An Anti-Ukraine Meme Gets A Fact Check
Today I'll unpack a meme so we can spot any manipulation
This meme caught my eye while on an anti-war site. The meme paints a disturbing portrayal of western media legitimacy, if its contents are accurate. Let’s have a look at the contents.
Meme’s are always suspect, especially those with so many embedded images. How do you fact check such a thing? It’s not an easy copy paste to a search engine. Having nothing more interesting to do, I took on the task. Each headline was manually typed in to Duck Duck Go. Each result was checked to see that the images and titles matched. Where a match was unavailable, I included a footnote.
The links I was able to locate:
Column 1
Times of Israel - Ukraine celebrates Nazi collaborator, bans book critical of pogroms leader
Atlantic Council - Ukraine’s Got a Real Problem with Far-Right Violence
Forward - Violent Anti-Semitism Is Gripping Ukraine — And The Government Is Standing Idly By
BBC - Ukraine conflict: 'White power' warrior from Sweden
BBC - Ukraine conflict: Child soldiers join the fight
(No exact match for bottom left image)(See footnote 1)
Column 2
Eurasianet - Far-Right Fighters from Europe Fight for Ukraine
Le Matin - The Ukrainian neo-Nazis are supported by the Swiss
Bellingcat - Yes, It’s (Still) OK To Call Ukraine’s C14 “Neo-Nazi”
Freedom House - A New Eurasian Far Right Rising
CTV News - Far-right extremists in Ukrainian military bragged about Canadian training, report says
NBC - German TV Shows Nazi Symbols on Helmets of Ukraine Soldiers
Column 3
Haaretz - Ukraine Designates National Holiday to Commemorate Nazi Collaborator
France24 - Kiev’s far-right groups refuse to disarm
KHPG - Ukrainian neo-Nazi C14 vigilantes drive out Roma families, burn their camp
BBC - Ukraine underplays role of far right in conflict
DW - New 'Glory to Ukraine' army chant invokes nationalist past
Column 4
The Week - Britons join neo-Nazi militia in Ukraine
The Nation - Neo-Nazis and the Far Right Are On the March in Ukraine
Channel 4 - How the far-right took top posts in Ukraine’s power vacuum
Politico - Ukraine’s far-right menace
KHPG - With Axes And Hammers, Far-Right Vigilantes Destroy Another Roma Camp In Kyiv
Bellingcat - "Defend the White Race": American Extremists Being Co-Opted by Ukraine's Far-Right
Conclusion
The meme depicts western media Ukraine coverage prior to February 2022 .
Footnote 1
Web Search for 'Who is Stepan Bandera'
Web Search for depicted banner content 'Misanthropic Division Ukraine'
EuroNews - In Ukraine, Stepan Bandera’s legacy becomes a political football... again
Please leave your comments!