https://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2022/04/omni-us-russia-ukraine-war-anthology-18.html
Compiled by Dick Bennett for a Culture of Peace, Justice, and Ecology
CONTENTS OF US, NATO, Russia, Ukraine War Anthology #18, April 12, 2022
Control of Information in the US regarding the US, NATO, Russia, Ukraine War
What we mean by alternatives to official war news: that of the US War Party and its media. We have chosen different sources.
Survey of OMNI’s 18 R/U Anthologies, 2014-2022:
Total number of entries: 306.
Most of these entries were necessarily from sources other than the corporate mainstream because US mainstream newspapers support the nation in its wars.
A few examples from #18: The Unz Review, Extra! (FAIR), CovertAction Magazine, Internationalist 360, Orinoco Tribune, The 14th Newsletter, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Multipolarista, Dissident Voice, Consortium News, UN Wire
ORIGINS, CAUSES OF THE WAR
NATO
“NATO Is a Problem, Not The Solution.” Popular Resistance.org
“The U.S. proxy war in Ukraine,” Monthly Review.
US Proxy War and Imperial Strategy
US-Led Provocations
US Peace Council Statement On Russia’s Military Intervention In Ukraine. Popular Resistance.
US DEMONIZING RUSSIA, PUTIN. SANCTIONS
Larry C. Johnson: “The Ukrainian Army Has Been Defeated’”. Unz Review
“Escalation without consequences on the Op-Ed page.” FAIR
CovertAction Bulletin Podcast: “U.S. Hypocrisy—CIA Trains Insurgents in Ukraine.”
“U.S. and NATO allies arm neo-Nazi units in Ukraine as Foreign Policy elites yearn for Afghan-style insurgency.” Internationalist 360
“U.S. Congress admits Nazi role in Ukraine.” Orinoco Tribune.
“U.S. Media Decries Brutal Russia Invasion of Ukraine—(But) Russians Were Welcomed as Liberators in Southern Ukraine.” CovertAction Magazine
“US Media Pushing for World War III.” Consortium News (Via Abel Tomlinson)
Scarcity of CRITICAL THINKING (a cause of war too little taught by our public schools):
“This is not the age of certainty. We are in the time of contradictions.” The Fourteenth Newsletter (2022).
“Russia’s non-proliferation disinformation campaign.” Monthly Review.
“What Western leaders need to remember about Zelensky’s emotional appeals.” Roger Peterson.
“Ukraine is brutally repressing the left, criminalizing socialist parties, imprisoning activists.” Monthly Review
Aggressor Nations: US Context of Russia/Ukraine War.
The United States of War: A Global History of America’s Endless Conflicts, from Columbus to the Islamic State by David Vine.
CONSEQUENCES OF THE WAR
“Which war crimes might Russians have committed in Ukraine?” BAS (March 24, 2022). Video.
Propaganda of Hatred during Wars
“Fabricating Putin quotes and banning paraplegic athletes to undermine Russia: how low can the West go?” Monthly Review.
Atrocities: Bucha
Joe Lauria. “Questions Abound About Bucha Massacre.” Consortium.
“The Bucha Provocation.” Moon of Alabama.
CENSORSHIP [both cause and consequence of war, part of the deception inseparable from war].
Peoples Dispatch. “Lee Camp on censoring anti-war voices.”
“Pity the Nation.: Monthly Review
Opposition political parties banned in Ukraine and ‘unified information policy’ imposed. Monthly Review
ILLNESSES WORSENING
WHO issues warning over Ukraine as Russia exits HRC. UN Wire
WORLD HUNGER
Hunger crisis looms as Ukraine war drives food costs up. UN Wire
George Paulson on book The First Casualty (of war is the truth) by Philip Knightly
POSSIBLE CONSEQUENCES
Simulations reveal an attack on Ukrainian nuclear facilities could have possibly been worse than Chernobyl. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
PEACE
“U.S. Leaders Claim to Care About the Suffering of the Ukrainian People, But Will They Step Up and Make the Compromises Necessary to End the War?” Covert Action magazine.
“An antidote to the ‘split’ in the U.S. Peace Movement: anti-interventionism.” Monthly Review
“Divided World: The UN Condemnation of Russia is endorsed by Countries run by the richest, oldest, Whitest people on Earth but only 41% of the World’s population.” Monthly Review
“Halfway to the End of the War.” Monthly Review
“Student event: Discussing Ukraine and the future of arms control with Michael Krepon.” Student Pugwash USA
Dawn Stover. “10 must-read Twitter threads on the war in Ukraine.” The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
TEXTS #18
ORIGINS, CAUSES OF THE WAR
NATO Is a Problem, Not The Solution
By Yves Engler. PopularResistance.org (3-24-22). While in no way excusing Russia’s criminal invasion, NATO expansion eastward increased its likelihood. Although we’ll never know if the war would not have happened under different circumstances, after a month of Russian violence against Ukraine the two countries’ negotiators have reportedly agreed that it will reject joining NATO as part of a peace pact. Russia has long objected to NATO’s eastward expansion, particularly Ukraine’s de facto incorporation into the alliance. It repeatedly raised objections to NATO encircling its territory in the months leading up to its illegal invasion. -more-
US Peace Council Statement On Russia’s Military Intervention In Ukraine. By U.S. Peace Council. PopulaResistance.org (3-26-22). What we all hoped would not happen has happened. The Russian Federation sent troops into Ukraine on February 24 in response to decades of relentless US-led NATO provocation. The present situation puts many serious, fundamental questions before the global peace movement. A fierce propaganda campaign, long simmering with Russiagate and the onset of a new Cold War, demonizing the Russian president and state has intensified. Wholesale condemnation of Russia has assumed global proportions, instigated by the US and allies, and supported by their sycophantic media. -more-
US DEMONIZING RUSSIA, PUTIN. SANCTIONS
Larry C. Johnson: ‘The Ukrainian Army Has Been Defeated’
By Mike Whitney, The Unz Review. There is an air of desperation in Washington. Besides trying ban all things Russian, the Biden Administration is trying to bully China, India and Saudi Arabia. I do not see any of those countries falling into line. I believe the Biden crew made a fatal mistake by trying to demonize all things and all people Russian. If anything, this is uniting the Russian people behind Putin and they are ready to dig in for a long struggle. I am shocked at the miscalculation in thinking economic sanctions on Russia would bring them to their knees. The opposite is true. -more-
“Escalation without consequences on the Op-Ed page.”
Corporate media outlets are calling for the United States and its allies to react to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine by escalating the war.
Originally published: FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting) by Gregory Shupak (March 22, 2022 ). Posted Mar 25, 2022.
WarRussia, Ukraine, United StatesNewswire
“Corporate media outlets are calling for the United States and its allies to react to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine by escalating the war. The opinion pages are awash with pleas to pump ever-more deadly weaponry into the conflict, to choke Russian civilians with sanctions, and even to institute a “no-fly zone.” That such approaches gamble with thousands, and possibly millions, of lives doesn’t shake the resolve of the press’s armchair generals.”
CovertAction Bulletin Podcast: “U.S. Hypocrisy—CIA Trains Insurgents in Ukraine.” As the US government continues to say it does not want U.S. or NATO forces coming into direct conflict with Russian troops, a recent report in Yahoo News revealed that since 2015, the CIA has been overseeing a secret intensive training program in the U.S. for elite Ukrainian special operations forces who are trained for insurgency.
What is the real purpose of this CIA program? And what does it actually say about U.S. intentions in the region?
In the latest episode of CovertAction Bulletin, we discuss the history of this decades-long CIA training program in Ukraine, and more. Joining the show is Walter Smolarek, of the podcast The Socialist Program.
We also discuss Ukranian President Voldymyr Zelensky’s speech Sunday night where he denied Ukranian involvement in the Holocaust, the recent disturbing tweet from Secretary Blinken blaming Yemeni people for the ongoing U.S.-backed Saudi war in Yemen, and the role that U.S. intelligence agencies have played in cyber attacks.
For patrons who sign up for the CovertAction Bulletin at our patreon site, for as little as $3 per month you can also listen to our exclusive interview with author, investigator, journalist and poet Douglas Valentine, whose multiple books include The CIA As Organized Crime, The Phoenix Program, The Strength of the Pack, among other titles.
With Douglas, we take a look at the recent revelation in the mainstream media that the CIA is training insurgents in Ukraine and step back to look at how this fits in the larger pattern of CIA covert operations. We also discuss Doug’s book entitled CIA As Organized Crime and dive deeper into an overarching view of how the CIA operates and its playbook in Ukraine. And finally, Doug addresses the role of the U.S. security state in the “War on Drugs.” […]
The post CovertAction Bulletin Podcast: U.S. Hypocrisy—CIA Trains Insurgents in Ukraine appeared first on CovertAction Magazine.
Alex Rubenstein. “U.S. and NATO allies arm neo-Nazi units in Ukraine as Foreign Policy elites yearn for Afghan-style insurgency.” Internationalist 360 (March 20, 2022). Posted Mar 23, 2022. Editor. Mronline.org (3-24-22).
Corporate U.S. media and foreign policy hardliners want to create a new Afghanistan in the middle of Europe by flooding Ukraine with weapons. The arms industry is very pleased.
Culture, Ideology, Strategy, WarUkraine, United StatesNewswireNeo-Nazi, neo-Nazi Azov regiment, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
Robert Parry . “U.S. Congress admits Nazi role in Ukraine.” Orinoco Tribune (12 June 2015). Reposted: March 21, 2022). Mronline.org (3-24-22).
Fascism, State Repression, Strategy, WarUkraine, United StatesNewswireNeo-Nazi, neo-Nazi Azov regiment.
When even the hawkish House of Representatives can’t stomach these Nazi storm troopers who have served as Kiev’s tip of the spear against the ethnic Russian population of eastern Ukraine, what does that say about the honesty and integrity of the New York Times when it finds these same Nazis so admirable?
| Sonja Van den Ende. U.S. Media Decries Brutal Russia Invasion of Ukraine—Yet an Intrepid Reporter Finds that the Russians Were Welcomed as Liberators in the Southern Ukrainian City of Henichesk along the Sea of Azov. CovertAction Magazine via gmail.mcsv.net. Mar 25, 2022. |
[This is a report from Sonja Vandenende, a Dutch journalist who was embedded with Russian troops in southeastern Ukraine. Previously, Sonja reported on the ground in Syria for CAM. Her reporting substantiates that of Patrick Lancaster, a Russian-speaking U.S. Navy veteran whose reporting on the war in Donbass for eight years is respected by investigative journalists. CAM’s mission is to bring to your attention alternative narratives gleaned by eyewitness accounts—even if they could be misconstrued as pro-Russian.—Editors]
Last week I was embedded with the Russian army and visited two towns in southeastern Ukraine. The first town was called Henichesk, a port city along the Sea of Azov in Kherson Oblast (province) of southern Ukraine, bordering on Crimea.
The Russian army, patrolling the city, went with us—the embedded journalists—for protection. But actually the protection was not really needed; the people in Henichesk, at least the majority with whom I spoke, were very happy that the Russian army was there.
The people that I spoke to all said the same thing: They felt protected from the criminal gangs, with their Nazi ideology, who raged the towns. They in turn hoped that Ukraine will prosper again. […]
The post U.S. Media Decries Brutal Russia Invasion of Ukraine—Yet an Intrepid Reporter Finds that the Russians Were Welcomed as Liberators in the Southern Ukrainian City of Henichesk along the Sea of Azov appeared first on CovertAction Magazine.
Abel Tomlinson. Here is an excellent article on how the US Corporate Media is pushing toward World War 3.
JAKE JOHNSON. “US Media Pushing for World War III.” March 20, 2022. “The mainstream media is repeating the same mistakes it made 20 years ago in the lead-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq,” argued one critic. https://consortiumnews.com/2022/03/20/us-media-pushing-for-world-war-iii/
In the run-up to and during the Bush administration’s catastrophic invasion of Iraq, corporate media outlets were accused of acting as stenographers for the White House, amplifying official justifications for the attack—which were lies—while stifling dissenting voices. Today, having apparently learned no lessons—or the wrong ones—from Iraq, reporters for corporate newspapers and cable TV programs are yet again facing criticism for their coverage of a war, this time one in which the White House has vowed not to involve U.S. troops.
“Much of cable news has become nonstop cheerleading for the U.S. to declare war on Russia.”
During briefings held at the White House over the past week as Russia ramped up its assault on Ukraine, correspondents have incessantly pushed Press Secretary Jen Psaki on President Joe Biden’s refusal to escalate U.S. involvement in the war even further, questioning the administration’s refusal to impose a no-fly zone and send MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine.
By contrast, very few questions have centered on the diplomatic talks between Russia and Ukraine and what the U.S. is doing to facilitate the ongoing negotiations. MORE https://consortiumnews.com/2022/03/20/us-media-pushing-for-world-war-iii/
“The lesson that national American media outlets have failed to learn is that their critical role in our democracy is more than just questioning ‘official’ narratives,” she added. “It is also remaining critical, or even just acknowledging the confirmation bias produced by the corporate war racketeering in Washington that drives policymakers and the American public to think that our only choices in the face of insecurity and conflict are more war or doing nothing.”
[Scarcity of CRITICAL THINKING (a cause of war too little taught by our public schools, a deficiency increased by war)]
Vijay Prashad. “This is not the age of certainty. We are in the time of contradictions.” The Fourteenth Newsletter (2022).
It is hard to fathom the depths of our time, the terrible wars, and the confounding information that whizzes by without much wisdom. Certainties that flood the airwaves and the internet are easy to come by, but are they derived from an honest assessment of the war in Ukraine and the sanctions against Russian banks (part of a broader United States sanctions policy that now afflicts approximately thirty countries)?
“Russia’s non-proliferation disinformation campaign.” Even though specific claims about Ukraine seeking weapons of mass destruction are blatant falsehoods they should not be dismissed as inconsequential, says Abigail Stowe-Thurston, project lead at CRDF Global. They muddy the waters, making the truth more difficult to discern. Read more. Abigail Stowe-Thurston. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. March 22, 2022. Mronline.org (3-27-22).
| “What Western leaders need to remember about Zelensky’s emotional appeals.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has made repeated, emotional calls for help as Russia continues its invasion. But if Western policymakers leave their emotions about war unchecked, they may not make the best policy decisions, says MIT political science professor Roger Petersen. Read more. |
Ben Norton. “Ukraine is brutally repressing the left, criminalizing socialist parties, imprisoning activists.” Posted Mar 26, 2022.
Multipolarista (March 21, 2022 ). Editor. Mronline.org (3-27-22).
Ideology, Inequality, State Repression, WarRussia, UkraineNewswireAzov, David Frum, Left, Nazis, Volodymyr Zelensky
Ukraine’s Western-backed government has criminalized socialist political parties, while its Nazi-infiltrated intelligence agencies are hunting down leftists, accusing them of being too soft on Russia. This comes after Kiev gave state honors to WWII-era Ukrainian fascists who collaborated with Hitler.
Aggressor Nations: US Context of Russia/Ukraine War.
The United States of War: A Global History of America’s Endless Conflicts, from Columbus to the Islamic State by David Vine. October 2020.
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About the Book From Our Blog About the Author ReviewsTable of Contents Learn MoreMediaRelated Books
Publisher’s Description
The United States has been at war or has invaded other countries almost every year since independence. In The United States of War, David Vine traces this pattern of bloody conflict from Columbus’s 1494 arrival in Guantanamo Bay through the 250-year expansion of a global US empire. Drawing on historical and firsthand anthropological research in fourteen countries and territories, The United States of War demonstrates how US leaders across generations have locked the United States in a self-perpetuating system of permanent war by constructing the world’s largest-ever collection of foreign military bases—a global matrix that has made offensive interventionist wars more likely. Beyond exposing the profit-making desires, political interests, racism, and toxic masculinity underlying the country’s relationship to war and empire, The United States of War shows how the long history of U.S. military expansion shapes our daily lives, from today’s multi-trillion–dollar wars to the pervasiveness of violence and militarism in everyday U.S. life. The book concludes by confronting the catastrophic toll of American wars—which have left millions dead, wounded, and displaced—while offering proposals for how we can end the fighting.
CONSEQUENCES OF THE WAR
“Which war crimes might Russians have committed in Ukraine?” BAS (March 24, 2022). Video. Defining war crimes.
What are the actual Russian war crimes that the International Criminal Court might decide warrant prosecuting? Here’s a look at the language defining some of the war crimes that might have been caught on camera in this heavily documented war. Read more.
Propaganda of Hatred during Wars [Like so many other aspects of this anthology, “Mobilizing a population to vilify and hate a targeted enemy,” operates equally as a cause of war.]
“Fabricating Putin quotes and banning paraplegic athletes to undermine Russia: how low can the West go?” Dissident Voice by Rick Sterling (April 7, 2022 ). Posted Apr 09, 2022.
Political Economy, State Repression, Strategy, WarRussia, Ukraine, United StatesNewswireFake News, Russia-Ukraine War, Sanctions
Editor. Mronline.org (4-10-22).
Mobilizing a population to vilify and hate a targeted enemy is a tactic that leaders have used since before the dawn of human history, and it is being used to demonize Russia and Vladimir Putin in the current conflict.
Atrocities: Bucha
Joe Lauria. “Questions Abound About Bucha Massacre.” April 4, 2022. Special to Consortium News.
