WEST-CENTRIC MYOPIA IS MEETING THE BRICK WALL OF A NEW REALITY

It has been a long run… but it is almost over.

For decade after decade the western world has prided itself on being numero uno. In fact this impression was so ingrained within its cultures that it became a given, the constant background of almost unlimited power and influence to be wielded at will.

This brought about a virtual monopoly on such power and influence. It was blithely applied to all and sundry as if it was as natural as rain and to boot considered as manna from the western heaven.

Western elites built up a myth of goodness, probity and helpfulness that covered a multitude of sins that all humanity is prey to. No group of human beings are immune to ambition, to a desire to expand their area of control and to battle, in one way or another, with those they conceive of as competition or adversaries. But to depict themselves as belonging to the highest states that humanity can aspire to and then engage in mass slaughter in recent years, was not a good look.

Then there were the lies. The numerous lies.

Of course these and much else besides that belied the self-sanctification of western elites was well known… for those with eyes to see and ears to hear. MK Ultra, Operation Paperclip and Mockingbird… the assassination attempts, the coup conspiracies, the wars… the many wars. Eyes had surely been opened. Ears assailed by these facts from a plethora of commentators. But no. The myths prevailed in the general public consciousness of the majority in the West. Their guys were good guys… weren’t they?

And so things went on from one exceptional duty to enforce an inalienable right to another with a trail of blood always left to remind anyone who needed reminding that they should mind their behaviour or they might be next.

It seemed as if this state of affairs might continue forever with the West led indefatigably by the U.S. and UK knights of the holy sword defeating all the world’s demons with a little help from their friends. But hey, something very strange has happened to put all such seeming certainties into question.

In part it has been the taking of an extremely large and blunt hammer to problems such as those perceived by western elites in the Middle East. As the saying goes, when all you have is a hammer each problem looks like a nail. Blunt force has been recognised as such across many nations… though most have held their peace… until now.

With Russia asserting her right of self-protection and that of its people in Ukraine we see a situation where the thus far hidden disagreements with past western interventions are being shown in broad daylight visible to all.

Even the apparently very close ally of the West, Saudi Arabia is showing a striking, and in fact shocking, reluctance to bow westward as it has for many decades now. India too, a nation relied upon by the western powers to be neutral if not an ally to be wooed, is now showing it has no intention of abandoning Russia as a nation to work and trade with. Within Europe Hungary strongly resists being pulled into a condemnatory alliance against Russia. And in Africa various states are looking to Russia to help solve their economic and nutritional problems and build their infrastructure along with China.

The sea change in international politics has been astonishing to watch and continues in the vein apparently with no perceptible end to this process and progress toward a multipolar world where power is shared and the impetus is behind agreement and trade with arm-twisting, threats and accusations very much a thing of the West-dominated past.

Jaws must surely be dropping and anger and confusion rising to previously unheard of peaks as it becomes a matter of crystal clear observation that the power and influence held almost as of right by the West has largely already slipped from its grasp.

It has been a long run… but it is almost over.

For decade after decade the western world has prided itself on being numero uno. In fact this impression was so ingrained within its cultures that it became a given, the constant background of almost unlimited power and influence to be wielded at will.

This brought about a virtual monopoly on such power and influence. It was blithely applied to all and sundry as if it was as natural as rain and to boot considered as manna from the western heaven.

Western elites built up a myth of goodness, probity and helpfulness that covered a multitude of sins that all humanity is prey to. No group of human beings are immune to ambition, to a desire to expand their area of control and to battle, in one way or another, with those they conceive of as competition or adversaries. But to depict themselves as belonging to the highest states that humanity can aspire to and then engage in mass slaughter in recent years, was not a good look.

Then there were the lies. The numerous lies.

Of course these and much else besides that belied the self-sanctification of western elites was well known… for those with eyes to see and ears to hear. MK Ultra, Operation Paperclip and Mockingbird… the assassination attempts, the coup conspiracies, the wars… the many wars. Eyes had surely been opened. Ears assailed by these facts from a plethora of commentators. But no. The myths prevailed in the general public consciousness of the majority in the West. Their guys were good guys… weren’t they?

