Trapped in a Narrative
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Harris&Ewing National Capital digs out after storm Jan 14 1939 I’ve addressed the issue a hundred times, and it pains me to see it only gets worse. Bu
[See the full post at: Trapped in a Narrative]“Not one. While the US have the most advanced spy technology ever seen on the planet, it has not been able to produce one piece of information, for a whole year, to prove its assertions that Russia provides weapons to the ‘rebels’, sends soldiers to fight in the Donbass, or has anything to do with shooting down a plane. Not one single piece of evidence.”
https://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/23/us-ukraine-crisis-tanks-exclusive-idUSKCN0IC1GE20141023
wroblon,
https://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/23/us-ukraine-crisis-tanks-exclusive-idUSKCN0IC1GE20141023
Reuters showed photographs of the two badly damaged tanks, one of which had lost its turret, to four independent military experts, who said they were of a type used exclusively by the Russian army.At least one, they agreed, was a T-72BM – a Russian-made modification of a well known Soviet tank. This version of the tank, they said, is not known to have been exported.
=====So who were these “four independent experts” and which photograph was it? Were they truly independent? I mean Reuters has never retold the west’s lies before, have they?
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28961080
But now experts at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London have told the BBC that they have identified a Russian tank in a separatist column in eastern Ukraine that they say could only have come from across the border in Russia.Joseph Dempsey, an IISS analyst, has studied video footage reportedly taken on 26 August in Sverdlovsk, Luhansk, in eastern Ukraine. The video shows a convoy of military vehicles.
Whilst date and location are unconfirmed, …
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So these experts were from IISS in London, (they wouldn’t be biased, would they?) and the video date and location are unconfirmed. Apparently the Russians have many tanks removed from service that are identical to Ukrainian models, that would blend in in Ukraine, but they sent a T-72BM as well, by mistake. Silly Russians.And so it goes, on and on, while US satellites have never picked up anything.
I’ve wandered a few times into article discussions on Slate and even erstwhile ultra liberal Salon and other sites where Ukraine is the topic and outright hatred of Russia, no make that Putin, runs very high. From that comes the simple narrative, the US is supporting freedom.
There is nothing that can be said which questions the NY Times narrative which is the US war party’s narrative which is not rejected as being simply the product of either someone fooled by Russian propaganda or an enemy of freedom. So what is one to do?Nothing could be done to stop the Iraq adventure despite gigantic rallies against it and very broad dissent and it had zero effect. This is many times worse so I ask again. What is to be done. It’s almost totally in Obama’s hands now to alter the course. To do so will brand him an appeaser and don’t forget he hates Putin too and seems to buy into the dominant narrative.
In addition I think war or rumors of war in Ukraine are meant to keep the EU together. I think that has always been part of the calculation, dumb as that may be.
This from RT today mentions IISS – see if you think they are unbiased, RT obviously thinks so, but they are biased too, of course.
https://rt.com/news/232347-russia-military-balance-isis/
A UK think tank’s annual report on global military capabilities has its first and biggest chapter devoted to Russia, “challenging the European security order”. Political analysts said the document was biased and could lead to a new Cold War arms race.The ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine is what the bulk of the latest annual Military Balance report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) is focused on. The group describes itself as “a world-leading authority on global security, political risk and military conflict” and has former US and British government officials among its members.
“The Kremlin… appears to desire a fractured Ukraine, unable to move beyond Russia’s orbit and get closer to western institutions,” argue the authors of the Military Balance 2015 report.
“Western countries are now having to devise a strategy… to deal with an apparently revisionist Russia,” the report goes on to say, concluding that “Europe is facing a more belligerent Russia” and calling for “dissuasion of Russian adventurism on EU or NATO territory.”
The language of the report is something that betrays a non-impartial approach to some of the report’s readers.
“This is a Cold War document, wherein Russia is depicted as a force for bad in the world and the West a force for good,” political analyst John Wight told RT. “Words such as ‘revisionist’, ‘belligerent’, and ‘adventurism’ are liberally deployed in a negative depiction of Russia”.
Journalist Phil Butler says the report “reeks of hyperbole summoning terms like ‘hybrid warfare’ to describe the Ukraine civil war”. He finds the document to be “totally western-centric in that it’s an unbridled instigation for a new arms race”.
