A Ukraine Miscellany XIV: No Truth to be Found

As missiles fall on Poland, and there are talks of escalation and retaliation, it's a good moment pause.

Thankfully it would seem that sober minds are going to prevail and hot-heads like Zelenskiy will not have their way. But admittedly for about twenty-fours it looked like the war was headed for a major escalation.

One realizes that the Western Establishment and the war-hawks will not fully accept Moscow's refusal to take responsibility for these strikes. Ambiguity is preferred and can be utilised.  

The Putin government is adamant that they did not fire those missiles or target Poland. Even though there has been a tacit admission that the missiles were probably Ukrainian, it doesn't matter as this will be an excuse to ramp up military posturing, spending, and to promote conscription and other forms of militarism. It's too convenient and the news coverage makes this all too clear - the timing of the MH17 announcement seemed rather convenient as well.

I think a few political leaders (such as the PiS in Poland) realized that this was a road they did not want to go down. Article V would mean a European war if not a global one. And while being part of NATO grants some degree of comfort, Poland itself would become a battleground and since they have accepted American missile batteries – these would certainly be targeted, possibly in a nuclear exchange.

And it's worth noting that the NATO leadership was also being cautious. Invoking Article V on something flimsy like the missiles in Poland could lead to a rift – some nations remaining unconvinced and unwilling to entertain a large-scale war over such a dubious incident. The invocation of Article V must be done with caution – if it fails, the alliance could quickly start to crumble.

And yet in another respect it's all nonsense as NATO is already at war with Russia – but for now they want to keep it as a proxy war.

It's deemed common knowledge that the Russian government is a lie factory. But is everything that comes out of the West automatically true? This also must be kept in mind as one interacts with these developments.

Just in recent days the once widely disseminated story about the Russians giving Viagra to troops in order to promote rape was revealed as false – a deliberated fabrication for the propaganda campaign. And yet, at one point in time this story was taken as indisputable.

Lies abound. Some truth can be discerned through the fog, but no one can be trusted. The narrative that Ukraine and NATO are somehow 'the good' is little more than propaganda and spin – a deliberate attempt to obfuscate the origins of this war which go back well beyond 2014.

Ukraine wants to widen the war and Zelenskiy is even calling for attacks on Iran. I think more than a few Western leaders are growing irritated with the man.

While it's assumed the missiles that fell into Poland were Ukrainian missiles countering Russian missiles, do we even know that for sure? Do we know that it was an accident?

Western Special Forces and intelligence agents are everywhere on the ground and openly training forces and cells in Ukraine, the EU, and the UK. The British and the Americans have all but admitted they have troops operating in Ukraine. While some in leadership are exercising a modicum of restraint, there are factions that want to see the war escalate. Obama clearly did not have full control over his military and State Department. Should we assume Biden does? The missiles that landed in Poland were definitely from Ukraine, but few seem willing to entertain the notion that they might have been fired deliberately – by American elements, or even those connected to Zelenskiy and/or Ukraine's fascistic paramilitaries.

There is a censorship campaign directed toward anyone who challenges the war, and Ukraine has a death list for journalists and other public figures that refuse the narrative, including Roger Waters of Pink Floyd.

And Zelenskiy's government and its paramilitary allies are hunting down 'collaborators' within Ukraine – which included anyone who didn't actively resist the Russian occupation, or moved to vote too quickly in Moscow's referendum. Awhile back I saw what must be described as a rare (or even rogue) news report on France24 that actually expressed Ukrainian civilian frustration with the Zelenskiy government and Kiev's forces. The civilians were glad the Russians were pulling back but terrified of the Ukrainian troops and paramilitaries set to come sweeping in, determined to punish those who seemed to content to live under Moscow's rule. It's not story we're used to hearing in Western media but one that rings true of every war.

I was reminded of Jimmy Stewart's character in Shenandoah, or a film like Friendly Persuasion – stories of people caught in the middle. And both movies show the ugliness of war regardless of the side or the reasons for the fighting. I still stand amazed of Christians who venerate soldiery. They are either ignorant of what war is or they have seared their consciences.

Rumblings of doubt about the course of the Ukraine War and its funding are coming from Right-wing sectors in Europe and America. With Russian losses, the war is in danger of losing momentum, the pressing need no longer so pressing and growing sectors are pushing for a negotiated peace.

Would Russia (which has utterly failed) want to widen the war against an enemy (Poland and NATO) that will not only drive it out of Ukraine but break the Putin regime? If NATO gets involved, regime change will be the open goal as opposed to the unofficial one being presently expressed.

Even if nothing comes of the Polish attack, it conveniently provides a basis for the continuation and escalation of the hyperventilating narrative about Russian threats – a gift to the weapons industry and the military-industrial complex

Given the nature of the propaganda campaign, I'm somewhat amazed the Western media machine hasn't tried to blame the recent Istanbul bombing on Russia.

It's clear the media is attempting to paint Moscow in the darkest of hues by its coverage of Brittney Griner being sent to a penal colony, which the media is very much trying to paint as a gulag – which it's not.

For Russia's part the dramatic sentencing and now removal of Griner is clearly a ploy to force the Americans back to the table. The prisoner exchange talks lost momentum and Moscow wants to rekindle them. Putin wants Viktor Bout out of prison. The US arrest of him was a game – just as Russia's retention of Griner is too. I noticed today that the BBC is running hit pieces on Bout – as if he was or is any different than dozens of such figures the US (and its allies including the UK) have used since 1945. The story was ridiculous but as always it's the moralizing tone that is most offensive.

As with all wars, I expect this one to drift and move sideways as original goals and narratives fade away and are replaced by others. It becomes rather cynical in the end – for the civilians and even for the fighting men. But that doesn't mean that it's any less dangerous, and if anything the magnitude and nature of the lies are only bound to increase.