And so things went on from one exceptional duty to enforce an inalienable right to another with a trail of blood always left to remind anyone who needed reminding that they should mind their behaviour or they might be next.

It seemed as if this state of affairs might continue forever with the West led indefatigably by the U.S. and UK knights of the holy sword defeating all the world’s demons with a little help from their friends. But hey, something very strange has happened to put all such seeming certainties into question.

In part it has been the taking of an extremely large and blunt hammer to problems such as those perceived by western elites in the Middle East. As the saying goes, when all you have is a hammer each problem looks like a nail. Blunt force has been recognised as such across many nations… though most have held their peace… until now.

With Russia asserting her right of self-protection and that of its people in Ukraine we see a situation where the thus far hidden disagreements with past western interventions are being shown in broad daylight visible to all.

Even the apparently very close ally of the West, Saudi Arabia is showing a striking, and in fact shocking, reluctance to bow westward as it has for many decades now. India too, a nation relied upon by the western powers to be neutral if not an ally to be wooed, is now showing it has no intention of abandoning Russia as a nation to work and trade with. Within Europe Hungary strongly resists being pulled into a condemnatory alliance against Russia. And in Africa various states are looking to Russia to help solve their economic and nutritional problems and build their infrastructure along with China.

The sea change in international politics has been astonishing to watch and continues in the vein apparently with no perceptible end to this process and progress toward a multipolar world where power is shared and the impetus is behind agreement and trade with arm-twisting, threats and accusations very much a thing of the West-dominated past.

Jaws must surely be dropping and anger and confusion rising to previously unheard of peaks as it becomes a matter of crystal clear observation that the power and influence held almost as of right by the West has largely already slipped from its grasp.

UKRAINE: THINKING WITHIN THE WESTERN GEOPOLITICAL BOX

How much sense does it have to ignore objective reality and to instead embrace a subjective wishlist of concepts creating boundaries outside of which you cannot think or speak?

This for me is the self-created miasma of myopia that western political and media elites have created for themselves.

Conceiving Putin as Hitler and the Russian military as the new Nazis is all very well and effectively shores up massive support in the western world among those who retain belief in their elites despite all historical reasons not to. But what happens when objective, on the ground, reality is completely lost sight of and a massive consensus based on the desired reality rather than the actual reality permeates and dominates pervasively?

Waging any kind of war brings with it the obvious and natural use of the information weapon, the creative distortion of reality that serves to bolster support and potentially weaken enemy morale. My contention here however is that this can only be sustained while that enemy shows any sign of being beaten.

There lies the rub.

Russia is winning.

On the economic front Russia has taken each and every blow aimed at it and has survived. More than that and much to the chagrin of western leaders it has adapted its systems to ensure they are further strengthened and made impermeable to future attacks from the West. We can add many features of the new reality which demonstrate beyond any question that Russia will ultimately be greatly strengthened, not weakened by western aggression toward it.

A fundamental miscalculation has been arrived at in the West that failed to acknowledge the reaction of much of the world to its many regime change wars of recent years. Nations attempting to build their economies and the politicians charged with doing this across the global south can surely only be doubtful regarding whether such actions can bring the stability they need. Quite on the contrary such upheavals are much more likely to bring them worse conditions and all, apparently, for the sake of the self-interests of the West.

The western political elites have found much to their dismay that those they relied upon in the global south to support them and condemn Russia are not doing so. Exacerbating this factor is a further economic factor, that Russia has many of the vital resources and products they can hardly do without. This leaves the West increasingly isolated, not Russia. In fact the prestige and respect along with its power of influence is rising, not falling.

Meanwhile a mass propaganda (or if you like an information) campaign has been mounted to promote the western view, its agenda, narratives and talking points. This has sought to create a black and white scenario absent any reference to the past whereby the West and their allies/proxies are wholly right and Russia and its allies are wholly wrong.

