...I used to try to make choices to get me outa the states before the insanity of predatory global capitalism started REALLY crumbling in the majority of the “civilized” population centers, but instead am witnessing the dumbest coup attempt in human history, with the dumbest political party ever refusing to stop.

    Now there’s noise the UK mutant thread is suspected to be in Colorado...the geographic center of the insane asylum. Sure we will handle it well, we got Mr Monsanto coming for Dept of Ag, I suspect Biden will put the very best Big Pharma guys in charge of critical human health depts
    Abby Martin has made a little video ─ just over 10 minutes of your time ─ on who's going to be in Biden's upcoming administration. It's not looking good. And it's just as was to be expected, because after four years of Benito Mussolini's reincarnation sitting at the desk in the Oval Office, the Democrats still haven't understood why they lost the 2016 elections to Captain Chaos™ in the first place.


    = DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR =

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    There have been many disturbed folks on the left. They're not happy with his picks. I see all kinds of articles and videos from people on the left worried about Biden's picks.

    And yet many other folks are still trying to paint him as a lefty socialist.

    So ridiculous.

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  7. #994
    Senior Member Emil El Zapato's Avatar
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    For whatever its worth: Houston, Harris County, Texas is going into Covid-19 freak mode ... I was shook for a couple of seconds and then it hit me... How could anything possibly make a difference?
    “El revolucionario: te meteré la bota en el culo"

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  9. #995
    Senior Member Emil El Zapato's Avatar
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    Here's the thing ... times have changed, beyond any shadow of any doubt. The dinosaur warmongers are still around but the private citizens are now mass crazies ... that will keep a lid on government. We do need some 'scary' officials to help tamp down the chaotic disaster of the recent past. Despite what seems obvious, Obama held immorality to a manageable level. Including and importantly illegal war tactics such as 'rendition'. There is very little to worry about ... Propaganda is not useful in this time and place. We have to remember we are in a transition period!

    Here is the scoop on General Austin: just as an example

    Rarely in the spotlight

    Austin was termed by one retired general as an "extraordinary leader," though Austin was rarely seen at press conferences or think-tank events like some other generals. His name was not seen in newspaper op-eds or in professional journals. He has rarely been in the spotlight.

    In his Atlantic op-ed, Biden wrote, "The next secretary of defense will need to immediately quarterback an enormous logistics operation to help distribute COVID-19 vaccines widely and equitably. Austin oversaw the largest logistical operation undertaken by the Army in six decades — the Iraq drawdown."

    To that end, in a rare interview with talk show host Roland Martin back in March of this year, just as the pandemic was taking hold, Austin talked about the military assisting in the Covid-19 response.

    Still, it's not clear what Austin's priorities would be. There are a range of tough issues awaiting the next defense secretary.

    Some analysts say that all U.S. troops should leave Afghanistan, though Biden supports keeping several thousand to keep pressure on militant groups like al-Qaida and the Islamic State. Austin has not publicly expressed his views.

    Austin spent a good part of his military career focused on the Middle East, and does not have deep experience when it comes to U.S. rivals in other regions, like Russia and China.

    After retiring four years ago, Austin opened a consulting firm and also joined the board of directors of Raytheon Technologies.

    Austin will need a waiver from Congress to become defense secretary, since he has not been out of uniform for the required seven years. Only twice has Congress granted such a waiver: once in the 1950s for George Marshall and another just three years ago for James Mattis.

    When Democratic Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island agreed to a Mattis waiver, he said he was reluctant to do so again.

    "Waiving the law should happen no more than once in a generation," Reed said at the time. "Therefore I will not support a waiver for future nominees."

    However Reed on Tuesday signaled openness to a waiver. "I will carefully review this nomination and look forward to meeting with General Austin to hear his views on the national security challenges we face and the exemption request being made in order for him to be considered to lead the Pentagon," he said in a statement.

    Biden, in his Atlantic op-ed, seemed to predict concerns like Reed's earlier one, writing, "I hope that Congress will grant a waiver to Secretary-designate Austin, just as Congress did for Secretary Jim Mattis. Given the immense and urgent threats and challenges our nation faces, he should be confirmed swiftly."

    U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., released a statement saying, "Regarding the legal barrier for this nomination, I intend to closely evaluate the implications for waiving the National Security Act requirement twice in just four years."

