The New York Times will not tell you the whole truth about what is really behind the Ukrainian crisis and economic collapse in Russia ("Salon", USA)
The international press openly disseminates information about the role that America plays in world politics. And only our newspaper number one prefers not to notice anything.
A few days ago I received a letter from one of my best informants in Europe. Opposite him at the dining table in the hotel was one of the German top managers, and the conversation quickly switched to the theme of the Ukrainian crisis and the sanctions regime imposed by Washington on Russia.
Perhaps the best way to bring the corresponding passage from the letter:
“... at breakfast ... talked ... with the head of one of the largest companies in Germany. This statement concerns a question that he raised above all others. I took notes, because this is one of my clients, and this is what he said: “Now for Europe it is extremely important to bring Obama and the decision-makers behind him back to reality.
If this does not happen, then at first everything can develop into a financial collapse that will affect the whole of Europe, and then who knows where it will spread? Far-right nationalist forces are getting stronger everywhere. Look at the latest elections to the US Congress and think about what awaits us. Did the Americans ever have a more nationalist congress? In such a company, Le Pen will feel at home. The course taken now is a complete recklessness. Do they not see it? ""
If this does not happen, then at first everything can develop into a financial collapse that will affect the whole of Europe, and then who knows where it will spread? Far-right nationalist forces are getting stronger everywhere. Look at the latest elections to the US Congress and think about what awaits us. Did the Americans ever have a more nationalist congress? In such a company, Le Pen will feel at home. The course taken now is a complete recklessness. Do they not see it? ""
I would like to tell him that the question itself is a good one, but the gloomy answer was too obvious. They see nothing in their Washington. We are witnessing a highly irresponsible and destructive foreign policy pursued by the current administration, a policy that is comparable in scale to Bush ’s decision to invade Iraq in 2003.
President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry wanted peace in the Middle East to become an American heritage abroad. Now they offer to set up a bronze monument, restoring relations with Cuba. Forget about it. The severance of ties with the world power, the disintegration of Ukraine and, quite possibly, the suspension of the barely begun economic recovery of Europe is what we have to live with after the current administration leaves the White House.
I am filled with awe every time I hear the news about recent events. In Ukraine, not only economic, political and military confusion reigns: now there is a real humanitarian tragedy there. So the top manager from Germany asks how we can supply weapons neo-Nazis in Ukraine, while right-wing extremist forces and those who support anti-migration policies are growing throughout Europe?
The State Department and the US Treasury, striking Russia one after another in the gut in response to the Ukrainian crisis, which, no doubt, was inflated by the States, under no circumstances will be held accountable for the risks they take. In the current global situation, it is starting to turn into monomania.
Thoughtful readers see here the confrontation between the two nuclear powers, and, indeed, we should not dismiss the nuclear potential. But at the moment, thank God, this is not what comes to the fore. The immediate danger is a global economic disaster, compared to which the 2008 crisis of the year will seem like a small spike in the graph.
Last week, the Fitch rating agency downgraded Russia's status to BBB, putting it a few labels to the speculative class. This is a serious matter, and we better recognize it right away: it is impossible to drain the eighth largest economy in the world into the gutter and at the same time think that it will be there alone. The suffering beyond the Ukrainian borders has not yet reached its apogee, but this perspective is frighteningly close.
Before I continue, you should make a reservation: no, you don’t read much about this in the American press. You can read about it in the German press, in the French press and anywhere on the continent, in the Czech press, in the Russian press (which is obvious), in some British publications and even in the Chinese press. But, as the greatest newspaper in the world assures us, all these journalists and their readers are inside the propaganda bubble.
The bubble itself is chock full, and here, beyond its borders, it seems very uncrowded. To this topic, we will return.
***
At the end of the past year, on these pages, I predicted a split that would inevitably happen during the current year: either in Europe’s relations with Russia, or of America with Europe. I still think that breaking the latter would have benefited us all.
In my perusal, Washington, starting from the first wave of sanctions and up to the present moment, has overestimated its possibilities in relation to Europe too much. And now excessively courteous Europeans are finally taking off their kid gloves. There were hints of this even before the holidays, when Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi declared at the European summit in Brussels: “There is no categorical new sanctions”.