This is where subjective wishlist fantasy conflicts with objective, on the ground, reality.

Many pejorative things, in fact a plethora of these arrows of propaganda and viewpoint manipulation are created on a daily basis about Russia and its campaign in Ukraine, all attempting to build a certain picture that it is hoped will achieve certain aims. These comprise bolstering Ukrainian morale, shoring up to the max all opinionating that casts Putin as a vengeful, out of control demon facing imminent defeat by the plucky, infinitely brave Ukrainians who are defying all odds as a David defeating an evil Goliath and creating an overall momentum that it is hoped will lead to Russia being weakened, defeated and withdrawing from Ukraine.

The wishlist, wishful-thinking fantasy had its merits and achieved an enormous groundswell of support along with an acceptance that almost unlimited funds needed at home should instead be sent to Ukraine. However, with Russia winning on all fronts this consensus is beginning to fall apart and some rowing back on the expenditure via weaponry and financial gifts to Ukraine is now in evidence.

Everyone in the West is used to the endless series of TV and movie creations where the villain always loses in the end after seemingly unstoppable progress doing his or her evil deeds. The hero always prevails against all odds to slay whatever storyline “dragon” is involved. Reality is suspended. But life is not like that. However, in certain circumstances and especially when the full might and weight of political and media volume wishes it, a similar suspension of reality can be achieved in real life as opposed to within some Hollywood fiction.

So has it been with Ukraine. And so it was with several regime change wars conducted previously, most infamously against Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria. The demon must be depicted as totally black. Now of course virtually no historical leader has been totally white, unimpeded by egotistic peccadillos, moral failings or dubious ethical values in thought or deed. But those who are conceived as vital subjects for elimination by western powers have universally been depicted as being as black as night (or whatever other analogy you prefer).

Putin was not supposed to survive. This was not the movie being envisaged. Russia was meant to descend screaming to a state of abject penury whereupon all those aspects of its governance would be overturned. The western “heroes” were then to march in to save the day and rescue every princess from every dragon’s clutches or fiery jaws.

The movie projector has gone rogue. What is being increasingly seen on the screen of elite western minds is not at all what they wished for and they are having huge problems in negotiating ways to deal with this fat, with the realities they are being exposed to.

What to do?

How can all those PR realities now be negated after their careful creation? How can the expectations that everything will come right at the end of the “movie” be adjusted significantly enough to allow those things which must now be done to be done? How much lying will be exposed destroying reputations across the board with the attendant humiliation this will entail?

Western political elites WILL find ways to fudge reality and avoid the maximum humiliation that should come their way. They showed this in the aftermath of many previous inadvisable adventures they involved themselves in such as that over Iraq and its non-existent WMD. But make no mistake. There WILL be a heavy price to pay over the Ukraine debacle and the reputation of the West, already hugely damaged by the reckless regime change wars of the past will, in my estimation, be dealt a terminal blow in regard to it creating a unipolar world where it is supremely dominant.

That is arguably, ultimately the greatest and most sought for reality that will be exposed as a totally unattainable fantasy and which the global south along with Russia and China will increasingly point to as the last great delusion held by an economically dying western world.

UKRAINE: THE MODERN TOWER OF BABEL IS ONE BUILT UPON WESTERN PROPAGANDA

As if our modern lives are not complicated enough, not already filled with doubt regarding what is worthy of belief, what is a sham and what a confidence trick with conspiracy theories abounding… we now have a situation where truth may have suffered a terminal blow.

The necessity for the USA and UK along with most elements within Europe to defeat Russia (and later China) and replace their leaders and systems with something conductive to western political elites, has made for an all-encompassing propaganda war where truth, as usual in war, became the first casualty.

Social media is awash with claim and counterclaim, assertions fly, condemnations are hurled in an information war that should by rights be named a disinformation war. This was is being carried out at all levels within the western world. As to Russia many of her supporters wonder why there is not a similar psychological operation to counter that of the West. This absence even extends to Russian military reporting on the day to day events in Ukraine. Only an antiseptic report containing figures relating to Ukrainian casualties and loss of materiel is supplied without further commentary.

