Agree!
Alan B.

Russia's military action was not 'unprovoked'. Nor was it the beginning of an expansionist trend.

Russia's reasons were clear and unambiguous. And if the Russians had been listened to and invited into good faith negotiations as they were requesting, instead of being totally ignored and their concerns so arrogantly dismissed, the 2022 military action would never have occurred.

Russia's clearly enunciated reasons were as follows:
- To demilitarise Ukraine
- To denazify Ukraine
- To end Kiev's killing of Russian speakers in the Donbass
- And to end NATO's military encirclement of Russia

The US has been sending arms to Ukraine and providing it with weapons training since 2014. This support directly fuelled the bombing and shooting of more than 14 000 people in the Donbass from 2014 to 2022.

The US and its allies need to stop arming Ukraine. Ukraine will never defeat Russia. Continuing to supply Ukraine with weapons is only prolonging the bloodshed and the needless sacrifice of Ukrainian lives.

And it's doing nothing whatever to help bring about world peace.

Stop meddling in the internal affairs of other countries.
Stop conducting overthrows.

Russia has withstood Western sanctions and put an end to the Unipolar moment.
Dedollarisation has continued and Russia and China are allied.

America needs to wake up to the new global reality that it is neither exceptional or indispensable.

Z

Ukraine is the latest case of the US losing a war the "Deep State' behind its government effectively started. Unfortunately again with most of the casualties and damage to infrastructure suffered by another country in pursuit of US agendas. In this case to try and cripple Russia so US interests have good chance of taking control of resources. Also have it weak from political and military viewpoints rather than being a strong country likely to stop the US acting as a bully that can often do what it likes. Many political leaders in the West hate Putin because he has led building the Russian Federation towards becoming a superpower after collapse of the communist Soviet Union and subsequent mismanagement under Boris Yeltsin especially. However, seems their efforts to weaken Russia - including sanctions are largely backfiring. Both hurting countries trying to impose them and forcing Russia to be more self reliant and less dependent on the West. Now remember that the national security - and survival of Russian Federation is dependent on achieving its aims in this war and is not going to back off until guaranteed Ukraine can no longer threaten it on behalf of Western interests. Especially those of the US. Then warmongers who think Ukraine has a chance of retaking Crimea should consider possibility of Russians resorting to nuclear strike against a large land force trying to enter. . It seems both the author and first commenter Alan B have seen little, if any news and views of the Ukraine situation other than that peddled by Western mainstream media and others largely supporting the "official" narratives. Needs more awareness promoted of existence of small "alternative" news sources on Internet. Including some based in USA plus English language Russian ones. Also, English translations can often be readily brought up of articles initially in Russian language and alphabet. For those not aware of any "alternative" sites which provide news including from viewpoints of supposed enemy, for a start check veteranstoday dot com (not dot org) from USA, rt dot com from Moscow and southfront dot press from Crimea.

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The Ukraine conflict matters not just to America. It matters to the whole of the free world !

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For nearly three-quarters of a century following the Second World War, the free world has been at peace. As a result, all the democratic countries have progressively reduced their military arsenals and defences, considering there would never be another major war.

The autocratic countries did exactly the opposite, and today they menace our democratic countries with the threat of aggression.

Russia has invaded Ukraine. China menaces Taiwan. North Korea has become a nuclear country and menaces South Korea. Iran is developing nuclear weapons and is creating problems in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea via its proxy, the Houthi movement in Yemen. Iran is backing the Sunni Islamist group, Hamas, the de facto leader of the Gaza Strip that attacked Israel and created havoc in the Middle East.

The free world is weak and vulnerable and just beginning to realize the danger. It will take several years for us to rearm for modern warfare and be capable of defending ourselves again.

In the meantime, we all depend heavily on the United States for our defence, but the prospect of Donald Trump’s re-election as president in November does not augur well for any of us. He wants to pull out of NATO and retorts that each country should look after itself and not expect the US to come to its defence.

We had better make sure Ukraine comes out on top or we'll all collapse like a stack of cards.

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Russia is receiving an enormous amount of military aid in its unprovoked war against Ukraine. How was Russia forced into the conflict? What threat would Russia face were it to withdraw its forces from Ukraine's borders.

Russia is losing its military hardware at an unsustainable rate. Its weapons are good for the terrorist campaign against the civilian population of Ukraine, but they lack the sophistication and accuracy of western weaponry and have also succumbed to the ingenuity of Ukrainian drones. Ukraine's challenge is to survive until the supply of arms increases.

