You’re still insisting that the current Azov is a bunch of Nazis and therefore the wolfsangel needs to be interpreted as a hate symbol and not neutral heraldry. However, you also base them being Nazis on them using the wolfsangel, unwilling (or unable) to bring up actual evidence of actual Nazi shit in today’s Azov.
As I said in the comment that started this whole thread: Azov got denazified by the state. They went in, removed the black sun (hence why it’s very much relevant), they cracked down on Nazi political expression in the regiment, and even before that tons of Nazis left because they didn’t want to be part of a state organisation that would denazify them.
How can you ignore all that? And why that pin-point focus on Azov? There’s other cases such as the unit now known as the 67th Mechanised, formerly right sector. They also kept the symbols of the Ukraine Volunteer Corps. (Though sword to knife and Kalashnikovs to some other assault rifle. Much better graphic design overall).
You already agreed that the Wolfsangel is not a Nazi symbol as such. If it needs to be avoided because Nazis used it, then the blade-and-rifle stuff also needs to be avoided. Tons of stuff needs to be avoided.
Lastly, another question: Do you have a moral issue with Nazis dying at the front.
I never agreed that the wolfsangel isn’t a Nazi symbol,I conceded that in some very rare circumstances it isn’t used that way and followed it immediately with the qualification that we aren’t talking about those circumstances.
The circumstances we are talking about are pretty much the textbook example of it being used as a Nazi dogwhistle. You acknowledged this. This isn’t one of the times where you can claim it’s like finding the wolfsangel in the crest of an old forester family. Simply bringing that up in this context is literally defending Nazis and I’d like you to stop doing that.
If a Nazi organization uses a symbol (any symbol) as a Nazi dogwhistle, and the government comes in, claims to have cleaned house but keeps the name and that symbol, do you not think that raises some red flags? Does it not make you consider the distinct possibility that they’re not doing a thorough job and just slapping a new coat of paint on the kubelwagon?
I’m not gonna pat the ukranian government on the back for removing the black sun, I’m gonna recognize the fact that they did that instead of completely removing all iconography associated with the Nazi regiment, dissolving it, investigating all people involved thoroughly and moving the men and material into other units or forming a new regiment with strict oversight and discipline and a command structure that’s entirely comprised of army personnel.
Because that’s how you “denazify” without incarcerating or killing the Nazis. Really, it’s how you integrate units that aren’t compatible with your force into yourself. The fact that the ukranian government thought it was enough to change the logo but keep the name and the wolfsangel communicates to anyone watching that they don’t see the Nazi regiment as incompatible with themselves, and they just want people in it to keep their heads down.
If you can stop defending Nazis for a second we can have a laugh at how the 67ths patch shows the profile of consumer grade donated ar-15 rifles with magpul flip up sights and everything. At least the volunteer corps is the iconography of irregulars (the rifles that were already around). When people try to blame everything on nato it’s important to remember that there are whole units whose existence is predicated on corporate sponsorship. Shits fucking grim.
This isn’t one of the times where you can claim it’s like finding the wolfsangel in the crest of an old forester family.
Just for the record: It’s not just some ancient thing you might find somewhere. It’s in active use in German heraldry, family crests, insignia of hunter organisations, etc. It’s a (by now outlawed because cruel) weapon to hunt wolves and foxes. Literally means “wolf rod”, “rod” here in the sense of fishing rod, one side of it would be hung up in a tree, while the part with barbs was equipped with a lure. Have a picture of a reconstruction (just the steel, not the gruesome details).
Semiotically I’d say it’s connected to protection, feistiness, because wolves scary monsters and shit (which really isn’t the case but that’s another can of worms). But consider your run of the mill peasant seeing that thing in a noble crest or such and saying “yep they’re keeping us safe”.
Every German one, two, and five cent coin has oak leaves on it. Same for the D-Mark. Germany is the successor state of Nazi Germany. The SS used oak leaves in insignia. Is the Bundesbank a Nazi organisation? Germany as a whole?
If a Nazi organization uses a symbol (any symbol) as a Nazi dogwhistle, and the government comes in, claims to have cleaned house but keeps the name and that symbol, do you not think that raises some red flags? Does it not make you consider the distinct possibility that they’re not doing a thorough job and just slapping a new coat of paint on the kubelwagon?
I have no reason to believe they weren’t thorough. Have you? Aside from assuming they weren’t thorough by not getting rid of the Wolfsangel. These kinds of insignia aren’t just changed will-nilly, there were a significant number of non-Nazis already in Azov who might’ve liked it, it is not considered to be a Nazi symbol in public Ukrainian perception (though it’s not a common heraldic theme, either, it’s simply “some fancy shape”). They did get rid of the black sun, that one is plain and simply indefensible.
dissolving it […] moving the men and material into other units or forming a new regiment
Ukraine is at war. By pulling regiments apart and reconstituting them you severely fuck with their fighting efficiency: Effective operations require trust in your comrades, requires knowing your comrades, how they will react in what situation, it requires prolonged periods of joint training.
In peace times, sure, that’d be the right thing to do. But Ukraine doesn’t have that luxury. Azov has been fighting Russian invaders since 2014, without pause. For quite a while it was the only regiment really fighting because the Ukrainian army was in complete shambles thanks to hybrid Russian warfare fucking with it. You don’t just dissolve your most experienced force while they’re keeping the enemy from running you over.
and a command structure that’s entirely comprised of army personnel.
…it’s not an army unit, but paramilitary police.
The biggest indicator for me, really, of the denazification working is swathes of Nazis simply packing their stuff and leaving. Why the fuck would they have done that if they had buddies in the interior ministry “only removing the black sun but turning a blind eye to the rest”?
I’m just gonna get it out of the way up front: equating oak leaves and a symbol with, once again, its own ADL entry and many pictures of Nazis using it in tattoos, emblems and patches is absurd and can only be interpreted as providing cover and defense for nazis. Stop defending nazis.
I do have reason to believe they’re just throwing a new coat of paint on the kubelwagon: they’re at war and they want command and control of the Nazi regiment!
You said it yourself, they didn’t do the right thing because they want the Nazis fighting for them.
They didn’t denazify anything and we can both look and see by the symbols and name they used!
