Really & Truly? Only in the view of the Washington Post and the rest of the American and European Lamestream Media.
Those unfortunates go to remarkable lengths to color their “reporting” and to promote sympathy for the UkoNazi government. The carefully-crafted American propaganda, distributed to the entire world, aims at generating sympathy among people who are easily won over to questionable causes. Examples? A teen-aged neighbor, described by her mother as a “bleeding heart liberal” put a Uko flag in her front yard. A retired, aged American University professor, in his prime during the first Cold War, believes Le Monde reports that the Russia people are rising up against their government because of the Ukraine fighting.
On May 29, 2023, the Washington Post devoted an entire page to praising former American soldiers who, illegally recruited and enlisted in the Ukrainian Foreign Legion, died in combat against the Russian Federation. But the paper failed to reference the U.S. Department of State and the United States Code and note the unlawful actions of the decedents:
Federal statutes long in force prohibit certain aspects of foreign military service originating within the United States. The current laws are set forth in Section 958-960 of Title 18 of the United States Code:
Section 958: Any citizen of the United States who, within the jurisdiction thereof, accepts and exercises a commission to serve a foreign prince, state, colony, district, or people, in war, against any prince, state, colony, district, or people, with whom the United States is at peace, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both...
Section 959 (a): whoever, within the United States, enlists or enters himself, or hires or retains another to enlist or enter himself, or to go beyond the jurisdiction of the United States with intent to be enlisted or entered in the service of any foreign prince, state, colony, district, or people as a soldier or as a marine or seaman on board any vessel of war, letter of marque, or privateer, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.
Section 960: Whoever, within the United States, knowingly begins or sets on foot or provides or prepares a means for or furnishes the money for, or takes part in, any military or naval expedition or enterprise to be carried on from thence against the territory or dominion of any foreign prince or state, or of any colony, district, or people with whom the United States is at peace, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.
The prosecution of persons who have violated 18 U.S.C. 958-960 is the responsibility of the Department of Justice.
It seems pretty clear that these questionable people paid for their illegal activity with their lives. And that Attorney General Merrick Garland’s Justice Department will not prosecute such criminals or other, similar ones.
But How Can He? The Post’s subhead on the piece ran: On Memorial Day [a holiday honoring U.S. soldiers who died in the service of their country] American families honor loved ones who fell in Ukraine. The journal obviously does not believe America ≠ Ukraine.
Naming five of those who embraced the Nazism of Uko President Zelensky and his Azov Battalion, the Post went on about their love of liberty and disdain for tyranny which “undergird service in the U.S. military.” You know, that same military which destroyed Southeast Asia, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, and Syria. And which seems bent on putting an end to the political and territorial integrity of the Russian Federation, along with its culture and religion.
POST LOGO & ITS BATS IN THE BELFRY COURTESY KEVIN BARRETT, PH.D.
Now Beginneth the Lesson: The Lamestream Media, led by the Washington Post and its close ties to the American government, simply prints or speaks or opines about how all the forces of the Russian Federation are being destroyed by the Ukraine’s fearless, fighting forces. You know, the country which lost half its army fighting on behalf of NATO. (See below.)
Take a look. Here’s a news article excerpted in part from the April 14, 2023 edition of the Washington Post.
The war in Ukraine has gutted Russia’s clandestine spetsnaz forces, and it will take Moscow years to rebuild them, according to classified U.S. assessments obtained by The Washington Post…
The rapid depletion of Russia’s commando units, observers say, shifted the war’s dynamic from the outset, severely limiting Moscow’s ability to employ clandestine tactics in support of conventional combat operations. U.S. officials believe that the staggering casualties these units have sustained will render them less effective, not only in Ukraine but also in other parts of the world where Russian forces operate…
And
From an April 15, 2023 article by David Ignatius, a Post “journalist” with close ties to the American intelligence services:
Hope is not a strategy, as pragmatic military analysts often observe. But still, Ukraine’s will to win — its determination to expel Russian invaders from its territory at whatever cost — might be the X-factor in the decisive season of conflict ahead…
The good news for Ukraine is that Russia’s planned winter offensive has failed to take much ground. The Russians have lost thousands of soldiers in an attempt to seize Bakhmut [Artyomovsk] and control the surrounding Donbas[s] region. They have gained control of 70 to 80 percent of Bakhmut [Artyomovsk], but the Ukrainians have held on at a terrible cost, avoiding a symbolic defeat…
But, in contrast,
Philip Bump, in an opinion piece in the paper’s April 20, 2023 edition, attacked both Fox journalist Tucker Carlson and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., presidential candidate for allowing Kennedy to state: “Nobody talks about this. There’s 14,000 Ukrainian civilians who have died but 300,000 troops. Russians are killing Ukrainians at a 7-to-1 to 8-to-1 ratio,” Kennedy claimed. “They cannot sustain this. What we’re being told about this war is just not true.”