    There are also an increasing number of voices among lawmakers and defense analysts who don't want another retired general running the Pentagon, viewing it as unhealthy for civilian-military relations. The Pentagon, they say, must be run by a civilian, and not a recently retired officer.


    I just realized Abby Martin looks like my friend's wife ... Abby is probably a little better looking but not put together quite as well ... not quite a mirror image ...
    “El revolucionario: te meteré la bota en el culo"

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  11. #996
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    Quote Originally posted by NotAPretender View Post
    I just realized Abby Martin looks like my friend's wife ... Abby is probably a little better looking but not put together quite as well ... not quite a mirror image ...


    Yeah well, I for one wouldn't throw her out of my bed. She's attractive, passionate, intelligent and committed. Mike Prysner is a very lucky guy.
    = DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR =

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    Anybody that thinks Biden is going to save them is crazy.

    I'm not even sure he's better than the current incumbent. At least this one isn't beholden to communist China, like the upcoming Manchurian pres.

    Now that they almost killed me with their Frankenvirus I'm even less of a fan of the Chinese Commies.

    Thankfully, the vaccine really seems to work and with few and rare side effects. Things will be back to normal by summer, according to the woman who invented the technology behind RNA vaccinations. This is really exciting stuff and opens up a whole new field of medicine, possibly bringing a new and better cure to a host of diseases.

    https://edition.cnn.com/2020/12/16/u...rnd/index.html

    She was demoted, doubted and rejected. Now, her work is the basis of the Covid-19 vaccine

    (CNN)Covid-19 vaccines are starting to roll out in several countries, a momentous breakthrough that hopefully signals a light at the end of this dark pandemic. For Katalin Karikó, the moment is particularly special.

    Karikó has spent decades of her career researching the therapeutic possibilities of mRNA, a component of DNA that is considered to be one of the main building blocks of life. Through multiple setbacks, job losses, doubt and a transatlantic move, Karikó stood by her conviction: That mRNA could be used for something truly groundbreaking. Now, that work is the basis of the Covid-19 vaccine.
    From Hungary to the US
    Karikó, 65, began her career in her native Hungary in the 1970s, when mRNA research was new and the possibilities seemed endless. But the call of the American dream (and more researching and funding opportunities) took root.
    In 1985, she and her husband and young daughter left Hungary for the US after she got an invitation from Temple University in Philadelphia. They sold their car, Karikó told The Guardian, and stuffed the money -- an equivalent of about $1,200 -- in their daughter's teddy bear for safekeeping.

    "We had just moved into our new apartment, our daughter was 2 years old, everything was so good, we were happy," Karikó told the Hungarian news site G7 of her family's departure. "But we had to go."
    She continued her research at Temple, and then at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Medicine. But by then, the bloom was off the rose of mRNA research, and Karikó's idea that it could be used to fight disease was deemed too radical, too financially risky to fund. She applied for grant after grant, but kept getting rejections, and in 1995, she was demoted from her position at UPenn. She also was diagnosed with cancer around the same time.
    "Usually, at that point, people just say goodbye and leave because it's so horrible," she told Stat, a health news site, in November. "I thought of going somewhere else, or doing something else. I also thought maybe I'm not good enough, not smart enough."
    From doubt to breakthrough
    But she stuck with it.

    Eventually, Karikó and her former colleague at the University of Pennsylvania, Drew Weissman, developed a method of utilizing synthetic mRNA to fight disease that involves changing the way the body produces virus-fighting material, she explained on CNN's "Cuomo Prime Time."

    That discovery is now the basis of the Covid-19 vaccine, and some have said both Weissman and Karikó, now a senior vice president of the Germany-based BioNTech, deserve a Nobel Prize.

    "If anyone asks me whom to vote for some day down the line, I would put them front and center," Derek Rossi, one of the founders of pharmaceutical giant Moderna, told Stat. "That fundamental discovery is going to go into medicines that help the world."
    While recognition, after all of this time, must be nice, Karikó says scientific glory isn't what's on her mind right now.
    "Really, we will celebrate when this human suffering is over, when the hardship and all of this terrible time will end, and hopefully in the summer when we will forget about virus and vaccine. And then I will be really celebrating," she told CNN's Chris Cuomo.
    Karikó said she plans to get the vaccine soon, along with Weissman, and she said she's "very, very confident" it will work. After all, it was their discoveries that contributed to it.

