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U.S. Propaganda: It’s Not Just False, but Absurd.
By Eric Zuesse, as originally published at strategic-culture.org.
It’s so ridiculous, no intelligent and informed person would give it any serious consideration whatsoever. It insults the public’s intelligence.
Here’s a typical example of the ridiculousness of U.S. propaganda: On July 16th, the U.S. State Department issued a “Ukraine Travel Warning.” It says:
The Department of State warns U.S. citizens to defer all travel to Crimea and the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, and recommends those U.S. citizens currently living in or visiting these regions to depart. ...
Russia-backed separatists continue to control areas in the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts. Despite the signing of a ceasefire agreement by representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE, violent clashes between combined Russian separatist forces and Ukrainian forces continue in parts of the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, resulting in thousands of injuries and deaths. The ceasefire agreement established a de facto dividing line between Ukrainian government-controlled and separatist-held areas of Ukraine, with numerous checkpoints controlled by government and separatist forces. Individuals, including U.S. citizens, have been threatened, detained or kidnapped for hours or days after being stopped at separatist checkpoints. ...
The Department of State also warns U.S. citizens to defer all travel to the Crimean Peninsula, which is occupied by Russia. The Russian Federation is likely to take further actions in Crimea throughout the remainder of 2015 consistent with its attempted unlawful annexation and occupation of this part of Ukraine. The international community, including the United States and Ukraine, does not recognize this purported annexation. The Russian Federation maintains an extensive military presence in Crimea and along the border of eastern Ukraine. ...
Prior to the U.S. overthrow of the democratically elected President of Ukraine in February 2014, there was peace throughout Ukraine. Obama (his Administration, as shown in that video) replaced the existing Ukrainian President, Viktor Yanukovych, who, like all of his predecessors, was corrupt; and the U.S. propaganda-machine publicized his corruption, while virtually ignoring the fact of corruption’s normalcy in at least post-Soviet Ukraine (corruption that had been greatly encouraged by the U.S.). The U.S. didn’t replace him because he was corrupt. The U.S. replaced him because he supported a non-aligned Ukraine: neither a stooge to the U.S., nor to Russia. Barack Obama repeatedly asserts that — as he phrased it to West Point cadets on 28 May 2014 — “The United States is and remains the one indispensable nation. [So: all other nations are ‘dispensable.’] That has been true for the century passed [he misspelled ‘past’] and it will be true for the century to come.” Adolf Hitler and his Nazis said it for their country more succinctly: “Deutschland über alles.” Except that Hitler proclaimed that his would be a “Thousand-Year Reich,” not merely “for the century to come."
The U.S. began its overthrow-operation early in 2013. At that time, Yanukovych was still considering offers for Ukraine to join the U.S.-backed European Union, or else to join the Russia-backed Eurasian Economic Community. The EU is much larger, but Ukraine’s centuries-long former association with, and economic extensions from (including favored-nation trading status with) Russia, would have been very costly for Ukraine to sever. Ukraine’s economy had long been based far more on trade with Russia than on with trade with the rest of Europe.
According to MIT, the “Top 5 export destinations" from Ukraine were: Russia (24%), Egypt (6.5%), Turkey (5.2%), Italy (3.8%), and Kazakhstan (3.5%). The “Top 5 import origins” into Ukraine were: Russia (31%), China (9.0%), Germany (8.2%), Belarus (6.4%), and Poland (5.0%).
On 19 November 2013, Yanukovych met with the European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy. The economists at the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences had recently delivered their report to Yanukovych, which concluded that the net loss from joining the EU would be $160 billion. Yanukovych asked the Commissioner, “If we sign, will you help us,” so that Ukraine wouldn’t bear the entirety of this enormous cost. The Commissioner said, “Sorry,” no. (The Commissioner suggested that Ukraine might borrow the money from the IMF — which would be the kind of national suicide that actually occurred after the U.S. overthrew Yanukovych.) The next day, Yanukovych announced that he was turning down the EU’s offer. Then, according to wikipedia, the “Maidan” demonstrations to oust Yanukovych from power started on 21 November 2013. Brandon Turbeville has described the 40-year-long development of the technology that the CIA and State Department built for that overthrow.
But, in fact, as I documented back in February, "The Entire Case for Sanctions Against Russia Is Pure Lies.” The whole case is
partment rejects the legitimacy of the overwhelming, and the repeatedly polling-confirmed, desire of the Crimean people to cease being Ukrainian (which they had been only from 1954 to 2014), even though this same U.S. State Department accepts the legitimacy of the Scottish people to determine whether or not to continue being British (which they have been ever since 1707). The sovereign democratic right of Crimeans is denied, while the sovereign democratic right of the Scotts is affirmed. One needs to be a sucker to believe that, but it’s the U.S. Government’s official line.
As for the residents of Donbass (“Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts”), Obama needs to get rid of them, because they had voted over 90% for the man he overthrew. If they stay alive and within Ukraine, then the regime that Obama installed will get voted out of office.
In fact, that’s the reason why Russia’s leader, Vladimir Putin, has insisted that they remain within Ukraine — so that they will vote out of office the anti-Russian racist fascists that Obama installed, next door to Russia, in Ukraine. That’s as if during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, the dictator of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khruschev, had grabbed control over not only Cuba but even over Mexico right on America’s border. Would the United States have tolerated that, then? So, Putin doesn’t tolerate this, now.
The irony is that it’s Putin who wants the “pro-Russian rebels” to remain as part of Ukraine; and it’s Obama who wants them not to be — even while he claims that Putin does, and asserts that Putin is the aggressor.
For example, on 3 September 2014, Obama said:
“Fifth -- we must continue to stand united against Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. (Applause.) Keep in mind that, repeatedly, President Putin has ignored the opportunity to resolve the crisis in Ukraine diplomatically. The United States, the European Union, our partners around the world have all said we prefer a diplomatic solution. But in light of Russia’s unwillingness to seize that opportunity, we have come together to impose major sanctions on Russia for its actions.”
A more devilishly lying country than the United States of today is hard to imagine. It’s even a dictatorship: its government represents not the public (as its Founders had intended) but its aristocracy (which those Founders had tried to overthrow — and did overthrow, in their own era).
In fact, as I headlined on 7 October 2014, "Leading German Journalist Admits CIA ‘Bribed’ Him and Other Leaders of the Western ‘Press’.”
The U.S. Government holds the public everywhere in contempt.
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Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of They're Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010
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