{"id":60188,"date":"2015-06-29T12:00:06","date_gmt":"2015-06-29T11:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=60188"},"modified":"2015-06-24T21:15:42","modified_gmt":"2015-06-24T20:15:42","slug":"nyts-orwellian-view-of-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2015\/06\/nyts-orwellian-view-of-ukraine\/","title":{"rendered":"NYT\u2019s Orwellian View of Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the up-is-down Orwellian world that is now The New York Times\u2019 editorial page, there was no coup in Ukraine in 2014, no U.S.-driven \u201cregime change,\u201d no provocation on Russia\u2019s border, just Moscow\u2019s aggression \u2014\u00a0a sign of how propaganda has taken over mainstream U.S. media.<\/em><\/p>\n

22 Jun 2015 – <\/em>In George Orwell\u2019s 1984<\/em>, the leaders of Oceania presented \u201cTwo Minutes Hate\u201d in which the image of an enemy was put on display and loyal Oceanianians expressed their rage, all the better to prepare them for the country\u2019s endless wars and their own\u00a0surrender of freedom. And, now, in America, you have The New York Times.<\/p>\n

Surely the Times is a bit more subtle than the powers-that-be in Orwell\u2019s Oceania, but the point is the same. The \u201cpaper of record\u201d decides who our rotating foreign enemy is and depicts its leader\u00a0as a demon corrupting whatever he touches. The rest of us aren\u2019t supposed to think for ourselves. We\u2019re just supposed to hate.<\/p>\n

As the Times has degenerated from a relatively decent newspaper into a fount of neocon propaganda, its editors also have descended into the practice of simply inventing a narrative of events that serves an ideological purpose, its own version of \u201cTwo Minutes Hate.\u201d Like the leaders of Orwell\u2019s Oceania, the Times has become increasingly heavy-handed in its propaganda.<\/p>\n

Excluding alternative explanations of events, even if\u00a0supported by solid evidence, the Times arrogantly creates its own reality and tells us who to hate.<\/p>\n

In assessing the Times\u2019s downward spiral into this unethical journalism, one could look back on its false reporting regarding Iraq, Iran, Syria or other Middle East hotspots. But now the Times is putting the lives of ourselves, our children and our grandchildren at risk with its reckless reporting on the Ukraine crisis \u2013 by setting up an unnecessary confrontation between nuclear-armed powers, the United States and Russia.<\/p>\n

At the center of the Times\u2019 propaganda on Ukraine has been its uncritical \u2013 indeed its anti-journalistic \u2013 embrace of the Ukrainians coup-makers in late 2013 and early 2014 as they collaborated with neo-Nazi militias to violently overthrow elected President Viktor Yanukovych and hurl Ukraine into a bloody civil war.<\/p>\n

Rather than display journalistic professionalism, the Times\u2019 propagandists ignored the evidence of a coup \u2013 including an intercepted phone call<\/a> in which U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Victoria Nuland and U.S. Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt discussed how to \u201cmid-wife\u201d the regime change and handpick the new leaders. \u201cYats is the guy,\u201d declared Nuland, referring to Arseniy Yatsenyuk who emerged as prime minister.<\/p>\n

The Times even ignored a national security expert, Statfor founder George Friedman, when he termed the\u00a0ouster of Ukraine\u2019s\u00a0elected president \u201cthe most blatant coup in history.\u201d The Times just waved a magic wand and pronounced that there was no coup \u2013 and anyone who thought so must reside inside \u201cthe Russian propaganda bubble.\u201d [See Consortiumnews.com\u2019s \u201cNYT Still Pretends No Coup in Ukraine<\/a>.\u201d]<\/p>\n