The Sergey Kotov just got sunk by drones. One less ship in Russia's Black Sea fleet.

Many of the claims made by Banjo Patterson and Fester above are based on opinions largely derived from what those controlling the Western mainstream media would like believed but can be readily disputed. Regarding some matters, they work on the principle that if you keep repeating simple lies, people will eventually believe them. The biggest one here is that Russia carried out a supposedly unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. However, when details are studied, is obvious that Russian responses to provocations that threatened their own national security have overall been very reserved. Another issue is action by Houthis of Yemen against ships with any association with Israel while the attacks against Palestinians continue. Could be regarded as a good thing because it hurts Israel in a mainly economic way by disrupting trade. Also is costly for the US and UK naval forces effectively supporting Zionist criminals by trying to attack Houthis to stop this. Especially when very expensive missiles are used to shoot down Houthi drones built for a small fraction of the price. Note there have been ongoing efforts by "powers that be" in the West to try and censor "alternative" news and views to that they would like peddled. To figure out what is really going on, need to search for and consider these. Not try to dismiss them as eg "Russian Propaganda" which should not be even looked at. Such investigation can be much more readily done than in the past thanks to the Internet. I have given suggestions in earlier post here on some of the many possible sites to start.

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Dear mox,

.

You wrote :

.

« Many of the claims made by Banjo Patterson and Fester above are based on opinions largely derived from what those controlling the Western mainstream media would like believed but can be readily disputed …the biggest [lie] is that Russia carried out a supposedly unprovoked invasion of Ukraine ».

I get my information from reputable media principally in newspapers and magazines, as well as on radio, television and the Internet, mox. I am registered on LinkedIn, Facebook and X, but only use these social media to contact people I can’t contact by any other means.

I never watch, listen to, or read publicity and scrutinize critically what journalists and so-called experts have to say about current events, systematically cross-checking the facts, to the best of my ability, for reliability.

I have never, seen, heard, or read anything concerning what you claim to be “the biggest lie : that Russia carried out a supposedly unprovoked invasion of Ukraine”.

Putin explained during a joint news conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis following their meeting in Sochi, Russia on 8 December 2021 :

« It was a disintegration of historical Russia under the name of the Soviet Union [in 1991]. We turned into a completely different country. And what had been built up over 1,000 years was largely lost, 25 million Russian people in newly independent countries suddenly found themselves cut off from Russia, a major humanitarian tragedy – the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century ».

Ukraine was one of 15 Soviet republics and Putin used a lengthy article published on the Kremlin website to set out why he believed Russia's southern neighbour and its people were an integral part of Russian history and culture.

This view is rejected by Kyiv as a politically motivated and over-simplified version of history.

But Putin has repeatedly stated that Ukraine is not a separate country. It is part of Russia.

Russia’s invasion was not “unproved", but “provoked” by the collapse of the Soviet Union and Ukraine’s declaration of independence as decided by popular referendum.

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Dear Banjo Patterson, You claim you get your information from "reputable media". Need reminding that news on overseas issues in Australia is largely syndicated from major Western news organisations. On topics that may be controversial, they largely promote general viewpoints of people who control them. Also, often try to ignore, downplay or criticise opposing views. Please go and check some "alternative" news sites so you can then figure out for yourself how correct their news and views turn out compared with that of what you reckon is "reputable media". The three I listed in earlier post are a good start which will at times draw attention to others. Then note that in Soviet Union times, Russian news, including on short wave radio was often slanted with communist propaganda and Western sourced news - especially from BBC was overall more reliable. Now seems largely the opposite, with Russian news on the likes of the Ukraine war situation overall more honest, detailed and objective than that originating from from western based sources.

Hi Mox,

Banjo has given you succinct argument based not on biased media but on Putin's own words. For Putin, Ukraine is Russian territory populated by ethnic Russian people, which is justification for him to seize it by any means.

For Putin, democracy is a degenerate system of governance. For Ukrainians, as with any western democracy, their nation recognises all people as equal in their legal standing and vote to elect their government. The support of Ukrainians by western governments is to enable Ukrainian's to remain democratic and independent. Russia's terrorist army is in Ukraine for the sole purpose of destroying its democratic system and establishing Russian control.

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Dear mox,

.

You wrote :

.

