The Ukrainian Crisis Three Years On: An Autopsy of the Mainstream Media Discourse Pt. III [+Videos] - Like This Article

March 12th, 2017 - Fort Russ News - 

- Analysis - by Denis Churilov for FRN - 

[ continued from part II ]

One might argue that the West has the right to now interfere in Ukraine, as it supports the official government, and not some rebels/separatists. To respond to this, is necessary to remind people that the current Kiev government was established as a result of violent, unconstitutional regime change, which was financed and diplomatically supported by the U. S. Essentially, it’s a puppet government that was violently installed by the West. Why should the Eastern regions comply to it?

"But wait!” you say, “Let’s ask what Ukrainians themselves think about the Crisis. It’s always essential to know what people who actually live in the country think of what is going on, right?”. Right. But before asking such questions, you should decide which Ukrainians to include in the survey. Western Ukrainians? Ukrainians from Kiev? Maybe people who live in the Eastern provinces?

Well, Crimea was once a part of Ukraine. The people there have already expressed their position at a referendum in March 2014. The surveys conducted since have confirmed the results. According to BBG and GfK, back in 2015, a year after the supposed annexation, way over 90% of Crimeans were happy living as a part of Russia and did not regret their choice:

http://ift.tt/1LCkdpW

The people of Donetsk and Lugansk regions are saying that they are being bombed and shelled by the Kiev army:

There are many videos of East-Ukranian/Novorossia residents saying what they think is happening. They are all over YouTube. It wouldn't take a training in social media search to find them.

Generally, it is recommended to see Graham Phillips’ YouTube channel. He is a British freelance journalist who has been working in the conflict zone since the very beginning. He has been attacked multiple times by his colleagues in the Western mainstream media, with allegations that he is a “Russian propagandist” being made. He is strongly pro-Russian, indeed. But the special value of his work is that he uploads raw footage online (just adding English subtitles to it). He also interviews random people on the streets, from time to time. So, definitely worth checking (lots of material there that the Western mainstream media won’t show you):

https://www.youtube.com/user/gwplondon

You may also want to check Patrick Lancaster, a British crowdfunded journalist who has been working in the warzone for years, reporting via YouTube and his Twitter account:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbjTWVaRx6jMN5ZYgbqe2_w/feed

https://twitter.com/PLnewstoday

Now, what about the other Ukrainians? What do other ordinary Ukrainians say about the conflict? 

Well, yes, if you’re going to ask any Ukrainian who doesn’t live in Donbass, the chances are that they are going to blame Russia and Putin for all the horrors that have been happening there. Why? Well, let’s talk about the Kiev controlled media…

He is one example of how the Ukrainian media lied (in an Orwellian style), and how these lies were picked up by European politicians and referenced at a UN assembly:

Horrifying, isn’t it?

Well, there is more. Such lies and propaganda are being manufactured by the Kiev media on the daily basis. Literally. The Western mainstream media likes to talk about Russian media faking news (yet, they always like to reference the “crucified boy” story as an example), yet they never mention daily fabrications done by the Ukrainian media.

There is a guy named Anatoly Sharij, he is a Ukrainian journalist in exile who refers to himself as a "media expert". He now lives in Europe and harshly criticises the current Kiev government, debunking their fakes. He uploads short videos to his YouTube channel regularly, showing where and how Kiev media outlets lie to their audience. 2-5 new uploads are made daily! He adds English subtitles to some of his videos. So, check it out (it’s truly horrifying to see what Kiev media is doing to their people):

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVPYbobPRzz0SjinWekjUBw

Here are some examples of Sharij's mini-investigations (don’t forget to turn the subs on):

A Ukrainian TV channel steals video footage uploaded by a Russian volunteer, video footage that shows the results of the atrocities committed by Kiev forces. He shows how the channel cuts and edits the footage and then presents it as a “proof" of the rebels committing those atrocities:

A Ukrainian TV channel steals a video report on “anti-war” meeting in Donetsk (filmed by Graham Phillips), edits it, cuts out the bits where citizens accuse Kiev forces of shelling, and then reports the event, making it look like the people are protesting against rebels’ actions:

An example of Ukrainian TV channels completely distort information and fabricate negative stories about Russia:

Kiev news websites report a fake story about a rebel commander being killed:

A Ukrainian TV channel spills dirt on Crimean prosecutor by using photoshopped pictures:

Ukrainian news websites glorify Ukrainian airforce by stealing video of Russian jets:

The Ukrainian Security Service lie about the “Russian BUK system” involved in the MH17 tragedy, publishing its photos on their official web-site. The photos turned out to be of a BUK system used by the Kiev forces:

Again, these fake reports and propaganda are being fed to people daily, from all Kiev channels and online news services. It is like an alternative reality that is being created by the Kiev media and their blogosphere. It is important to note that a significant portion of such propaganda is aimed at the emotional level of perception, making people feel either sad or angry, ultimately compromising their ability think critically. There is a risk that such propaganda, if fed years non-stop, can stress people to burnout, brainwashing highly impressionable people down to psychosis.

And the scariest thing is that there is no alternative point of view in the Kiev media. All the Russian TV channels became banned straight after the coup. Journalists, writers and politicians who voice their criticism towards the government nowadays have bad things happening to them. For instance, in the period from January to April 2015, there were reports of at least 10 opposition figures dying in Ukraine in that period alone (including two journalists, Kalashnikov and Buzyna, who were shot dead within a 24-hour period):

http://ift.tt/1zIjgBF

The numbers might have increased since then.