Now, Francois Hollande argues that no, Moscow is not going to annex Eastern Ukraine, that there is no need for new sanctions and that yes, the sanctions already imposed should be lifted. Hollande and other European leaders have long been anticipating this.
These are the voices in the propaganda bubble, where people like Renzi and the President of France live and breathe.
Alas, you never know who you might encounter inside this bubble. A couple of weeks ago, Austrian President Heinz Fischer rejected the sanctions already imposed and pending, as well as the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU. The latter, of course, is a sacred treaty that forms the core of the Ukrainian crisis:
“I consider the approach erroneous whereby the increasing tightening of sanctions is aimed at weakening Russia to such an extent that it will not be forced to accept EU political guidelines,” said Fischer in an interview with Wirtschaftsblatt, a Vienna financial daily newspaper. “A serious crisis in Russia and an economic collapse will only create additional problems.”
Regarding the EU-Ukraine Pact:
“It was only at the last moment that we realized how difficult it was for Ukraine to choose between the US proposal and the [comprehensive assistance] proposal received from Vladimir Putin, which better corresponded to the Ukrainian reality of the autumn of 2013. Ukraine should be able to freely build its relations with both Europe and Russia. ”
From this kind of comments we can conclude that, it turns out, the Europeans were seduced. Starting from the Danes at the end of the year, they one after another complain that their intention was not to devastate the gigantic economy in the neighborhood, but only to strive for Russia to win the possibility of cooperation in Ukraine.
From the very beginning, Washington’s ambitions were notable for their grandeur. In their context, the infamous words of Victoria Nuland “F the EU” were sounded in February last year. And now we are witnessing a love act, which, it seems, is in love with Nuland and her colleagues. Seduction was followed by hard sex, let's say.
The neglect Washington demonstrates with regard to Europe seems to determine the state of affairs in Ukraine itself. News from Kiev is transforming the situation in Greece, which is beginning to seem like a bonanza. Last year, the Ukrainian economy contracted by 7,5 percent and the recession will continue. No one knows how much. The fall may amount to another 10 percent.
Here is what Roland Hinterkerner, analyst of RBS Asia-Pacific, the Hong Kong representative office of the Royal Bank of Scotland, had to say about Ukraine in his recent economic report:
“The country is in a state of clinical death ... There is nothing that a government or central bank could take to stop a fall. The population is driven further and further beyond the poverty line. Food prices have risen by 25 percent, and housing, electricity, gas and water payments have risen 34 percent ... Such is the picture in Ukraine, which looks economic collapse right in the eyes. But the government is still trying to send money for military needs in order to fend off the big bear's aggression ... The danger for Ukraine is not Russia. And her own decline ... "
More recently, Bloomberg published an interesting report on the external situation of Ukraine. The news is that Ukrainian bonds maturing in 2017 are currently selling at 58 cents, compared with the nominal value ($ 1) a year ago. We translate: now the markets lay in forecasts of data on total default. Currently, Kiev spends 35 percent return on paying off its debt.
Now connect several points in this figure. Further IMF tranches, namely, financial assistance in the amount of 17 billion, launched in April last year, are now blocked, until Kiev makes even greater cuts in government spending.
Well, the government will get 17 billion dollars from the IMF when it tears up its own budget. In addition, Kiev this year will have to pay 10 billions of dollars in debt repayment alone, and that is interest, not the debt itself. The cost of all payments to Bloomberg determines in 14 billions of dollars, and the next year - in additional 10 billion. It is not clear whether Ukraine will be able to cover these costs even with the IMF funds.
See how everything works? Financial assistance from the IMF is not directed to social services or any other benefits to Ukrainian citizens. All this money is given and taken in a completely neoliberal style. Funds are received in Kiev, and then returned to Western financial and credit organizations, owners of Ukrainian debt. In fact, the debt belonging to private sector lenders is transferred to the IMF, which needs it in order to profitably use Ukraine to make financial transactions in the free market, using standard conditionality: there is no austerity, there is no money.
