by Stephen Lendman

In 2005, Chicago's famed City News Bureau closed. Times correspondents, contributors and editors ignore it notable principle.

"It your mother tells you she loves you, check it out with two independent sources," it said. Get it right before publishing.

Journalism requires truth-telling. Times rubbish features managed news misinformation. Readers are systematically lied to. The so-called newspaper of record is a de facto Washington house organ.

Discredited Times correspondent Judith Miller wrote daily propaganda rubbish. Front page space featured it.

War on Iraq was promoted. Lawlessly destroying the cradle of civilization followed.

Miller reflects the worst of irresponsible journalism. She was a reporter with an agenda.

She was a de facto Pentagon press agent. Her sources were a Noah's Ark of scam artists. She remains unapologetic.

So do current Times correspondents, contributors and editors. They continue her disgraceful agenda.

They lie for power. They substitute garbage for real news and information.

They bash Russia relentlessly. They do it irresponsibly. They ignore US imperial crimes. They support Kiev fascist putschists.

They make yellow journalism look good by comparison. The late Gore Vidal called The Times the "Typhoid Mary of American journalism." He did so for good reason.

An April 15 Times article headlined "Russia Is Quick to Bend Truth About Ukraine."

It lied about Putin and Prime Minister Medvedev. It called their honest assessment "misinformation, exaggerations, conspiracy theories, overheated rhetoric and, occasionally outright lies…"

It turned truth on its head claiming "an extraordinary (Kremlin) propaganda campaign."

A same day Times editorial headlined "Mr. Putin's Power Play," saying:

"When President Vladimir Putin of Russia talks about what is happening in Ukraine these days, it is as if he’s looking into a mirror."

"He says fascists and nationalists are running amok in Kiev, even as Crimea is annexed in the name of Great Russia…"

"(H)e says Russians are threatened in eastern Ukraine, even as Russia directs secessionists there to seize administrative buildings and arms…"

"(H)e calls on President Obama to use his influence to prevent the use of force in Ukraine, even as he puts a major military force on the Ukrainian border."

Fact: Washington toppled Ukraine's democratically elected government. It violated international, constitutional and US statute law doing so.

Fact: It elevated illegitimate fascist putschists to power.

Fact: They're xenophobic, ultranationist, anti-democratic, anti-Semitic, anti-Russian hate-mongers.

Fact: Washington threatens world peace. So do Kiev putschists.

Fact: Putin prioritizes peaceful conflict resolution.

Fact: Washington prioritizes war, mass slaughter, destruction and world domination.

Don't expect Times editors to explain. Lies, damn lies and Big ones substitute for credible news and analysis.

"What the world sees is an outrageous and highly dangerous power play," said Times editors.

"A report by the United Nations high commissioner for human rights says 'greatly exaggerated stories of harassment of ethnic Russians by Ukrainian nationalist extremists' in Crimea were 'systematically used to create a climate of fear and insecurity.' "

Fact: Russian Ukrainian policy represents the best of peaceful conflict resolution.

Fact: Washington's agenda features "dangerous power play" policies.

Fact: Times reporting substitutes propaganda for real news, information and analysis. It's longstanding editorial policy.

Fact: Eastern Ukrainians acted on their own volition. They've done so without Russian involvement.

Not according to Times editors. They lied claiming Moscow "incit(ed) secessionists…" They make stuff up. No credible evidence supports them. None exists.

Fact: UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay lost credibility long ago. She's an imperial tool. She disgraces the office she holds.

Her reports bury truth. They substitute misinformation garbage. She's pro-putschist. She's anti-democratic governance.

She marches in lock step with US imperial policy. So do Times editors. Russia bashing persists irresponsibly. Truth is systematically buried.

Big Lies follow earlier ones. In early April, The Times hyped fake satellite photos. They "show(ed) Russia(n)" hoards on Ukraine's borders.

NATO supplied them. Images "offered some of the first documentary evidence of a military buildup that the West says Russia could use to invade Ukraine at any moment," said The Times.

Images released dated from August 2013. Russia's General Staff exposed them. Times mea culpa didn't follow. Liars don't apologize. Big Lies repeat.

A follow-up Times report hyped fake photos allegedly linking masked men in East Ukraine to Russia.

It lied calling them the same "Russian military and intelligence forces - equipped in the same fashion as Russian special operations troops involved in annexing the Crimea region in February."

Clear evidence showed otherwise. Claiming Russian military involvement in Crimean reunification reflected another Times Big Lie.

On April 26, The Times headlined "For Russia, Negatives Seem to Outweigh Positives for an Invasion," saying:

"Thousands of Russian troops are maneuvering along the border, with Russian fighter jets menacing Ukraine’s airspace."

"Ukrainian leaders have warned that border crossings by any soldiers would be considered an invasion, even while the country pursues military operations against a pro-Russian rebellion in the east."

Fact: Russian military exercises don't threaten Ukraine.

Fact: Its airspace wasn't violated. Russia's Defense Ministry debunked spurious accusations. Its statement said:

"Russia's airspace monitoring systems have not registered any violations of air borders of the states adjacent to Russia, including Ukraine."

On the one hand, said The Times, Putin "seems to have strong reasons to dispatch his tanks: shaping the Ukraine he wants well before elections scheduled for May 25 put a new, legitimate government in place; reclaiming an area that was historically part of Russia; gaining direct access to natural resources and factories that have been crucial to Moscow's military-industrial complex since Soviet times."

"And his land grab of Crimea in March made him wildly popular at home."

On the other, it added:

"Yet the reasons for Mr. Putin to refrain from further military adventurism make a longer, more tangled list: the cost of a huge occupation force and the responsibility for the welfare of millions more people; the effect of new, more severe Western sanctions on an already weak economy; the possibility of significant Russian casualties caused by an insurgency in eastern Ukraine; a new, implacably anti-Russian western section of Ukraine; and likely pariah status internationally."

Fact: Putin and Obama are geopolitical opposites.

Putin isn't expansionist. His agenda isn't revanchist. He deplores imperial rampaging. He prioritizes peace and stability. He respects for rule of law principles.

Obama trashes international, constitutional and US statute laws. He's waging multiple direct and proxy wars. His imperial policy threatens world peace.

Don't expect The Times to explain. "Mr. Putin would rather feed the insurrection from afar," it claims.

He "never quite allow(s) the calm that would give Ukraine the opening needed to join the European Union, or worse, NATO."

"It is a tactic Russia has used successfully in previous attempts by former Soviet republics to shift westward."

Fact: Putin respects national sovereignty. He's polar opposite Washington. He doesn't intervene against other nations lawlessly like Obama and previous warrior presidents.

He supports peace and stability. He backs multi-polar world policies. He's geopolitically on the right side of history. He reflects leadership America lacks.

Claiming "signs that Russia seems poised to invade" is another Times Big Lie.

A matching one calls US aggression humanitarian intervention. So-called responsibility to protect is pretext for ravaging, destroying and plundering one country after another.

Times correspondents, contributors and editors leave inconvenient truths unexplained. Big Lies substitute.

Longstanding policy features them. Rubbish substitutes for news fit print. Increasing numbers of readers vote with their feet and ignore it. Maybe some day everyone will.

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

His new book is titled "Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity"

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

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com

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