April 12, 2022

 

 

MY CORNER by Boyd Cathey

 

WAR CRIMES and PROPAGANDA in UKRAINE

Friends,

It seems that each day brings news from the Ukrainian National Police or Ukrainian information ministry of new, and increasingly more gruesome, barbarism in the ongoing conflict with Russia. Assembled for greater effect under the rubric of “war crimes,” these unverified charges now include a supposed chemical attack in the besieged city of Mariupol by the Russian army (reminiscent of the largely debunked accusations made against the Russian-supported government of Bashar al-Assad in Syria a few years back). The charge, on the face of it, should raise suspicions, coming as it does from the “[l]eader of the Azov volunteer regiment Andriy Biletsky [who] said that three people in Mariupol have suffered ‘poisoning by warfare chemicals, but without catastrophic consequences’.”

The Azov Battalion is highly controversial due to its celebration of Nazi ideology and it history of using human shields, its terror against civilians, and its fabricated stories of war crimes, including the Mariupol Theater bombing. But even the Wall Street Journal ran with the story: “Ukrainian authorities are still investigating allegations by Ukrainian forces that they came under a Russian chemical attack in Mariupol….”

Of course, John Kirby, the Pentagon’s spokesman, jumped in: "We cannot confirm at this time and will continue to monitor the situation closely. These reports, if true, are deeply concerning and reflective of concerns that we have had about Russia's potential to use a variety of riot-control agents, including tear gas mixed with chemical agents, in Ukraine." Bolder still was the United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary Liz Truss who vowed  “to hold Putin and his regime to account"—assuming, of course, that the accounts are true.

But already the storyline is shaped; and the propaganda image is set in the public mind no matter what eventually may emerge: this is just the latest in a string of “war crimes” committed at the behest of that re-incarnation of Adolf Hitler in the Kremlin. No doubt is permitted, no contrary view allowed, lest the dissenter be labeled a “Putin apologist” or “engaged in treason” (e.g., the comments of Mitt Romney about Tulsi Gabbard).

In this conflict the skillful use of propaganda—visual images, video, “personal horror stories”—is a very effective means employed by Ukraine to mold public opinion, transmitted without much if any skepticism by a receptive Western media very eager to do the bidding of Kiev.

Just yesterday (April 11) came the horrifying news that a railway station in the far eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk (largely inhabited by Russians) was hit by missiles, with dozens of dead and perhaps hundreds of casualties. The Ukrainians immediately claimed that the Russians did it. I don't know if you have noticed, but thus far this "war crime" has gotten far less play in the American media than the purported massacre at Bucha.

I wondered why.

Then, it became vividly apparent: First, the missiles used to destroy the station were  Ukrainian Tochka-U ballistic missiles (the photos that the Ukrainian information ministry shared with the world press clearly indicate that—see the photo above and the article below). The Russians do not have and do not use that kind of projectile.  Then, Ukrainian sources crossed what I believe to be a "bridge too far": written on one of the missile husks is the inscription: "For the children" (in Cyrillic).

Now, I realize during war time military men can do all sorts of stupid things. But when the whole world and the near-unanimity of the media seem to be against you, why would you—Russia—compound that impression with something so idiotic and counterproductive as a slogan on a missile remnant which literally drips with--shouts of--"war crime"?

Would it have anything to do with the latest demand for more weaponry, additional resources to keep this war going on? Or, the pledge by President Biden at a recent summit with NATO and EU leaders (on March 24) that “[W]e will respond if he uses it [chemical weaponry]…in kind,” not specifying exactly what that response might be.

It seems that each time Volodymyr Zelensky desires more and deeper Western involvement, more Western resources and material, a "war crime" just happens.  Coincidence or staged?

I believe one can question the Russian invasion, but hopefully understand why it happened and why President Putin and the Russians sincerely believed that they had no real option but to undertake the present incursion. As scholars such as Professors John Mearsheimer and John Sakwa (e.g., The Putin Paradox, 2020), and Council for the National Interest Executive Director Philip Giraldi have described in some detail, after twenty years of constant aggressive actions by NATO and the US aimed at Russia, the Russians were between a wall and a hard place. The increased attacks on and persecution of the Russian majority in the Donbass region (14,000 deaths since February 2014), the real Ukrainian threat to re-acquire and use nuclear weapons, the stepped-up American and NATO involvement both on the ground and in the government in Kiev, and real possibility of Ukraine joining NATO—these actions reached a crescendo in the weeks and months leading up the February 24 military action.