Now you know why an American apparatchik with extensive experience in the US Department of State during the Hillary era has been appointed the new finance minister in Kiev. Now you understand what Washington means when it talks about "democracy" and "freedom."
But what is depressing in this situation the most is the terrible news that comes from Ukraine these days. Last week, the long-planned round of ceasefire talks, which was supposed to be held in Minsk, collapsed when the Poroshenko government refused to participate. Why?
Your source of information probably identified the reasons for such a sudden refusal of Kiev as “unclear”. DPA, the German news agency, as far as I can tell, was the only one who provided the following explanation:
“The ex-president of Ukraine, Leonid Kuchma, who represents the government in the negotiations, demanded that the separatists delegate their top leaders, Alexander Zakharchenko and Igor Plotnitsky, instead of envoys, but the separatists refused.”
Complete nonsense. These people will find any possible justification, just not to move towards a political solution to the problem, even if Poroshenko claims that he wants it.
In my opinion, Poroshenko has no choice. Once again I will quote the recent message from my close observer in Europe, I will leave it unchanged:
“Whatever the president says. Ukr. He cannot demand a truce, since the ultra-right nationalists will not allow him to do this ... Therefore, the only way to declare his decisive position is to provoke a war with Russia, which then will allow the US to transfer its blockade to the next level. State Ukrainian. economics and politics is such that they desperately need a clash with Russia in order to further involve the US / EU ... ”
As evidence of the fact that the process has begun, simultaneously with Ukraine’s refusal to participate in the Minsk talks, it launched a new military operation in the eastern regions. Now that every day the airport in Donetsk, or what remains of it, passes from one hand to another, while the number of victims will soon reach five thousand.
Of course, Kiev is now (as before) blaming the Russian side for the fact that its troops crossed the border to provide support to the Ukrainian rebels. Note here a few points:
(1) This time it may be true.
(2) If so, then rational accusations cannot be brought against the Russians.
(3) It is better to take a closer look at those who are leading the new campaign in Kiev.
(4) It is very unlikely that Kiev will act on the orders of Jeffrey Payette, the US ambassador to Ukraine (and the addressee of that pornographic telephone call Nuland last February).
For a time, it was more or less obvious that the ultra-right nationalists were key figures in the military strategy of Kiev, used by him as an avant-garde and attack troops on the streets of cities in eastern Ukraine. Here is a post on the Voice of Ukraine page on Facebook, recently left by the US Right Sector, which represents the aforementioned right-wing group in the States:
“As promised, we are reporting the news that you probably already know - the battles have moved to Donetsk. The Right Sector and the 93-I mechanized brigade has already entered the city and continue to fight. Separatists suffer heavy losses and flee. Despite this, support is still needed, so we ask you to spread [this information] in order to achieve maximum resonance and force the authorities to act immediately ... Please support our heroes by sharing our prayers for them! Glory to Ukraine!"
First-hand information. And here's another, worse, from the same sources. Given the cynical role of America in fueling and exacerbating the crisis in Ukraine, the following can’t be called a source of shame.
On the first day of the New Year, members of the ultra-right party Svoboda, which many neo-Nazis consider to be their political refuge, held a torch parade in Kiev on the occasion of the 106 anniversary of the birth of Stepan Bandera. Bandera was an employee of the Third Reich, a murderer and a terrorist who hated Jews, Russians and Poles, but now he is revered as a symbol of Ukrainian nationalism.
Watch the video on LiveLeak. Listen to the crazy chant. Czech President Milos Zeman looked, and all this reminded him of similar scenes during the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia. And Zeman said: "With Ukraine, something is going wrong."
What did the EU say? Nothing.
And what did the US State Department say? Nothing.
And what did the American press say? Nothing too.
And here's something from the same category. The day after the neo-Nazi parade, LiveLeak published a video of a lengthy interview with one of the Ukrainian soldiers taken by the fifth Kiev TV channel. The owner of this station before his assumption of the presidency last year was Poroshenko.
The television station filmed an interview, but did not give it a go: "This interview did not go on the air, because the Ukrainian government found it inappropriate to achieve its goals." This is to say the least.