It has been reported that the Kiev authorities have enlisted the help of some one hundred public relations companies to assist in what must surely be the most ubiquitous and all-pervasive advertising campaign ever seen in relation to any war. In the western world the influence bought via this campaign and through official Ukrainian channels has been immense and has dovetailed very well with the western goals in respect of Russia (and no doubt a similar campaign against China later regarding Taiwan).

Naturally to win any information war claims, no matter how false, must have an element of believability behind them and in this respect the CIA has a good seventy years of experience in this art. Psychological Operations (PSYOPS) have been at the heart of many attempts by the U.S. government over the years to undermine target nations. ‘Operation Mockingbird’, the CIA operation to have U.S. state narratives and talk points be mirrored in every major U.S. (and European) media outlet, was exposed by the Church Committee in 1975. The goal encompassed finding “journalists” willing to produce the required content and even writing articles for them which were then seeded across the world as containing factual information.

The precursor of a sort to all these attempts to frame false narratives was a small group set up in the United Kingdom during world war two. This created false narratives concerning the sex life of Hitler and his close associates in an effort to undermine Nazi morale. When Churchill discovered its activities he was minded to shut it down as “not cricket”, i.e. not British and immoral. However, when told of its successes he left it to continue its work.

Seeding misinformation across the world has almost become a western art form in recent decades, especially after Vladimir Putin’s Munich speech in 2007 where he disavowed the concept of the USA and its allies having global control in a unipolar world. The lie machine very decidedly started rolling ever faster against him from that point onward. Why? Because he had voiced opposition to the very thing that the political elites of the USA (and its allies) had decided was absolutely necessary after 9/11, a global hegemony for them that would ensure such an event would never again reoccur.

Now we have the Ukraine war, the central point and focus of the struggle prefigured above, the nexus where the existential issues of both east and west are to be settled and the war of words has become hugely fierce and threatens to become all-pervasive dividing the world into two primary camps.

Much to the surprise of the elites of the western world however, many supposed allies and neutral nations generally well-disposed (or seeming to be) to western interests are refusing to play ball and continue to maintain good trading relations with Russia and refuse to convey the narratives and talking points the West urges upon them.

It seems clear that we are witnessing a further movement toward the multipolar world that Vladimir Putin posited as the true reflection of global democracy when he refused to accept the de facto dictatorship of a West-based worldwide hegemony of surveillance, control, regulation and, where deemed required, punishment.

With the above being the case we see tentative attempts to bring certain concepts into being against all those who are refusing to accept the western view of reality. Suddenly certain human rights issues in reference to India come to the fore similar to those which arose regarding Russia and China. The big stick is being waved by the West if not quite brought fully down on those disobedient souls who deign to contradict its views and diktat.

All the while the sanctions war blowback is serving to weaken the ability of the West to threaten others into submission to its will. The answer to this, as ever for the West, is to double down rather than reassess. This bodes ill for any hope that the war of words will lessen. The most likely consequence is that it will be ever-increasingly intensified leaving the world ever more aware of exactly who is lying to them and why… with ever less reason to respect and obey that source with ever-lessening reasons to do so.

The above being the case and with Russia winning on the ground in Ukraine if not across western social media the hyperbole, false claims and all-pervasive propaganda across the western world appears here to stay, even if most of the rest of the world remains immune to it.

UKRAINE: THE MODERN TOWER OF BABEL IS ONE BUILT UPON WESTERN PROPAGANDA

REVEALED: US SPY OPERATION MANIPULATES SOCIAL MEDIA

UKRAINE: ALL THE NEWS THAT FITS. YOU COULD SHOW THAT THEN… BUT NOT NOW.

In the years 2014 and 2015 in particular the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk in eastern Ukraine were under a daily attack of randomly-fired mortar shells. These mainly hit residential tower blocks, the taller hospitals and schools and others which missed these hit urban areas including civilian housing, roads and village/town/city centres.