The West has made a snap judgment about who is responsible for the massacre at the Ukrainian town of Bucha with calls for more stringent sanctions on Russia, but the question of guilt is far from decided, writes Joe Lauria.
Within hours of news Sunday that there had been a massacre at Bucha, a town 63 kms north of the Ukrainian capital, the verdict was in: Russian troops had senselessly slaughtered hundreds of innocent civilians as they withdrew from the town, leaving their bodies littering the streets.
Unlike their judicial systems, when it comes to war, Western nations dispense with the need for investigations and evidence and pronounce guilt based on political motives: Russia is guilty. Case closed.
Except the case hasn’t even been opened yet and the sentence is already being proposed. French President Emmanuel Macron, for instance, has called for Russian coal and oil to be banned from Europe. “There are very clear indications of war crimes,” he said on France Inter radio Monday. “What happened in Bucha demands a new round of sanctions and very clear measures, so we will co-ordinate with our European partners, especially with Germany.”
Other voices are now perilously calling for the U.S. to go to war with Russia over the incident.
“This is genocide,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told Face the Nation on CBS. “Mothers of Russians should see this. See what bastards you’ve raised. Murderers, looters, butchers,” he added on Telegram.
Russia has categorically denied it had anything to do with the massacre.
Where to Start MORE https://consortiumnews.com/2022/04/04/questions-abound-about-bucha-massacre/
“THE BUCHA PROVOCATION.” By Moon of Alabama. April 6, 2022 VIA PopularResistance.org. Educate!
Above photo[deleted]: Matthew Hatcher/SOPA Images/REX/Shutterstock.
Update: If The Pentagon Can Not Confirm The Bucha Tales, Who Can?
This was the most important one of yesterday’s news items.
Pentagon can’t independently confirm atrocities in Ukraine’s Bucha, official says
WASHINGTON, April 4 (Reuters) – The U.S. military is not in a position to independently confirm Ukrainian accounts of atrocities by Russian forces against civilians in the town of Bucha, …
…
“The Pentagon can’t independently and single handedly confirm that, but we’re also not in any position to refute those claims.”If the Pentagon, which includes the Defense Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, could not confirm what the government in Kiev claimed, who else could? Certainly not the European minions who reacted to those dubious claims by removing more Russian embassy personal from their countries.
The U.S. is again pushing the Europeans into suiciding their economies. The U.S. would of course be the only country that would gain from that.
Its over. The Ukraine has lost the war. Its navy, air force and defense industry no longer exist. The Russia air force is doing hundreds of bombing runs per night eliminating any fuel and ammunition depot that is left in Ukraine.
Without fuel tanks and trucks are immobilized. Without ammunition artillery falls silent. The heavy Ukrainian units along Donbas are now unable to do maneuver warfare. They can not even flee. Replenishment and reserves are unable to reach them. They have the choice of giving up or getting destroyed in place. Anyone who is still pushing more weapons into Ukraine or tells Kiev to prolong the war is putting more Ukrainian lives at risk for zero potential gain. That’s criminal.
The Bucha ‘Russian’ atrocities propaganda onslaught may have worked well in the ‘west’ but it lacks evidence that Russia had anything to do with it.
The former Indian ambassador M.K. Bhadrakumar calls it an outright fake:
An indignant Moscow has angrily demanded a United Nations Security Council meeting on Monday over the allegations of atrocities by Russian troops in areas around Kiev through the past month. Prima facie, this allegation is fake news but it can mould misperceptions by the time it gets exposed as disinformation.
A Tass report says: “The Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday that the Russian Armed Forces had left Bucha, located in the Kiev region, on March 30, while “the evidence of crimes” emerged only four days later, after Ukrainian Security Service officers had arrived in the town. The ministry stressed that on March 31, the town’s Mayor Anatoly Fedoruk had confirmed in a video address that there were no Russian troops in Bucha. However, he did not say a word about civilians shot dead on the street with their hands tied behind their backs.”
Even more surprising is that within minutes of the “breaking news”, western leaders — heads of state, foreign ministers, former politicians — popped up with statements duly kept ready and only based on the videos, seconds-long videos and a clutch of photos, ready to pour accusations. No expert opinion was sought, no forensic work was done, no opportunity given to the accused to be heard.
I had yesterday, at 15:09 UTC, posted a timeline of the events in Bucha on Twitter. Here is an expanded version.
