Countering Washington’s false narratives on Ukraine

The lies spewing forth from the mainstream media about the US backed coup in Ukraine remind me of the run up to the Iraq War. Russia is demonized in the press as an aggressor and Vladimir Putin is characterized as a mad empire builder, but the aggressor and agent provocateur in the crisis in Ukraine is the United States.

What happened in Ukraine?

Neocons in the State Department, with President Obama’s blessing, took advantage of growing unrest in Western Ukraine over unemployment and economic conditions and enlisted members of the right-wing Svoboda party, along with various extremists, ultra-nationalists and neo-Nazis, to overthrow the democratically elected (although corrupt) president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych. Yanukovych’s fate was sealed when he refused to sign a “trade agreement” with the EU, and, instead, turned to Russia for trade deals and economic aid. Former congressman Dennis Kucinich, one of the few people who read the 6,000 page document, said it was “a military agreement masked as a trade agreement that enabled NATO to go to the Russian border.”

The photo accompanying this article is of Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland with Oleh Tyahnybok on the left, Vitaly Kitschko in the back and Arseny Yatsenyuk on the right. According to Reuters, it was taken in Kiev on February 6, 2014. Victoria Nuland is married to neocon Robert Kagan, co-founder of the Project for a New American Century. Tyahnybok is the leader of the ultra-right wing Svoboda Party, Kitschko had aspirations to run for President but was not “chosen” by Nuland so he withdrew and is backing another candidate. Yatsenyuk is the US puppet installed by Nuland et. al. You may recognize him from his nonstop US TV appearances since he was appointed Prime Minister. On Meet the Press, Sunday April 20, Yatsenyuk said, “President Putin has a dream to restore the Soviet Union. And every day, he goes further and further. And god knows where is the final destination.”

An armed militia backed by the US, forcefully ejected Yanukovych on February 22, 2014. In order to bring Ukraine under its control and under the thumb of NATO and the IMF, the US installed Yatsenyuk as Prime Minister and rewarded an assortment of neo-Nazi stooges who aided the overthrow with four government ministries, including Chief of Security.

Typical of neocon arrogance, the US was taken by surprise that the Russian and Russian-speaking parts of Ukraine were hostile to its plan to grab Ukraine. It turns out, the Russian speaking Eastern Ukrainians do not want a US-backed, neo-Nazi, ultra-nationalist, fascist government in Kiev nor do they want the “economic hardship” imposed by the IMF austerity plan already agreed to by Yatsenyuk. They also object to the billionaire oligarchs dispatched to the East by the Yatsenyuk regime to be regional managers. None of this, of course, is being reported in US mainstream media. What we get is the cartoon version—that the Eastern Ukrainians are Russian-backed “terrorists,” and the new regime in Kiev is freedom loving and democratic. The protestors in Eastern Ukraine started being called “terrorists” by the US installed Kiev government and the media after CIA director John Brennan’s recent visit to Kiev.

Crimea slipped out of US grasp

Another glitch in the US-backed putsch: after taking over the Ukraine and installing a puppet government, the US had intended to eject Russia from its Black Sea naval base in Crimea either by not renewing its lease or forcing it out. The US wanted to squeeze Russia economically and militarily by taking control of Crimea and the Black Sea. Putin responded with an end run around US aggressive intentions. He added additional troops to the 16,000 troops Russia already based in Crimea under a status of forces agreement with Ukraine, and, along with Crimean political leaders, scheduled a referendum in which the people of Crimea voted to return Crimea to Russia. Instead of admitting that its plan for grabbing Ukraine has not gone well, the US is pushing the crisis to more dangerous levels.

So, turn off the TV and put down the New York Times. The following are excerpts from a few alternative views on what is going on in Ukraine. The first is from Paul Craig Roberts, former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy under Reagan and former associate editor of the Wall Street Journal.

“Privatization Is a Ramp for Corruption and Insouciance is a Ramp for War” 





According to Herszenhorn, the widespread protests in eastern Ukraine are entirely the fault of the protesters who are putting on a show for propaganda purposes. The protests are not a response to words and deeds of the Washington-installed stooge government in Kiev. Herszenhorn dismisses reports of extreme nationalist neo-Nazi Russophobia as “sinister claims” and regards the Washington-imposed unelected government in Kiev as legal. However, Herszenhorn regards governments formed as a result of referendums [Crimea] to be illegal unless approved by Washington.



The ideology known as neo-conservatism, which has controlled US governments since Clinton’s second term, has the world set on a path to war and destruction. Instead of raising questions about this path, the Western media hurries the world down the path

[… snip]

How much longer will dumbshit Americans fall for the flag-waving deception?

The second excerpt is from Robert Parry, an independent investigative reporter who worked for the Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s where he broke many of the Iran Contra stories.  The following report was published on April 22, 2014.

Prepping for a Ukrainian Massacre” 



While the U.S. news media is treating these blurry photos as the slam-dunk evidence of direct Russian control of the eastern Ukrainian protests—despite denials by the Russian government and the protesters—the BBC was among the few news agencies that provided a more objective assessment, noting that the photos are open to a variety of interpretations.



Where to find alternate news on the crisis in Ukraine

Consortium News

Paul Craig Roberts

The Guardian

Global Research


Democracy Now


Strategic Culture Foundation

Tom Dispatch