The report describes prospect for peaceful settlement as “unpromising,” while the US considerations over arming Kiev are said to be “a moral obligation and a strategic duty”, or at least an option that must be “‘kept on the table’ in support of the diplomatic process”.
[more]To wroblon:
U.S./NATO countries are providing Kiev with military equipment and gear. This is right in the open – an acknowledged fact. What’s unacknowledged is, … is that the military equipment headed for Ukraine is strictly of Soviet origin – of Soviet specifications.
Back in last summer it was openly announced that U.S./NATO had arranged for regular shipments of military equipment from Eastern Europe – ex. Warsaw Pact nations, to Ukraine. Officially, all equipment being shipped is the equipment that has been written off – surplused, … since it was replaced with U.S./NATO specifications equipment.
So, there. That is why you see a lot of destroyed equipment, by Nonorussians, … that is of Russian origin.
Anyway, … Ukraine is not going to get any – none – of U.S./NATO military equipment until it is firmly a U.S./NATO member! Trust me on that, …
Apparently, the British have sent 50 “defensive” armoured cars – Saxons – to Ukraine. They were used in Iraq – another defensive operation – and have been refurbished.
“Ukraine crisis: Former British armoured vehicles arrive in conflict zone after being sold off by private firm”
“But without war and the threat of war the military-industrial-national security state complex would falter. Since even before President Eisenhower warned of what would happen if our republic ceded power to it, its unelected and unaccountable leaders have been calling the shots.
Therefore perpetual peace is out of the question. If enemies do not exist, the United States will have to invent them. […]
Could this be why Team Obama, with support from unreconstructed Cold Warriors in Europe, decided that the time had come to provoke Russia?
A new Cold War would certainly make life more interesting – and profitable — for them. And with the fear of Islamist terrorism in the West receding, a new Cold War would be just the thing to raise anxiety levels back to where our rulers like them to be.”
https://www.counterpunch.org/2015/02/13/playing-with-fire-in-an-age-of-absurdity/
Psychopaths? There’s a very slim chance of getting in the door of politics unless you are one. It’s where these guys hang out, the centers of power. It’s all about power; money is secondary because it just flows naturally out of power. Money often buys power, but power always gets you money. Better to have power.
Trying to deal fairly with a psychopath is going to get you nowhere. They understand you (that you have a conscience/empathy, and you’re probably not going to lie, but they will). Their aim is to destroy you, your credibility, so that they come out on top. Because they so easily lie, but you won’t, it is easy to discredit you. Once a lie gets put out there, it’s hard to refute it. You are always behind the eight ball.
But the one thing that psychopaths hate (their biggest fear always) is being exposed. When their lies start being exposed (which is what used to happen when we actually had a “free press”), they will run for the hills. That’s why they’ve made damn sure that what we have is an “owned press” that keeps the truth out.
Germany, France, the rest of Europe will have to tell the U.S. warmongers to take a flying leap.
Another small country: Honduras. The U.S. rides again!
“About “half of all U.S. arms exports for the entire Western Hemisphere” went to Honduras in 2011, Martha Mendoza disclosed, referring to the $1.3 billion in military electronics that “neither the State Department nor the Pentagon” would explain. […]
We can say the same of U.S. efforts to shape Honduran society. The “military simply did not exist in any institutionalized form” there for much of the 20th century, Kirk Bowman observes. This situation changed after the U.S. and Honduran governments signed a Bilateral Treaty of Military Assistance in May 1954. We see the outcomes today. The journalists gunned down by passing assassins, the poor farmers stalked and murdered for defending their land—this is as much a part of Obama’s Latin America legacy as his celebrated Cuba thaw.”
Don’t you think we ought to call these people psychoticians?
wroblon, if there were proof, it wouldn’t be limited to one or two photographs. that in itself is a dead give-away.
The ceasefire was broken at 2 am in the Cauldron, by Ukrainian troops.
This according to Fort Russ;
https://fortruss.blogspot.com/2015/02/zakharchenko-calls-emergency-meeting.htmlConsistent figures estimate 8,000 Ukrainian troops trapped by the separatists. That is effectively, the Ukrainian army.
I think this will end quickly if the general ceasefire ends. Russia will be in Kiev in 3 days or less.
