by Stephen Lendman

Washington wants control over all former Soviet republics and Warsaw Pact countries.

It wants pro-Western governance replacing sovereign Russian independence.

It's part of its longstanding world dominance agenda. It wants all challengers eliminated.

On Monday, Vladimir Putin and Petro Poroshenko met in Minsk. It was their first official bilateral meeting. They discussed relevant geopolitical issues. Key is resolving Southeastern Ukraine's ongoing conflict.

Putin urges doing it peacefully. Poroshenko's continues war without mercy. He deplores democracy.

He wants freedom fighting self-defense forces crushed. He wants unchallenged hardline rule.

He lied saying his visit was "to stop the bloodshed and to start the process of finding a political compromise. The interests of the people of Donbass should and will be taken into account."

His actions speak louder than words. Peace is an executive decision away.

He can make it by calling off his dogs. He can choose diplomacy over confrontation.

He can order a ceasefire. He can do so straightaway. He can meet face-to-face with Southeastern Ukrainian leaders. He can respect their democratic credentials. He can listen to their demands.

Washington supports and encourages his dirty war. Its February coup helped elevate him to power.

He's a billionaire war criminal. He's anti-democratic, fascist, neoliberal, belligerent and lawless.

He's opposite what Ukrainians deserve. He OK'd war without mercy. He did so straightaway in office.

He's beholden to Western interests. Behind the scenes, Washington pulls the strings. He supports its anti-Russian policy.

Monday talks went nowhere. It didn't surprise. Ukraine's coup-appointed prime minister Aseniy Yatsenyuk called bilateral ones with Putin fruitless.

He called NATO "our partner. We expect the Western countries and NATO to provide practical assistance," he said.

"We also expect decisions to be made at the (September 4-5) NATO summit" in Wales.

Putin's worldview is polar opposite Poroshenkno's. His Minsk's speech stressed Russian respect for inviolable national sovereignty.

"Russia has always respected the sovereign choice of any nation to organize its political life and make all sorts of unions, both military and economic, and we will continue to do so," he said.

"However, we hope that this will not be detrimental to other participants in international communication, and not at our cost."

He believes crisis conditions "can’t be resolved by further escalation of the military scenario, without considering the best interests of the southeastern regions of the country, without a peace dialogue with their representatives."

"(W)e are ready to have an exchange on (Ukraine's) critical situation…which, I am certain, cannot be resolved…without a peaceful dialogue with these regions' representatives."

Talks produced no significant breakthroughs. They weren't expected. Not when Washington sabotaged them without even attending.

Not when it prioritizes Russia bashing. Not when it considers Putin public enemy No. 1.

Not when it chooses confrontation over peaceful conflict resolution. Not when it wants Russia marginalized, weakened, isolated, contained and co-opted.

Not when it wants pro-Western governance replacing its sovereign independence. Not when it risks war to achieve it.

Putin pledged all-out efforts for peace. It "must be launched as soon as possible," he stressed.

He acts in good faith. He wants to build trust. At the same time, it's not Moscow's prerogative to propose ceasefire terms between Kiev and Southeastern self-defense forces.

"We didn't substantively discuss that, and we, Russia, can't substantively discuss the conditions for a ceasefire, or agreements between Kiev, Donetsk and Luhansk, " he stressed.

"That’s not our business. It's up to Ukraine itself. Certain agreements were reached, he added.

He discussed the urgency of providing Lugansk and Donetsk with humanitarian aid.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov expects Russia to send another convoy this week. He suggested more may follow.

Dire conditions demand it. Many lives are at stake. It remains to be seen if Kiev will obstruct and delay like last time.

Given how often it falsely accuses Russia of directly aiding Southeastern Ukraine freedom fighters, it's hard imagining things will go smoothly.

On Monday, Ukrainian NSDC Information-Analytical Center spokesman Andriy Lysenko said:

"Yesterday, violation of the airspace of Ukraine was recorded by the army aviation of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in the area of the settlement of Chervony Chaban, Kherson region, where three helicopters of the Russian Federation flew up to 500 meters from the territory of Crimea to the mainland of Ukraine."

He accused Moscow of spying. At the same time, Yatsenyuk ludicrously said Russia wants Ukraine "fully cut" off from energy supplies.

"We know about (Russia's) plans…to cut transit in winter - even for the EU member countries," he said.

He accused Moscow of "global military and global energy security" benefitting Russia at the expense of Ukraine.

He lied claiming "Ukrainian border guards were shelled with unguided rockets from two Mi-24 combat helicopters of the Russian Armed Forces."

Four border guards were killed and three wounded, he added. Maybe Ukrainian forces killed their own. Maybe self-defense forces deserve credit.

On Wednesday, Lysenko said Russian soldiers illegally crossed Ukraine's border in armored vehicles and a truck not far from where 10 others were detained on Monday.

Videos were released. They showed men in so-called "camouflage" clothing. Ukraine's Defense Minister Valeriy Heletey's Facebook's post lied, saying:

"Officially, they are on military exercises in various corners of Russia. In reality they are involved in military aggression against Ukraine."

Areas of the Russian/Ukrainian border aren't clearly demarcated. Nationals on both sides often cross over unwittingly.

Ukrainian soldiers did so recently. They've done it before. Russian authorities send them home without incident.

According to a Russian defense source:

"The servicemen in question were indeed patrolling the Russian-Ukrainian border."

