The vast majority of Westerners – our opinions moulded more than we realise by mainstream media incapable, upmarket no less than down, financial no less than general, of being honest on matters vital to the elites who rule behind a chimera of democracy – discovered Ukraine in the countdown to February 2022.
That’s significant. The vast majority of Westerners said nothing, if we noticed at all, when in early 2014 months of US effort to effect a ‘colour revolution’ finally paid off. A democratically elected leader was ousted – fleeing for his life in fact – and a US-friendly, fascist infiltrated regime installed in his place.
Nor did the vast majority notice the eight years of civil war which ensued, or the 14,000 ethnic Russians slaughtered in Eastern Ukraine by artillery and aerial bombardment of towns and cities in Donetsk, Luhansk and – until it voted overwhelmingly to join the Russian Federation – Crimea. But they sure as hell noticed February 24, 2022. In the clearest possible indication of how “our” views are shaped this way or that by what systemically corrupt media play up or ignore, every Western street, park and town centre saw an explosion of declarations that “we stand with Ukraine”. Millions of dwellings draped their windows in blue and yellow as those same media …
On many matters ‘quality’ media serve us tolerably well but this truth enables a greater lie. They need to show good faith even when doing so may embarrass those in high office. (Not only does their long term capacity to influence opinion and manufacture consent depend on it. So too, on pain of losing market share, do their business models.) But the trust so gained helps them mislead us, more by omission than commission, on matters critical – above all the vilifying of states and leaders in the way of empire designs – to the power they ultimately serve.
… screamed out in chorus, the lie too orchestrated for coincidence – and too fact-defiant for attribution to genuine if erroneous belief – that the Russian invasion was UNPROVOKED.
What, I ask, will it take for the vast majority to wake up to the truth that “our democracies” are a sham?
I can think of no more cogent argument for insisting that Western democracy is ninety-five percent bogus than that (a) democracy implies consent, (b) consent is meaningless if not informed, and (c) informed consent implies truly independent media. That last we do not have when [as Chomsky points out] they are “large corporations selling privileged audiences to other corporations”.
Did you opt for decades of insecurity in the name of ‘austerity’ so that a super rich rentier elite could get even super richer?
Did you opt for mass murder in Gaza?
And if you are one of those, their name Legion, who vowed to back plucky Ukraine in the face of “unprovoked Russian aggression” – all the papers spoke as one on this – did it occur to you, in your heroic insistence that “bullies must be faced down”, that you were opting for the very real risk of thermonuclear Armageddon?
It’s hard to overstate my contempt for the spineless technocrats masquerading as the West’s political leaders. What to conclude from the strutting, the breathtaking failures of reason and ‘post-truth’ disdain for facts on display in our Macrons and Camerons, our Blinkens, Bidens and Baerbocks – other than that these are men and women of profound mediocrity; smug fools with a wholly unmerited sense of entitlement? Men and women, their flaws and conceits in full view for all with eyes to see, who nevertheless presume to shepherd us through the most dangerous moment in human history.
Arrived at by their reckless stupidity.
The proxy war on Russia is aggressive, born of arrogance in Washington and cowardice in its satellites across the collective West. It can only be understood in light of two things. One is that the sun is setting on 500 years of Western hegemony currently led by Washington. The other is its decades of provoking Russia …
Ukraine: will our leaders’ folly kill us all?
* * *
- Also just asking today are Caitlin Johnstone – posting for the first time in months on a subject other than the Gaza genocide – and Andrew Korybko.
- Three days ago, in a BTL comment on a Naked Capitalism piece – Am I an extremist? – “Emma” voiced an opinion confined until recently to the margins of Western society:
‘Extremism’ is just falling outside of the officially sanctioned Overton Window. Given that most of us in the West live in societies that have openly normalized genocidal settler colonialism and playing nuclear chicken, anyone who isn’t an ‘extremist’ is a garbage human being … Fascism is liberalism in crisis, where bourgeoisie control of the society can no longer be hidden under routine enforcement of laws and institutions rigged to favor the bourgeoisie, and more extreme measures must come out into the open to enforce their control.
To which could be added the question Thermonuclear Armageddon in the name of what exactly?
Cue Andrei Martyanov: http://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/2024/05/remember-this.html
Where Boris Johnson is pictured with three neo-nazi members of the Azov Battalion holding up a flag of the Azov’s emblem which is a re-imagined “wolf’s hook” of SS Division Das Reich.
Yes, the UK Parliament invited three nazis to Westminster. How insulting to all those British and Commonwealth soldiers, sailors and airmen who sacrificed their lives fighting against these knuckle dragging scum.
” Members of Azov were greeted as heroes in London
British lawmakers cheered a delegation of the notorious Azov Ukrainian military unit at a roundtable in Parliament on Wednesday, while former Prime Minister Boris Johnson called them “heroes.”
The neo-Nazi militia was founded in 2014 by white supremacist Andrey Biletsky, who designed its logo with symbols once used by the SS. It was eventually integrated into the Ukrainian armed forces, while retaining its Third Reich iconography.
