Thread by @Suzi3D

Ppl constantly ask me for my opinion on what is going on. When I give it, many assume I am coming from a fixed position. Actually, every single day I consume the following:

Fox, CNN, ABC, NBC, BBC, DW (German), Kyiv Independent, NZ Herald, TASS, PBS, RT

+ @ASBMilitary & co

1/?

I also watch all the press conferences, be they pro or anti Western position

When you review such a spectrum of media content on a regular basis you see the way single events are skewed not just by one of two sides, but by every single outlet

They ALL have their own slants

2/?

I also watch both left & right wing podcasts & you tube shows. I follow & watch people I like and ideologically align with AND those who I don't, every single day

Living in Russia, I also have real world experience/perspective

My opinions reflect my analysis of the whole

3/?

On top of that, my journalism background studying thousands of files from inside military/intelligence/police agencies gives me a feel for how these orgs are structured, train & interoperate behind the scenes

It's a very different picture from what they depict in public

4/?

Preamble dispensed with, here's my take on recent events. It may be lengthy as I'll attempt to briefly quantify each.

A. War sucks

I'm an anti-war activist & have been for a decade. War terrifies & damages everyone on both sides, uniformed or civilian.

5/?

War creates an atmosphere not just of terror but also uncertainty. It is horrible not knowing what will happen. The fear of the unknown & unknowable is even more upsetting than the fear of the real and present.

Add being a solo parent to that mix & it's super horrible.

6/?

B. There are actual fucking Nazis in the Ukraine. Don't believe Putin? Try Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azov_Batt…

Or just web search 'Waffen SS Ukraine'

My mother's father fought in WWII 1939-1944 (North Africa & across Med). He lost his only brother, and ultimately both hips.

7/?

For all the hysteria about 'Nazis' and 'White Supremacists' in my home country of NZ in recent years, as well as in the USA, almost no one who told you "Punch a Nazi!" or claimed to hate Nazis, will acknowledge the fact that there are real deal, legit Nazis in the Ukraine

8/?

Nor will any of the Western media sources I watch every day admit the role of those Nazis in the overthrow of the Ukrainian govt in 2014 or the West's funding & arming of them or that those Nazis were responsible for killing unionists & socialists at Odessa

9/?

Does that mean that everyone in the Ukraine is a Nazi? Hell no. The overwhelming majority are just normal people trying to live their lives in peace.

As usual, everyday citizens end up paying the price for crazy people & govts running around with weapons hurting people.

10/?

C. The definition of genocide has been met

The incessant shelling of civilian populations from 2014-2022 just because they are ethnically Russian or identify as such, with the dead (albeit not in the millions) in the 5-figure range, actually does constitute 'genocide'.

11/?

Of course, the war in Yemen is also a genocide. I'm old enough to remember us being told "NEVER AGAIN" after Rwanda. But unfortunately the West will only acknowledge a genocide when there is some political benefit to doing so. Too often, the West is the architect or enabler

12/?

What SHOULD happen is that the West should actually live up to the principles it professes and NOT interfere in 'democratic sovereign states', like they did in Ukraine in 2014.

Remember the leaked US State Dept tape, organising who would be the new Ukrainian leader?

13/?

The West - and this goes for the UN too - should also call out ALL FORMS OF GENOCIDE including those caused by their own bombs and guns, as well as those of other states.

Hello - Palestine.

Instead, they ignore or fuel it. Because.... ka-ching!

Weapons sales.

$$$$$$$

14/?

D - All states are formed on & profit off the backs of a pile of human corpses

This is true almost without exception

Even my home country of New Zealand

(Don't even get me started on Parihaka)

Massacres, genocides, war, weapons sales, theft, these are the paths to power

15/?

What was that WaPo opinion headline @AlanRMacLeod was circulating recently? "War makes us richer & safer"? Something like that?

Ultimately, this is the mentality of all states. The rest is window dressing to convince you to participate and to pick a side: preferably theirs

16/?

