A day that will live in infamy: The day Odessa citizens were savagely killed

Yesterday – May 2, 2014 – the day that Kiev radicals supported by the US government attacked and burnt to death civilians in Ukraine, is a day which will live in infamy.

Those of us who grew up in the West after WWII believed that supporting anything resembling fascism was unthinkable. The moral degeneration of the US state and its NATO allies since that time is beyond belief. So too is the degeneration of the Washington Post, The New York Times, and other corporate media which have helped to delude large numbers of Americans into believing that Russia, which has killed or attacked no one,is somehow the aggressor in Ukraine.

In reality, and on the ground, the US government – with no mandate from the American people –is supporting the Ukrainian 'government' installed in a coup spearheaded by two ultra-nationalist parties, Svoboda and Right Sector. Now, in actions highly reminiscent of Hitler and his brown shirts, Right Sector oriented hooligans aided by military forces have just beaten with chains and baseball bats, and burned to death in the Trade Unions building, 39 civilians who were engaged in a protest in their own city of Odessa; civilians who were opposed to, and did not recognize, the new radical 'government.'

I assume that if, say, the American Nazi party allied with some billionaires and took power in America, at least some Americans would also resist. They might even propose a referendum, as some eastern Ukrainian cities have, on whether to remain in the country. If you do not believe that Svoboda and Right Sector are Neo-Nazi, or that they do not now have substantial power in the ministries of the military and security apparatus of the new 'government,' just look them up, and look at photos of their leaders and followers with Nazi-style armbands, Nazi-style flags, and Nazi-style badges, and the use of brown-shirt style bully boys, not to mention the leader of Svoboda giving the fascist salute.

The Svoboda leader, Oleg Tyagnibok, whose party now controls key positions in the military and security apparatus of the self-appointed Ukrainian 'government,'is on record as saying the Ukrainians who collaborated with the Nazis during WWII "were not afraid and went into the forest with their automatic rifles to kill Jews, Russians, and other filth.” He has also called for the ''cleansing” of Ukraine's “Russkie-Jid (Jewish) mafia” and praised convicted Nazi mass murderer John Demjanjuk as a “hero.”

Following the surprise attack by the fascist Japanese government on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii in 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt began his speech to the American Congress with the words: "Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 – a date which will live in infamy – the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan."

After that speech, the American government and people joined with the Soviet Union, China, Britain, Canada, and other nations in the momentous struggle to defeat fascism and its attempt to impose its racist ideology, holocaust, and tyranny on the whole world.

Yesterday, the day that US-supported neo-fascists beat civilians with chains and clubs and burned them to death in a Trade Union Hall in Ukraine’s Odessa – this also is a day that will live in infamy.

Eric Sommer, for RT

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.