Apparently fearful that wiser heads might prevail in Washington, D.C., the State of Confusion, the Post gave voice to another of Congress’ puling professional politicians on February 24, 2023:
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Friday urged the United States and its allies to renew their resolve to help Ukraine as it stands up to Russian “thuggery,” tacitly pushing back against members of his own party who have become loudly skeptical of Ukraine’s fight as the conflict passes the one-year mark.
Dead, Dead, Dead. American and British newspapers focus solely on what they claim are staggering numbers of Russian casualties, but, somehow, ignore realistic figures on the number of dead and wounded Ukrainian soldiers. HOWEVER, once, in a while, Truth leaks out. On November 20, 2022, Yahoo News quoted Ursula von der Leyen, once German Defense Minister and now president of the European Union, as saying: “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine brought death, destruction and untold suffering. We all remember the horrors of Bucha. It is estimated that more than 20,000 civilians and 100,000 Ukrainian military personnel have died to date…”
Yahoo went on to note: “However, within a few hours, the tweet was deleted and a new one was published – with a video address, from which the claim about the deaths of 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers and 20,000 civilians had been removed….That part of the text also disappeared from the speech on the EC’s official website.”
Oh my!
Dead Ukrainian Soldiers
On February 12, 2022, USA TODAY wrote: “Ukraine has 250,000 active-duty troops, plus another 290,000 reserve personnel and 50,000 paramilitary units…” So, taken together with von der Leyen’s excised remarks (which ran against the grain of appropriate propaganda), the Nazified Ukrainian government lost almost half of its regular army. Last year.
RT, the Russian news service, is far more realistic in its assessments, in keeping with the colossal, destruction of the Ukraine created by the United States and its NATO puppets. On May 2, 2023, it noted: “ The Ukrainian armed forces have sustained over 15,000 battlefield casualties in April alone, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has estimated…One of the leaked documents described by The Washington Post said between 124,000 and 131,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed or wounded since the start of hostilities in February 2022.”
So, Ukies are Dying in Great Numbers. Who is Financing This? According to the Council on Foreign Relations, the United States has, to February 2023, provided $76.8 billion in economic aid and weapons to Zelensky’s extremist government. The military end of things totaled $46.6 billion, 61% of the total. That latter bit consisted of infantry arms; artillery; tanks and armored personnel carriers; air defense; missiles; helicopters; drones; coastal defense; radar and communications; as well as satellite services.
As Al Jazeera noted on February 15, 2023, the 30 members of NATO have committed at least $80 billion worth of military, humanitarian and financial aid to Kiev. Weapons included helicopters, artillery, tanks, and missiles.
Statista, a provider of market and consumer data, stated that the European Union (EU) provided $35.3 billion to the Ukraine by February 2023. $3.6 billion went for weapons, and $30.3 was financial assistance.
That Ain’t Enough. Joe Biden, U.S. president; Josep Borrell, son of a Catalan baker and EU foreign policy chief, plus Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s Secretary-General all advocate for additional money and weapons to be sent to the Ukraine in support of a not-very-well-concealed war against the Russian Federation. Naturally, Volodymyr Zelensky is not satisfied. While swanning about burnishing his image, such as a commencement address to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., he demands F-16 fighters (1974 technology), American main battle tanks, German main battle tanks, and highly-poisonous Depleted Uranium weapons from Britain. In his twisted view, these will win the misconceived war against Russia.
All the King’s Horses, and All the King’s Men. Can’t beat the Russian Federation. The Ukrainians sure can’t. They are unable to do it on their own. Otherwise, why would Zelensky and his highly-undemocratic government need billions upon billions of dollars in weapons and financial support just to lose half the Ukrainian army? And yet demand more help?
And there’s more.
Josep Borrell Is EU Foreign Policy Chief
Sanctions. And Their Effects On Non-Russian Economies. In February 2023, Statista noted “Between February 22, 2022, and February 10, 2023, territories and organizations worldwide imposed 10,608 restrictions on individuals from Russia. Furthermore, 3,431 list-based sanctions were placed on entities over that period. The sanctions were first placed due to the country's recognition of the separatist Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR) and then due to its military attack on Ukraine. Restrictions targeting individuals typically include asset freezes and travel bans.”
While the Russians, like the greatly-sanctioned Iran, continue to thrive, the sanctions-planners must be thoroughly discombobulated. RT (February 27, 2023) reported U.S. officials confirming resilience of the Russian economy.