E. Boeing needs you to pick a side, too. So does Northrup Grumman

In their last quarterly forecast, US defense contractor executives openly salivated over impending conflict in Europe to drive up their profits & stocks.

Like Rage Against The Machine says: Know Your Enemy

17/?

F. This War Was Hyped Into Existence

C'mon Putin, we dare you. We dare you. We dare you. You're gonna do it. We know you're gonna do it. You're gonna do it!

This was the mantra of the West, that had just pumped Ukraine full to the brim with offensive weapons for 8+ years

18/?

Simultaneously, the West refused to offer any terms that would lead to peace or security, or to show any respect.

Naked provocation at every turn.

And the fact that US defense companies were anticipating this war long before your TV told you about it = premeditation

19/?

People who seek peace come with open hands and something to offer

People who seek war come with vitriol, mockery, threats and challenges

Zelensky's ridiculous, inflammatory statement that Ukraine could turn nuclear was the final spark to the tinder

Who put him up to it?

20/?

G. This Is All About Controlling and Directing Your Attention

@caitoz is the closest of any journalist I know to understanding - and calling out - that the primary motive of Empire is to command your attention

It's a precursor to making all their criminal schemes possible

21/?

That's the true reason they hate Julian Assange and want to torture him to death.

Julian was one of the only people in human history who for a full decade was able to seize narrative control away from the military industrial complex & their media, and redirect it at will

22/?

2016-2020 they used Russiagate to domineer global eyeballs & thus global conversation. Rode it for all it was worth til it exhausted

2020-2022 they used COVID. Now that's dwindling too

So 2022-2024+ you get this. War.

(But not Yemen war, not Somalia, not Palestine!)

23/?

So long as the military industrial complex & their media control our attention, eyeballs & conversation, this world will continue on the terrifying trajectory that we've seen inter-generationally - but most dramatically, post 9/11

It's not a war on terror it's a war on us

24/?

Talking to a friend today I said - this isn't occurring in isolation. It's the culmination of everything that has come before.

The events we've seen unfold this week are the most recent in a chain. I wrote about this in 2016 in a piece called 'Understanding World War III'

25/?

H. Each Military Misadventure Overplays Itself Into The Next Endeavour

You can read 'Understanding World War III' here. contraspin.co.nz/understanding-…

(If there's one thing I'm proud of it's that my work stands the test of time)

The article directly foreshadows events of today

26/?

I. The Media Are Full Of Shit Across The Board

Circling back to the beginning of this thread, here's just a little of what I've seen across all those varied media outlets I confessed to having been consuming.

I've seen Ukraine claim to have repelled every single attack...

27/?

I've seen both CNN and Fox simultaneously claim that the Ukrainian military is holding up surprisingly well & that the operation isn't going anywhere as well as Russia had hoped

(Reality: There was little initial resistance & Russia made it to the capital in sub 36 hours)

28/?

I've seen disgraced General Petraeus on US TV & a UK General on the BBC forecasting that this was all going swimmingly for the Ukraine

I've seen Western media show pictures of a sole Ukrainian tank driving erratically & claim that it was "the Russians arriving in Kiev"

29/?

I've seen footage of an exploding plane that was shot down running on MSM for 3 days straight, except they claim the falling flaming parts are bombs dropping

Some parts of it hit a building, so they show the damaged building as 'proof' that civilians are being "bombed"

30/?

They don't care that in aggregate, their claims are self-discrediting. They count on shock & awe

As I write this, both 'left' and 'right' US media are calling to send more weapons (ka-ching!) to the Ukraine &/or for the Americans & NATO to outright intervene (ka-ching!)

31/?

IN CONCLUSION

As with every war, us little people get fed into the machine to be ground into dust & billionaires laugh all the way to the bank

The only question is whether humanity can break the shock-and-awe spell, reject the hype machine & refuse to participate anymore

And if a certain Nazi battalion ceases to exist in the interim, I know my grandfather won't be shedding a single tear for them.

/thread ends