Forget about neo-, crypto and other consoles. This “soldier”, as unfortunately marked by this person in the transcript, is pure Nazi, worse than those who in our imagination were the most convinced skeptics. According to him, he even lives better in Ukraine than in Europe, where “some gays, transvestites and other geeks”. And again: “When we liberate Ukraine, we will move to Europe under our banners and revive all national socialist organizations there.”
All the same favorite Hitler statements about "cleansing the nation", about the "strong state", about those who can stay and who should leave. The following words will be disgusting, but we readers should know about them:
“First of all, we must drive away the Muscovites, and if they don’t want to leave, cut their throats, them or the Jews, we will destroy them all. Our principle - “one God, one country, one nation” - by the way, also from Hitler. - As for the current government, do not you see that they are the same scum? Poroshenko Jew ... "
The blood boils. And rage takes on the obsessive thought that American officials support these people. There is an obvious danger lurking behind primitive language and consciousness: these people have driven Kiev authorities into a corner, depriving it of the ability to bear responsibility for their actions.
***
This is my report from the propaganda bubble. It is then necessary to explain where this thought came from.
A few weeks ago, The New York Times published a large calculation, intending, ostensibly, to clear the air of excessive stench. This article, in the end, was to bring final clarity to the events that occurred in February last year, when Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych left his post, and then Ukraine.
This was not a coup at all - two correspondents of The Times convince us of this at least a thousand words. It was rather something like a legitimate political defeat. "An investigation into the events that took place in the last hours of Yanukovych’s reign, conducted by The New York Times ... showed that the president was not so much overthrown as abandoned by his own allies, and Western officials were surprised by this crash no less than other".
Part of 1. This nonsense. The last hours, taken as a time span, are a clear trick. Although the report gives the impression of an exhaustive report - it was hardly a “investigation” - the limited timeframes do not allow connecting the context and give plenty of room for omissions.
Part of 2. Companions of Yanukovych really left him, because the streets were filled with armed coup, and the people of Yanukovych perfectly understood that their life was in danger. Here we have a classic example of artificial distinction.
Part of 3. If Western officials were surprised by something, it was the speed with which the events that they, or at least the Americans, were unleashing. There were no other surprises.
Interestingly, The Times reporters cite Jeffrey Payette, then and current US ambassador and sidekick, Nuland. In the infamous telephone conversation, Payett was given instructions on how to control the Ukrainian puppet and what she was supposed to do.
No mention of the negotiations between Nuland and Payette? No thought that Payette could be a dubious source of information, where does the State Department meet? Shame on you, dear journalists. Although it is still a small omission in comparison with others.
The goals of this extensive article, which appeared on the pages a couple of Sundays ago, went much further than I could tell. One of them was to save the official American narrative in the face of good reports that refute it, as well as in view of the cracked agreement within political groups, as noted in the last columns. The second is to wash the dirty hands, which are enough in The Times.
But the big calculation - the quality is not so important, feel the weight, as journalists sometimes sarcastically say - does not carry anything useful in itself, except that it shows that The Times finally realized what it had dug a hole of itself and now cannot get out of it.
And this is how the bubble passage sounds:
“In Russia, the reason for the resignation of Yanukovych was called a violent“ neo-fascist ”coup, which was supported and even directed by the West under the guise of a popular uprising ... Few outside the Russian propaganda bubble ever seriously listened to the Kremlin’s arguments. But almost a year after the overthrow of the government of Yanukovych, there are questions about how and why his regime collapsed so quickly and irrevocably. ”
I like quotes, in which the word "neo-fascist" is taken. These people never give up. Consider this passage as directed against those who were mentioned by us above and to whom the recent events in Kiev are relevant. No one outside the Russian propaganda bubble, no matter who it is, needs to “listen to the Kremlin’s arguments” in order to follow the truth. How dare these mercenary hacks assume the opposite?
In my analysis, The Times and all other media outlets that never dare say anything before The Times says it, this time were caught red-handed. Washington went on a reckless gamble that does not bode well, and now all possible types of distortions, lies and omissions are required to cover it, and The Times thought it was just business, as usual. Now they are stuck. Money to the wind, but the Times have enough of them.
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