    In the meantime, Karikó said she allowed herself a little treat to celebrate the vaccine news: a bag of Goobers, her favorite candy.

  14. #998
    Senior Member Emil El Zapato's Avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by Aragorn View Post


    Yeah well, I for one wouldn't throw her out of my bed. She's attractive, passionate, intelligent and committed. Mike Prysner is a very lucky guy.
    fo' sure ... Here's a weird tidbit for the day: Fantasies: Men like women they know; women like men they don't know ... Wouldn't you know it?! lol
    “El revolucionario: te meteré la bota en el culo"

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    Senior Member Emil El Zapato's Avatar
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    Chris ... way too much propaganda you've fed into. Biden is a mainstream American politician ... pretty much business as usual. But the rank-and-file aren't out of the game completely and they will continue to have an impact, as small as it might be in the overall scheme of things. There really is always the option of revolution and politicians are closer to realizing that than ever before. The right's dominance of civil discourse which has never been civil nor of the nature of discourse is naked to our eyes at this point. We have a choice to make, self-immolate or demand change that benefits all of us.

    but you're right (correct) about the scientist you cited.
    “El revolucionario: te meteré la bota en el culo"

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    Biden won't save anybody. I don't know anyone personally who thinks he will.

    I also know that the last thing we need is more chaos, more allowing Russia in through our back door, more of alienating nations around the world, more uncertainty in markets, more grift, more nepotism, etc., etc., etc.,

    I feel pretty confident we'll do a much better job dealing with Covid and vaccines. To see Trump play games with peoples' lives that way was beyond disgusting. It's one thing to pit people against each other in your personal organization.

    It's an entirely different thing to do it to a whole nation.

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    I'm sorry guys, but as an outsider, it is clear to me, that both the Bidens and the Clintons are incredibly corrupt, there is just no question that their loyalties can be bought by foreign interests. Certainly, the Bushes had a similar issue with Saudi influence.

    As for Trump, I think he has led a more independent foreign policy than either of his predecessors, though it was more incoherent and rudderless as well. Strictly from an outside perspective, I preferred him, because he didn't start any new wars and wound down the existing conflicts. The state department also didn't meddle as much in my part of the world as they did under previous administrations and that was a breath of fresh air. I know he wasn't very good for America domestically, but frankly, I am not that interested in his domestic policies, because they only affect 5 percent of the world's population, whereas US foreign policy affects everyone.

    As for pandemic readiness and response, I doubt his influence over it was that great, but yeah, the Democrats will probably put more competent people in charge.

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  22. #1002
    Senior Member Emil El Zapato's Avatar
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    That's the problem, though ... A rudderless foreign policy is primed for a major collision. We were lucky that it didn't happen, with another 4 years. And we shouldn't ignore the fact that plenty of hostile action took place in the vacuum of a moral leader (whatever the pretenses might be that the right puts under the covers). The way i see it and perhaps it is a flawed perspective but under Trump the authoritarian regimes reigned supreme. The authoritarians foment trouble, first in their own backyards and if their influence grows strong enough (and that is the true danger) then they spread like a 'virus'. Innocents fell like useless chaff. This is not my notion on how to promote world peace. We started a war in Iraq against a madman that wantonly killed millions of his own people. We should stand by and just let it happen? Immanuel Kant might say yes, but his world was one of idealism and not morally practical. And perhaps the cause of war is never morally pure, but genocide isn't either.

    Giving ground to crazy people is sometimes the better part of valor. Working with China is a manifestation of the Hegelian Dialectic with the two poles forced to give ground to achieve a balance. A balance that has one of the poles struggling for freedom and human rights (despite how much give must be given to work toward that ultimate goal).

    Biden is not corrupt ... he has too much of God's child in his nature, but even that has its limitation in a world rife with corruption and greed. He's just doesn't play that game, not for himself in any case.
    “El revolucionario: te meteré la bota en el culo"

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    Come on man, Saddam didn't kill millions of his own people, though it was tens of thousands for sure

    I am familiar with Christopher Hitchens' eloquent defense of the US intervention in Iraq, but there's no question in hindsight that it was the wrong thing to do and destabilised the whole region. Same problem with all the other US interventions and colour revolutions, they all created far more problems than they solved. The George Soros / Biden joint effort in the Ukraine has affected me personally and it was a major disaster and miscalculation that will have major negative consequences in the region for decades to come.

