EAB—What about the USA? Fifty years ago the USA arguably had the highest standard of living in the world, hence US citizens largely trusted their government (ignoring the fact that US wealth, particularly following their deindustrialisation, was largely acquired through foreign plunder, exploitation and parasitic freeloading via the Petrodollar). As a nation founded on genocide, slavery, bigotry and racism, with US citizens taught disdain for foreigners from childhood, average Americans would automatically believe any negative news about “the other” (Russia, China, Iran, etc) whether it was true or not. No need to fact-check. Even Americans “of colour” subscribed to such xenophobia and jingoistic nationalism, they were victims of Stockholm syndrome.
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ERIC ZUESSE—Unnamed American officials, according to the New York Times, have admitted that the explosives fired against Ukraine’s nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia have been fired against the plant by Ukraine’s Government, not by Russia’s Government, and furthermore these officials make clear that Ukraine’s attacks against the plant are a key part of Ukraine’s plan to win its U.S.-backed-and-advised war against Russia, on the battlefields of Ukraine, using Ukrainian soldiers.
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TIM BEAL—The central role of the United States in international affairs must be unearthed and analyzed. Nothing much of consequence happens in the world without U.S. involvement. At the same time, that involvement is hidden, and the U.S. empire’s role obscured or distorted by its huge and largely successful propaganda apparatus. The ongoing Ukraine crisis is a salient example. The root cause is NATO expansion driven by the U.S. as an instrument of its strategy to disempower Russia. The other major players—Russia, Ukraine and the European countries—are subsidiary, and, whether wisely or not, reacting to U.S. grand policy. Needless to say, this is not the way it is portrayed by the United States.
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ERIC ZUESSE—The Western press alleges that Russia invaded Ukraine because of Putin, and that his motive was Russian imperialism, a desire to expand Russia’s territory. In fact, Finland and Sweden responded immediately to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by seeking membership in NATO, out of fear that “we might be next” to be invaded. However, expansion of Russia was not involved in Putin’s motivation regarding Ukraine, but the fact that Ukraine has the border that is the nearest of any bordering nation to Moscow, being only 353 miles away from Moscow, which would be around five minutes of missile-flying distance away from possibly nuking Russia’s command-center, was very much on his mind.
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ANTON—As part of decommunization, naziism and communism were equated. The government banned the communist party. However even though the communist party was banned, Svoboda and the Radical Party continue to exist without any persecution. The 2015 decommunization law on political parties allows the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice to ban any party from participating in elections. And even now, the Ukrainian government outlawed the opposition parties that it views as “anti-Ukrainian” which consisted of the Opposition Platform for Life, Left Opposition, Union of Left Forces, Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine, Socialist Party of Ukraine, etc. Which would mean that all parties remaining are “pro-Ukrainian” which means to the eyes of the Ukrainian government Svoboda, Radical Party, etc, they are on the “same side”.
