Now They'll See Us

Now They'll See Us

words & peace demo photos by C.A. Matthews

It's been a tiring week. I'm still recuperating from a recent surgery, but I felt it was important to attend a local peace demonstration. I also feel it's important to share information from non-mainstream media sources to a wider audience who has fallen down the rabbit hole into Alice's (nonsensical neoliberal/warmongering propaganda) Wonderland... A place were so-called "peace activists" are actually advocating for sending more weapons to, as well as enforcing a no-fly zone over, Ukraine because in their minds, "War is peace."

Didn't George Orwell say something like that in his dystopian masterpiece of a novel, 1984? I'm sure I've read it somewhere.

Frankly, I don't have enough energy right now to argue with the "President Zelensky can't support Nazis/fascism because he's Jewish" crowd. Yes, he can and here's the link to an excellent article from The Grayzone that explains how Zelensky gave a medal of honor to an openly avowed Neo-Nazi in December 2021. 

Yes, he did just that less than four months ago. Read it and learn to think for yourself. I promise you'll thank me for it later. (Or not.) But at least things will start to fall into place for you as you learn how Ukrainian oil oligarch (or, as we call them in the West,"a billionaire") Igor Kolomoisky helped to place Zelenski into power with the help of the US-backed coup in 2014. Click here or the link below to read all about the fun and games of Zelensky and Kolomoisky utilizing Neo-Nazi paramilitary units to further their political and financial aims.

I hope peace activists' voices will eventually break through this toxic fog of propaganda funded by the US government along with its Big Oil and military industrial complex allies. Below I've shared a few good quotes and article links I've come across this week that will help clear that nasty propaganda fog completely from your mind. 

One news tidbit that'll cut through the muddy logic of American war-loving propgandists: According to indie journalist Ben Norton, "An estimated 377,000 Yemenis have died in the US-Saudi war on their country, and roughly 70% of deaths were children under age 5."  

I hope you'll soon be able to discern that 377,000 Yemenis--most of them children--dying in the ongoing US-sponsored bombing war with Saudi Arabia against Yemen is actually a much more horrific current conflict than the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Horrible that it is, Ukraine hasn't experienced anywhere near the loss of life or property damage. (Less than 400 confirmed deaths, some of them ethnic Russians.) And, yes, brown-skinned Muslim peoples can suffer just as much (if not more) as white-skinned European "Christian" peoples.

Like the Yemeni woman in the meme above, one day soon I'd like to be able to say, "Now they'll see us!" And we will still have enough of our humanity intact to go and rebuild their bombed cities and help them bury their hundreds of thousands dead in Yemen, in Somalia, in Gaza, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya... even if they're not blue-eyed blond Ukrainians who, according to one American mainstream media pundit, "Look just like us." 

Uh-huh. Sounds like something a Neo-Nazi would say, doesn't it?

 

Here are some examples of good independent reporting:

Civilian casualties in Ukraine are relatively few. Despite the strenuous efforts to find then, actual numbers appear to be in the order of 300-400. For good reasons, Russian forces are calculatingly avoiding attacks on urban centers; after all, 40% of the population is Russian and concentrated in the regions where the fighting is taking place. Moreover, Moscow has no interest in subjugating the country to its rule. In comparison, the Ukrainian army has been shelling the city centers of Lugansk and Donetsk, producing casualties estimated by a UN agency at more than 1,300 (3 or 4 times what objective observers estimate on the Ukrainian government’s side of the battle lines). Also. the water system has been destroyed. Yet, these facts are unreported and unnoticed in the total absence of media presence in an area they have erased from their reportorial map. --Michael Brenner, Another Casualty of the Ukraine Conflict: The Truth

More concerning than backing Nazi militias in Ukraine is the far more widespread, far more deadly, and equally white supremacist belief we're seeing throughout the western world that invading a nation of white people is horrific while invading a nation of brown people is normal.

Is what the US and its allies are trying to accomplish in Ukraine worth continually risking nuclear armageddon for? This is the single most important question in the world right now, and hardly anyone seems to be asking it. --Caitlin Johnstone, Every US Enemy Is Hitler

In December 2021, Zelensky would be seen delivering a “Hero of Ukraine” award to a leader of the fascistic Right Sector in a ceremony in Ukraine’s parliamenthttps://t.co/FWGNJST5v4

— David J Farquhar🌹 #Peace&Love (@DavidJFarquhar) March 5, 2022

The US has a history of working to draw Moscow into gruelling, costly military quagmires which monopolize its military firepower while leaching it of blood and treasure. Jimmy Carter's National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, author of US hegemonic manifesto The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives, openly bragged about having lured Russia into its own Vietnam fighting the US-backed mujahideen in Afghanistan for a decade.

Just two years ago then-US Special Representative for Syria engagement said during a video event hosted by the Hudson Institute that his job was to make Syria "a quagmire for the Russians".

