Stepan Bandera
Ukrainian PoliticianWikipedia
31
MENTIONS
15
EPISODES
14
PODCASTS
Search complete. 31 mentions across 15 episodes found for "Stepan Bandera".
Oct 17, 2026
Jay DyerHOST
We're gonna talk about all that today.
Jay DyerHOST
Again, uh, we will talk about, again, usages of ethnic divides and conflicts such as Ukraine, for example, where we have Stepan Bandera, Right Sector, Pravy Sektor, Azov Battalion, real neo-Ns that are used by the establishment as a geopolitical soft power tool against Russia.
Jay DyerHOST
But I think for some people it's really hard to remove themselves from all these different layers and levels of conflict.
Jay DyerHOST
So on the one hand, there's biological division, ethnic divisions and squabbles that occur.
33 MINS LATER
Jay DyerHOST
They're just gonna say what your positions are.
Jay DyerHOST
They're gonna make 'em up.
Jay DyerHOST
So first of all, as we said with the examples of, uh, Pravy Sektor, uh, Right Sector, Stepan Bandera, all of these essentially OSS turned, uh, uh, turned operatives that became CIA operatives during the Cold War.
Jay DyerHOST
This goes back to Galen Org.
Scott RitterGUEST
There's nothing democratic about Ukraine.
Scott RitterGUEST
It's a military dictatorship, um, run by a man who has embraced the ideol- ideology of Stepan Bandera, which means fascist ideology linked to Adolf Hitler.
Scott RitterGUEST
Americans don't understand this.
Scott RitterGUEST
You know, the, uh, US Congress used to back in, uh, 2015, '16, '17, the National Defense Authorization Act specifically prohibited US taxpayer money being used to underwrite the Azov, uh, regiment at that time, saying that they are neo-Nazis, white supremacists.
Scott RitterGUEST
We know the reality of Western Ukrainian nationalism, and it now dominates Ukraine today.
Scott RitterGUEST
Just in July, the Ukrainian parliament, uh, the Rada, authorized the Ukrainian president, that's Zelensky, to build a pantheon of heroes.
Scott RitterGUEST
Who are the heroes? Stepan Bandera and the other Banderas, on the soil of Pechera Lavra.
Scott RitterGUEST
This is holy soil to Russian Orthodoxy.
Joanne SweeneyHOST
According to the group's own internal reports, in May it sent an email to schools in Peru.
Joanne SweeneyHOST
It claimed to come from the Regional Education Authority in Lima, and it told the schools to hold Ukraine-themed events, including references to Stepan Bandera, a controversial Ukrainian nationalist.
Joanne SweeneyHOST
Then they say they planted stories about it.
Joanne SweeneyHOST
OpenAI found matching coverage in Peruvian newspapers and in outlets in Poland and Hungary.
James RickardsGUEST
Zelenskyy's kind of a dope, uh, a little bit of an idiot, but it's one reason the Russians haven't killed him, because if your enemy is being led by an idiot, why would you kill the guy? You, you want him around.
James RickardsGUEST
Um, but, uh, the, the shots in, um, uh, Ukraine are really being called by the Neo-Nazis, the Azov Brigade, and, uh, what do you call it? The, uh, the Banderistas, uh, followers of Stepan Bandera, uh, Bandera rather, who, um, uh, was a, uh, Neo-Na...
James RickardsGUEST
Uh, well, not a Neo-Nazi.
James RickardsGUEST
He was a Nazi.
speaker_9HOST
The Russian accounts targeted Latin America and appeared to have aimed at undermining support for Ukraine, mostly using the chatbot to write reports for their superiors.
speaker_9HOST
In one report, operatives claimed they impersonated a regional education authority in Peru and got schools to host events featuring Stepan Bandera, a polarizing Ukrainian nationalist figure.
speaker_9HOST
A Peruvian outlet reported that one such event took place, and a Polish news story about it prompted a far-right Polish member of the European Parliament to suggest banning entry to people who profess support for him.
speaker_9HOST
OpenAI says that report appeared to describe the widest reaching influence operation it has encountered because it drew a response from a political figure.
speaker_1HOST
The one that stands out happened in Peru in the spring.
speaker_1HOST
A fake email dressed up as the Lima Education Office told schools to hold Ukraine-themed events and to feature Stepan Bandera, a nationalist from World War II whom Poland and Russia associate with wartime atrocities.
speaker_1HOST
And schools did it? By the operator's own account, some wrote back to the fake address confirming they had, with photos.
speaker_1HOST
Then, stories about Ukraine exporting extremism ran in Peru, in Poland, even in Hungary, and a Polish member of the European Parliament suggested barring anyone with anti-Polish views.
Cameron LallanaHOST
And that point of tension does rear its head repeatedly throughout the book, not all the time, but it pops up.
Cameron LallanaHOST
Um, talking about the Holocaust, anti-Semitism, a love of Stepan Bandera.
Cameron LallanaHOST
W- maybe you could talk a little bit more about that.
Nina KossmanGUEST
Sure.
Ray McGovernGUEST
In that case, I think that Zelensky and some of his henchmen would disappear to some Caribbean island with their security forces, and there would be the maintenance of a deal, except...
Ray McGovernGUEST
The Russians would have to deal with the Nazis, the proto-Nazis, the people who are devoted to Stepan Bandera.
Ray McGovernGUEST
That's a problem.
Ray McGovernGUEST
But if the Ukrainians don't really have much army left, my thinking is that's a problem that can be surmounted.
Tony KevinGUEST
The Germans had reached the oil fields of Baku in the First World War final years, and so this, as it were, whetted their appetite for conquest in the east.
Tony KevinGUEST
And, and you, you got a Ukrainian nationalist movement, which in the bedlam after the failure of the Russian imperial state, there was a strong Ukrainian nationalist movement that developed, and its heirs were people in the Second World War, Stepan Bandera was the most famous one, who knowingly collaborated with the Nazis and thought, "Well, this is our chance to have another go at Russia."
JoelHOST
And Bandera-
Tony KevinGUEST
So-
JoelHOST
... and Bandera now is the, you know, the spiritual, uh, kind of, uh, force behind Ukrainian, modern Ukrainian nationalism.
Tony KevinGUEST
Yes, but how he got there is really interesting because when, when Russia retook Ukraine in 1944-45, Stalin made the very wise decision, we will not try hard to punish Ukraine.
Tony KevinGUEST
We'll, we'll turn a blind eye to the bad guys.
JoelHOST
So I mean, can you explain that, that, that, uh, complexity a little bit that's sort of overlooked in the West?
Jay DyerGUEST
Two, just two different bad guys.
Jay DyerGUEST
So, you know, look up Stepan Bandera.
Jay DyerGUEST
Look up, uh, you know, uh, General, uh, Lebed.
Jay DyerGUEST
Not General Lebed.
Jay DyerGUEST
I can't remember the name of it.
Jay DyerGUEST
But basically it said, like, I'll, I'll read this article from a geopolitical analyst just real quick.
Jay DyerGUEST
He says, "Stepan Bandera was living in 1946 in Munich.
Jay DyerGUEST
There he worked under protection in close collaboration with Gehlen, the Nazi spy master turned CIA agent who was the future head of West German intelligence.
5 more episodes mention Stepan Bandera.
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