I think it is historically evident that the EU/NATO powers actually wanted this conflict as their greater aim in this bloody conflict is regime change in Moscow. And to do that they have to bleed Russia dry in a protracted conflict. Thus, the constant infusion of weaponry and finances into Ukraine. Would not such action qualify as real—and potentially extremely perilous—co-belligerency?

I have written previously that the concern of our establishment leaders is not actually the poor ravaged Ukrainian people. Rather, their goal is a "color revolution" in Moscow, even if it costs the life of every Ukrainian to achieve that objective.

There is or should be enough doubt and skepticism out there to cause us to pause and carefully consider what is occurring, whose purposes it serves, and what the objective really is.

It has been said that "the first casualty in war time is truth."  And that has not changed since the ancients. And, despite the hysteria of the American media, it remains true today.

With that truism in mind, I pass on one of the best, one of the more convincing reports on just what did occur at the railway station in Kramatorsk.

More Fake News: Ukrainian Claims Station Bombing By Russians. Ukrainian “Bodies” Can’t Keep Still

https://www.globalresearch.ca/railway-station-bombing-ukrainian-forces-usa-admits-fake-news-ukrainian-bodies-cant-keep-still/5777157

By Rodney Atkinson Global Research, April 11, 2022

It appears there was a false flag attack by Ukrainian forces on their own people at the railway station in Kramatorsk. While a BBC report shows quite clearly that the missile was a Tochka used only by the Ukrainian side a BBC television report said the missile used “was of a type used by the Russians” – the exact opposite of the truth, as their own image showed. Even President Zelensky confirmed it was a Tochka missile which hit the Kramatorsk railway station killing some 50 people waiting to be evacuated. This BBC report confirms with this image in their report that this was the missile:

 

 

It is quite clear that it is NOT a Russian used Iskander missile – pictured below. Note the Russian used missile has no fins on the bottom end.

 

The Russian military said that it had pinpointed the location from which the missile had allegedly been launched. According to defence officials, it came from the town of Dobropole, which is located southwest of Kramatorsk and has been under the control of Ukrainian forces. The Russian forces have almost total control of the airspace and have tracked missiles and ground forces during this war so this tracking report is credible. The attack on Kramatorsk also closely resembles another missile strike that killed 17 people in the city of Donetsk in mid-March. (see Freenations post about that missile attack).

 

The Russian Ministry of Defence said that the Tochka U missile, is a weapon system that “only Ukrainian forces use.” The local Donetsk militia, which consider Kramatorsk as part of the Donetsk People’s Republic, claimed the missile was a Tochka U of the Ukrainian forces. Its leadership said Ukraine has a long record of deploying the weapon system that neither Russia nor the DPR forces use. The following numbered Tochka missiles were used on Donetsk and Luhansk by Ukrainian forces in February and now again in April:

 

§  SH91565 strike on Alchevsk LNR, 2^nd Feb. 2015

 

§  SH91566 -ii- Logvinovo DNR 13th Feb 2015

 

§  SH91579 -ii- Kramatorsk railway station 8^th April 2022

 

Below are the images of the three missiles:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Never has there been a more blatant “virtual” war for propaganda purposes with Ukraine employing actors to pose as wounded and dead.

Here Ukrainian “body bag actors” just can’t keep still for the propaganda shots.

 

7 examples of fake news are given in this link including the use of images from video games and a Star Wars film! Recently we have had American Governmental and press admitting using totally unverified incidents as propaganda. They refer to them as “narratives”.[….]

 

There have been no wars from which either side has escaped accusations of “war crimes”. The Allies fought a just war against Nazi Germany and fascist Europe between 1939 and 1945 but many accused them of war crimes for disproportionately bombing cities. All soldiers are in danger of vicious responses in the heat of battle but there is a difference between that and conscious cruelty, targeting civilians, torturing or killing prisoners, using civilians as human shields and of course setting up false flag attacks on your own side to pretend the enemy was responsible. All these seem to be features of at least the Ukrainian side of this conflict.

The trouble with efficient lies and propaganda is that they whip up fanatical hatred and cause war crimes. They also give the Ukrainians in this case the false belief that they are “winning the war” and instead of coming to terms at the peace conferences, commit themselves to more bloodshed. There is no more sickening sight as the slaughter continues than Boris Johnson telling President Zelensky not to compromise with Russia. There is nothing more dangerous than believing your own propaganda and applying to the real war the dangerous myths of the virtual propaganda war.