Several weeks ago, US President Joe Biden warned gravely that Russia would soon be making a chemical weapons attack in Ukraine, thereby violating international conventions and exposing itself to the severest punishment of the world community. Alternatively, the Russians would arrange a radiation leak by attacking one or another of the nuclear power plants in Ukraine.
Happily, neither dastardly act was carried out by the Russians to cover up their supposed losing position in the war being waged against the brave Ukrainians, who enjoy the unstinting support of the NATO alliance.
Instead, a very different kind of war crimes scandal has been promoted in the past two days to achieve the very same objective of universal outrage. The consequence is demands by French President Macron and Chancellor Scholz of Germany for still more draconian measures against the barbarians to the East, namely a full embargo on Russian hydrocarbons, even if it spells suicide for European industry and economies generally. These two birds sang before the microphones almost simultaneously yesterday afternoon denouncing the atrocities supposedly committed by Russian soldiers as they withdrew from their siege of Kiev.
Yes, my commentary introduces a note of sarcasm in speaking about a propaganda operation that is obvious as day to anyone with half a wit and half a memory. It all takes us back to 2014 and the MH17 catastrophe which was laid at the door of Russia within minutes of its occurrence, without any need for an investigation.
As to the murder of civilians in the city of Bucha, a northern suburb of Kiev, and similar photographic accounts from several other settlements evacuated by Russian troops in the past few days, the vicious propaganda narrative coming from Kiev, but surely scripted in Washington and London, raises no alarm bells in the Western media. But then again, there is no collective memory in Western media of what happened on the Maidan, when U.S. backed neo-Nazi units employed snipers to murder peaceful street demonstrators and police in support of a totally fabricated story of police violence by the Yanukovich government to justify its illegal ouster in a coup d’etat. Those same cynical murderers have been in control of Ukrainian politics up to the present day.
It has been reported extensively by Russian television crews traveling with the Donbas republic forces how departing Ukrainian troops fired wantonly on the towns they had been occupying for the past eight years but now were forced to give up. It has been extensively reported by Russian press teams interviewing refugees leaving Mariupol via humanitarian corridors how the Azov battalion and other nationalist radical troops attached to the Ukrainian army were shooting anyone daring to come out of the basements to risk joining the escape routes out of the city. None of this was picked up by Western media. But it surely was picked up by the Kiev propagandists, who decided to turn it inside out and sell it further.
In summation, there are reasons why wars are fought to the death, why many crucial disputes between nations are not amenable to diplomacy until one of the sides has been utterly destroyed. We are living through such a moment in history. And it is most sad, here in Europe, to see elected leaders like Macron, like Scholz play along with the villains to gain favor with the overlord in Washington, D.C. May their cowardice and betrayal of the interests of their own peoples be recorded here and now for posterity.
©Gilbert Doctorow, 2022
Gilbert Doctorow 
None of this was picked up by Western media.
It is not even picked up by CGTN, which seems to follow in its international broadcasting the NATO line completely.
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It is said again and again that Russia has comprehensively lost the propaganda war. This is certainly true in the short term – and that is a pity. But the West is playing with fire right next to a gas leak.
What happens when the Russians have won the Ukraine war; the war crimes tribunal has started ints investigations; More and more witness testimonies come out in the West despite all efforts of the West to suppress them; more and more independent journalists and bloggers start visiting Ukraine and listening to Ukrainians who were held as human shields by the nazis; Russia calls security council meetings again and again to discuss crimes against humanity; captured NATO soldiers testify at the war crimes tribunal …. and so on.
How is the West going to keep a lid on all that? And if they CAN’T keep a lid on it, what are all those hundreds of millions of people all across the West going to think who had swallowed all these grotesque lies hook line and sinker, when they see how comprehensively they have been deceived?
The level of deception has been unprecidented in all time. Consequences go with that – the bigger the lie, the bigger the fall.
Over recent decades the willingness of people in the West to question the narrative has been decreasing – first ever so slowly, but over the years gradually accelerating, and in the last 2 years greatly accelerating. I strongly suspect that with the Ukraine deception the West has blown it – come the end of the Special Operation in Ukraine the narrative will collapse like a house of cards, and the willingness to believe ANYTHING Western governments assert will totally collapse.
If that does happen – and it is obviously by no means a certainty – that would be a devastating propaganda victory for Russia.
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Let them stop importing Russian hydrocarbons, I live in Germany, I belong to the people who will suffer from this but this suicide might be necessary for the world to change in the right direction.