The eventual result to date was an estimated 14,000 dead.

At that time, following on from an intent scrutiny of the Maidan Square insurrection in the winter of 2013-14, I followed every possible lead I could find on Twitter to discover the reality behind the obvious lack of headlines available from western mainstream media news outlets.

I built up a stomach-churning library of images during the years 2014 and 2015 in particular. At that time such images could be posted on Twitter and each time I found one I copied it and added it to my gruesome collection.

For those of a strong mental constitution and equally strong stomach these are compiled here:

VICTIMS OF THE UKRAINIAN ASSAULT ON THE DONBASS REPUBLICS 2014-15

https://miscellaneousimages.shutterfly.com/3585

As I say, images of this kind were posted without any problem on Twitter in those days, on Facebook too and in fact, as far as I know, on any social media platform of the time. No more.

The sanitising of violence, of violent death, just as it has always been sanitised in most Hollywood action/war movies, has now become the rule across most if not all social media platforms.

The argument to censor, and indeed ban people who post images like these, no doubt goes something like this:

Such images may disturb people of nervous disposition. In addition, those other than adults may see them and experience a detrimental emotional shock.

In regard to the first issue I would argue that to disturb people by informing them of these incidents and issues is the point of posting them. The debate on this predates the period I am talking of of course. The depiction of the gruesome realities of war has long been an area of contentious debate. However, I suspect, with the warfare raging in Ukraine currently and recent regime change wars of choice initiated by the West, we have come to a watershed moment when humanity in general should no longer be shielded from the sickening realities of war or prevented from the appropriate reaction which is to seek an end to war.

But more than ever those who wish to transmit this image in image form and by doing so bypass the general acceptance of the wars our elites initiate and promulgate, are censored and even removed from the social sphere of internet platforms.

As far as I am aware no evidence was produced showing that posting images of corpses caused widespread negative effects. This process of censorship to the largest extent came from those western elites who had been creating those corpses. This alongside the new techniques used after the Vietnam war when inconvenient reporting of the actualities of war speeded its end. Journalists, reporters and commentators would henceforth be embedded with the military units doing the killing and receive their “news” via briefings, either near the battlefront or increasingly from remote locations ‘back home’.

We are now in an era where surveillance, censorship and the cancelling of inconvenient or disapproved-of opinions and activities are commonplace. Add to this the ‘war mode’ mentality of those within western mainstream media that reflects that of western elites, particularly in respect of various agendas, narratives and talking points that reference Russia, China or Ukraine.

Now, more than every you need to ‘watch your tongue’ and be very careful in what you attempt to convey in any form where the ‘general public’ are concerned, including in image form of course due to the movement by many away from the intellectual digestion of details toward headline surfing and image-sensitivity.

The image of the little dust-covered boy in Syria that made a western news moderator cry and the many showing “brave” White Helmet “volunteers” “saving” little kids from mounds of rubble were fine. Anything that depicted an object, casualty or somewhat blurred corpse that could be pinned (without evidence being required) to ‘the enemy’ was used with alacrity. The object of course was to produce the very sort of emotional response (though of a different intent) in the viewer. That intent was to strengthen support for ‘us’ against ‘them’. The little boy in Syria, staring wide-eyed into the White Helmet activist’s camera, appeared on every newspaper front page and at the head of each news broadcast at the time. Job done!

Activists, whether Syrian or Ukrainian have an unimpeded access channel to the major articles in the western press and major issues as shown on western mainstream TV news. No evidence is required, no three sources or due diligence regarding any investigation. If it has enough emotional pathos or button-pushing power to it, it flies direct to page or screen.

Meanwhile the fake news detection industry is hard at work looking the other way, at those who would deign to offer those inconvenient facts and images that contradict all the news that fits.

Note:

Interesting that posting the image at the head of this commentary today was depicted by Facebook as an infringement on the grounds of ‘nudity’/’sexual activity’.

