With brutal cynicism, the US gov't and media are feigning concern for the "grim death toll" (NYT) should Russia invade Ukraine. But they are doing everything they can to provoke a war, which the US & NATO clearly want. 1/
Ukrainian lives mean nothing to the war-mongerers. The NY Times predicts the deaths of 25,000 to 50,000 Ukrainian civilians. But these lives are mere small change in the geopolitical calculations of US imperialism. 2/
In defense of the interests of Wall Street, the Trump and Biden administrations refused to implement necessary public health policies, resulting in the #COVID19 deaths of nearly one million Americans.Since January 1, 2020, the #pandemic has claimed approximately 60,000 deaths. 3/
If the Biden administration is willing to tolerate death on this scale just to keep up the stock market, it is prepared to accept 50,000 Ukrainian deaths in the pursuit of US global hegemony. 4/4
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As a Trotskyist-socialist opponent of the Putin government - which arose out of the restoration of capitalism in Russia - I am obligated to protest against former Ambassador McFaul's promotion of the US & NATO's dishonest warmongering narrative. 1/
Amb. McFaul denounces "unprovoked, preventive war." How, then, would he describe the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan by an "imperial power" against two countries with a long history of colonial subjugation? 2/
He ignores the fact that the 2002 US National Security Strategy adopted the policy of preventive war. The Bush administration asserted the right of the US to wage war against any possible potential threat. 3/
3,000 US troops are pouring into Poland, stationed in bases as close as 50 miles from Ukraine. It is now obvious that the Biden administration concocted the Russian invasion narrative as a cover for a long-planned massive increase of US forces in East Europe.#UkraineConflict 1/
The #NYTimes claims that "Mr. Biden is not readying for war with Russia." Really? Are American soldiers being deployed to freezing Poland for winter R&R? Biden, the NYT writes, "has no intention of sending US troops to Ukraine." The words "no intention" do not mean "will not." 2/
In the mouth of a president, "no intention" creates a moral distance between decisions and their consequences. Lyndon Johnson claimed he had "no intention" of sending soldiers to Vietnam, but then wound up sending them in the hundreds of thousands. 3/
In another of its virtually daily denunciations of China's #ZeroCovid policy, the NYTimes makes the following extraordinary statement: "China’s strategy would obviously not be possible in a country that emphasizes individual rights as much as the U.S. does." 1/
The conclusion that flows inexorably from this declaration is that "individual rights," as understood by the US ruling class, is opposed to - and certainly held to be more important than - the protection and saving of lives. 2/
But what about the "individual rights" of the one million Americans who have died because of the government's refusal to implement effective public health measures? The only "right" left to a dead person is the right to be buried. 3/
Snyder has betrayed his intellectual responsibilities. The ex-historian is now a shameless peddler of State Department propaganda. His latest thread purports to tell progressives what they must know about Ukraine, singing the praises of its democracy and demonizing Russia. 1/
While branding the Kremlin as "a beacon for white nationalists and homophobes," Snyder says nothing about the historical roots of fascistic and racist elements within Ukrainian nationalism and their dangerous presence within the existing Ukraine state and its military. 2/
The growing global network of neo-Nazi forces is a real danger. But Snyder is silent about the major role of Ukraine in the development of this phenomenon.3/
Is the CIA now planning the overthrow of Zelensky? The Biden administration is annoyed with his evident lack of enthusiasm for a US-NATO-provoked war against #Ukraine. Today's Washington Post article is, at the very least, a warning to Zelensky to do what he's told. 1/
The WP writes that "top U.S. and European officials say they are growing increasingly concerned that Zelensky is failing to mobilize the country." It criticizes the criminal investigation of Petro Poroshenko on charges of treason and supporting terrorism." 2/
Poroshenko, the corrupt billionaire "chocolate king" of Ukraine, was brought to power in the 2014 CIA-orchestrated putsch in Kyiv. He has close ties to Biden and backs Ukraine's entry into NATO. One can assume that the US prefers him to the unreliable Zelensky. 3/
Completely absent from Professor Snyder’s “Bloodlands”, published in late 2010, is any reference to the fascist & violently anti~Semitic Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN-B) and its notorious leader, Stepan Bandera, who was allied with the Nazis in WWII. 1/
The omission was remarkable because Snyder had previously written at length in the NY Review of Books about Bandera and the Ukrainian fascist movement. Its criminal legacy, he wrote, was a major factor in contemporary Ukrainian politics. 2/
Snyder explained that the pro-US candidate Yushchenko lost the 2010 election because of widespread hatred in Ukraine of the rightwing nationalists. Before leaving office, Yushchenko named Bandera a national hero. /3