NATO countries are to all intents and purposes at war with Russia. The US knows it and Russia knows it too. Unfortunately, most of those living in NATO countries remain blissfully ignorant of this fact.<\/p>\n
The US initiated economic sanctions against Russia, has attacked its currency and has manipulated oil prices to devastate the Russian economy. It was behind the coup in Ukraine and is now escalating tensions by placing troops in Europe and supporting a bunch of neo-fascists that it brought to power. Yet the bought and paid for corporate media in the West keeps the majority of the Western public in ignorance by depicting Russia as the aggressor.<\/p>\n
If the current situation continues, the outcome could be a devastating nuclear conflict. Washington\u00a0poured five billion dollars into\u00a0Ukraine\u00a0with the aim of eventually\u00a0instigating a coup<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0Russia\u2019s doorstep. Washington and NATO are supporting proxy forces on the ground to\u00a0kill and drive out<\/a>\u00a0those who are demanding autonomy from the\u00a0US\u00a0puppet regime in\u00a0Kiev.\u00a0Hundreds of thousands<\/a>\u00a0have fled across the border into\u00a0Russia.<\/p>\n Yet it is\u00a0Washington\u00a0that accuses\u00a0Moscow\u00a0of invading\u00a0Ukraine, of having had a hand in the downing of a commercial airliner and of \u2018invading\u2019 Ukraine based on no evidence at all \u2014 trial by media courtesy of Washington\u2019s PR machine. As a result of this Russian \u2018aggression\u2019,\u00a0Washington slapped sanctions on\u00a0Moscow.<\/p>\n The ultimate aim is to de-link\u00a0Europe\u2019s economy from\u00a0Russia and weaken Russia’s energy dependent economy by denying it export markets. The ultimate aim is to also ensure Europe remains integrated with\/dependent on\u00a0Washington, not least via the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and in the long term via US gas and Middle East oil (sold in dollars, thereby boosting the strength of the currency upon which US global hegemony rests).<\/p>\n The mainstream corporate media in the West parrots the accusations against\u00a0Moscow\u00a0as fact, despite\u00a0Washington\u00a0having cooked up evidence or\u00a0invented baseless pretexts<\/a>.\u00a0As with Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan and other \u2018interventions\u2019 that have left a trail of death and devastation in their wake, the Western corporate media\u2019s role is to act as cheerleader for official policies and US-led wars of terror.<\/p>\n The reality is that the\u00a0US\u00a0has around\u00a0800 military bases<\/a>\u00a0in over 100 countries and military personnel in almost\u00a0150 countries<\/a>. US spending on its military dwarfs what the rest of the world spends together. It outspends\u00a0China\u00a0by a ratio of\u00a06:1<\/a>.<\/p>\n What does the corporate media say about this? That the US is a \u2018force for good\u2019 and constitutes the \u2018world\u2019s policeman\u2019 – not a calculating empire underpinned by militarism.<\/p>\n By the 1980s, Washington\u2019s wars, death squads and covert operations were responsible for\u00a0six million deaths<\/a>\u00a0in the \u2018developing\u2019 world. An updated figure suggests that figure is closer to\u00a0ten million<\/a>.<\/p>\n Breaking previous agreements made with Russia\/the USSR, over the past two decades the US and NATO has moved into\u00a0Eastern Europe\u00a0and continues to encircle\u00a0Russia\u00a0and install missile systems aimed at\u00a0it. It has also surrounded\u00a0Iran\u00a0with military bases. It is destabilising\u00a0Pakistan\u00a0and \u2018intervening\u2019 in countries across\u00a0Africa\u00a0to weaken Chinese trade and investment links and influence. It intends to eventually militarily \u2018pivot\u2019 towards\u00a0Asia\u00a0to encircle\u00a0China.<\/p>\n William Blum has presented\u00a0a long list<\/a>\u00a0of\u00a0Washington\u2019s crimes across the planet since 1945 in terms of its numerous bombings of countries, assassinations of elected leaders and destabilisations. No other country comes close to matching the scale of such criminality.\u00a0Under the smokescreen of exporting \u2018freedom and democracy\u2019, the\u00a0US\u00a0has deemed it necessary to ignore international laws and carry out atrocities to further its geo-political interests across the globe.<\/p>\n Writing on AlterNet.org,\u00a0Nicolas JS Davies<\/a>\u00a0says of William Blum\u2019s book\u00a0Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions since World War II: i<\/em>f you’re looking for historical context for what you are reading or watching on TV about the coup in Ukraine, \u2018Killing Hope\u2019 will provide it.<\/p>\n Davies argues that the title has never been more apt as we watch the hopes of people from all regions of Ukraine being sacrificed on the same altar as those of people in Iran (1953); Guatemala(1954); Thailand (1957); Laos (1958-60); the Congo (1960); Turkey (1960, 1971 & 1980); Ecuador (1961 & 1963); South Vietnam (1963); Brazil (1964); the Dominican Republic (1963); Argentina (1963); Honduras (1963 & 2009); Iraq (1963 & 2003); Bolivia (1964, 1971 & 1980); Indonesia (1965); Ghana (1966); Greece (1967); Panama (1968 & 1989); Cambodia (1970); Chile (1973); Bangladesh (1975); Pakistan (1977); Grenada (1983); Mauritania (1984); Guinea (1984); Burkina Faso (1987); Paraguay (1989); Haiti (1991 & 2004); Russia (1993); Uganda (1996);and Libya (2011).<\/p>\n Davies goes on to say that the list above does not include a roughly equal number of failed coups, nor coups in\u00a0Africa\u00a0and elsewhere in which a\u00a0US\u00a0role is suspected but unproven.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Project for a New American Century<\/a>\u00a0(PNAC) is a recipe for more of the same. The ultimate goal, based on the \u2018Wolfowitz Doctrine, is to prevent any rival emerging to challenge\u00a0Washington\u2019s global hegemony and to secure dominance over the entire planet. Washington\u2019s game plan for Russia is to destroy is as a functioning state or to permanently weaken it so it submits to US hegemony.\u00a0While the mainstream media in the West set out to revive the Cold War mentality and demonise\u00a0Russia,\u00a0Washington\u00a0believes it can actually win a nuclear conflict with\u00a0Russia. It no longer regards nuclear weapons as a last resort but part of a\u00a0conventional theatre of war\u00a0<\/a>and is willing to use them for pre-emptive strikes.<\/p>\n Washington\u00a0is accusing\u00a0Russia\u00a0of violating\u00a0Ukraine\u2019s territorial sovereignty, while the\u00a0US has its military, mercenary and intelligence personnel inside\u00a0Ukraine. It is moreover putting troops in\u00a0Poland, engaging in \u2018war games\u2019\u00a0close to Russia and has pushed through a \u2018Russian anti-aggression<\/a>\u2019 act that portrays\u00a0Russia\u00a0as an aggressor in order to give\u00a0Ukraine\u00a0de facto membership of NATO and thus full military support, advice and assistance.<\/p>\n Washington presses ahead regardless as\u00a0Russia\u00a0begins to\u00a0undermine dollar hegemony<\/a>\u00a0by trading oil and gas and goods in rubles and other currencies. And history shows that whenever a country threatens the dollar, the\u00a0US\u00a0does not idly stand by.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, most members of the Western public believe the lies being fed to them. This results from the corporate media amounting to little more than an extension of\u00a0Washington\u2019s propaganda arm.\u00a0The PNAC, under the pretext of some bogus \u2018war on terror\u2019, is partly built on gullible, easily led public opinion, which is fanned by emotive outbursts from politicians and the media. We have a Pavlov\u2019s dog public and media, which respond on cue to the moralistic bleating of politicians who rely on the public\u2019s ignorance to facilitate war and conflict.<\/p>\n Former\u00a0US\u00a0Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst has spoken about the merits of the\u00a0Kiev\u00a0coup and the installation of an illegitimate government in\u00a0Ukraine. Last year, he called the violent removal of\u00a0Ukraine\u2019s democratically elected government as\u00a0enhancing democracy<\/a>.\u00a0Herbst displayed all of the arrogance associated with the ideology of US \u2018exceptionalism\u2019.\u00a0He also displayed complete contempt for the public by spouting falsehoods and misleading claims about events taking place in\u00a0Ukraine.<\/p>\n And now in Britain, the public is being subjected to the same kind of propaganda by the likes of Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond with his made-for-media sound bites about\u00a0Russia being a threat to world peace<\/a>:<\/p>\n “We are now faced with a Russian leader bent not on joining the international rules-based system which keeps the peace between nations, but on subverting it\u2026 We are in familiar territory for anyone over the age of about 50, with Russia’s aggressive behaviour a stark reminder it has the potential to pose the single greatest threat to our security…\u00a0Russia’s aggressive behaviour a stark reminder it has the potential to pose the single greatest threat to our security.”<\/p>\n In a speech that could have come straight from the pen of some war mongering US neocon, the US\u2019s toy monkey Hammond beats on cue the drum that signals Britain\u2019s willingness to fall in line and verbally attack Putin for not acquiescing to US global hegemonic aims.<\/p>\n The anti-Russia propaganda in Britain is gathering pace. Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has said that Putin could repeat the tactics used to destabilise Ukraine in the Baltic states. He said that NATO\u00a0must be ready for Russian aggression<\/a>\u00a0in \u201cwhatever form it takes.\u201d He added that Russia is a \u201creal and present danger.\u201d Prior to this, PM David Cameron\u00a0called on Europe to make clear to Russia that it faces economic and financial consequences for \u201cmany years to come\u201d if it does not stop destabilising Ukraine.<\/p>\n Members of the current administration are clearly on board with US policy and are towing the line, as did Blair before. And we know that his policy on Iraq was based on a pack of lies too.<\/p>\n If Putin is reacting in a certain way, it is worth wondering what the US response would be if Russia had put its missiles in Canada near the US border, had destabilised Mexico and was talking of putting missiles there too. To top it off, imagine if Russia were applying sanctions on the US for all of this \u2018aggression\u2019.<\/p>\n What Russia is really guilty of is calling for a multi-polar world, not one dominated by the US.\u00a0It\u2019s a goal that most of humanity is guilty of. It is a world the US will not tolerate.<\/p>\n Herbst and his ilk would do well to contemplate their country\u2019s record of wars and destabilisations, its global surveillance network that illegally spies on individuals and governments alike and its ongoing plundering of resources and countries supported by militarism, \u2018free trade\u2019 or the\u00a0outright manipulation of every major market<\/a>. Hammond, Fallon and Cameron would do well to remember this too. But like their US masters, their role is to feign amnesia and twist reality.<\/p>\n The media is dutifully playing its part well by keeping the public ignorant and misinformed. A public\u00a0that is encouraged to regard what is happening in Syria, Iraq, Ukraine, Afghanistan and Libya, etc, as a confusing, disconnected array of events in need of Western intervention based on bogus notions of \u2018humanitarianism\u2019 or a \u2018war on terror\u2019, rather than the planned machinations of empire which includes a global energy war and the associated preservation and strengthening of the petro-dollar system.<\/p>\n Eric Zuesse has been writing extensively on events in Ukraine for the last year. His articles have been published on various sites like Countercurrents, Global Research and RINF, but despite his attempts to get his numerous informative and well-researched pieces published in the mainstream media, he has by and large hit a brick wall (he describes this\u00a0here<\/a>).<\/p>\n This is because the corporate media have a narrative and the truth does not fit into it.\u00a0If this tells us anything it is that sites like the one you are reading this particular article on are essential for informing the public about the reality of the aggression that could be sleepwalking the world towards humanity\u2019s final war. And while the mainstream media might still be ‘main’, in as much as that is where most people still turn to for information, there is nothing to keep the alternative web-based media from becoming ‘mainstream’.<\/p>\n Whether it involves Eric’s daily pieces or articles by other writers, the strategy must be to tweet, share and repost! Or as Binu Mathew from the India-based Countercurrents website says:<\/p>\n “It is for those who want to nurture these alternative communication channels to spread the word to tell the world about these avenues. ‘Each one reach one, each one teach one’ can be a good way to sum up.”<\/p>\n Colin Todhunter is an independent writer and former social policy researcher based in the UK\/India\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NATO countries are to all intents and purposes at war with Russia. The US knows it and Russia knows it too. Unfortunately, most of those living in NATO countries remain blissfully ignorant of this fact. The US initiated economic sanctions against Russia, has attacked its currency and has manipulated oil prices to devastate the Russian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1214,"featured_media":144476,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[461],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-144479","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-editorials"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1214"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}