The battalion has been accused by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the UN of multiple human rights abuses, including rape and torture of civilians.
Three members of Azov visited London and spoke before a group of parliamentarians. Lieutenant Arseniy Fedosiuk and Ruslan Serbov had been captured in Mariupol in 2022, while the third, Sergeant Vladimir Vernygora, joined the unit in 2023.”
Given that the search engine produces no (as in zero, zilch, nada) results of this event reported in any Western media it is reasonable to conclude that even this was a step to far for the fifth columnist Western MSM to frighten the natives with.
The only media I could find which did report this shameful event was the Philippines Times….
https://www.philippinetimes.com/news/274383185/uk-mps-applaud-ukrainian-neo-nazis
…and this Azerbaijani outlet:
https://www.azerbaycan24.com/en/russia-reacts-to-uk-mps-applauding-ukrainian-neo-nazis/
It is impossible not to conclude that the answer to the question “Thermonuclear Armageddon in the name of what exactly?” is ‘in the name of fascism’.
See in this regard a third read recommend, this one WSWS. Under the header, Britain’s snap general election: A prelude to direct NATO war against Russia, it offers this:
Addendum:
Video. Boris Johnson praises nazis:
https://activemeasures.substack.com/p/exclusive-boris-johnson-praises-nazi
Thank you Dave for your compellingly honest and correct expose’ “Thermonuclear Armageddon in the name of what exactly?” is ‘in the name of fascism’. Under the neoliberal regime masquerading as a democracy in the UK there are too many similarities to ignore and importantly there is a fascist logic that is compelling us to WW3 and Armageddon.
This video clip from a longer recent interview with former Tory, now Independent, MP Andrew Bridgen is worth sharing if only for the fact that he is articulating out loud what anyone with a half a brain worked out a long time ago;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62YeRA12klY
– “Richi wants out……
– .Richi’s told the generals he doesn’t want to be a wartime Prime Minister…….
– we are actually at war with Russia now, they just haven’t told you…..
– this whole things a pantomime…..
– the next election….it’s not a race between the blue and red team to see who crosses the finishing line, this is a baton handover….”
Which basically means that unless that baton handover can be prevented in some way – with enough independent and independent minded MP’s who are not going to toe the line – we are in the shit.
Because, as pointed out in the clip, the UK – as well as the Collective West – have no air defence capable of defending against maneuverable hypersonic missiles. The only visible strategy appears to be to degrade Russian early warning systems as a prelude to a nuclear first strike by the Western Oligarch class.
As ex CIA analyst Larry Johnson points out:
“Apparently Ukraine has attacked a Russian ballistic missile early warning radar in Armavir, Russia. This destruction of this particular radar node has limited direct military utility for Ukraine, due to its coverage. I guess some one really wants to test stability…..
….This ICBM warning radar is located in the Federal Republic of Voronezh, which is 150 miles (250 kilometers) east of Belgorod. The radar is damaged, but not destroyed. Nonetheless, this marks a direct attack on Russia’s early warning system to detect a nuclear attack. Ukraine and the West have crossed a definitive red line for Russia and there will be hell to pay for this. This attack does not harm Russia’s tactical position on the battlefield one iota. But it does represent a clear escalation by the West to target Russia’s nuclear deterrence capability. The rubicon is crossed and this war is going to enter a new level of peril, especially for Ukraine and the West.
At a minimum, Russia is likely to intensify efforts to locate and destroy ATACM launchers and missile supplies. This means that more NATO troops will likely die in the coming weeks. Insanity rules in Washington, London, Paris, Berlin and Kiev. The nuclear genie may be out of the bottle and, if there is another attack of this nature, Russia may decide to use tactical nukes on Ukrainian bases. ”
Does anyone know if any Wakefields Stores are still operating?
“Richi wants out”. Simplicius voices the same in his post today. It makes little practical difference but WSWS opined two days ago – see the link in my previous comment – that the US ruling class is prepared to go for broke in its efforts to break Russia, and can’t allow the most dutiful of its vassals to be administered by a lame duck regime. This will have been communicated to the British establishment, and Sunak given his marching orders to pave the way for the smarter ruling class choice: Sir Keir Starmer.
The Ukraine proxy war was always conceived by US/NATO as a means to degrade Russian military and civil assetts not withstanding strategic nuclear defences. The trick was to achieve this at minimal cost to the West utilising its Ukranian proxy and avoiding a direct confrontation between NATO and Russia. The failure of the UDF to defeat the Russians has inhibited this strategy to the extent that the US/UK deep state is intent on escalating the costs to Russia before the UDF collapses and using this strategic opportunity (long range weapons) to target Russia’s Early Warning Radar System as a precursor to invite Russian retaliation and intensify the conflict on all levels. Needless to say CIA/MI6 are directing this operation using their SBU/Military Intelligence Ukranian surrogates.