The lies spewing forth from the mainstream media about the US backed coup in Ukraine remind me of the run up to the Iraq War. Russia is demonized in the press as an aggressor and Vladimir Putin is characterized as a mad empire builder, but the aggressor and agent provocateur in the crisis in Ukraine is the United States.<\/p>\n
What happened in Ukraine? <\/strong><\/p>\n Neocons in the State Department, with President Obama\u2019s blessing, took advantage of growing unrest in Western Ukraine over unemployment and economic conditions and enlisted members of the right-wing Svoboda party, along with various extremists, ultra-nationalists and neo-Nazis, to overthrow the democratically elected (although corrupt) president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych. Yanukovych’s fate was sealed when he refused to sign a \u201ctrade agreement\u201d with the EU, and, instead, turned to Russia for trade deals and economic aid. Former congressman Dennis Kucinich,<\/a> one of the few people who read the 6,000 page document, said it was \u201ca military agreement masked as a trade agreement that enabled NATO to go to the Russian border.\u201d<\/p>\n The photo accompanying this article is of Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland with Oleh Tyahnybok on the left, Vitaly Kitschko in the back and Arseny Yatsenyuk on the right. According to Reuters, it was taken in Kiev on February 6, 2014. Victoria Nuland is married to neocon Robert Kagan, co-founder of the Project for a New American Century. Tyahnybok is the leader of the ultra-right wing Svoboda Party, Kitschko had aspirations to run for President but was not “chosen” by Nuland so he withdrew and is backing another candidate. Yatsenyuk is the US puppet installed by Nuland et. al. You may recognize him from his nonstop US TV appearances since he was appointed Prime Minister. On Meet the Press, Sunday April 20, Yatsenyuk said, “President Putin has a dream to restore the Soviet Union. And every day, he goes further and further. And god knows where is the final destination.”<\/p>\n An armed militia backed by the US, forcefully ejected Yanukovych on February 22, 2014. In order to bring Ukraine under its control and under the thumb of NATO and the IMF, the US installed Yatsenyuk as Prime Minister and rewarded an assortment of neo-Nazi stooges who aided the overthrow with four government ministries, including Chief of Security.<\/p>\n Typical of neocon arrogance, the US was taken by surprise that the Russian and Russian-speaking parts of Ukraine were hostile to its plan to grab Ukraine. It turns out, the Russian speaking Eastern Ukrainians do not want a US-backed, neo-Nazi, ultra-nationalist, fascist government in Kiev nor do they want the \u201ceconomic hardship\u201d imposed by the IMF austerity plan already agreed to by Yatsenyuk. They also object to the billionaire oligarchs dispatched to the East by the Yatsenyuk regime to be regional managers. None of this, of course, is being reported in US mainstream media. What we get is the cartoon version\u2014that the Eastern Ukrainians are Russian-backed “terrorists,” and the new regime in Kiev is freedom loving and democratic. The protestors in Eastern Ukraine started being called “terrorists” by the US installed Kiev government and the media after CIA director John Brennan’s recent visit to Kiev.<\/p>\n Crimea slipped out of US grasp<\/strong><\/p>\n Another glitch in the US-backed putsch: after taking over the Ukraine and installing a puppet government, the US had intended to eject Russia from its Black Sea naval base in Crimea either by not renewing its lease or forcing it out. The US wanted to squeeze Russia economically and militarily by taking control of Crimea and the Black Sea. Putin responded with an end run around US aggressive intentions. He added additional troops to the 16,000 troops Russia already based in\u00a0Crimea under a status of forces agreement with Ukraine, and, along with Crimean political leaders, scheduled a referendum in which the people of Crimea voted to return Crimea to Russia. Instead of admitting that its plan for grabbing Ukraine has not gone well, the US is pushing the crisis to more dangerous levels.<\/p>\n So, turn off the TV and put down the New York Times.<\/i> The following are excerpts from a few alternative views on what is going on in Ukraine. The first is from Paul Craig Roberts,<\/b> former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy under Reagan and former associate editor of the Wall Street Journal.<\/i><\/p>\n “Privatization Is a Ramp for Corruption and Insouciance is a Ramp for War”\u00a0<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n Washington overthrew the elected Ukraine government in order to orchestrate a crisis that would distract Russia from Washington\u2019s adventures in Syria and Iran and in order to demonize Russia as an invader rebuilding an empire that is a danger to Europe. Washington will use this demonization in order to break-up growing economic relationships between Russia and Europe. The purpose of sanctions is not to punish Russia, but to break up economic relationships.