Perhaps even more egregiously, the Times has pretended that there were no neo-Nazi militias spearheading the Feb. 22, 2014 coup and then leading the bloody \u201canti-terrorist operation\u201d against ethnic Russians in the south and east who resisted the coup. The Times explained all this bloodshed as simply \u201cRussian aggression.\u201d<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t even matter when the U.S. House of Representatives \u2013 of all groups \u2013 unanimously acknowledged the neo-Nazi problem when it prohibited U.S. collaboration in military training of\u00a0Ukrainian Nazis. The Times simply expunged the vote from its \u201cofficial history\u201d of the crisis.\u00a0[See Consortiumnews.com\u2019s \u201cUS House Admits Nazi Role in Ukraine.<\/a>\u201d]<\/p>\n

Orwell\u2019s Putin<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yet, for an Orwellian \u201cTwo Minute Hate\u201d to work properly, you need to have a\u00a0villain whose face you can put on display. And, in the case of Ukraine \u2013 at least after Yanukovych was driven from the scene \u2013 that villain has been Russian President Vladimir Putin, who embodies all evil in the\u00a0intense hatred\u00a0sold to the American public.<\/p>\n

So, when Putin presents a narrative of the Ukraine crisis, which notes the history of the U.S.-driven expansion of NATO up to Russia\u2019s borders and the evidence of the U.S.-directed Ukrainian coup, the Times editors must dismiss it all as \u201cmythology,\u201d as they did in Monday\u2019s editorial regarding Putin\u2019s remarks<\/a> to an international economic conference in St. Petersburg.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Vladimir Putin of Russia is not veering from the mythology he created to explain away the crisis over Ukraine,\u201d the Times\u2019 editors wrote<\/a>. \u201cIt is one that wholly blames the West for provoking a new Cold War and insists that international sanctions have not grievously wounded his country\u2019s flagging economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Without acknowledging any Western guilt in the coup that overthrew the elected Ukrainian government in 2014, the Times\u2019 editors simply reveled in the harm that the Obama administration and the European Union have inflicted on Russia\u2019s economy for its support of the Yanukovych government and its\u00a0continued backers in eastern and southern Ukraine.<\/p>\n

For nearly a year and a half, the New York Times and other major U.S. news organizations have simply refused to acknowledge the reality of what happened in Ukraine. In the Western fantasy, the elected Yanukovych government simply disappeared and was replaced by a U.S.-backed regime that then treated any resistance to its rule as \u201cterrorism.\u201d The new regime even dispatched neo-Nazi militias to kill ethnic Russians and other Ukrainians who resisted and thus were deemed\u00a0\u201cterrorists.\u201d<\/p>\n

The upside-down narrative of what happened in Ukraine has become the conventional wisdom in Official Washington and has been imposed on America\u2019s European allies as well. According to The New York Times\u2019 Orwellian storyline, anyone who notes the reality of a U.S.-backed coup in Ukraine is engaging in \u201cfantasy\u201d and must be some kind of Putin pawn.<\/p>\n

To the Times\u2019 editors, all the justice is on their side, even as Ukraine\u2019s new regime has deployed neo-Nazi militias to kill eastern Ukrainians who resisted the anti-Yanukovych coup. To the Times\u2019 editors, the only possible reason to object to Ukraine\u2019s new order is that the Russians must be bribing European dissidents to resist\u00a0the U.S. version of events. The Times wrote:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Europeans are indeed divided over the extent to which Russia, with its huge oil and gas resources, should be isolated, but Mr. Putin\u2019s aggression so far has ensured their unity when it counts. In addition to extending existing sanctions, the allies have prepared a new round of sanctions that could be imposed if Russian-backed separatists seized more territory in Ukraine. \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough Mr. Putin insisted on Friday that Russia had found the \u2018inner strength\u2019 to weather sanctions and a drop in oil prices, investment has slowed, capital has fled the country and the economy has been sliding into recession. Even the business forum was not all that it seemed: The heads of many Western companies stayed\u00a0away\u00a0for a second year.\u201d<\/p>\n

An Orwellian World<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the up-is-down world that has become the New York Times\u2019 editorial page, the Western coup-making on Russia\u2019s border with the implicit threat of U.S. and NATO nuclear weapons within easy range of Moscow is transformed into a case of \u201cRussian aggression.\u201d The Times\u2019 editors wrote: \u201cOne of the most alarming aspects of the crisis has been Mr. Putin\u2019s willingness to brandish nuclear weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though it would appear objectively that the United States was engaged in serious mischief-making on Russia\u2019s border, the Times editors flip it around to make Russian military maneuvers \u2013 inside Russia \u2013 a sign of aggression against the West.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven Mr. Putin\u2019s aggressive behavior, including pouring troops and weapons into Kaliningrad, a Russian city located between NATO members Lithuania and Poland, the allies have begun taking their own military steps. In recent months, NATO approved a rapid-reaction force in case an ally needs to be defended. It also pre-positioned some weapons in front-line countries, is rotating troops there and is conducting many more exercises. There are also plans to store battle tanks and other heavy weapons in several Baltic and Eastern European countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he is not careful, Mr. Putin may end up facing exactly what he has railed against \u2014 a NATO more firmly parked on Russia\u2019s borders \u2014 not because the alliance wanted to go in that direction, but because Russian behavior left it little choice. That is neither in Russia\u2019s interest, nor the West\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is something truly\u00a01984<\/em>-ish about reading that kind of propagandistic writing in The New York Times and other Western publications. But it has become the pattern, not the exception.<\/p>\n

The Words of the \u2018Demon\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Though the Times and the rest of the Western media insist on demonizing Putin, we still should hear the Russian president\u2019s version of events, as simply a matter of journalistic fairness. Here is how Putin explained the situation\u00a0to American TV talk show host Charlie Rose on June 19:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy did we arrive at\u00a0the\u00a0crisis in\u00a0Ukraine? I\u00a0am convinced that after the\u00a0so-called bipolar system ceased to\u00a0exist, after the\u00a0Soviet Union was gone from the\u00a0political map of\u00a0the\u00a0world, some of\u00a0our partners in\u00a0the\u00a0West, including and\u00a0primarily the\u00a0United States, of\u00a0course, were in\u00a0a\u00a0state of\u00a0euphoria of\u00a0sorts. Instead of\u00a0developing good neighborly relations and\u00a0partnerships, they began to\u00a0develop the\u00a0new geopolitical space that they thought was unoccupied. This, for\u00a0instance, is what caused the\u00a0North Atlantic bloc, NATO, to\u00a0go east, along with many other developments.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u00a0have been thinking a\u00a0lot about why this is happening and\u00a0eventually came to\u00a0the\u00a0conclusion that some of\u00a0our partners [Putin\u2019s way of describing Americans] seem to\u00a0have gotten the\u00a0illusion that the\u00a0world order that was created after World War II, with such a\u00a0global center as\u00a0the\u00a0Soviet Union, does not exist anymore, that a\u00a0vacuum of\u00a0sorts has developed that needs to\u00a0be filled quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u00a0think such an\u00a0approach is a\u00a0mistake. This is how we got Iraq, and\u00a0we know that even today there are people in\u00a0the\u00a0United States who think that mistakes were made in\u00a0Iraq. Many admit that there were mistakes in\u00a0Iraq, and\u00a0nevertheless they repeat it all in\u00a0Libya. Now they got to\u00a0Ukraine. We did not bring about the\u00a0crisis in\u00a0Ukraine. There was no need to\u00a0support, as\u00a0I\u00a0have said many times, the\u00a0anti-state, anti-constitutional takeover that eventually led to\u00a0a\u00a0sharp resistance on\u00a0the\u00a0territory of\u00a0Ukraine, to\u00a0a\u00a0civil war in\u00a0fact.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere do we go from here?\u201d Putin asked. \u201cToday we primarily need to\u00a0comply with all the\u00a0agreements reached in\u00a0Minsk, the\u00a0capital of\u00a0Belarus. \u2026 At\u00a0the\u00a0same time, I\u00a0would like to\u00a0draw your attention and\u00a0the\u00a0attention of\u00a0all our partners to\u00a0the\u00a0fact that we cannot do it unilaterally. We keep hearing the\u00a0same thing, repeated like a\u00a0mantra\u00a0\u2013 that Russia should influence the\u00a0southeast of\u00a0Ukraine. We are. However, it is impossible to\u00a0resolve the\u00a0problem through our influence on\u00a0the\u00a0southeast alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere has to\u00a0be influence on\u00a0the\u00a0current official authorities in\u00a0Kiev, which is something we cannot do. This is a\u00a0road our Western partners have to\u00a0take\u00a0\u2013 those in\u00a0Europe and\u00a0America. Let us work together. \u2026 We believe that to\u00a0resolve the\u00a0situation we need to\u00a0implement the\u00a0Minsk agreements, as\u00a0I\u00a0said. The\u00a0elements of\u00a0a\u00a0political settlement are key here. There are several.\u201d<\/p>\n

Putin continued: \u201cThe\u00a0first one is constitutional reform, and\u00a0the\u00a0Minsk agreements say clearly: to\u00a0provide autonomy or, as\u00a0they say decentralization of\u00a0power, let it be decentralization. This is quite clear, our European partners, France and\u00a0Germany have spelled it out and\u00a0we are quite satisfied with it, just as\u00a0the\u00a0representatives of\u00a0Donbass [eastern Ukraine where ethnic Russians who had supported Yanukovych have declared independence] are. This is one component.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe\u00a0second thing that has to\u00a0be done\u00a0\u2013 the\u00a0law passed earlier on\u00a0the\u00a0special status of\u00a0these territories\u00a0\u2013 Luhansk and\u00a0Donetsk, the\u00a0unrecognized republics, should be enacted. It was passed, but still not acted upon. This requires a\u00a0resolution of\u00a0the\u00a0Supreme Rada\u00a0\u2013 the\u00a0Ukrainian Parliament \u2013 which is also covered in\u00a0the\u00a0Minsk agreements. Our friends in\u00a0Kiev have formally complied with this decision, but simultaneously with the\u00a0passing by\u00a0the\u00a0Rada of\u00a0the\u00a0resolution to\u00a0enact the\u00a0law they amended the\u00a0law itself\u00a0\u2026 which practically renders the\u00a0action null and\u00a0void. This is a\u00a0mere manipulation, and\u00a0they have to\u00a0move from manipulations to\u00a0real action.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe\u00a0third thing is a\u00a0law on\u00a0amnesty. It is impossible to\u00a0have a\u00a0political dialogue with people who are threatened with criminal persecution. And\u00a0finally, they need to\u00a0pass a\u00a0law on\u00a0municipal elections on\u00a0these territories and\u00a0to\u00a0have the\u00a0elections themselves. All this is spelled out in\u00a0the\u00a0Minsk agreements, this is something I\u00a0would like to\u00a0draw your attention to, and\u00a0all this should be done with the\u00a0agreement of\u00a0Donetsk and\u00a0Luhansk.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, we still see no direct dialogue, only some signs of\u00a0it, but too much time has passed after the\u00a0Minsk agreements were signed. I\u00a0repeat, it is important now to\u00a0have a\u00a0direct dialogue between Luhansk, Donetsk and\u00a0Kiev\u00a0\u2013 this is missing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also missing is any objective and professional explanation of this crisis in the mainstream American press. Instead, The New York Times and other major U.S. news organizations have continued with their pattern of 1984<\/em>-ish\u00a0propaganda.<\/p>\n

_______________________________<\/p>\n

Investigative reporter Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories for The Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 consortiumnews.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the up-is-down Orwellian world that is now The New York Times\u2019 editorial page, there was no coup in Ukraine in 2014, no U.S.-driven \u201cregime change,\u201d no provocation on Russia\u2019s border, just Moscow\u2019s aggression \u2014 a sign of how propaganda has taken over mainstream U.S. media.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60188\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}