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The Greek historian Herodotus coined the word history with the meaning of “I know because I have seen.” In his time, there was no reliable way of capturing and recording events, hence eye witness was the only trustworthy source of events. Much as we have extensive footage of everything and sophisticated means of capturing events, I feel that we are much in the same situation. I find it extremely disturbing that experts on both sides recount opposite explanations of events. At any rate, those people died; Italy (my country) is now filled with Ukrainians refugees fleeing war, some of which in my parents’ and friends’ homes, cared for by doctors I know. They all recount the horrors of the war. Not sure whose fault is that, but something horrendous is happening and needs to be stopped.
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At any rate, those people died;
Are you sure?
https://awfulavalanche.wordpress.com/2022/04/04/ukraine-war-day-40-more-ukrainian-fake-atrocities/
Do you remember the Srebrenica “massacre” that didn’t stand up to investigation (with a foreword by the the highest-ranking United Nations civilian official in Bosnia-Herzegovina at the time.)?https://dokumen.tips/documents/srebrenica-massacre-srebrenica-massacre-evidence-context-politics-edited-by.html?page=1
And this here:
https://awfulavalanche.wordpress.com/2022/04/04/ukraine-war-day-40-more-ukrainian-fake-atrocities/
“Debunking this staged event, Russian media pointed out, here are couple of links, this one and this one, that, even aside from the fact that Hiz Honor the Mayor didn’t mention this egregious atrocity until a few days later; that the video itself proves a corpse is not necessarily a corpse. Russian bloggers took the car-cam video apart, frame by frame, and saw that one of the “corpses” miraculously came back to life after the car had passed by (you only get a glimpse in the right side-rear mirror, the corpse moves and sits up, thinking it’s out of camera view now).”
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You allude to MH17 and indeed there are parallels. Then as now the Russian side immediately goes into overdrive to come up with various explanations, even if mutually contradictory, to confuse and sow discord. Then it was stories about mysterious fighter jets, about changes ordered by flight control even the suggestion that Putin himself as on the plane. Now we have moving hands, people who supposedly got up after the journalists passed and inhabitants murdered by the Azov brigade. Doubtless there will be more stories in the coming days. You have a point that politicians jump to conclusions. But you are doing just the same, jumping to your side’s defence without the slightest shred of supporting evidence. Aside from the barbarity of these pictures, I find it distressing that it is apparently impossible to find any common ground about events that should be unambiguous. Partisanship trumps all common sense and intellectual honesty. MH17 all over again.
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“You allude to MH17 and indeed there are parallels”
If you want to have another view aside from Western propaganda – although I doubt it having read previous comments – an excellent journalist is John Helmer who wrote extensively about the MH 17. Keep in mind that he no fan of Putin, himself having suffered from the power of Russian oligrachs.
http://johnhelmer.net/?s=MH+17
“Then as now the Russian side immediately goes into overdrive to come up with various explanations”
And why wouldn’t they? After all, the story made little sense, inculpating Russia from the start, apparently the BUK launcher not being in the Donbas rebel’s possession and with Ukraine having given permission to direct plane to fly above a warzone where previously about six planes (afair) had been shot down.
To finish it off nicely with a bow, the USA NEVER made available claimed satellite info regarding the flight pass of the claimed BUK missile attack.
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Do you understand how argument from the alternative works?
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1. After almost 8 years, all evidence, including intercepted radio communication confirming the mistaken shooting down of a commercial airliner, points in one direction only 2. Russian theories are mutually contradictory 3. It is common sense that the side without air superiority (ie the Russians) would be most interested in shooting planes down 4. In the days immediately prior to the shooting down of MH17, the Russians shot down an Antonov 5. Lack of evidence from the Americans is just that. Put that all together, and all alternatives theories to the current standard seem most improbable.
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“the Russians shot down an Antonov 5”
Your contributions follow the western pattern of the Russians did it, w/o any evidence at all.
You are obviously too lazy to pursue other evidence – there is much more available than the single link I supplied – that is much more complete and contradicts the NATO narrative.
It gets rather boring and I refuse to further engage with someone who spouts propaganda instead of looking at the evidence, which is sorely lacking from the NATO story.
There is again no evidence that the Russian military shot down the Antonov.
“It is common sense that the side without air superiority”
It seems to me you do not distinguish the Donbas fighters from the Russian military. If any Russian military would have been involved from the start do you really believe Ukraine would have stood a chance to have the Azov nazis terrorize the Donbas population for almost eight years?
It is in hindsight rather unfortunate that the Russian Government did not acknowledge the Donbas and Lugansk republics from the start and showed Ukraine where the borders are. This would have avoided much trouble now.
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I did take a look at the link–basically lots of knit-picking on various technicalities on what should or should not be admitted as evidence (as if the Russian criminal justice system does it any better!) but crucially no coherent alternative to the standard explanation. And that is simply because there isn’t one, after 8 long years.