Mar 30 – Ru troops leave Bucha
Mar 31 – Mayor of Bucha announces town ‘liberated’, makes no mention of atrocities.
Bucha liberated from Russian invaders – mayor – Ukrinform
The mayor of Bucha in Kyiv region, Anatoliy Fedoruk, stated that the town had been liberated from Russian troops.
Fedoruk said this in his video address posted on Facebook, Ukrinform reports.
“March 31 will go down in the history of our Bucha community as the Day of Liberation. …”
Apr 1/2 – Azov Nazis enter Bucha
Scenes of desperation and death as the Russians retreat from suburbs outside Kyiv. – New York Times
Ukrainian soldiers from the Azov battalion walked through the remnants of a Russian military convoy in the recently liberated town of Bucha on Saturday, just outside the capital after the Russians withdrew.
Apr 3 – Ukr MinDef publishes video of ‘Russian’ atrocities
Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine. – New York Times, Apr 3
Footage posted by Ukraine’s Defense Ministry and photographs from news agencies showed the bodies of men in civilian clothes on the streets of Bucha, a town northwest of Kyiv. Images showed some corpses with hands bound behind their back.
A screenshot of the original NYT piece was attached to my tweet. It included the sentence:
The New York Times was unable to independently verify the assertions by Ukraine’s Defense Ministry and other officials.
The above tweet went viral with more than 3,000 retweets and nearly 5,000 likes. People obviously recognize the importance of the above timeline for the question of who killed whom, when and how.
Gonzalo Lira, who is in Karkiv, has previously directed a professionally made movie. In this video he asserts that the main ‘Russian’ atrocity video, which shows cars driving down a street strewn with dead bodies, is of a professional high production quality that can only be achieved with high end equipment. He also remarks on additional evidence from the scenes that points to a false flag operation.
Lira comes to the conclusion that the Azov Nazis have killed some people in Bucha that had been too friendly with the Russian ‘occupiers’ and are now blaming Russia for it.
Azov gangs are known for such atrocities. Based on the above timeline I concur with Lira’s conclusion.
CENSORSHIP
Peoples Dispatch. “Lee Camp on censoring anti-war voices.” Mronline.org (4-9-22).
As the world moves dangerously close to global violent conflict, anti-war journalists have been banned and censored in Europe and the U.S. One of these banned voices, Lee Camp, discusses the development and why it is so dangerous. [Censorship, both a cause and a consequence of war, seems inseparable from war.]
Scott Ritter. “Pity the Nation.”
Editor. Mronline.org (3-25-22). [Censoring Iraq War opposition repeated today.]
Fact-based arguments Scott Ritter made challenging the case for war against Iraq were effectively silenced. Today he sees the same template in play towards anyone challenging the dogma of “Putinism.”
“Opposition political parties banned in Ukraine and ‘unified information policy’ imposed.” Editor. Mronline.org (3-25-22).
Zelensky justified the ban on mostly left and anti-NATO parties in the country by claiming that they had alleged links with Russia, despite the fact that most of these parties have publicly opposed Russian intervention.
ILLNESSES WORSENING
WHO issues warning over Ukraine as Russia exits HRC. UN Wire (4-8-22).
Chronic and preventable diseases will begin claiming lives in Ukraine if Russian forces do not halt attacks on health care facilities and allow humanitarian aid to reach hard-hit regions of the country, warns the World Health Organization while also noting that it is making contingency plans for chemical attacks in Ukraine. Members of the United Nations General Assembly this week voted to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council over its invasion of Ukraine — prompting Russia to quit the global body — and UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths says he is “not optimistic” that a cease-fire between the two countries will be reached soon. Full Story: Voice of America (4/7), Reuters (4/7), The Associated Press (4/7), The Guardian (London) (4/7)
WORLD HUNGER
Hunger crisis looms as Ukraine war drives food costs up. UN Wire (4-8-22).
Food prices have climbed to the highest levels ever recorded by the Food and Agriculture Organization as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues to disrupt grain exports from both countries. Shortages and supply chain issues worldwide have driven up the risk of malnutrition in food-insecure regions of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and UNICEF warns more than 9.1 million children require nutritional aid in Yemen, Sudan, Lebanon and Syria — countries most affected by the crisis in Ukraine.
