Russia's Special Operation in Ukraine

Joe Rogan Blasts US Media U-Turn on Ukraine Coverage for Dodging Corruption, Far-Right Group Issues

03:59 GMT, 23 March 2022
© AP Photo / Efrem Lukatsky
Kirill Kurevlev
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Rogan's critique of much of US media is based on a decade of journalistic investigating into Ukraine's politics, which have been largely ignored in favor of a new narrative portraying Ukraine as a liberal democracy comparable to its western neighbors.
Sputnik
Joe Rogan, a popular podcaster, apparently spoke out against the American mainstream media narrative, pointing out that the outlets have completely reversed the reporting on Ukraine, which was previously thought to be corrupt at all levels of government.
In a recent episode of his show "The Joe Rogan Experience", Rogan recalled the screenshot that "someone sent me" about the US media coverage of Ukraine before the current conflict.
"This is one of the things that’s so weird is that they were very disparaging of Ukraine, and they were talking about the massive corruption of Ukraine, and how horrible it was over there," he said. "And now, all of a sudden, they’re looking at it like they’re heroes. The same exact people. This is what’s confusing."
Rogan termed Ukraine "the most corrupt nation in Europe," with a "increasingly corrupt and authoritarian leader" attempting to deepen an "alliance with the far-right," as he read off headlines from a screenshot.

"We’re supposed to just veer away from the narrative that was being pushed just a couple years ago," he added, referring to the Trump administration's push to bribe Kiev with foreign aid cash it had already been promised.

The publications in question came from the World Socialist Web Site, the right-wing Cato Institute, and the Ukrainian news agency UNIAN.
Rogan also verbally attacked Big Tech corporations like Meta's Facebook* and other social media platforms for permitting violent speech toward the Russian government and its military, in addition to condemning the media for changing its narrative on Ukraine.
The Russian court has recently labeled Meta as an extremist organization for allowing the calls for violence against Russians during the Kremlin's ongoing special military operation across Ukraine.
In 2017, the New York Times reported on a policy pursued by the previous Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko, to "whitewash" World War II Ukrainian nationalists who openly collaborated with Nazi occupation authorities in the mid-20th century and displayed anti-Semitism and direct participation in Nazi crimes against humanity.

"Virulent right-wing nationalist groups have found new prominence in Ukrainian politics in recent years. Although extremist political parties make up only a small minority of Parliament, far-right groups have violently clashed with the government on a number of occasions," the article reads, referring to Poroshenko's administration.

The article, written by the head of the Ukrainian Jewish Committee, went on to highlight how neo-Nazis frequently desecrated Holocaust memorials and places in Ukraine, as historical revisionism of that country's dark past has ramped up to whitewash not only Ukrainian nationalists, but the conduct of the remaining modern neo-Nazis.
In 2018, the Atlantic Council published a report on known far-right groups in Ukraine that rose to prominence after the 2014 coup d'état. In 2018, according to the report, C14* and other far-right groups such as the Azov-affiliated National Militia, Right Sector*, Karpatska Sich*, and others "have attacked Roma groups several times, as well as anti-fascist demonstrations, city council meetings, an event hosted by Amnesty International, art exhibitions, LGBT events, and environmental activists."

Although the think tank agreed that judging by polls, far-right groups did not have broad popular support, "it’s not extremists’ electoral prospects that should concern Ukraine’s friends, but rather the state’s unwillingness or inability to confront violent groups and end their impunity."

"Whether this is due to a continuing sense of indebtedness to some of these groups for fighting the Russians or fear they might turn on the state itself, it’s a real problem and we do no service to Ukraine by sweeping it under the rug," the analyst center stated.
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*An extremist organization banned in Russia
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