Veterans warn against no-fly zone in UK: Examine Western propaganda critically

……………………….   you should question everything that you are being told by anyone and from any source. But you should still seek out alternative sources and stories to consider before thinking upon them and deciding what to believe. Only by using your critical thinking skills can you arrive at some general semblance of the truth while humbly accepting that you can never be too certain of the truth. 

There are often more questions than answers. But corporate media in the United States and the West in general is not to be trusted. They generally deliver more propaganda than truth. So question what you are told. Think for yourself………………… 

The Peace Press — Saturday, March 19, 2022 edition Major kudos to the organization to which I belong, Veterans for Peace, for issuing a press release warning against a No-Fly Zone over Ukraine. A no-fly-zone would be an act of war and it would represent a major escalation of hostilities by pitting U.S.-NATO planes directly against Russian military planes. This would be a major escalation that could considerably broaden the war and possibly lead to even nuclear war. The Establishment of a No-Fly-Zone must be avoided at all costs.

“VETERANS WARN AGAINST “NO-FLY ZONE” IN UKRAINE

Veterans of several U.S. wars are urging President Biden to hold fast against growing political pressure to implement a “no-fly zone.”

A No Fly Zone is an area established by a military power over which opposing aircraft are not permitted. No Fly Zones are enforced by military interception of aircraft and missiles using deadly force, and sometimes include preemptive strikes to prevent potential violations. In other words, a country that declares a no-fly zone must then be ready to enforce the protected space, putting the U.S. in direct military conflict with Russia, escalating war between two nuclear powers.”

~Veterans for Peace

………………………… let there be no mistake that the Russians bear the responsibility for invading and that is condemnable but let us also remember that the U.S.-American Empire navigated and manipulated the situation in such a manner that convinced the Russians that they had no alternative but to invade. So pinning all the blame on one side of this conflict without blaming or recognizing the actions of the other side is but an exercise in blatant propaganda by either one side or the other side. Both are culpable and both must be held to account through equal condemnations in the same breath. Good versus evil dichotomies typically only exist in fairy- tales and religion. The real world is full of nuance, gray areas, complexity and multi-layered histories working in tandem with each other. So is this case with Ukraine where to pin all the blame on only one actor is an example of propaganda.

Contrary to what is being blasted from all corners of corporate media in their attempt to paint an easy to understand narrative of good-vs-evil where we, of course, are good as is implied, this war has surprisingly little to do with Vladimir Putin. In fact, this is a Russian Establishment reactive war for which Putin himself was under massive internal political pressure to initiate. Contrary to what we are told by corporate media, Putin is not a dictator, he is an elected politician who must respond to internal pressures because his political power resides in the consent and approval of those constituencies inside Russia. The pressure to militarily intervene in Ukraine was strongly emanating from powerful quarters of the Russian political system primarily from the nationalist and military wings and also as expressed in the legislative actions of the Duma which recognized the breakaway Republics in Ukraine just prior to the invasion. Putin acquiesced to this massive political pressure.

Contrary to the madman Adolf Hitler effigy that corporate media rolls out for every new war, the reality is far more complex, convoluted, multi-layered and primarily rooted in Russian internal politics as so many wars often are rooted in internal politics. Furthermore, a lot of what we see now and saw before is baseless propaganda. To this day, there is a long list of allegations against President Putin but a vastly shorter list of actual evidence to support these many allegations. He could be guilty of such allegations but the lack of evidence does not support that view. More likely, this is all just part of a wider smear campaign designed to get everyone onboard with hating Putin and Russia. And more to the point, even if some of these allegations are true, how Russia treats its citizens and who Russia’s citizens elect to be their president is not the business of anyone but Russian citizens. We should keep our damn noses out of it. To those who propose regime change in Russia, may I remind you that there is no guarantee that what will come next will be any better than the current leadership and in fact could be far worse. 

 As an example of this I cite Saddam Hussein and Iraq. While Americans may think Iraq is better off now, that feeling does not square with the hundreds-of-thousands of Iraqi’s who perished in civil wars that were caused by deposing Saddam Hussein. In reality, our toppling of Saddam Hussein destabilized the Middle East, caused unimaginable suffering and massive death and destruction, so be careful what you wish for because you might just get it. But again, who or what government rules in Russia is no business of the United States of America. I say these things because I think it is very important to dispel myths and discern reality by separating fact from fiction especially now that the media is whipping people up into a frenzy of war fever.