The Bucha atrocities will regretfully, and depressingly, follow the same pattern. Deny everything out of hand, float any daft theory even if it contradicts the previous one just to muddy the waters as fast as possible.
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A thoroughly discombobulated train of thought, and a short one at that.
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The public can now be split into two outraged factions:
1) Those who believed without question the numerous accusations of chemical weapons use etc in Syria and now believe Bucha without further deliberation, investigation or proof and as a consequence ARE OUTRAGED!.
2) Those who have been suspicious of the numerous accusations of chemical weapons use etc.in Syria and now are equally suspicious of Bucha and waiting for something approaching an honest investigation and proof, although Godot will likely arrive earlier, and as a consequence ARE OUTRAGED!
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That the UK in the security council did not let the Russian delegation’s proposal, to have the case thoroughly and forensically investigated, put to a vote, tells a lot.
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Here some thoughts from Ritter, a man I admire for his role in the Iraq investigations of WMDs and his overall stance. Different from the main stream he analyzes without getting himself into the hysterics encouraged by the media and furthered by politicians who couldn’t wait long enough for any evidence of the what and the who, and yes, also the why. Cui bono? Russia – exactly not. Ukraine – 100%.
https://www.rt.com/russia/553293-bucha-war-crimes-truth/
“The chronology of the narrative produces the first red flag that the story being peddled by Ukraine, and echoed in the West, is not what it seems. It is established fact that Russian troops evacuated Bucha on March 30. Ukrainian National Police began entering Bucha on March 31, and that same day the mayor of Bucha announced that the town was fully under the control of Ukrainian officials. At no time was there any suggestion by the mayor or any other Ukrainian official of mass killings undertaken by Russia.”
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Here is a former diplomat whose writings I have followed over many years now. H is usually very calm in his assessments and very thorough, looking back, and like Pepe Escobar (who already in 2004 predicted after visits in Afghanistan that the Taliban was on the return to ower path) whom I also have followed, since the very early 2000s
https://www.indianpunchline.com/fake-news-in-kiev-heralds-cruel-april/
“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. …
To be sure, a whole month lies ahead where the western strategy will be to incessantly manufacture fake news, intensify the information war. Even some false flag operation may be staged under the supervision of western intelligence operatives.”
False flag ops are of course a specialty of various western 3 letter agencies, to engage in a war theatre or open one, from sending a ship with passengers into the path of German U boats to be destroyed to convince a waffling US public, to the Golf of Tonkin incident, to Hussein’s soldiers killing babies in incubators, to the WMDs that never existed, etc.
And then, after an assessment of the real situation in Ukraine:
“The alacrity with which Macron and Scholz consumed the fake news is a harbinger of a new phase in the information war. Succinctly put, there is a sober awakening in Paris and Berlin that the Russian operation is successfully meeting the set objectives.”
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Well said, I too hope that the truth of the American bs and the war crimes of their proxies will be exposed fully one day.
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The US MSM has falsely projected claims of war crimes too many times in the past to have a shred of creditability left for new fake claims. The claims will certainly not have a negative effect on Russian public support for the war and Putin’s approval ratings so who else but the gullible West is the US MSM trying to deceived with yet more of the ususal MSM racist anti-Russian political agitprop?
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“The US MSM has falsely projected claims of war crimes too many times in the past to have a shred of credibility left for new fake claims.”
Indeed all the while ignoring their own crimes against humanity. Half a million dead civilians in Libya? 500,000 dead children in Iraq (but its ok because Madeleine Albright thought it worth the cost) 9 false flag dead bodies in Ukraine is a genocide? nah, western MSM has ZERO cred, anyone reading it and believing it deserves what they get, its the levels of sheer stupidity amongst the western population which leaves me aghast not the fact that journalism is dead as a profession and news outlets now just peddle intelligence service propaganda on an hourly basis. It’s all just continuing signs of final collapse of western dogmatic attachment to its outdated views and ideology which it refuses to adjust or abandon in the face of a reality which shows them to be already dead and irrelevant.
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There are some curiously contradictory things going on regarding Russia and the West. I just read this article about France seizing Russian Bank assets one day… 20 March
https://tass.com/economy/1424731
And then the next day Renault which is owned by the French gov’t re-opens for business in Russia …
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/mar/21/renault-moscow-russia-nestle
Is the freezing of assets just a temporary gesture to keep the Yanks happy, while losing Renault in Russia could well be permanent if Russian workers took it over and ran it themselves.
I also found an article that I couldn’t read in the Financial Times with the headline “The West Is Rash To Assume The World Is On Its Side Over Ukraine”.
It seems to me they know western MSM is lying and the truth will come out soon.
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