Full Story: The Associated Press (4/7), The Associated Press (4/8)
George Paulson on The First Casualty,
Hi all,
I’m currently reading a book that seems quite relevant to this discussion. It was written by the Australian writer Philip Knightley and is titled The First Casualty, the first casualty of war being the truth. It traces the history of the war correspondent and what we would call media coverage of war starting with the Crimean War. It was written years ago but was updated with a couple of new chapters to cover the wars in Yugoslavia and Iraq. I hesitate to ever recommend a book if I haven’t finished it, but I’ll make an exception for this one. It is taking me a relatively long time to finish because it is so full of fascinating information and details, all of which are important. I’m only about halfway through the book (currently on World War II, if that helps). The big takeaway is that it is always extremely difficult even under the most optimal of circumstances to get reasonably accurate information about a war, especially while it is still going on. In every war, without exception, the warring sides (and their allies) have a vested interest–an interest that they themselves often rightly view as existential–in doing everything they possibly can to ensure that only information that helps their cause and hurts the cause of their enemy is made available and reported on. The information that the public consumes about war is always subject to and deeply colored by what we would all call “censoring” by the interested warring powers as well as the personal prejudices of the war correspondents themselves. A few examples out of many to illustrate what I’m saying. The English war correspondents covering the American Civil War were for the most part pro-Confederate and, because of this fact, the British newspaper-reading public got a very distorted view of the war. The war correspondents from the UK and the USA covering the Russian Civil War were almost all very anti-Bolshevik and because of this fact, the British and American newspaper-reading public got a very distorted view of the war. Most of the Western correspondents covering China during the Second World War and subsequent Chinese Civil War were supportive of Chaing Kai-shek’s Nationalist government and were hostile to or at best ignored Mao’s Communists, giving their readers a distorted view of the war. In all three of the above cases, the newspaper reading public was surprised by the eventual outcome. In World War I, state censorship of all aspects (and I mean all) of the war was taken to new and previously unimaginable heights. The British authorities were the absolute masters of perfecting the art of war propaganda, so much so that others copied them (Goebbels based much of the propaganda model the Nazis would use in WWII on the British model). They routinely lied about all aspects of the war, all the time, and because they severely restricted what war correspondents were allowed to hear and see, the newspaper-reading public was consistently misinformed about the course of the war. And even when war correspondents knew the truth about a battle, for example, they would almost always self-censor either out of a sense of patriotism or for fear of losing their jobs. Perhaps the greatest British contribution to the art of war propaganda and shaping the narrative was the perfection of the atrocity story. They were marvelously successful at painting the Germans as brutal inhuman monsters and demonizing the Kaiser as a barbarian, a madman, a lunatic, a monster, a criminal. While this may have helped win the war, the long-term result was that people were understandably reluctant to believe stories of German atrocities the next go around.
I do not know the truth about the atrocities in Ukraine you are all discussing. And neither do you. The US and its NATO allies are all pro-Ukrainian and anti-Russian. Western media is overwhelmingly pro-Ukrainian and anti-Russian. The Ukrainian government has an obvious (and often openly stated) interest in trying to get other powers like the US and its NATO allies to directly intervene in its war with Russia. The classic way this has usually been done is with the atrocity story. This does not mean that the Russians did not commit the atrocities you are all discussing. It just means that the governments of Ukraine, the USA and its NATO allies, plus the vast majority of Western media correspondents reporting or commenting on the war all have a vested interest in claiming that the Russians did, in fact, commit them.
The first casualty of war is the truth.
Peace, George
POSSIBLE CONSEQUENCES
“Simulations reveal an attack on Ukrainian nuclear facilities could have possibly been worse than Chernobyl.” The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. March 24, 2022.
If attacks on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya nuclear power complex had caused a meltdown or spent fuel pool fire, simulations show that large population relocations could have been required in up to five countries. Read more.
PEACE
U.S. Leaders Claim to Care About the Suffering of the Ukrainian People, But Will They Step Up and Make the Compromises Necessary to End the War? By Jack Gilroy on Apr 08, 2022.
The U.S. media have been saturated by reports of Ukrainian suffering since the Russian invasion of February 24, 2022, and of heroic Ukrainian resistance. Even progressive media outlets and politicians have favored more arms supplies to Ukraine in this climate.
When Congress passed a massive $13.6 billion aid package to Ukraine, at least half of which was designated for military supplies, only three congressmen voted nay. Many of the people who turned up at anti-war demonstrations following the invasion advocated for more weapons supplies to Ukraine or even a no-fly zone.
But will these weapons actually end the war by contributing to the defeat of the Russians, or will they prolong it and deepen the suffering of the Ukrainians?