Vladimir Putin, to his credit, exhausted nearly every diplomatic channel for the last 14 years dating back to the Munich Conference of 2008 to warn the West that both Georgia and Ukraine were red lines for Russian national security interests. These warnings were meant to avoid war and avoid what would be seen by the Russian Establishment as absolutely critical and necessary Russian military involvement if such red lines were crossed. We have long known this to be true but the U.S. Empire continued to cross those red lines, almost seemingly wanting the Russians to invade. Think about that for a moment. Who benefits from a new Cold War with Russia? Perhaps, those who reap vast profits, like weapons-makers for example? Yes, the economics of vast profits is yet another driver of war. At every turn, the U.S. rebuffed and ignored these warnings preferring instead to bask in American Exceptionalism which basically boils down to an American Empire imposed rules-based-world-order but one in which the United States Empire is conveniently exempt from obeying. In short, do as we say, not as we do otherwise known as hypocrisy.

Furthermore, ever since the U.S. American Empire got into bed with neo-Nazi elements in Ukraine and helped them overthrow a democratically-elected government in 2014, both the Russian Establishment and the ethnic Russian Ukranian population of Eastern Ukraine were completely freaked out and felt directly threatened, This fear was for good reason, as later events would clearly demonstrate namely the neo-Nazi slaugther of ethnic-Russian Eastern Ukrainians. This prompted a separtist movement that formed in response to this threat, since the separtists feared the oversized influence of neo-Nazi elements inside the Ukrainian government along with a understandable revulsion against the installed puppet regime by the United States in Ukraine. This created a major civil conflict inside Ukraine that ultimately prompted diplomatic efforts to resolve. As a result, in 2015 after many negotiations, the Minsk Accords were signed by France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine and this signaled a significant diplomatic breakthrough to resolving internal strife in Ukraine by recognizing the human rights of the ethnic Russian population of Eastern Ukraine by promoting political autonomy for them and by establishing specific guarantees to allay Russian national security concerns. This is another example of how the Russians attempted to use diplomacy to avert a war. 

However, since 2015 the Ukrainian government, under heavy Imperialist pressure from the United States/American Empire, scuttled and ignored the Minsk Accords, thus essentially blocking their implementation. This action by the American Empire operating through its Ukrainian government puppet coupled with the NATO-ization of Ukraine (militarization of Ukraine) and by an array of other aggressive U.S. actions including aggressive military maneuvers and nuclear missile emplacements close to Russian borders virtually guaranteed a Russian military response. Remember that our military-industrial-complex benefits greatly reaping soaring profits from a new Cold War with Russia while the rest of us get financially screwed. That is also what this conflict is about, the wealthy want more money and war is how they intend to get it while the rest of us suffer greatly. Therefore, one cannot honestly criticize one side of this war without also laying equal blame upon the other side of this war. Meanwhile, Ukranians die at the hands of Russian guns but upon the altar of American Imperialist maneuverings that provoked this war. The American Empire is as much to blame as the Russians for this war. Every condemnation of this war should reflect that.

But how many Ukrainian civilians are actually dying in this war? One could say that even one death is too many and they would be right. But here again, civilian death totals are more prone to being twisted by propaganda from either one side or the other. While we are bombarded with an endless barrage of good-vs-evil reporting from mass media, where we are always good and the Russians are always evil, the truth is far more complex, difficult, unclear and unpleasant. While we are consistently fed the line that Russians are wantonly massacring civilians en masse, the numbers simply do not seem to support this allegation. So you should question this kind of reporting that is susceptible to propaganda. The relatively low numbers of civilian casualties 3 weeks into an invasion (less than 1000) along with the relatively slow advance of Russian forces along with the fact that Russian troops are mostly staying in areas of Eastern Ukraine along with the fact that Eastern Ukraine is primarily composed of an ethnic Russian and Russian speaking population, would all seem to suggest that the Russian military is taking great care to avoid civilian loss of life upon their ethnic Russian brethren in Eastern Ukraine, contrary to what we are being told on corporate media. 

This would logically make sense since the population of Eastern Ukraine is largely comprised of ethnic-Russians who primarily speak Russian — — — -why would they want to kill their own brethren? That just doesn’t make sense (which is how I know it is likely Western propaganda — — — you just have to think for yourself just a little). So far it seems, Russian military actions are predominantly focused upon Ukrainian military targets and neo-Nazi strongholds as in Mariupol and foreign fighter bases near the Polish border and an assortment of weapons depots. There are also reports that neo-Nazi elements, particularly near their stronghold at Mariupol are blocking refugee escape corridors thus driving up civilian casualty counts unneccessarily.

……………………….   you should question everything that you are being told by anyone and from any source. But you should still seek out alternative sources and stories to consider before thinking upon them and deciding what to believe. Only by using your critical thinking skills can you arrive at some general semblance of the truth while humbly accepting that you can never be too certain of the truth. 

…..  more https://www.veteransforpeace.org/pressroom/news/2022/03/17/release-veterans-warn-against-no-fly-zone-ukrai

March 21, 2022 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, media | 1 Comment