    One of them was the US funding and support for actual Nazis in the Ukraine, not the make believe ones the Left constantly try to scare us with

    These Nazis are now increasingly in charge and are increasingly oppressing and persecuting ethnic minorities, not least Russians, Hungarians, Gypsies and Jews.

    We can all thank the US state department and George Soros dor this, with Joe Biden being the biggest culprit

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    Senior Member Emil El Zapato's Avatar
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    If I remember correctly once it became obvious (the nature of the Nazis) the situation changed dramatically. As in 'oops'. Isn't George Soros Hungarian? I'll have to see how you went from here to there later ... but it sounds a bit like propaganda. I don't even really know who Hitchens is but the name bothers me.
    “El revolucionario: te meteré la bota en el culo"

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    Is this the group that you are referring to or the WWII version?

    This Neo-Nazi Group Is Organizing On Facebook Despite A Year-Old Ban
    Ukraine’s Azov movement, which the State Department calls a “nationalist hate group,” is running ads, organizing violence, and exporting its far-right ideas.

    Men in military garb stand with flags featuring the Azov movement's symbol, which is similar to the Wolfsangel, widely used by Nazi German divisions during the Second World War

    Members of the Azov movement shout slogans during the March of Patriots in Kyiv, March 2020.

    Despite attempts to drive it off the platform, a violent Ukrainian far-right group with ties to American white supremacists is using Facebook to recruit new members, organize violence, and spread its far-right ideology across the world.

    Although it banned the Azov movement and its leaders more than a year ago, Facebook continues to profit from ads placed by the far-right organization as recently as Monday.

    Since July, Azov, which sprung up during the Russian invasion in 2014, has opened at least a dozen new Facebook pages. Alla Zasyadko, a 25-year-old member, has used one to place 82 ads on the social network, paying Facebook at least $3,726, according to the platform’s ad library. Many of the ads called for street protests against the Ukrainian government. One of the ads encourages children to sign up for a patriotic youth training course. Similar courses have included firearms training.

    Zasyadko did not respond to requests for comment.

    A Facebook spokesperson told BuzzFeed News, “The Azov Battalion is banned from our platforms and we remove content that represents, praises or supports them when we’re made aware of it.”

    At the time this story was published, the Azov movement’s main Facebook page, listed as Ukrainian Corps — a name that resembles that of the movement’s political arm, National Corps — was still active.

    Facebook has come under heavy criticism for allowing US right-wing militant organizations to organize and run ads on the platform. Some of those groups have committed violence during Black Lives Matter protests, advocated for civil war, and allegedly conspired to kidnap and kill elected political officials. Facebook said last month that it had deleted thousands of pages and groups tied to “militarized social movements.” Many of those pages and groups were taken down after BuzzFeed News brought them to Facebook’s attention.

    But driving right-wing extremists from the social network has proven difficult, with many of them popping up again days or weeks after removal.

    Far-right activists with the Azov movement and other groups hold a banner during the March of Patriots in Kyiv, March 2020.

    Facebook banned the Azov movement, which has many members who espouse neo-Nazi beliefs, in April 2019. The company removed several pages associated with the group, including those operated by its senior members and the various branches they lead.

    But since July 16, the group has been operating the new Ukrainian Corps page. The page does not try to hide that it belongs to the Azov National Corps — it openly discusses National Corps activities and leaders, links to Azov’s websites and email, and posts photos of members in uniforms at rallies and torchlight marches.

    Facebook has no reason not to know that the Azov movement is dangerous. In the wake of a series of violent attacks on Roma and LGBTQ people across Ukraine by members of the National Corps and its paramilitary street wing, the National Militia, the US State Department named Azov’s National Corps a “nationalist hate group.”

    Matthew Schaaf, who leads the Ukraine office of the human rights group Freedom House and has closely observed the group, said the Azov movement’s ability to mobilize people through social media poses a threat to society.

    “In the last couple of years, participants of Azov-affiliated groups have used violence against vulnerable groups in Ukrainian society and threatened public officials, with social media serving as an important tool to organize these actions and share their results,” Schaaf told BuzzFeed News. “Many of these assaults are accompanied by before-and-after propagandistic posts on social media.”