« Please go and check some "alternative" news sites so you can then figure out for yourself how correct their news and views turn out compared with that of what you reckon is "reputable media". The three I listed in earlier post are a good start which will at times draw attention to others ».
.

I did that. Here are my comments :

veteranstoday.com

VT describes itself as follows :

VT is NOT News. It is a blog about Foreign Policy issues with opinions and comments from writers and readers who are 100% responsible for what they write. Copyright is owned by authors and NOT VT.

All articles express the personal opinions of the authors.

Wikipedia describes VT as “a pro-Kremlin propaganda outlet” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veterans_Today)

Conclusion : VT is unreliable and of no interest
.

rt.com

Rt describes itself as an autonomous, non-profit organization that is publicly financed from the budget of the Russian Federation.

Russia Today (RT) in the past has been likened to the BBC but during Putin’s presidency and the 2022 invasion of Ukraine there are no longer any independent media in Russia and the RT network has become a "propaganda arm" of Vladimir Putin.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RT_(TV_network)

Between 22 and 26 February 2022, a couple of days before and after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, "posts on Facebook from RT and Sputnik got more than 5 million likes, shares and comments". On YouTube, videos of "false stories, claiming that Ukrainians had attacked Russians or describing a 'genocide' against Russian-speaking Ukrainians in the separatist Donbas region," were watched "73 million times.

Conclusion : RT is unreliable and of no interest

.

(Continued …)

.

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(Continued …)

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Southfront.press from Crimea

Southfront describes itself as :

SouthFront: Analysis & Intelligence is a public analytical umbrella organization created and maintained by a team of experts and volunteers from the four corners of the Earth. SouthFront focuses on issues of international relations, armed conflicts and crises. The organization provides military operations analysis, military posture of major world powers, and other important data influencing the growth of tensions between countries and nations.

The US Department of State (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) issued an interesting report in 2020 entitled “Pillars of Russia’s Disinformation and Propaganda Ecosystem” in which Southfront figures as a major player.

The report notes that “… SouthFront, which Facebook claimed was based in Crimea, the company linked the network’s “coordinated inauthentic behavior” to News Front, another Kremlin-aligned Crimea-based disinformation outlet covered in this report. While SouthFront claimed that it “has no connection to News Front nor operations in Crimea,” there are multiple indications to the contrary. In fact, evidence indicates that News Front and SouthFront at least began as sister organizations".

Here is the US report :

http://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Pillars-of-Russia%E2%80%99s-Disinformation-and-Propaganda-Ecosystem_08-04-20.pdf#:~:text=SouthFront%3A%20Analysis%20and%20Intelligence%20(a.k.a.,on%20military%20and%20security%20issues.

Conclusion : Southfront is unreliable and of no interest
.

Your so-called “alternative media”, mox, are all part of the Russian propaganda and disinformation network.

It’s interesting to see that you are promoting Putin’s propaganda and disinformation media here on OLO.

.

Fester: Remember the effective US definition of "democracy" in other countries. ie When governments are largely subservient and obedient to directions from Washington. They organised a coup in 2014 to install a pro US and anti Russian leadership in Ukraine. Then in 2019, Zelensky was elected with a large majority in platform of arranging peace in Eastern Ukraine after Poroshenko did not deliver on same promise. Since then, he has done exact opposite on behalf of his largely Jewish Western handlers. Will obviously be no democratic elections in Ukraine until war ends. Also, Zelensky has signed decree that no peace negotiations will be held while Putin remains in power. So Zelensky needs to be deposed before they can start. Then note how US officials often claim that elections, etc are undemocratic or a sham when results are against what they want. Such as the referendums in former Ukrainian territories where residents have voted very strongly in favour of becoming part of Russia rather than being ruled by the very anti ethnic Russian government in Kiev.

From his foregoing comments and attitude, appears that Banjo Patterson is a classic example if the quote "Illiteracy in the 21st Century is not people who cannot read or write. It is those who resist unlearning lies they have been brainwashed to believe." He has obviously become effectively brainwashed by what he thinks is "reliable media" to the extent that does not even want to look at /listen to, let alone consider alternative viewpoints. Note regarding three alternative news sites I suggested he properly check out from a start. He just quotes uncomplimentary reviews of them which were largely predictable considering the sources. Now important question is "Has he looked at and considered news and views posted on these sites over a period of time? I doubt it.

Hi Mox,

You need to go back a bit further. Hitler and Stalin had a pact in which they each took half of Poland. After WW2 the defeated axis nations became prosperous democracies, whereas the nations occupied by the Soviet Union became vassal states controlled from the Kremlin: If one nation chose to pursue its own socialism the Russian army was ready to roll in and restore orthodoxy (remember the Prague spring?). That is now happening in Ukraine, except this time the free world is helping Ukrainians fight for their freedom instead of looking on in despair.

There are very good reasons why ex Soviet states do not want a bar of Russian authoritarianism. The Museum of Communism in Prague describes life in a vassal state: Not at all like post war Japan.

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Dear mox,

.

That’s OK. Don’t worry, it’s not your fault, mox, if there’s no longer any independent media in Russia. That’s Putin’s doing. He’s the narcissistic “Capo Dei Capi” dictator. Not you.

I’m sure you’re right. There’s no harm in reading all the propaganda and misinformation the pro-Kremlin media churn out these days. So long as you don’t believe any of it, that’s the main thing. If you do that, you’ll be OK.

Just checking and cross-checking the facts is time-consuming. I don’t have the time to do much else and I don’t need anybody to tell me how or what to think. There are very few people whose opinions I value and respect anyway.

I nevertheless try to keep an open mind and listen to other people’s points of view before forming my own opinion.

Sometimes I get it wrong, but my philosophy has always been that I would prefer to be hanged for my own mistakes than for the mistakes of someone else.

.


Dear Fester,

.

Excellent comments and observations. Very interesting indeed.

I’ll keep that in mind.

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Banjo Patterson especially. Remember that with a range of media organisations with differing ownerships, editorial policy preferences and resources help keep each other more honest. Including that some often publish articles followed by disclaimer such as "This is the opinion of the author and not of our organisation." Also, even articles regarded as propaganda you oppose sometimes draw attention to important indisputable facts. Re accusations that there is no "independent" media in Russian Federation, the large Russia Today organisation founded in 2005 under present Editor in Chief Margarita Simonyan is apparently financed by the Russian government. In some ways this is an advantage, being not dependent on advertisers and paywalls for revenue. Also, they seem much less concerned than some other organisations about copyright regarding others reproducing their material. Including after some articles "You can share this on social media." Then remember a lot of news from around the world is at least partly straightforward and syndicated. Seems rt dot com is one of the best sites for checking daily headlines on what is going on around the world. Then can look further both on it and elsewhere on anything of particular interest. Are sometimes articles they regard as newsworthy to Russian or international audiences from Australia that are basically similar to those from our local news sources. Seems general principle is if you see an article that looks like containing biased propaganda, good to check what likely sources of opposing views have to say. eg If interested in a topic regarding Iran and mainstream news regarding it appears what the US "Deep State" would like believed, check version on Iranian news site. Now the latest Wikileaks type exposure regarding Ukrainian war. RT recently aired a recording of senior German officials discussing how they could possibly supply missiles Ukrainians could use against targets in Russia without being implicated themselves. Then among stuff on Facebook page of Margarita Simonyan. (With name also printed in Russian alphabet in brackets). Comment to effect that Germans seemed mainly interested in how she came to get it. Not likely results of its embarrassing revelations.

Hi Mox,

You would do well to explore the past a little. On the matter of the independence of western journalists, of note is Gareth Jones, who exposed the Holodomor, Stalin's Holocaust against Ukrainians. At the time his expose was challenged as exaggerated and sensationalist, most notably by Pulitzer Prize recipient Walter Duranty.

Journalists sympathetic to Russia's invasion are not confined to Russian borders, but critics can only express their views elsewhere.

https://www.garethjones.org/soviet_articles/soviet_articles.htm

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Dear mox,

.

I understand what you’re saying, but I’m afraid the Kremlin’s grip on Russian media is too stringent and dissuasive for me to make the effort to try to separate the truth from the false and deceitful.

By controlling the media, Putin influences the thoughts, and minds of the Russian people and determines their opinions. He also rewrites the history books to indoctrinate the schoolchildren. He doesn’t care what the rest of the world thinks. That’s not his problem.

Russia rates 164th in the 2023 World Press Freedom Index out of 180 countries. By comparison, Australia is 27th, the UK 26th, Germany 21st, France 24th and the US 45th.

Here is an excerpt of the brief analysis of “Reporters Without Borders” that accompanies the Index :

« In 2022, the war in Ukraine enabled the Kremlin to begin a final “purge” of the Russian media landscape. Systemic censorship and the forced exodus of independent Russian and foreign media outlets have freed up space for the dissemination of coordinated propaganda by pro-government media. The ban on Western social media has benefitted Telegram, a platform whose users in Russia (164th) have more than doubled in one year. It is the method that independent media most use to circumvent censorship, but it has also been invaded by Putin’s propaganda networks, with some Telegram channels even tracking the movements of foreign journalists regarded as spies.

« In Ukraine (79th), the Kremlin's propaganda apparatus is deployed at great speed whenever the Russian forces conquer new territory – TV channels are jammed, Ukrainian media are replaced, and local journalists are hunted down.

« The Russian invasion has overshadowed the entire region, especially Belarus (157th), which is now under Russia’s control. The Index has been impacted by a marked deterioration in the press freedom situation in Central Asia, with a remarkable 50-place drop by Kyrgyzstan (122nd).

« The war in Ukraine has also affected Western Europe, which sometimes struggles to find a balance between security and freedom. Several countries have restricted journalistic work under the pretext of “national security” ».

Index : http://rsf.org/en/index

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Banjo Patterson.: How much checking of media items about the Ukraine war originating from the Russian Federation have you done yourself? Appears to me from nature of comments very little or none. Just been brainwashed by repeatedly seeing and hearing lies that it is just Kremlin or Putin's propaganda. Which should not even be checked out, let alone considered. In fact regarding the Ukraine war, information from the Russian Federation to many of those who have followed it has consistently proven overall more honest, detailed and reliable than that from Western mainstream media sources.

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Dear mox,

.

You wrote :

« In fact regarding the Ukraine war, information from the Russian Federation to many of those who have followed it has consistently proven overall more honest, detailed and reliable than that from Western mainstream media sources. »
.

That’s interesting, mox. Would you mind elaborating a little ?

Perhaps you could provide a few examples where “information from the Russian Federation has consistently proven overall more honest, detailed and reliable than that from Western mainstream media sources”.

You even claim that this is the opinion of “many of those who have followed it”.

How do you know that mox ? Can you substantiate it ? If so, please indicate the source of your information, e.g., opinion poll results, specific research, etc. I'd really like to check it out. I find that amazing – unless, of course, you're just referring to the poor Russian population that's brainwashed from the cradle to the grave and has no other source of information !

My main Russian media news source on the Ukrainian war is from Russia’s TV channel Russia 1 which I have to say is about 90% propaganda on that politically sensitive subject.

While I consider the remaining 10% to be factual, I can’t say it’s any more “honest, detailed and reliable than that from Western mainstream media sources” as you indicate. It’s basically the same – which is why I consider it to be factual – though any “bad news” is usually played down by Russian TV or not even mentioned at all.

I watch a daily emission on a French TV channel called LCI that has been focused on the Ukraine war ever since it began. It includes a French translation of the news and propaganda about the war from Russia 1.

How about you, mox, do you follow the news and propaganda on Russia 1 every day too ?

If you subscribe to a World TV network, I suggest you take a look at the French LCI channel. They have their own journalists on the ground in both Ukraine and Russia.

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Hi Mox, just wanted to express my support of your arguments. I'm of the opinion you're very much correct. I'd also like to congratulate you on your patience and politeness. Well done.

Further to the point, I'd like to add that Russia was indeed provoked into conflict with Ukraine primarily by Biden and western globalists (NATO). It was Biden, US Vice President at the time, 2014, and in particular his son Hunter, who both assisted deeply in the coup of Ukraine that saw the legitimate government of the day swept out of power. They did this for alleged, soon to be proven, large sums of dirty money. Problems in Ukraine have Bidens' fingerprints all over them. I'm also of the opinion that it was Biden, US President, 2022, who created pressures which forced Putin to commence the invasion. It was Biden who announced the invasion was imminent, before the war began.

My opinion, the war in Ukraine is not about Ukrainian sovereignty, but about western globalists (Biden) squeezing Russia, anti-globalists. Right at this minute Biden is ramping up the Ukrainian military with new long range offensive missiles. It would not surprise me that soon, Biden will have US boots on the ground to escalate the war further. Why? To prevent Trump from winning the Presidency this year. There is no other way Biden could possibly win (without cheating again). If Trump wins the presidency, the Ukraine war would be over in a few weeks. If Biden wins, the world had better start getting very religious and ready for the horrors to come.