"They had probably crossed it by mistake through an area which wasn’t manned."

"As far as we know, there was no resistance during their arrest."

Putin hadn't yet received an official Defense Ministry report. "From what I heard," he said, "they patrolled the border so could have ended up on Ukrainian territory" by mistake.

"But they crossed to us, too, Ukrainian soldiers in armored vehicles. And no problems arose." Putin hopes Kiev will reciprocate in kind.

If Moscow's intent was hostile, large numbers of heavily armed forces would have invaded. Nothing of the kind happened.

Western media Big Lies followed. The New York Times said "camouflage(d) (men) identified themselves as members of a Russian airborne division who had been sent into Ukraine in unmarked vehicles."

"Analysis by Western officials indicates that Russia is orchestrating a multipronged offensive against Ukrainian forces."

Moscow is "trying to help separatists in eastern Ukraine break the siege of Luhansk…and open a corridor to…Donetsk."

Fact: Throughout months of conflict, Russia has been discretely neutral.

Fact: No evidence whatever suggests it's helping Southeastern Ukrainian self-defense forces.

Fact: None shows it's supplying them weapons and munitions.

Fact: None indicates Russian forces are involved.

Fact: Moscow has gone all-out for peaceful conflict resolution.

Fact: Kiev wages dirty war.

Fact: Washington supports and encourages it.

Fact: Moscow's involvement sticks to diplomacy and delivering urgently needed humanitarian aid.

Fact: Claims otherwise are false. They stoke conflict in lieu of attempts to resolve it responsibly.

A same day NYT editorial featured Big Lies. It unjustifiably accused Russia of "pretending that it is not in the fray."

Moscow "blithely denies it is involved in the fighting at all, despite incontrovertible evidence that it is, and seems prepared to stoke the fires until Kiev accepts a political arrangement that would give the eastern regions a veto over any moves toward the West."

"Mr. Poroshenko is right to avoid an unconditional cease-fire at this time."

His "challenge…and the West('s) is how to persuade Mr. Putin that Russia cannot impose it will on Ukraine through economic and military pressures…"

Fact: Times editors repeatedly turn truth on its head.

Fact: Spurious accusations falsely accuse Moscow of involvement in Southeastern Ukraine fighting.

Fact: Verifiable proof is absent.

Fact: None exists.

Fact: Times editors know it.

Fact: They "blithely" claim otherwise.

Fact: In Minsk, Putin was clear and unequivocal.

Fact: Russia respects Ukrainian sovereignty.

Fact: Putin won't interfere in its internal affairs.

Fact: "It's not Moscow's prerogative to propose ceasefire terms between Kiev and Southeastern self-defense forces," he said.

Fact: He hasn't and won't.

Don't expect Times editors to explain. Big Lies substitute for accurate reporting and analysis.

Times editors are on the wrong side of history. Western leaders must support Ukraine, they insist.

They should pile on more "sanctions against Russian businesses and financial institutions…"

Endorsing Poroshenko's opposition to ceasefire shows Times support for premeditated Ukrainian aggression.

It doesn't surprise. When America wages war or plans one, Times editors march in lockstep.

They back Israel's genocidal Gaza wars. They support mass murder and destruction.

They ignore rule of law principles. They endorse wrong over right.

They ignore Kiev's putschist governance. They treat ruling fascists like democrats.

They claim Southeastern Ukrainian freedom fighters are pro-Russian separatist terrorists.

They repeat one Big Lie after another. They keep their readers misinformed.

They betray them in the process. All major Western media print and electronic media operate the same way.

Managed news misinformation substitutes for what readers and viewers need to know. Fiction substitutes for facts.

News is carefully filtered. Dissent is marginalized. Monied interests matter more than popular ones.

Imperial wars are called liberating ones. Human suffering is a small price to pay.

Human rights and civil liberties are suppressed for our own good.

Patriotism means supporting lawless governance. Democracy is pure fantasy.

Ukraine's war without mercy continues. So does Russia bashing. "(L)ong before (Ukrainian crisis conditions erupted), the West's attacks on Russia assumed an irrational form," said Lavrov.

"We are not interested in confrontation. We are not interested in" sanctions wars.

Western leaders lie. They "incite public opinion, and then claim it is the people who are forcing them to take anti-Russian measures."

Relentless pressure on Russia stems from its forthrightness to express opinions candidly, Lavrov believes. It's speaking frankly about its interests.

Moscow values its independence. It listens "open(ly) to others." It deserves likeminded treatment.

Washington and other Western countries are "going against the course of history." Some try "to restrain the emergence of an egalitarian international arena."

Russia will respond in kind to more unjustifiable sanctions. US-led Western countries create more problems than they solve.

"Cold War blocs" aren't relevant in today's multipolar world.

Moscow supports the right of Southeastern Ukrainians to live like their ancestors, "speaking Russian, teaching their children in Russian schools, and electing their own governors, as well as having the chance to retain some of the taxes they pay as a result of their economic activities," said Lavrov.

They're entitled to democratic rights. They deserve better than Kiev-imposed diktats. Especially ones imposed "under the cover of bomb blasts."

Washington's agenda is polar opposite. Its orchestrated coup installed fascist rule.

It wants internal challengers crushed. It wants democracy in name only. It wants what freedom-loving people deplore.

We're all Southeastern Ukrainian freedom fighters. They're on the right side of history. Their struggle is ours.

-###-

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III".

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour