Media madness

Who do you believe?

In my last post, I quoted from the Russian news and opinion site Military Affairs. Deep Seek told me it was an unreliable propaganda organ of the Russian “state”, implying of course an authoritarian regime that suppresses freedom. I should seek more reliable sources in the Western media it advised.

Who am I to argue with an LLM. It told me.

The BBC is a reliable source for information on the war in Ukraine. It is one of the best-resourced and most rigorous news organizations in the world.

So I looked at recent BBC stuff.

In Russia’s ‘blitz’ of Ukraine, the question of appeasement is back

Oh my…the article was full of the incredible claims and falsehoods, aka propaganda, which might be convincing to Sir Keir but not to anyone with a functioning brain.

Russia is not doing a Blitz or “shock & awe” attack on Ukraine—as the BBC article goes to great length to report with interviews with street sellers.

I did not notice a lot of devastation and destruction as in the Blitz — or say— Fallujah.

Russia does not target civilian sites and civilians – although the Kiev regime does that in Donbas, Lugansk, Crimea, and Russia. (Click on graphic below to play)

Of course, the video is from RT, which as we all know, is another state propaganda, in the same league as…as…as…the NYT?

Civilian deaths after Russian attacks on military or military related infrastructure including power plants are mostly caused by Ukrainian air defenses.

There was no “full scale invasion” of Ukraine either in 2014 or 2022. The Russians committed a very small part of their very large army to battle, leaving much of the fighting local militias .

As for “appeasement” . That word recalls the UK’s tactics with the German Nazis. Russia is not Nazis. But Western Ukraine clearly is.

So much for objectivity. So much for Deep Seek. I score both the BBC and DS “F”.

The Western MSM is one giant echo chamber.

But, then again, Alt Media is not always much better. Lotsa nonsense there, too.

What’s that song? Where have all the analysts gone?

Doctorow: (excerpts/ complete transcript)

We have been living with the neocon stories about appeasement. We cannot deal with this dictator in Iraq. We cannot deal with these people in Libya and so on. We cannot appease them and so forth. And always with a reference back to Chamberlain and his speech of “peace in our time” after his meeting with Hitler, and the surrender of the Sudetenland. All of that was rubbish. It was pure propaganda. But what I heard Mr. Putin saying a day and a half ago was a Chamberlain speech. And that got me very unhappy.

***

Ryabkov ...was slapped down by Putin less than a week ago for saying what you just said at the start of this conversation. That diplomacy has outlived its usefulness.

I looked for this “slap down” but couldn’t find it.

And why would Putin slap him down at all? He might of course have said that Russian policy is still negotiation. That’s hard a “slap”.

Everyone (as Doctorow notes) is saying the same thing in Russia, which is fine with Putin since he is fully aware that the Ukraine problem, as well as the NATO problem can only be solved by victory on the battlefield.

But as President of Russia engaging now with the MultiPolar world, he must play the Diplomat and the Peacemaker – every ready to talk. He cannot do a Trump or a Biden.

Ryabkov is deputy foreign minister of course knows all this and has played an important role in advancing Putin’s diplomatic initiatives with the US. At the same time, he does not suffer the constraints Putin does and he has stated the Russian position openly to the West in terms of dealing with “root causes”.

Good cop. Bad cop.

Just as with Medvedev.

Doctorow doesn’t get this.

Well, look, I have said that Putin risks being Gorbachev Two. But let me use an historical reference. Unfortunately, it’s been abused over decades by everyone calling it appeasement. But if there ever was a Chamberlain speech in Russia, we heard it yesterday. That was the “peace in our time” speech of Chamberlain from the mouth of Putin. It was appeasement, and nothing good will come out of that.

Where does this come from?

Putin has not intention of surrendering territory to Kiev, as Chamberlin did, except those were not UK territories but other countries. Putin could not surrender any of the territories that Kiev is demanding, nor any part of them since they are constitutionally part of Russia, not some other country.

Frankly, Doctorow has been wrong so many times, it mystifies me why he gets so much air time. For Diesen to feature him as a credible source reflects badly on his own credibility.

In the meantime, by the way, the Russians have about 10,000 Ukrainian troops surrounded in Pokrovsk having enticed them (so to speak) into the city to destroy as many as possible, a repeat of their Bakhmut strategy. Kupiansk will get the same treatment.

In the South Pavlograd has fallen.

And the Kherson offensive continues.Russian Armed Forces are pounding positions of AFU operators in residential buildings in Kherson which has been largely evacuated in anticipation of being over-run.

And the new Russian nuclear-powered unlimited range cruise missile completely upsets the nuclear balance of power.

The war goes on…..

Cheetahs….

My Cheetah is named Chappy. He’s smaller ( a lot)and may be wilder. But he runs fast! I don’t have a dog for him— although I wish I did. But this is not Canada. He has to put up with me and Ichi.

Animals make us human, I think.

Buy my cheetah a coffee and me and Ichi too! Click HERE are on the graphic below.