Propagandists Have Created a False Picture of the Conflict in Ukraine, Leaving the West Unprepared for the Outcome
Paul Craig Roberts
For some months I have been perusing David Johnson’s “Russian List,” a daily collection of newspaper and journal articles written by commentators and alleged academic experts. I must say for the most part the articles are highly unrealistic anti-Russian propaganda. I have concluded that Russian experts are few and far between in the Western world. During the 20th century cold war there were intelligent and informed discussions of disagreements about US and Soviet policies. Today there is propaganda, some of it so absurd that it is
laughable.Moon of Alabama agrees with me. On Johnson’s Russian List for January 2 is an article by Moon of Alabama titled, “Lack of Good Analysis Contributes to the Decline of the West.” It begins: “What really hit me last year was the dearth of correct analyses in main stream media and in politics with regards to the war in Ukraine. Little if anything is based on facts. More than 90% of the published output is propaganda.”
I must say this really resonated with me. I am just as frustrated. Steven Cohen must have been the last objective and knowledgeable Russian expert in the US.
Moon of Alabama quotes a range of “experts” ranging from the Department of War Studies, King’s College London to US commanding generals and a collection of politicians and concludes the pronouncements are “delusional nonsense.” https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/12/lack-of-good-analyses-contributes-to-the-decline-of-the-west.html#more
The selections on Johnson’s Russian List for January 2 confirm Moon of Alabama’s conclusion. The Wall Street Journal reports that Ukraine wiped out from 200 to 600 of the newly deployed Russian soldiers in one strike, while successfully repelling Russian missile strikes against Ukraine’s infrastructure. The newspaper’s delusional writers claim that Russian attacks are no longer effective as Ukraine’s Western allies have shored up Ukraine’s air defenses. Why then is half of Ukraine without electric power?
Patrick Cockburn writing in CounterPunch opens with a total fantasy:
“Seldom in European history has an invading power so exaggerated its own strength, and underestimated that of its enemy to the degree that Russia did when it attacked Ukraine on 24 February. Ten months after President Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian army to conquer Ukraine, the tragic absurdity of his giant blunder remains staggering.
“Russia has never recovered politically or militarily from that initial miscalculation about the likely success of an invasion – and it is difficult to see how it can do so in future.”
As Putin said over and over, the purpose his limited military operation is to drive the Ukrainian forces out of the Donbass republics, not to invade and conquer Ukraine. Until recently Putin left Ukraine alone except for the Donbass area. Now that Washington has expanded the war, 2023 is likely to bring a Russian change of policy and the destruction of Ukraine.
Cockburn once an honest reporter is now immersed in pure propaganda: Russia is on the verge of defeat.
David Martin writing for CBS News says Putin’s Ukraine war is “a military debacle” for Russia.
Military scholar Fred Kagan says: “I don’t think he’s [Putin] accepted that he is defeated, because the essence of being Putin is never accepting that you’ve been defeated.”
Kagan is not content to be a one time fool and insists on being a double-fool: “The art here is helping Putin understand that he’s lost this round, and it’s time to fold this hand. We have to persuade him that this approach, this military approach, is done, and he cannot other than continue to lose here. He’s not there yet, and we need to help the Ukrainians get him there as quickly as possible.”
Newsweek relying on Michael McFaul, the most biased of all the anti-Russian propagandists who pose as experts, suggests that Putin has been undermined by his lack of success in Ukraine and is on his way out as Russia’s leader.
Other “experts” predict that Ukraine will drive Russia out of Crimea. Originally it was to be by Christmas. Now it is whenever. As the Russian Black Sea naval base is in Crimea, I say it is never.
Now that official narratives control the voices of experts, the Western World has no comprehension of the Ukraine situation, the why’s and wherefor’s and the obvious outcome.
Putin, a Western inclined liberal, who at the beginning of his presidency did everything possible to incorporate Russia into the West, has experienced enough rebuffs and humiliations to finally comprehend what he could have learned in 1991 from reading the Wolfowitz Doctrine penned by the US Undersecretary of Defense, and that is that Washington intends to make certain that Russia is powerless to interfere with US unilateralism. It should have been obvious to the Kremlin at the start that Washington would not allow the conflict to be limited to Donbass.
Hegemony is the declared goal of US foreign policy and Russia and China are in the way. Considering the hubris that exists in Washington and the totally unrealistic Western reporting of the conflict in Ukraine, a wider war awaits in our future.
Gilbert Doctorow provides an accurate description of how the conflict has united Russia. https://gilbertdoctorow.com/2023/01/02/wars-make-nations/
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