-->One might think that this headline in the NYT is about the US corporate controlled drumbeat for NATO and military intervention in Ukraine. For in our own country, war propaganda is the order of the day. Even Alen Chartock of NPR, that fawning sycophant of Pete Seeger, is full of war talk. Even Amy Goodman of Democracy Now has a steady stream of anti-Russian guests on her program. Is this the way we are to understand the intensions of the empire? Is the US really going to pull out all the stops, and risk a nuclear war over Ukraine?
So aside from saying that Putin is a bully and a war criminal, does the US media have permission to explore how we got this close to the edge? Apparently not. This is a country that is readying its people for war. The fact that the US has attacked and invaded any number of countries over the last 70 years makes no difference. The fact that the US military has killed millions in its quest for supremacy doesn't even enter the conversation. Our drones are killing people in at least seven countries right now, and our government is supporting genocides in both Yemen and in Palestine. We are asked to forget about all that, and start hating the Russians!
The NYT headline is correct, but it should be describing the "one propaganda voice" of the American media.
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FAIR:
"Calling Russia’s Attack ‘Unprovoked’ Lets US Off the Hook. Many governments and media figures are rightly condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine as an act of aggression and a violation of international law. But in his first speech about the invasion, on February 24, US President Joe Biden also called the invasion 'unprovoked.'
It’s a word that has been echoed repeatedly across the media ecosystem. 'Putin’s forces entered Ukraine’s second-largest city on the fourth day of the unprovoked invasion,' Axios (2/27/22) reported; 'Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine entered its second week Friday,' said CNBC (3/4/22). Vox (3/1/22) wrote of 'Putin’s decision to launch an unprovoked and unnecessary war with the second-largest country in Europe.'
The 'unprovoked' descriptor obscures a long history of provocative behavior from the United States in regards to Ukraine. This history is important to understanding how we got here, and what degree of responsibility the US bears for the current attack on Ukraine."
https://fair.org/home/calling-russias-attack-unprovoked-lets-us-off-the-hook/
-->In this war climate, such an article really stands out. It will probably be more truth than most Americans can stomach. We should use this warmongering by the press to get a better sense of how the corporate media has controlled the message, especially when it comes to spending money on armaments, and taking cold war risks. Risks to the lives of all of us.
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Activist Radio Blog:
"It is said that the first casualty of war is the truth. So what truths have been erased in our new Cold War with Russia?
For one thing, Ukraine has long been a integral part of Russian history, not that this connection has spared its population from centuries of invasions and revolutions. Kyiv, in fact, was the 12th century capital of "Rus" which became part of Muscovy a century later. In the 18th century, Muscovy became the Russian Empire.
For another, the US has been pursing an aggressive expansion of NATO since the late 1990s. Our country could have made a lasting peace with Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union. Instead, we added more than a dozen new NATO member states surrounding Russia. In 2008, the US vowed to include Ukraine and Georgia as well, prompting a Russian invasion of the latter.
Against this background, the US orchestrated a coup in 2014 against Ukraine's President, Viktor Yanukovych. He was Ukraine's most popular politician when a 2010 election swept him into office. But Yanukovych had tried tried to balance Russian and EU interests, making him a NATO target. When he objected to a particularly harsh austerity plan proposed by the International Monetary Fund, the CIA began arming and training rightwing militias, like it has done so often before (Iran, Guatemala, Chile, Haiti, Venezuela and Honduras).
Our hopeless media ignores all this. NPR cheerleads the hate Putin campaign. In the heart of the empire, the truth died long ago."
https://classwars2.blogspot.com