The Russian economy has managed to hold up against the massive sanctions imposed by Western countries and their allies over Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby admitted on Friday [February 24]…
Russian statistics service Rosstat reported that GDP of the sanctions-hit nation contracted by just 2.1% in 2022, much less than the 10-15% some had predicted after sanctions hit last March. The Russian economy is actually forecast to increase by 0.3% during the current year, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF)…”
On May 27, 2023, RT wrote that “The energy-dependent German economy has been in decline since losing cheap Russian oil and gas.” Furthermore, it noted: “Among EU members, Germany has been the hardest hit by the side effects of Western sanctions on Russia, as flows of Russian natural gas have dwindled significantly. The sabotage on the Nord Stream pipeline, one of the main routes for Russian gas to Europe, has added to the woes. As a result, Germany no longer receives gas directly from Russia, having previously imported more than 50% of its blue fuel from the country. Meanwhile, European wholesale energy prices reached unprecedented levels in 2022 as a result of sanctions on Russia, prompting fears of deindustrialization, particularly in Germany.”
The Federal Republic of Germany is widely seen as Europe’s economic powerhouse.
Inflation in the UK is, apparently, out of control, with one resident commenting to me that prices area rising 10 pence per week. Prior to Britain’s wholehearted support for sanctions on Russia, the economy was relatively stable.
Recession in the EU Economy
As far as the United States goes, inflation is out of control. As but one example, car wash prices have jumped from about $30 to nearly $40—in a mechanical not labor-intensive operation. Huge companies are laying off thousands of employees. There are shortages everywhere and food prices grow by leaps and bounds.
Even the armed forces in Europe and the U.S. complain that their war-fighting abilities are compromised because of all the weapons sent from their stockpiles to the Ukraine—which squanders them in massed barrages. As is usual in Western “media”, no details are given on how fast the Ukraine burns through arms supplied by the U.S., NATO, and the EU. However, there are a plethora of reports about how Zelensky’s fascist forces are depleting their imported weaponries faster than they can be produced in America and Europe. It’s gotten to the point where the United States is transferring ordnance from its $1 billion stockpile in Apartheid Israel while seeking arms from South Korea for the Ukraine.
COMMENT. Contacts whine about jolting, unending price hikes but do little more. No one is demanding Biden’s head on a platter or even insisting he go to an Old-Age Home. European politicians keep attacking dissidents such as France’s Marine Le Pen or Germany’s Alternative for Germany party for daring to question the unnecessary and dangerous war against Russia.
I see little change, except for the worse. Conceivably, once the world-wide economy crashes in the coming depression, someone might be held to account. However, pols are good at avoiding the ill consequences of their actions.
But what happens when the Ukraine collapses? It’s economy and infrastructure are in tatters, held up only by massive infusions of cash from the West. It’s armed forces are harrowed by the Russians. Frankly, Zelensky is running out of cannon fodder. In January 2023, Al Mayadeen, the Lebanese TV station reported: “Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's government has begun handing down multi-year prison sentences to accused draft evaders, amid a wave of viral videos showing aging Ukrainian men desperately trying to avoid forced conscription. According to newly released documents, Ukrainians who fail to report to Ukraine's conscription authorities face multiple years in prison, even if they are injured.”
The media, which has hyped the great and successful Ukrainian destruction of the Russian Federation’s soldiers and equipment, will be scrambling for explanations once the former portion of the old USSR implodes.
Or, will the media and the propaganda forces of the U.S. and Europe force an escalation, to the point of open, uncontrolled warfare against the Russian Federation. Will those pinheaded pundits seek its utter destruction. Can they stampede their unthinking governments into unbelievably rash actions? Could this trigger Putin’s oft-repeated warnings that he will use nuclear weapons to prevent this? Already, I am receiving reports of friends in Russia who have again contracted Covid. Is there a biological front being opened against Moscow?
Remember, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has advanced the hands of the Doomsday Clock to 90 seconds before Midnight (the time indicating the complete destruction of the world).
J. Michael Springmann is an attorney, author, political commentator, and former diplomat, with postings to Germany, India, and Saudi Arabia. He previously authored, Visas for Al Qaeda: CIA Handouts That Rocked the World: An Insider’s View, recounting how the U.S. created and used Islamic Terrorism. Additionally, he penned Goodbye, Europe? Hello, Chaos? Merkel’s Migrant Bomb, an analysis of the alien wave sweeping the Continent. He currently practices law in the Washington D.C. Area. He is a frequent commentator on Arab and Russian news programs.
He is also on the Ukraine’s “Enemies List”, having questioned, inter alia, the country’s refusal to honor the Minsk Accords and for stating that its government is Nazified.