The dubious role of Bratstvo in the 2012 parliamentary elections in Ukraine

Dmytro Korchyns'ky, the leader of the far right Bratstvo party, which was one of the organisations behind the attacks on the Presidential Administration, is said to be on the wanted list. Moreover, he is said to have fled to Russia.

The police refused to arrest him for several days, so if he is indeed now hiding in Russia, he had plenty of time to go to there without any fear of being arrested by the Ukrainian police on the border with Russia.

A comment on Timothy Snyder's "A Way Out for Ukraine?"

Timothy Snyder has written a good analysis of the current situation in Ukraine:

A Way Out for Ukraine?

My comment:

One more important aspect should be taken into account too: the Ukrainian civil society which started the protests and is currently growing in strength. Non-partisan protesters on streets are very sceptical about the opposition, and demand a complete overhaul of the political system. A deal that could possibly be struck between the political elites will surely be not enough for them. The opposition understands and is concerned about this because hundreds of thousands of non-partisan protesters are the opposition's only resource of power. If the civil society sees that the opposition is using them for bargaining, it will withdraw its support, and even if the political elites strike some deal, the protests will likely to continue.

Provoking the Euromaidan

Provoking the Euromaidan

ANTON SHEKHOVTSOV 3 December 2013

Were disturbances on the Maidan the work of provocateurs or Ukrainian ultra-nationalists?

Ukrainian extra-parliamentary extreme right behind the provocations at the President Administration

A few extra-parliamentary extreme right groups took part in the attack on the President Administration in Kyiv today. Currently, there is no one reason to believe that these groups were somehow associated with the parliamentary radical right-wing Svoboda party or even with its paramilitary neo-Nazi units like C14.

One of these groups is "Tryzub" (Trident), which was originally formed as a paramilitary unit of the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists but then became an independent organisation.

The second group is the "Maidan Action 'Right-Wing Sector'" (Акція на Майдані "ПРАВИЙ СЕКТОР"), a movement formed on the social networking web-site VK.

Also seen by the President Administration is Dmytro Korchyn'sky, leader of the "Bratstvo" (Brotherhood) party. Korchyns'ky is widely considered an agent provocateur, and his "Bratstvo" already took part in several actions that were meant to provoke police suppression of peaceful protests. Moreover, it is said that Korchyns'ky taught a course at the explicitly pro-Putin "Seliger" summer camp in Russia.

Неонацистская угроза Евромайдану

Протесты в Украине, вызванные преступным отказом украинских властей от подписания Соглашения об Ассоциации с ЕС, могут столкнуться с проблемой легитимации. 23 ноября около 150 человек приняли участие неонацистском марше по улицам Львова.

Колона молодиків у білих масках пройшла з вулиці Коперника по проспекту Свободи, далі – вул. Галицька і до міської Ратуші, де розташована міськрада. При цьому радикально налаштовані мітингувальники вигукували нацистські та расистські гасла і закликали до революції: «Революція!», «Не вір, не бійся, не проси!», «Слава переможціям! Вождеві слава!», «Одна раса!», «Зіг Хайль!» та інші."

Pavlo Lapshyn: The transnational lone-wolf terrorist (in English, Ukrainian and Russian)

My article on Pavlo Lapshyn's case of transnational lone-wolf right-wing terrorism is now published in three languages:

The transnational lone-wolf terrorist
Справа Павла Лапшина як приклад транснаціонального праворадикального тероризму (переклала Ірина Доброгорська)
Транс-национальный террорист-одиночка (перевел Дмитрий Колесник)

Articles in Ukrainian and Russian are extended versions of the original English article.
Thanks to the translators!

Music and the Other - The Special Issue of Patterns of Prejudice

The Special Issue of Patterns of Prejudice on music and the Other, which I guest-edited, is finally out.

Contents

Music and the Other: an introduction
Anton Shekhovtsov

Demonizing and redeeming the gaucho: social conflict, xenophobia and the invention of Argentine national music
Melanie Plesch

Rhapsody in red: Shostakovich and American wartime perceptions of the Soviet Union
Lawrence P. MacCurtain

Germans, Hungarians and the Zigeunerkapelle: performing national enmity in late nineteenth-century Transylvania
Marian Zăloagă

‘Gypsy music’ as music of the Other in European culture
Anna G. Piotrowska

Music as a weapon of ethnopolitical violence and conflict: processes of ethnic separation during and after the break-up of Yugoslavia
Catherine Baker

‘Onward Blackshirts!’ Music and the British Union of Fascists
Graham Macklin

The soundtrack of neo-fascism: youth and music in the National Front
Ryan Shaffer

Mwenye? Muhindi? Mwafrika? Creative encounters with Afro-Asians in Tanzania, Zambia and Kenya
Aaron Louis Rosenberg