alanjjohnstone
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Nato issued a new “strategic concept” document last week at its summit in Madrid, declaring for the first time that China poses a “systemic challenge” to the alliance
What can we expect when they were whitewashed from any crime with the summary executions of unarmed IRA members at Gibraltar.
They were given a licence to kill.
Chomsky may be past his prime, but his many long years of experience of the media do give him a degree of insight.
“…it is almost obligatory to refer to the invasion as the ‘unprovoked invasion of Ukraine’…Of course, it was provoked. Otherwise, they wouldn’t refer to it all the time as an unprovoked invasion…”
He continues
“…Americans are not allowed to know what the Russians are saying. Except, selected things. So, if Putin makes a speech to Russians with all kinds of outlandish claims about Peter the Great and so on, then, you see it on the front pages. If the Russians make an offer for a negotiation, you can’t find it. That’s suppressed. You’re not allowed to know what they are saying. I have never seen a level of censorship like this…”
He may be using hyperbole because I am sure he has previously seen such stringent censorship.
As ALB has pointed out, the same is true of statements by Ukraine officials that do not reflect the view that they are fighting for democracy and run contrary to the opinion that it is a just war. Instead, they are hidden away and never headlined.
‘Rationality is Not Permitted’: Chomsky on Russia, Ukraine and the Price of Media Censorship
Another motive for attacking Iran
Iran is planning to supply Russia with hundreds of weapons-capable drones for use in Ukraine, according to a top US official.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/12/iran-drones-russia-uav-combat-ukraine
I think Sympo has raised a valid issue that we should be very careful about as remaining silent about Russian atrocities could make some of us complicit in their propaganda.
But sadly war is full of atrocities, it is brutal and dehumanising. Fear and revenge are created and no side is immune from its consequences.
If one looks at the cause of the Russian invasion, the most important issue for me was that negotiations did not lead to its avoidance. Diplomacy failed. All the statesmen and politicians to-ing and fro-ing did not succeed in convincing the Russians that it was not in their interests not to take military action.
What we need to ask is why Russia couldn’t trust the reassurances that there was no threat of aggression against it that they then had to evoke their own version of the Monroe Doctrine which had been fully understood by previous generations of governments. Only so far and no more.
I think Pilger’s point is that the media as it is prone to do, views events in black and white, good and evil and has not given a full and proper debate to the reasons why the the Russians invaded.
For our part, we have dismissed Putin’s pretext, that it was to protect the Russian breakaway minority from a Nazi genocide and have looked for other motives.
But this war is just only one of many and in regard to civilians killed, other wars have involved far more deaths and involved much more destruction.
I think we should challenge people’s perceptions.
Why is a Ukrainian life more important than a Yemeni? Why should a Ukrainian refugee be treated more generously than a Syrian refugee? Should we permit ourselves into thinking of people as being somehow different? Should we submit to emotionalism into taking the side of the underdog?
But in raising such questions, I think we must be careful to not diminish the suffering of Ukrainians. I have acknowledged in past posts that it could be seen as doing so. But it is never been my intention. I just wish to express We disquiet about playing ‘favourites’ with the family of humanity. We are all brothers and sisters and we are all Jock Tamson’s bairns.
Aslef at eight train companies have voted to walk out in a dispute over pay.
Hundreds of Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) members at Southeastern have also voted for strike
Another effort, a bit better but still not perfect
https://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2022/07/we-stand-for-socialism-video.html
https://lumen5.com/user/alanjjohnstone/we-stand-for-sociali-y3xy7/
At one time in the past, the ‘liberal’ media would eager to present John Pilger’s views.
But in these times, his uncomfortable analysis can only be aired in the Chinese media
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62118953
Ukraine plans a “million-strong army” equipped with Nato weapons to retake the south of the country from occupying Russians, Oleksii Reznikov, the defence minister says.
If a genuine policy then we are in for a very long and bloody war.
The expense of supporting Ukraine, as ALB has suggested in other posts, may not eventually become as acceptable as the cost of living rises bear down on people and the appeal to emotions wane.
I may seem a Moaning Minnie with some of my posts critical of the support being offered to Ukraine’s refugees but it does make me wonder why similar warm welcomes could not have been offered to other nationalities who also have suffered tragically.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-62113329
200 empty flats once earmarked for demolition in North Lanarkshire are being renovated to use to provide homes for Ukrainian refugees.
UN blames Ukraine as an equal perpetrator of atrocity in a rare criticism by using a nursing home as a military position
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/national-politics/article263311153.html
The BBC headline was that Russia exercised its veto in the UN to the extension of the aid supply line in Syria, placing millions at hunger risk.
Only when you read it, do you find that the West also used its veto to stop the Russian alternative proposal to extend the aid route
Took a bit more time over it but still no way adept in its use
https://lumen5.com/user/alanjjohnstone/our-principles-tqi4b/
https://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2022/07/our-principles-video.html
Britain’s public finances are on an “unsustainable” long-term path with a debt burden that could more than treble without further tax rises to cover the mounting cost of an ageing population and falling fuel duties, the Treasury’s independent forecaster the Office for Budget Responsibility said.
Debt is on course to reach almost 320% of annual national income (GDP) in 50 years’ time – up from 96% now – unless successive governments raise revenues to offset rising costs.
Richard Hughes, the OBR chair, said the UK’s debt burden had increased by £1tn above forecasts 20 years ago, following a series of economic shocks – and there was no reason to think these would stop.
Interest rates are already beginning to rise, increasing government borrowing costs, while an ageing population adds a further burden to Whitehall spending departments, especially the health service.
“Many threats remain, with rising inflation potentially tipping the economy into recession, continued uncertainty about our future trading relationship with the EU, a resurgence in Covid cases, a changing global climate, and rising interest rates all continuing to hang over the fiscal outlook,” the OBR said.