    Azov began in 2014 as a volunteer military battalion that helped Ukraine defend itself against an invasion by Russia and its separatist proxy forces. The battalion’s symbol is similar to that of the Wolfsangel, the insignia widely used by the German military during World War II. Although human rights groups accused the battalion of torture and war crimes during the early months of the Ukrainian-Russian conflict, in late 2014, Ukraine’s National Guard incorporated the Azov battalion into its official fold, where it was renamed the Azov regiment.

    The military unit has been a favorite bogeyman of the Kremlin, with Russian President Vladimir Putin using the group to justify his attacks against Ukraine as fighting against fascism. Although the group is not broadly popular in Ukraine, its neo-Nazi links are clear. In 2010, the battalion’s founder, Andriy Biletsky, said that Ukraine ought to “lead the white races of the world in a final crusade … against Semite-led Untermenschen [subhumans].”

    Biletsky could not be reached for comment.

    While the regiment still looks to Biletsky for inspiration, he has moved into politics; he served as a member of the Ukrainian parliament from 2014 to 2019 but lost reelection. He now heads the National Corps political party, which has been largely unsuccessful at getting members into elected positions but is using social media to try to grow support. He is also one of the founders of the movement’s Intermarium project, which builds bridges to white nationalists and neo-Nazis in Western Europe and the US.

    Although Facebook previously took down Intermarium pages, a new Intermarium page was created on Sept. 9. Run by the National Corps’ international secretary, Olena Semenyaka, it has been sharing news and information about far-right and neo-Nazi figures in Europe and promoting “cultural” events at its Kyiv office.

    After a ban, Semenyaka too has reopened Facebook and Instagram accounts under a pseudonym.

    Semenyaka did not respond to a request for comment.

    Thanks in part to social media, the National Corps has made inroads with white nationalist groups in the US, including the California-based Rise Above Movement, whose members participated in 2017’s Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, but saw charges over their actions later dropped. In April 2018, RAM founder Robert Rundo visited Kyiv and took part in an Azov-organized fight club. That October, the FBI wrote that it believed Azov was involved in “training and radicalizing United States-based white supremacy organizations.”

    Last month, Ukraine deported two American neo-Nazis associated with the US-based Atomwaffen Division who had attempted to set up a local branch of the group with Azov fighters to gain “combat experience.”

    As Azov uses Facebook to expand beyond Ukraine’s borders, experts are growing concerned. “The use of violence and the possibility that they could muster large crowds of mostly young men ready to use violence, all of it facilitated by social media,” Schaaf said, “gives them power.”

    Is this the group that you are referring to or the WWII version?

    This Neo-Nazi Group Is Organizing On Facebook Despite A Year-Old Ban
    Ukraine’s Azov movement, which the State Department calls a “nationalist hate group,” is running ads, organizing violence, and exporting its far-right ideas.

    Men in military garb stand with flags featuring the Azov movement's symbol, which is similar to the Wolfsangel, widely used by Nazi German divisions during the Second World War

    Members of the Azov movement shout slogans during the March of Patriots in Kyiv, March 2020.

    Despite attempts to drive it off the platform, a violent Ukrainian far-right group with ties to American white supremacists is using Facebook to recruit new members, organize violence, and spread its far-right ideology across the world.

    Although it banned the Azov movement and its leaders more than a year ago, Facebook continues to profit from ads placed by the far-right organization as recently as Monday.

    Since July, Azov, which sprung up during the Russian invasion in 2014, has opened at least a dozen new Facebook pages. Alla Zasyadko, a 25-year-old member, has used one to place 82 ads on the social network, paying Facebook at least $3,726, according to the platform’s ad library. Many of the ads called for street protests against the Ukrainian government. One of the ads encourages children to sign up for a patriotic youth training course. Similar courses have included firearms training.

    Zasyadko did not respond to requests for comment.

    A Facebook spokesperson told BuzzFeed News, “The Azov Battalion is banned from our platforms and we remove content that represents, praises or supports them when we’re made aware of it.”

    At the time this story was published, the Azov movement’s main Facebook page, listed as Ukrainian Corps — a name that resembles that of the movement’s political arm, National Corps — was still active.

    Facebook has come under heavy criticism for allowing US right-wing militant organizations to organize and run ads on the platform. Some of those groups have committed violence during Black Lives Matter protests, advocated for civil war, and allegedly conspired to kidnap and kill elected political officials. Facebook said last month that it had deleted thousands of pages and groups tied to “militarized social movements.” Many of those pages and groups were taken down after BuzzFeed News brought them to Facebook’s attention.

