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The oligarch regretted comparing the Occupy Movement with Nazi Germany… but he stands by his words that a “minority” of rich people are being “demonised” by a “majority” and that “it’s wrong and dangerous”.
Venture capitalist pioneer Tom Perkins apologised for a reference he made comparing the anger directed at the wealthiest 1 percent of people in the USA to the Nazis’ treatment of Jewish people at the beginning of the Holocaust. The debacle began when Perkins, a now-retired founder of leading venture capitalist firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, wrote a letter to The Wall Street Journal titled Progressive Kristallnacht Coming? In the letter, Perkins wrote, “I’d call attention to the parallels of Nazi Germany to its war on its ‘One Percent‘, namely its Jews, to the progressive war on the American One Percent, namely the ‘rich'”. Perkins likened people involved in the Occupy Movement and those protesting the Google buses in San Francisco CA to the Nazis that rounded up Jews in 1938 during Kristallnacht. During this event, “the Night of Broken Glass”, around 90 Jewish people died and the authorities arrested 30,000 more. Perkins wrote, “This is a very dangerous drift in our American thinking. Kristallnacht was unthinkable in 1930; is its descendent ‘progressive’ radicalism unthinkable now?”
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It didn’t take long for a backlash to all that to occur. Not only did the Anti-Defamation League protest Perkins’ statements, Kleiner Perkins also quickly condemned the letter. Leading venture capitalist Marc Andreessen tweeted, “I wish to express my extreme displeasure with Tom Perkins. His positions just go to prove that he’s the leading [a%()&#e] in the state”. On Monday, in an interview with Bloomberg, Perkins apologised for referring to Kristallnacht, saying, “It was a terrible word to have chosen. I, like many, have tried to understand the 20th century and the incomprehensible evil of the Holocaust. It can’t be explained. Even to try to explain it is questionable. It’s wrong. It’s evil”. He said that he came up with the comparison when he thought about how people in the Occupy Movement broke bank and retail store windows. In an apology letter to the Anti-Defamation League, Perkins wrote that his late partner at Eugene Kleiner “fled Hitler from Austria and fought in the US Army. We became the deepest of friends during our long association and he taught me, ‘Never imagine that the unimaginable cannot become real”.
Whilst Perkins said that he regrets making the comparison to Nazi Germany, he also said that he still stands behind his message about protesters’ rage toward rich Americans, noting, “I feel, however, that as a class I think we’re beginning to engage in class warfare. The message is, any time the majority starts to demonise a minority, no matter what it is, it’s wrong and dangerous. No good ever comes from it”.
27 January 2014
Darra Kerr
cnet.com
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57617897-93/tom-perkins-apologizes-for-his-kristallnacht-reference/
Editor’s Note:
BOO-HOO! I feel SO sorry for this self-centred sack o’ shit. Warren Buffett was more concise… “We’ve had a class war for the past thirty years… we won it”. Indeed… it’s time for “the rest of us” to push back. As for Mr Perkins… at least, he’s honest… he’s an unrepentant thief, who hollers, “Catch me if you can!” It’s honesty… but not much else. By their fruits ye shall know them…
By the way, a rightwing conspiracy theory kook and religious nutters dominated the commboxes for this post. Please, don’t be tempted to “comment” on ANYTHING that you see on the web… all that happens is that all the crazies crawl out of the woodwork and spout their particular absorptions (every so often, I’ve fallen to that temptation, only to find logic trumped by idiots… take heed, kids). Cross yourself, pour a drink, and sigh… the world hasn’t gotten any less crank in the last 24, has it?
BMD
Voices from Russia 
Junta to Create “National Guard” Out of Euromaidan Toughs… Conducting NKVD-Style Purge of MVDU
Tags: Babi Yar, Kristallnacht, Military of Ukraine, National Guard, Night of the Long Knives, political commentary, politics, Russia, Russian, Ukraine
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An anonymous source in the Cabinet of Ministers of the Ukraine told RIA-Novosti that the junta would create a new armed body… the “National Guard”… out of Euromaidan rioters, as the junta mistrusts the Ukrainian armed forces. The junta believes that the forces lack combat readiness and that they lack the will to defend the junta and its “reforms”. Our source told us, “It (the National Guard) will be a loyal internal force for the new junta made up of Euromaidan vigilantes”. Besides, the new junta wants to put into the force structure a unit that will do anything that it orders it to. Our source said, “Some say that the National Guard will have over 20,000 personnel”. They went on to explain that this move was part of a junta decision to purge the MVDU of all elements that it suspects of harbouring disloyalty to them.
12 March 2014
RIA-Novosti
http://ria.ru/world/20140312/999217787.html
Editor’s Note:
If this doesn’t prove to you that the junta is a bunch of neo-Nazis, nothing will. They’re going to put rioters in uniform, give them guns, and give them police powers. That’s a sure recipe for the Night of the Long Knives and Kristallnacht all rolled up into one noxious little package. This National Guard will lack training… it will lack discipline… it will lack a coherent force structure… but it will have weapons… it will have “loyalty”… it will do anything that the junta orders it to, including mowing down dissidents.
Their grandfathers helped the Einsatzkommando at Babi Yar… the apple sure didn’t fall far from the tree…
BMD