UKRAINE: A PRICE WORTH PAYING? CANNON FODDER SACRIFICES TO AVOID POLITICAL HUMILIATION?

Until very recently Ukrainian tactics against the Russians have been something of a mystery.

Despite almost universal reporting of Ukrainian “gains” the reality is that the progress of the Russian campaign has been to inexorably grind down and eliminate the Ukrainian military, not to speedily take ground from them.

This, despite all western reporting describing this Russian tactic in various negative ways, is working.

In the face of Russia achieving its primary stated goals, to take and secure the Donbass region and demilitarise/denazify Ukraine, Kiev has, for what appears on the face of it, assisted in these latter two goals by throwing endless cannon fodder at the grinding machine that is the Russian army.

The object of the Russian operation mirrors traditional Russian military tactics, not necessarily to take cities but to eliminate the enemy’s army.

It is clear that the orders from the Kiev authorities through the Ukrainian military high command demand a) that all Ukrainian troops stand and fight, never leaving their positions even when they have become untenable, indefensible and subject to being surrounded and b) to engage in reckless and most likely suicidal so-called counteroffensives. All this leads to is a mounting toll of Ukrainian military losses, deaths, injuries, surrenders and prisoners.

So, why do this?

In recent days Joe Biden appears to have provided the answer.

Biden spoke of the need to work toward a better bargaining position for Ukraine in peace talks which eventually must come. All talk of a Ukrainian victory seems to have ended. The policy of supplying ever more weapons to Ukraine continues however. The goal of creating a better bargaining position relies upon Ukraine maintaining a foothold within the Donbass region and it appears the sacrifice of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Ukrainian troops is seen as a ‘price worth paying’.

Instead of allowing Ukrainian troops to make tactical withdrawals to more defensible positions, engaging in retraining, rest and recuperation along with the incorporation of new weapons from the West which would allow the fight once again to be taken to the Russians, Kiev instead maintains its ‘stand and fight’ orders. This said, there appears to be mounting evidence of Ukrainian troops taking matters into their own hands and either surrendering or withdrawing from hopeless positions where they know they will either die, be injured or taken prisoner.

The gamble the USA/UK/EU is taking along with the Kiev regime is immense. Their hope is that Russia will somehow come to the conclusion that it is no longer worth pursuing its operation due to mounting Russian casualties or damage to the Russian economy. Analysts such as Alexander Mercouris and Jacob Dreizin see this possibility as extremely remote if not completely out of the question.

Western mass media continues to be in ‘war mode’ along with their political elites and continue to broadcast and publish material that provides hope and support to morale regarding Ukraine and seeks to damage the same to those who support Russia or the Russian authorities themselves. This is providing an almost completely false image of Ukrainian “success” on the battlefield and of western policies in general while downplaying or avoiding all mention of Russian successes.

These twin processes, of urging Ukrainian troops to lay down their lives for the sake of future bargaining positions and the creation of a mass ‘war mode’ delusion across the West are both leading to an atmosphere and environment where mass death of Ukrainians continues. Far better would be to negotiate a peace treaty now as even those who oppose Russia’s operation are suggesting, lose some of Ukraine’s former territories forever, than continue what is a hopeless cause.

I don’t see any realistic prospect of Ukraine holding even a toe-hold in the Donbass. More than that its present political elite appear likely to lose much outside of the Donbass also. Once Russia has militarily secured all it has taken it will be in a supremely powerful position to counter all subsequent Ukrainian provocations with great force. Russia has so far only committed a proportion of its forces and is capable of applying as much more of them as is required.

Far from winning anything by its present policy of demanding its troops stay in their positions and fight and sending more and more elderly and partially trained troops to be mown down, the Kiev elite is essentially guaranteeing that Russia will achieve its goal of decimating the Ukrainian army and its associated Nazi-legacy legions. However, these are seen as the necessary, face-saving tactics required by Washington, Whitehall and Kiev that give them some kind of shaky barrier in the face of an inevitable humiliation which approaches them daily now.