By the way, here is the translation of an official statement made by Buzyna about the Kiev media and on why he left his post as a chief-editor in a mainstream newspaper (his opinion cost him his life):

http://ift.tt/2mXBR0F

There have also been numerous instances of newspapers and news agencies that didn’t support the Euromaidan movement being forcefully shut down right after the coup, with citizens harassed at the official levels and even prosecuted for posting pro-Russian and anti-government rhetoric they on social media. The Western mainstream media, at large, isn’t concerned about that.

BBC and CNN often just rewrite the official Kiev press releases, taking it at face value, while, at the same time, they treat virtually all the information that comes out of Russia as propaganda.

And it is not only the Kiev media that is guilty of such blatant manipulation and fakery. The Western mainstream media has also been caught multiple times producing Orwellian style fakes. For example, here is MSNBC being caught editing video footage from the conflict zone, presenting shelling by the Kiev forces as the shelling committed by the rebels:

There are more examples like these out there. These fakes have been appearing in the media systematically since the very beginning of the Crisis.

And it’s not only the media outlets that do that. High ranking officials have been caught using misdated images to "prove" Russian military presence in Ukraine too:

http://ift.tt/1CkcuFe

The lies and misinformation are spread quickly and systematically. Here is a simple demonstration of how media corporations use search engine indexing algorithms to spread and amplify certain stories on the Internet:

http://ift.tt/2ntxpTO

Ask yourself: if the evidence of Russian invasion of Ukraine is so abundant, as the media claims, then why the hell do they keep fabricating these stories and publishing fakes?

Another side of the Western mainstream media manipulation is omission of facts. The mainstream media never reports on Kiev forces shelling civilian areas (although there is abundance of video materials on this all over the Internet). You wouldn’t be able to find reports on atrocities committed by neo-nazi battalions in the mainstream media.

CNN, BBC, ABC, etc. will never show you this (just give this link to anyone who treats the info about nazis in Ukraine as “Putin’s propaganda"):

By the way, a quick point about neo-nazis. You can find certain marginalised ultra-nationalist groups in many places all around the globe. There are Hitler worshipers and sympathisers in Germany, the U. S., England, and even in Russia. It is okay to allow a few deviants to get swastika tattoos and talk about white supremacy for the sake of freedom of speech, freedom of political expression, and such. But it crosses the line when these nazis get to have their own military units (that don’t correspond to the Ministry of Defence), with their representatives holding high positions in the government, allowing their ideologies to spread and giving WWII nazi collaborators a national hero status.

Coupled with constant brainwashing by the media, it can lead to mass-psychosis:

Let’s do a short summary.

It was the West that sponsored the violent, unconstitutional regime change in Ukraine’s capital in February 2014. It was the new, radicalised government that suppressed the dissent at home and then refused to talk with the people of Eastern Ukraine, trying to repress them with military force instead. It was Kiev that waged war against its own provinces for having a different opinion. The American officials knew that the crisis could lead to a bloodbath civil war, yet they kept pushing towards it by brining those radicals to power and then supporting their military campaign against East Ukraine/Novorossia, providing military aid and training their troops, while blaming Putin for everything by constructing political and media discourse that is based on facile arguments, misinformation and blatant lies, and then using it to impose economic sanctions on Russia (i. e. waging economic warfare).

Who is the aggressor?

Let’s now do a quick thought experiment. Forget everything you have read in this essay so far. Imagine that the Western mainstream media tells the truth, and that it is, indeed, Putin who has been destabilises the region from the very beginning, orchestrating the crisis and then fuelling the war in Eastern Ukraine. Would that make Russia/Putin bad? Perhaps… But not worse than the U. S., who has actually been doing this in Libya and Syria for years now.

You know what, it is actually amazing how the mainstream media does its job. The U. S. has been accusing Russia (with no proof) of doing something it OPENLY does in Syria, a country that is located 9 000 km away from its borders. The U. S. does support radicals (who kill innocent civilians and behead children; some of those radicals end up joining ISIS) there, officially supplying them with weapons, helping them financially, and training their fighters. Again, doesn’t that concern people? Or are people so bad at analytical thinking they can’t even spot the morbid double standards in this issue? The entire media and political discourse about Evil Putin’s/Russian aggression towards Ukraine is so deeply, fundamentally facile, on so many levels, with hypocrisy and double standards being so utterly disgusting... it makes it hard to finish this thought.

Either way, the mainstream media isn’t there to inform you. It’s merely a tool to shape public opinion. A propaganda machine. And the cause benefits no-one, but the military-industrial complex and a bunch of trans-national financial institutions.

That is not just some crazy conspiracy theory. The phenomenon of "manufacturing consent" in the Western democracies has been studied by academics for decades now:

Red pill, anyone?

So, given that the Western mainstream media spews nothing but propaganda, what could you do to form a balanced opinion on the issues? Well, the most obvious way is to consult alternative media (and, no, people, The Guardian isn’t really an alternative to NYT when it comes to Ukraine or Russia), trying to get the other side’s perspective.


Don’t let them brainwash you into the WWIII.

*

Denis Churilov - Born in Saint Petersburg, grew up traveling from place to place in Russia, from Chelyabinsk to Krasnodar region, and spent years living in Northern Kazakhstan. Moved to Australia in the mid-2000's. Graduated with a Bachelor of Behavioral Science (Psychology).

     Follow us on Facebook!                                                  
                                                 

       Follow us on Twitter!
                             

             Donate!

from Fort Russ http://ift.tt/2mXqPbC
The Ukrainian Crisis Three Years On: An Autopsy of the Mainstream Media Discourse Pt. III [+Videos] - Like This Article

Tweet

Subscribe to receive free email updates: