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,

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You wrote :

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« 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,

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You wrote :

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« 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 ».
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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
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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

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(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
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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.

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