    But driving right-wing extremists from the social network has proven difficult, with many of them popping up again days or weeks after removal.

    Far-right activists with the Azov movement and other groups hold a banner during the March of Patriots in Kyiv, March 2020.

    Facebook banned the Azov movement, which has many members who espouse neo-Nazi beliefs, in April 2019. The company removed several pages associated with the group, including those operated by its senior members and the various branches they lead.

    But since July 16, the group has been operating the new Ukrainian Corps page. The page does not try to hide that it belongs to the Azov National Corps — it openly discusses National Corps activities and leaders, links to Azov’s websites and email, and posts photos of members in uniforms at rallies and torchlight marches.

    Facebook has no reason not to know that the Azov movement is dangerous. In the wake of a series of violent attacks on Roma and LGBTQ people across Ukraine by members of the National Corps and its paramilitary street wing, the National Militia, the US State Department named Azov’s National Corps a “nationalist hate group.”

    Matthew Schaaf, who leads the Ukraine office of the human rights group Freedom House and has closely observed the group, said the Azov movement’s ability to mobilize people through social media poses a threat to society.

    “In the last couple of years, participants of Azov-affiliated groups have used violence against vulnerable groups in Ukrainian society and threatened public officials, with social media serving as an important tool to organize these actions and share their results,” Schaaf told BuzzFeed News. “Many of these assaults are accompanied by before-and-after propagandistic posts on social media.”

    Azov began in 2014 as a volunteer military battalion that helped Ukraine defend itself against an invasion by Russia and its separatist proxy forces. The battalion’s symbol is similar to that of the Wolfsangel, the insignia widely used by the German military during World War II. Although human rights groups accused the battalion of torture and war crimes during the early months of the Ukrainian-Russian conflict, in late 2014, Ukraine’s National Guard incorporated the Azov battalion into its official fold, where it was renamed the Azov regiment.

    The military unit has been a favorite bogeyman of the Kremlin, with Russian President Vladimir Putin using the group to justify his attacks against Ukraine as fighting against fascism. Although the group is not broadly popular in Ukraine, its neo-Nazi links are clear. In 2010, the battalion’s founder, Andriy Biletsky, said that Ukraine ought to “lead the white races of the world in a final crusade … against Semite-led Untermenschen [subhumans].”

    Biletsky could not be reached for comment.

    While the regiment still looks to Biletsky for inspiration, he has moved into politics; he served as a member of the Ukrainian parliament from 2014 to 2019 but lost reelection. He now heads the National Corps political party, which has been largely unsuccessful at getting members into elected positions but is using social media to try to grow support. He is also one of the founders of the movement’s Intermarium project, which builds bridges to white nationalists and neo-Nazis in Western Europe and the US.

    Although Facebook previously took down Intermarium pages, a new Intermarium page was created on Sept. 9. Run by the National Corps’ international secretary, Olena Semenyaka, it has been sharing news and information about far-right and neo-Nazi figures in Europe and promoting “cultural” events at its Kyiv office.

    After a ban, Semenyaka too has reopened Facebook and Instagram accounts under a pseudonym.

    Semenyaka did not respond to a request for comment.

    Thanks in part to social media, the National Corps has made inroads with white nationalist groups in the US, including the California-based Rise Above Movement, whose members participated in 2017’s Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, but saw charges over their actions later dropped. In April 2018, RAM founder Robert Rundo visited Kyiv and took part in an Azov-organized fight club. That October, the FBI wrote that it believed Azov was involved in “training and radicalizing United States-based white supremacy organizations.”

    Last month, Ukraine deported two American neo-Nazis associated with the US-based Atomwaffen Division who had attempted to set up a local branch of the group with Azov fighters to gain “combat experience.”

    As Azov uses Facebook to expand beyond Ukraine’s borders, experts are growing concerned. “The use of violence and the possibility that they could muster large crowds of mostly young men ready to use violence, all of it facilitated by social media,” Schaaf said, “gives them power.”

    These are Hussein's projected numbers:


    250,000
    The total number of deaths related to torture and murder during this period is unknown, but estimated to be around 250,000 according to Human Rights Watch, with the great majority of those occurring as a result of the 1988 Anfal genocide and the suppression of the 1991 uprisings in Iraq.
    “El revolucionario: te meteré la bota en el culo"

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