Conspiracy group hijacks NYU-organized war event in Ukraine

On March 2, a pair of protesters interrupted a conversation about the war in Ukraine between Russian journalist Yevgenia Albats and Atlantic staff correspondent Ann Applebaum.

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Zeynep Zaimler

On March 2, Professor Evgeniya Albats spoke with Ann Applebaum, The Atlantic staff correspondent and author of articles on Russian history. (Zeynep Zaimler for WSN)

On Thursday, two protesters from a group linked to fascism and anti-Semitism smashed an event involving Polish-American writer Ann Applebaum and Russian journalist Yevgenia Albats.

The couple, who appear to have been linked to a conspiracy group known as the Schiller Institute, clashed with Albats and Applebaum, a staff correspondent for The Atlantic, over the alleged role of the United States in the recent Nord Stream gas pipeline explosions. in Europe and its sanctions against Syria at an event hosted by New York University’s Jordanian Center for Advanced Study in Russia.

The Schiller Institute is one of a network of organizations dedicated to promoting the ideology of the late conspiracy theorist Lyndon LaRouche. conductor of fascist ideas, anti-Semitism and the fight against environmental protection. It was founded by LaRouche’s wife, Helga Sepp-LaRouche.

Two people confront each other during the event while the other participants sit around them.
During the action, the protesters clashed with Professor Yevgenia Albats. (Contributed by Christopher Atwood)

Kynan Thistlethwaite, one of the protesters, said the United States was responsible for a series of explosions in September which destroyed Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2, a pair of gas pipelines running from Russia to Germany. Russia has made similar statements, while the rest of the world avoided any accusations. No conclusive evidence has been published to support Thistlethwaite’s claim.

“Can you call for an international investigation into this sabotage at Nord Stream?” Thistlethwaite asked the panelists. “Can you accept the fact that we are terrorizing peoples around the world and no longer stand for democracy?”

United States already against pipelines before the war in Ukraine because of fears that they would make Europe dependent on Russia for energy resources. Since neither Germany nor the European Union approved the use of either of the pipelines at the time of their damage, the incidents did not affect Europe’s energy supply. However, the attacks caused one of Largest greenhouse gas emissions ever recorded.

Thistlethwaite also asked a question now deleted tweet from Radoslav Sikorsky, Applebaum’s husband, after the Nord Stream incident. In a tweet, Sikorski, a former Polish foreign minister and member of the EU parliament, captioned a photo of the gas leak with the words “Thank you USA.” Applebaum explained that the tweet was a joke and Sikorsky deleted it immediately because it was misinterpreted by the public.

After someone led Thistlethwaite out of the room, Daniel Burke, another protester who recorded the first brawl, raised the question of whether the United States was democratically run. He also condemned US sanctions against Syria, stating that it is wrong to punish a country when 90% of it is in “extreme poverty”. The United States temporarily eased sanctions on Syria after the recent earthquake in the northwest of the country.

“How can we claim that the US is a moral power?” Burke said. “My request is that you stop this madness, saying: “We are democrats and [Russia is] autocracy”.

Before the discussion was interrupted by protesters, Albats and Applebaum discussed new alliance between a number of authoritarian states, including China, Russia, Iran and Venezuela. Russia is seeking military support from these countries in its fight against Ukraine, and is also sending resources to autocratic regimes, including 24 fighter jets to Iran.

“They hate us in the broadest sense,” Applebaum said. “Not just Americans, but they don’t like liberalism, they don’t like democracy, they don’t like the language of democracy.”

Albats and Applebaum also discussed recent report from the Yale School of Public Health, which exposed the Russian program to radicalize and displace Ukrainian children. The program is ostensibly aimed at educating a new generation of Putin supporters. Researchers working on the report accused the program of violating international law.

“This is an attempt to “Russify” the region. In the course of this, it turned out that this requires a huge amount of violence, ”said Applebaum. “This was not an organized attempt to commit mass murder, but an attempt to eliminate community leaders.”

Christopher Atwood, a media and communications contributor at the Ukrainian-American nonprofit Razom, said he often participates in discussions about the war and tries to present a Ukraine-focused point of view. Atwood, who also works at Columbia University’s Harriman Institute for Russian, Eurasian and Eastern European Studies, added that he knew the LaRouche activists the protesters called themselves. He said the group frequently held protests at Columbia University.

“LaRouche activists are very active in New York,” Atwood said. “They are constantly protesting outside of Colombia and the topics of discussion are so obvious each time and the tactics are always very similar.”

Contact Clara Spray at [email protected]

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