Tag: russia

Sovereign ‘Democracy’ Ukraine: Zelenskyy Suspends 11 Opposition Parties Becoming Head Of A One-Party State

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, with the backing of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, declared that all opposition parties would be suspended indefinitely until martial law is declared over.

In a statement issued yesterday evening, President Zelenskyy announced the following decree: political parties who his party, “Servants of the People,” has identified as being pro-Russian would be suspended until the nation-wide martial law is lifted. The list essentially includes every opposition party.

With millions of their constituents now stripped of any political infrastructure, it’s safe to say that this is not the sort of action taken by a ‘democracy.’

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From Iraq to Ukraine, the American Press Loves a War

On this day in 2003, the United States launched its air invasion of Iraq, with the ground component beginning one day later. It was the first stage of a war that would ultimately drag on for over eight years, killing thousands of American soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians as the U.S. and its allies sought to overthrow Saddam Hussein’s government.

Nineteen years on, Americans watch as a conflict embroils Eastern Europe. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine beginning last month has brought frequent reports of deaths of innocents and strikes on civilian spaces.

Horrific scenes from the conflict in Ukraine have fetched headlines much like those published during the Iraq War. But there is a difference between journalistic reporting on a conflict and coverage that trends more toward activism. Reporters operating under the guise of objectivity repeatedly trended toward the latter approach during the Iraq War. Now, as establishment journalists not-so-subtly agitate for a more interventionist U.S. policy in Ukraine, it’s worth keeping an eye on these tried-and-trued hawkish tendencies.

In a press conference on March 15, reporters pelted White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki with questions regarding the Biden administration’s opposition to certain military support for Ukraine. There were over one dozen questions mentioning military assistance—including five distinct mentions of a no-fly zone—and only one question about the potential American role in facilitating negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.

Neither were the numerous questions about military assistance purely fact-based. “Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian officials have made so clear that what they believe they need the most is more warplanes and fighter jets. So why is the U.S. assessing something different?” asked a reporter. “Why does the U.S. believe they know better what Ukraine needs than what Ukrainian officials are saying they need the most?”

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Russia Challenges US: If Biolab Documents are Fake Then Ask Head of the DTRA Office at the US Embassy in Kiev Joanna Wintrol Why She Signed Off on Them?

On Friday, March 18, the Russian Permanent Representative at to the United States Security Council Vassily Nebenzia presented what the Russian government claims is proof of a US bioweapon program in Ukraine and Georiga (Gateway Pundit reported). Nebenzia claims that the program has been running since 2005, and that “American colleagues were not assisting the Ministry of Health as they claimed, but rather the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.”

According to Nebenzia, the US Department of Defense “delegated broad authorities to its affiliated contractor Black & Veatch in cooperation with Ukrainian state authorities.” The experiments on deadly pathogens in Ukraine were not conducted by Ukrainians, but by Pentagon personnel and foreign researchers, Nebenzia claims.

“The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) competitively awarded Black & Veatch Special Projects Corp. (Black & Veatch) one of its Biological Threat Reduction Integrating Contracts (BTRIC) in 2008 (in Ukraine). The 5-year IDIQ contract (with a 5-year option) has a collective ceiling of $4B among the five selected contractors”, the Black & Veatch website acknowledges.

“Simply speaking, Ukrainian authorities gave Pentagon a carte blanche and let them carry out dangerous biological experiments on the territory of Ukraine. Thereby, the American contractor was exempt from any taxes under Ukrainian legislation”, Nebenzia said. He called the programs “a cynical use of Ukraine’s territory and population for dangerous research that Washington does not want to have at home so that to not put its own population at risk.”

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Anger Towards Russians In US—A Reminder Of Post-9/11 Insanity

Imagine for a moment you are working in another country and your employer suddenly demands you publicly reject the country of your birth or face being fired. Imagine the country of your birth is run by a despot who imprisons political enemies, represses speech critical of the state, and your entire extended family still lives there.

What kind of choice is that?

Forcing an individual to publicly denounce their home country — while military tensions are at an all-time high, and protesters there are being arrested en masse — is an affront to empathy and compassion. The choice, to create an ethical dilemma that forces a worker to decide to keep their job or keep their family safe, is reprehensible.

Consider Anna Netrebko, the Met opera singer who recently withdrew from future engagements rather than publicly denounce Vladimir Putin.

“Anna is one of the greatest singers in Met history, but with Putin killing innocent victims in Ukraine, there was no way forward,” Met General Manager Peter Gelb said.

Her forced withdrawal came despite her very clear opposition to the invasion itself: “I am opposed to this senseless war of aggression and I am calling on Russia to end this war right now, to save all of us. We need peace right now,” she said. “This is not a time for me to make music and perform. I have therefore decided to take a step back from performing for the time being. It is an extremely difficult decision for me, but I know that my audience will understand and respect this decision.”

She sounds reasonable. She also sounds like she wants to protect her family and maybe be able to safely go home one day.

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