You don’t have to choose sides in the Invasion/”Special Operation” (depends on who you are).
But, it’s pretty clear US psyops are in overdrive with full support of the American Pravda.
Ukraine is not an innocent in all of this nor is the US.
In war, truth is the first casualty. In war, including economic, it’s important to know what the other side is saying because it messages their point of view which you ignore at your own peril.
So, here is the Putin case, courtesy of donsurber.blogspot.com
Before reposting donsurber, I watched Putin’s speech on the eve of the “Special Operation”. It was impressive.
So, here we go
The cable channels have granted Zelensky billions of dollars worth of free air time to sell the public on having Americans finance his war with Russia. So far, he’s received commitments to $13.6 billion in U.S. aid, money he will gladly share with the children of congressmen.
Anyone who questions this is labeled a Putin puppet.
Well, I have been called worse.
There is another side of the story, weak as it may be.
In a speech Power Line called, “The Madness of Vlad the Inhaler,” Putin made a Zelensky-style plea.
Putin’s side of the story about to his colleagues. Most of it was BS. There is no
rationalization for the invasion. See for yourself.
But this resonated with me: “I want ordinary citizens of Western countries to hear me too: they are now persistently trying to convince you that all your difficulties are the result of some hostile actions of Russia, that you have to pay for the fight against the
mythical Russian threat from your own wallet. All this is a lie.
“And the truth is that the current problems faced by millions of people in the West are the result of many years of actions by the ruling elites of their states, their mistakes, myopia and ambitions. These elites are not thinking about how to improve the lives of
their citizens in Western countries. They are obsessed with their own vested interests and super profits.
“Evidence of this is the data of international organizations, which directly say that social
problems, even in leading Western countries, have only worsened in recent years, that inequality is growing, the gap between rich and poor, racial and national conflicts are making themselves felt.”
He lashed out at economic sanctions which he has countered by limiting grain and fertilizer exports, which will send soaring food prices even higher. $5 gasoline? Hah. Wait till we have $5 milk.
He pointed out the amorality of the economic sanctions that drew blood.
He said, “All verbal tinsel about political correctness, inviolability of private property, freedom of speech — all this flew off overnight. Even the Olympic principles were trampled on. They did not hesitate to settle scores with the Paralympic athletes – this is such a sport outside of politics.”
That is a reference to a New York Times report, “In Reversal, Paralympics Bars Athletes From Russia and Belarus.”
Those cheering the firing of an opera soprano or requiring a Denunciation of Putin Card for a Russian to play at Wimbledon need to realize that they are next. You can never be woke enough because the rules are constantly changing. Tennis champ, Martina Navratilova, a pioneer in lesbian rights, is now an outcast because she dares question transgenderism.
Putin knows this and he plays against it. He lashed out at oligarchs who have been Westernized.
He said, “I am not at all judging those who have a villa in Miami or the French Riviera, who cannot do without foie gras, oysters or so-called gender freedoms. The problem is absolutely not in this, but, I repeat, in the fact that many of these people, by
their very nature, are mentally located precisely there, and not here, not with our people, not with Russia.”
Of course the cable channels label his nationalism as evil while Zelensky’s nationalism is saintly.
I don’t think this war will do in Putin or Zelensky.
Patriotism rings true in sane countries.
History shows that Russians may be dumb as bears but they do love their country. They call World War 2 the Great Patriotic War. Millions of deaths did not bring Stalin down because he saved the country in the eyes of his countrymen.
Putin is of course KGB. That means he knows of the world outside of Russia. He knows it well.
His line about “so-called gender freedoms” echoes across the globe. Many see Uncle Sam now as a drag queen.
In journalism, there are at least two sides of every story or else it is not journalism.
The collapse of the Soviet Union liberated hundreds of millions of people in Poland, Ukraine and all those Stans.
But the collapse also humiliated the Russian people, just as the World War I reparations humiliated Germany.
Russia had no business invading Ukraine.
We have no business being in Ukraine. But we are up to our necks in it because a corrupt government and its corrupt corporations pay Hunter Biden and other offspring of politicians well.
Writing off Putin’s speech as madness may make you feel good and superior, but it also makes you look shallow and weak.
Here is some speeches you won’t likely see – you decide:
Here is the speech in Russian: http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67996
The speech in English, translated as it goes: http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67996
March 16, 2022 18:10
………………………………………………..
“I want ordinary citizens of Western states to hear me too: they are now persistently trying to convince you that all your difficulties are the result of some kind of hostile actions of Russia, that you have to pay for the fight against the mythical Russian threat from your own wallet. All this is a lie.
“And the truth is that the current problems faced by millions of people in the West are the result of many years of actions by the ruling elites of their states, their mistakes, myopia and ambitions. These elites are not thinking about how to improve the lives of their citizens in Western countries. They are obsessed with their own vested interests and super profits.
“Evidence of this is the data of international organizations, which directly say that social problems, even in leading Western countries, have only worsened in recent years, that inequality is growing, the gap between rich and poor, racial and national conflicts are making themselves felt. The myth of the Western welfare society, of the so-called golden billion, is collapsing.
“I repeat, today the entire planet has to pay the price precisely for the ambitions of the West, for its attempts by any means to maintain its elusive dominance.
“The imposition of sanctions is a logical continuation, a concentrated expression of the irresponsible, short-sighted policy of the governments and central banks of the US and EU countries. It was they who, in recent years, with their own hands dispersed the spiral of global inflation, with their actions led to an increase in global poverty and inequality, to new flows of refugees around the world. And the question arises: who is now responsible for the millions of starvation deaths in the world’s poorest countries due to the growing food shortage?
“I repeat, a serious blow has been dealt to the entire global economy and trade, to confidence and to the US dollar as the main reserve currency.
……………………………………..
“the policy of containing and weakening Russia, including through economic isolation and blockade, is a conscious, long-term strategy. The leaders of the West themselves no longer hide the fact that the sanctions are not directed against individuals or companies, their goal is to strike at our entire domestic economy, our social and humanitarian sphere, every family, every citizen of Russia.
“In fact, such steps aimed at worsening the lives of millions of people have all the signs of aggression, war by economic, political, and informational means. It has a total, undisguised character, and, I repeat, the so-called Western political beau monde does not even hesitate to speak about it in plain text.
“All verbal tinsel about political correctness, inviolability of private property, freedom of speech – all this flew off overnight. Even the Olympic principles were trampled on. They did not hesitate to settle scores with the Paralympic athletes – this is such a “sport outside of politics”.
“In many Western countries, people are subjected to real persecution just because they come from Russia: they refuse medical care, expel children from schools, deprive their parents of their jobs, ban Russian music, culture, and literature. Trying to “cancel” Russia, the West tore off all the masks of decency, began to act boorishly, demonstrated its true nature. It just begs a direct analogy with the anti-Semitic pogroms that the Nazis staged in Germany in the 30s of the last century, and then their henchmen from many European countries who joined Hitler’s aggression against our country during the Great Patriotic War.
“A massive attack has also been launched against Russia in cyberspace. An unprecedented information campaign has been unleashed, which involves global social networks and all Western media, the objectivity and independence of which turned out to be just a myth. Access to information is limited, people are stuffed with a huge number of fakes, propaganda forgeries, in other words, linden. It got to the point that one of the American social networks directly announced the possibility of publications calling for the murder of Russian citizens.
Econophysics2020 