The answer appears to be the latter. Only compassion and compromise will end the suffering, not more killing and wounding, not more millions of refugees and devastation.
Unfortunately, the American media have helped condition the public through its one-sided coverage to support sending more weapons to Ukraine and to deprioritize negotiation and compromise—even if only the latter can help end the suffering and misery of the Ukrainian people. […]
The post U.S. Leaders Claim to Care About the Suffering of the Ukrainian People, But Will They Step Up and Make the Compromises Necessary to End the War? appeared first on CovertAction Magazine.
“An antidote to the “split” in the U.S. Peace Movement: anti-interventionism.” John V. Walsh. Mronline.org (4-9-22).
Massachusetts Peace Action, a venerable part of the U.S. Peace Movement, has been around since the 1980s and its predecessors date back to the 1950s. Its voice is heeded and it represents most of the shared opinions of the liberal and progressive U.S. peace movement.
Editor. Mronline.org (3-31-22).
Just as the imperial core of North America, Europe and Japan does not represent the world in their population numbers, demographics, wealth, or power, neither does the imperial core speak for the world on crucial issues of war, peace, justice, and international law. Indeed the Global South has already spoken to the Global North so many times, in so many ways, with patience, persistence and eloquence, to little avail.
Editor. Mronline.org (3-27-22).
Russia and Ukraine are taking the first steps towards ending the war through direct and video negotiations. After the past four rounds, progress was registered between the negotiators, notwithstanding the continuous clanging of arms.
| “Student event: Discussing Ukraine and the future of arms control with Michael Krepon.” Join this discussion on Mar. 26 with Michael Krepon, co-founder of the Stimson Center. Learn about how the war in Ukraine is impacting arms control and find out steps that can be taken to reverse the course. This interactive talk is hosted by Student Pugwash USA. Read more. |
| Dawn Stover. “10 must-read Twitter threads on the war in Ukraine.” The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. March 21, 2022. https://thebulletin.org/2022/03/10-must-read-twitter-threads-on-the-war-in-ukraine/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=ThursdayNewsletter03242022&utm_content=NuclearRisk_10MustReadTwitterThreads_03212022 If you follow any of the Bulletin’s editors on Twitter, you know that they regularly retweet threads they find particularly interesting. This article highlights some thoughtful threads on the war in Ukraine that were chosen by Bulletin contributing editor Dawn Stover. Read more. |
[This article displays the obvious complexity in the internet age not only of seemingly countless “threads” of opinions but of threads retweeted!. Here are Stover’s Keywords (Twitter, Ukraine, biolabs, nuclear war) and Topics (Biosecurity, Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Weapons, Nuclear Risk). The final tweeter cited offers this sympathetic comment:
@MadisonUCS As a nuclear weapons abolition organizer, I can spend basically my entire workday thinking about #nuclearwar. Here is how I take care of my mental health, plus some tips for folks who might be experiencing extra stress, worry, and anxiety right now. –Dick]
Contents of #17
HTTPS://JAMESRICHARDBENNETT.BLOGSPOT.COM/2022/04/OMNI-US-RUSSIA-UKRAINE-COLD-WAR-II_8.HTML
Origins, CAUSES of the war
Sonja Van den Ende. Russian Perspective for Donbass republics of
Donetsk and Luhansk.
Editor of MR. Origins of New Cold War.
Jacques Baud Interviewed by Thomas Kaiser. US: Prevent German and
Russian Cooperation.
US, the Biggest Spoiler, Welcomes War between Ukraine and Russia.
TeleSUR. Washington’s Role in Ukraine Jeopardizes World Stability.
Sanctions.
EU Continues to Send Weapons to Ukraine.
Nazis in Ukraine. Putin’s Aim to De-Nazify Ukraine.
Patrick Lancaster. Ukrainian and Azov Forces.
Ukraine: Obama, Trump, Biden.
Jonathon Cook. Biden on Regime Change of War Criminal Putin.
consequences of the war
Atrocities: Bucha.
Mision Verdad, Art Hobson, Evan Bukey.
Nuclear Risks: NIRS.
Food Crisis, Hunger: Michelle Nichols, Ukrainian Farmers.
Economic War: Prabir Purkayastha on US Dollar.
PEACEFUL FUTURE?
Constructive Peace Talks Now.
Negotiations after Ceasefire: 3 Articles from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
END US, RUSSIA, UKRAINE WAR ANTHOLOGY #18 —
OMNI Peace Newsletter | OMNI Facebook | OMNI WebsiteDick Bennett
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