The general consensus, from the sources I read, is that Putin is through with this insanity.@all
Video of Aleksandr Zacharczenko describing russian military support for the separatists:+ numoerous reports in polish press regarding the presence of russian troops in eastern Ukraine:
https://www.defence24.pl/news_kolejne-rosyjskie-czolgi-na-ukrainie
But let’s say I’m incorrect and all of the above is incorrect/false/unsubstantiated/Kiev’s propaganda. Then, can you please answer this: assuming no russian involvement, where are the separatists getting their military equipment from?
@ wroblon
Okay, let’s walk this back a bit; the U.S., unabashedly orchestrated a coup in Ukraine against a democratically elected government.
So, what’s your point? If you’re looking for the moral high ground, there isn’t any.
I know a little bit about Ukraine and its historic relationship to Russia. The U.S. is operating in an especially ignorant and dare I say, criminally, irresponsible manner.
Oh, and everybody already knows Russia is supplying equipment; the point is there are no regular Russian troops or motor divisions in Ukraine.
The man himself, Putin, said there were Russian volunteers and soldiers on leave/vacation in Ukraine. Even the OCSE (independent observers) have said they have seen no Russian troops.
So, again, what’s your point?I’m not looking for any moral high ground whatsoever. But stating that there is no russian military involvement in the Ukraine is just false.
Don’t get me wrong; I am a huge fan of The Automatic Earth. But what worries me is that in a quest of escaping the mainstream narrative, Mr Meijer is trapping himself in a different one.
@ wroblon
Who has said there is no Russian military involvement? What is said is, there is no physical presence/involvement. Critical reading/thinking are tools that, lacking, leave one crippled.
As Ilargi has already said;
“wroblon, if there were proof, it wouldn’t be limited to one or two photographs. that in itself is a dead give-away.”As to the Polish press? You think they have no axe to grind in this absurd theater?
You, and I can only go by what you post here, seem to be caught in a bit of an information, no strike that, propaganda trap your-own-self.And further you say; “But what worries me is that in a quest of escaping the mainstream narrative, Mr Meijer is trapping himself in a different one.”
A different one? You mean the one that is reality? What’s the trouble with that, pray tell?
It would seem you are not aware of the gargantuan anti-Russian propaganda blitz by the west, and specifically the U.S. government.
Buyer beware…Huge numbers of Russians have family members in Ukraine. A small part of them have gone over to prevent these aunt and uncles and nieces and nephews from being annihilated by the likes of Yarosh. So yes, there are Russians in Ukraine. And Putin does not try to stop them from going. There are a lot of funds collected in Russia to support these Russian fighters. Some of that goes to weaponry. But the majority of rebel arms is still Russian arms confiscated from the Ukraine army. If Putin sent over official army units he would play right into the hands of NATO. That the US, EU, NATO have never offered any proof for the presence of these troops is all you need to know.
There are several major stores in the news. There is Russia & Ukraine, there are ISIS militants killing hostages, there is Obama asking for power to go to war, there is Greece possibly defaulting its debts, and the markets rocketing to new highs. Am I the only one to wonder if one of these newsy stories will be the trigger to implode the global financial ponzi bubble.
The Causes of the MH17 Crash are “Classified”. Ukraine, Netherlands, Australia, Belgium Signed a “Non-disclosure Agreement”
The plane in Ukraine swept swiftly from the brain.“…… it’s the fact that we are inching ever closer to the kind of situations none of us would choose.
That is, war, people dying from sheer misery, people dying because they have no access to the services we take for granted, and even people being shelled by their own government”.Perhaps the warped explanation for this dangerous situation that has been intentionally created, is given in this article on Zero Hedge (https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-02-15/only-question-about-so-called-recovery) as this extract argues
“…….now that for the first time ever, central banks are set to monetize all global government debt, something we showed previously…and leave virtually no other securities to satisfy investor demand” except a good war that would provide plenty of investible demand from the military-industrial sector of the west.
I have a growing conviction that the world is becoming increasingly irrational, so throw in the early impacts of Limits to Growth and a growing opposition to US global hegemony and it begins to look like a case of God help us all from the follies of our so called elites.
Perhaps the warped explanation for this dangerous situation that has been intentionally created, is given in this article on Zero Hedge (https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-02-15/only-question-about-so-called-recovery) as this extract argues
If this is correct than the world is indeed run by psychopaths and there is little to no hope for the future. Unless they are removed like a cancerous tumor. And maybe not even then.
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