<\/p>\n Washington\u2019s strategy is audacious and brings risk of war. If the West had an independent media, Washington\u2019s plan would fail. But instead of a media, the West has a Ministry of Propaganda. The New York Times<\/i> has even found a replacement for Judith Miller. As you may have forgot or never known, Judith Miller was the New York Times<\/i> reporter who filled the Times<\/i> with Bush regime neoconservative lies about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.<\/p>\n [\u2026snip]<\/p>\n The new Judith Miller is David M. Herszenhorn, with accomplices Andrew Roth, Noah Sneider, and Andrew Higgins.<\/p>\n According to Herszenhorn, the widespread protests in eastern Ukraine are entirely the fault of the protesters who are putting on a show for propaganda purposes. The protests are not a response to words and deeds of the Washington-installed stooge government in Kiev. Herszenhorn dismisses reports of extreme nationalist neo-Nazi Russophobia as \u201csinister claims\u201d and regards the Washington-imposed unelected government in Kiev as legal. However, Herszenhorn regards governments formed as a result of referendums [Crimea] to be illegal unless approved by Washington.<\/p>\n [snip]<\/p>\n Western populations are removed from reality. They live in a world of propaganda and disinformation. The actual situation is far worse than the \u201cBig Brother\u201d reality described by George Orwell in his book, 1984.<\/i><\/p>\n The ideology known as neo-conservatism, which has controlled US governments since Clinton\u2019s second term, has the world set on a path to war and destruction. Instead of raising questions about this path, the Western media hurries the world down the path<\/p>\n [\u2026 snip]<\/p>\n How much longer will dumbshit Americans fall for the flag-waving deception?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The second excerpt is from Robert Parry,<\/strong> an independent investigative reporter who worked for the Associated Press and Newsweek<\/i> in the 1980s where he broke many of the Iran Contra stories. \u00a0The following report\u00a0was published on April 22, 2014.<\/p>\n “Prepping for a Ukrainian Massacre<\/a>”\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n Between the anti-Russian propaganda pouring forth from the Obama administration and the deeply biased coverage from the U.S. news media, the American people are being prepared to accept and perhaps even cheer a massacre of eastern Ukrainians who have risen up against the coup regime in Kiev.<\/p>\n The protesters who have seized government buildings in ten towns in eastern Ukraine are being casually dubbed \u201cterrorists\u201d by both the Kiev regime and some American journalists. Meanwhile, it\u2019s become conventional wisdom in Official Washington to assume that the protesters are led by Russian special forces because of some dubious photographs of armed men, accepted as \u201cproof\u201d with few questions asked by the mainstream U.S. news media.<\/p>\n While the U.S. news media is treating these blurry photos as the slam-dunk evidence<\/a> of direct Russian control of the eastern Ukrainian protests\u2014despite denials by the Russian government and the protesters\u2014the BBC was among the few news agencies that provided a more objective assessment<\/a>, noting that the photos are open to a variety of interpretations.<\/p>\n However, in Official Washington, the stage is now set for what could be a massacre of Ukrainian civilians who have risen up against the putschists who seized control of Kiev in a Feb. 22 coup that overthrew elected President Viktor Yanukovych. The violent putsch was spearheaded by neo-Nazi militias, some of which have now been incorporated into Ukraine\u2019s National Guard and dispatched to the front lines in eastern Ukraine.<\/p>\n If the slaughter of the eastern Ukrainian protesters does come, you can expect Official Washington to be supportive. Whereas the Kiev protesters who seized government buildings in February were deemed \u201cpro-democracy\u201d activists even as they overthrew a democratically elected leader, the eastern Ukrainian protesters, who still consider Yanukovych their legitimate president, are dismissed as \u201cterrorists.\u201d\u00a0And, we all know what happens to \u201cterrorists.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Where to find alternate news on the crisis in Ukraine<\/strong><\/p>\n Consortium News<\/a><\/p>\n Paul Craig Roberts<\/a><\/p>\n The Guardian<\/a><\/p>\n Global Research<\/a><\/p>\n Counterpunch<\/a><\/p>\n Democracy Now<\/a><\/p>\n OpEdNews<\/a><\/p>\n Strategic Culture Foundation<\/a><\/p>\n