So this isn't something new or out of the blue, and what it means is that all the self-righteous posturing by the western political/media class about the need to pour weapons into Ukraine is not really about saving Ukrainian lives (only negotiating a ceasefire can do that), but about seizing this golden opportunity to hurt Russia's geostrategic interests as much as possible. Ukraine on its own is powerless to stop Russia from taking Kyiv no matter how many weapons are sent, but those weapons can be used to fight a "long, bloody insurgency" after that happens which costs many more lives, keeps Moscow militarily preoccupied and hemorrhaging money, and ultimately hurts Putin's popularity at home. --Caitlin Johnstone,  Ukraine Is A Sacrificial Pawn On The Imperial Chessboard

Nowhere could the the revelations from the Pandora Papers investigation hit harder than in Ukraine. The discovery of offshore accounts strike at the heart of the current government and power structure of a ruling class that rose to power on the promise of fighting corruption, including the television-star-turned-President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The worldwide probe, prompted by a massive leak to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), has included work by journalists from the Ukrainian media Slidstvо.Info, which connected the shady financial dealings of Zelensky's television production company Studio Kvartal 95 to the Ukrainian oligarch Igor Kolomoisky. Slidstvo found that the laundered money passed through the Cyprus branch of Kolomoisky-owned Privatbank, according to law enforcement officers. --Livy Bereg, Zelensky's Ukraine, Where the Pandora Papers Hit Hardest

Thought-provoking articles to read and share with others:

By Using Ukraine to Fight Russia, the US provoked Putin's War  https://mate.substack.com/p/by-using-ukraine-to-fight-russia?s=r

Calling Russia's Attack "Unprovoked" Lets US Off the Hook https://scheerpost.com/2022/03/06/calling-russias-attack-unprovoked-lets-u-s-off-the-hook/

Media Ignore Conflicts Around the World to Focus on Ukraine https://popularresistance.org/its-different-theyre-white-media-ignore-conflicts-around-the-world-to-focus-on-ukraine/

Chris Hedges: Worthy and Unworthy Victims  https://scheerpost.com/2022/03/07/chris-hedges-worthy-and-unworthy-victims/

Ukraine Exposes White Supremacist US Foreign Policy https://popularresistance.org/ukraine-exposes-white-supremacist-foreign-policy/ 

Another Casualty of the Ukraine Conflict: The Truth  https://scheerpost.com/2022/03/05/another-casualty-of-the-ukraine-conflict-the-truth/ 

Congress Has Removed a Ban On funding Neo Nazis From Its Year End Spending Bill  https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/congress-has-removed-a-ban-on-funding-neo-nazis-from-its-year-end-spending-bill/

Ukraine Is A Sacrificial Pawn On The Imperial Chessboard https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/ukraine-is-a-sacrificial-pawn-on?s=r 

 Zelensky's Ukraine, Where the Pandora Papers Hit Hardest https://worldcrunch.com/world-affairs/volodymyr-zelensky-pandora-papers/igor-kolomoisky-billionaire-zelensky 

(Human) Rights Groups Demand Israel Stop Arming Neo-Nazis in Ukraine https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/rights-groups-demand-israel-stop-arming-neo-nazis-in-the-ukraine-1.6248727 

How Ukraine's Jewish President Zelensky Made Peace with Neo-Nazi Paramilitaries on the Front Lines of War with Russia  https://thegrayzone.com/2022/03/04/nazis-ukrainian-war-russia/ 

The Real History of Ukraine  https://popularresistance.org/putin-lenin-imperialism-and-the-real-history-of-ukraine/ 

Former UN Inspector Scott Ritter on What's Happening in Ukraine (video) https://youtu.be/rRFjlnoMCeE 

 https://youtu.be/VOUIMVTAKmQ

From Jimmy Dore's interview with journalist Aaron Maté: "The Nord Stream pipeline, which was constructed to convey liquid natural gas from Russia to Germany, may run dry if the US government has its way. Suggesting that financial considerations may have played a role in the Biden administration’s refusal to negotiate with Russia, the attack on Ukraine will likely compel Germany to refuse natural gas from Russia and instead remain dependent on US-based suppliers."

Seen on Twitter:

This is what Putin's bombs are doing to children in Ukraine.

Wait, not Ukraine, that's Yemen. And they're not Putin's bombs, they're US bombs. Dropped by our friends the Saudis. Yes, Russia's bombing ppl in Ukraine- It's wrong. So why do you only talk about one of these things? pic.twitter.com/SigmvawzPP

— Prof Zenkus (@anthonyzenkus) March 5, 2022

US bombs have been dropping on Yemen for 8 years.

When can we schedule some outrage? 🤔

— The ice continues to melt (@squaneenge) March 6, 2022

 Is NBC run by "Putin Lovers" too because they told the truth about how racist Nazi ultranayionalist army soldiers in Ukraine put black students from Africa in danger by denying them safe passage out of Ukraine? They were backing it up with US guns by the way. Freedom pic.twitter.com/uMPZfoWbme

— Prof Zenkus (@anthonyzenkus) March 6, 2022

The Establishment had a tough time trying to deny the Nazi presence in Ukraine, because everybody acknowledged it for 8 years and the Nazis wouldn't stop coming out publicly proudly pronouncing that they were Nazis.

— Black in the Empire (@blackintheempir) March 7, 2022

 *** 

In a near-future dystopian world, hope blossoms where mutual aid and democracy begins...

Zonta’s world is turned upside down when Jake arrives at the commune to investigate the disappearance of agents of the Authority. Can she persuade him to switch sides before the Protectors (antifascist fighters) take action?

Available now: https://www.extasybooks.com/Where-the-Bodies-Lie

A great tale of how love, cooperation, and socialism will ultimately save us all. -- Redd Phlagg