“You’re apologizing for Putin! You’re doing nothing more than spreading Russian propaganda! That’s what I was told on a Dispatch Substack thread in response to last week’s article on The Russo-Ukrainian War. But all I really did with that article was to remind readers of known facts that the legacy media would rather we forget. And make no mistake about it. This time it’s not just the leftist media that is preaching a certain, pre-determined narrative to us. It’s actually most of the entire legacy media as well. Their story is a simple one; “an evil, power-hungry Vladimir Putin has invaded the peace-loving people of Ukraine.” And to be sure, there is truth in that narrative. Putin is certainly evil and power hungry, though I would argue that he is no more so than the American radical left. And just as certain is that the people of Ukraine are peace-loving. But of course, most people are peace-loving. The Ukraine story, however, is not as simple as western governments and the legacy media would have us believe. Aspects of the current war in Ukraine that are largely being buried or misrepresented by western governments and media include the Cold War beat-down of Russian imperialism and the ensuing western threat on the Russian homeland, as well as what appears to be an intentional under-estimation of Russian military might combined with an exaggeration of Ukrainian defensive capabilities. Also deemphasized from the popular Ukraine War narrative is the situation in what was ground zero at the start of the conflict that has had the Ukrainian military bombing Russian people in the Ukrainian Donbas region since 2014. Of course, I was accused of being a Putin apologist when I wrote that last week, but because others with large audiences have also made fact-based assertions similar to mine, the misinformed followers of legacy media have since backed off with their criticisms borne of media manipulation. For those who haven’t seen it; that highly criticized article on the origins of this Russo-Ukrainian War can be found here: The Russo-Ukrainian War

Propaganda associated with the war in Ukraine is every bit as pervasive as that related to Trump/Russia collusion and COVID vaccines. It’s apparent to anyone willing to objectively examine the facts that the Clinton campaign paid to have Trump framed for Russian collusion, yet much of the media refuses to report on those facts. It’s just as apparent that the Covid vaccines don’t work as advertised, so western governments and media have been working to shift our attention away from Anthony Fauci to the war in Ukraine. Through the propaganda of omission, Western governments and their obedient media are now ignoring post-Cold War realities that have left Russia threatened by the western goal of bringing NATO to Moscow’s doorstep. We must not forget that NATO was first created to oppose Russia’s Soviet empire following World War II and that it has been advancing on Moscow since the close of the Cold War in 1990. Russia’s western border has come under increasing threat by the continued eastern advancement of NATO. Russian influence has retreated from Berlin, through Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania and all the way to those nations’ respective borders with Ukraine. NATO has also expanded to the Estonian and Latvian borders with northwestern Russia itself. After 32 years of expansion, NATO troops currently threaten Russia from Poland, Romania, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia and have significant reinforcements further to the west. And of course, Kamala Harris has since announced her appreciation of Ukraine’s expressed desire to join NATO as well. But how can Russia realistically be expected to tolerate a NATO membership for Ukraine that would certainly bring enemy troops to the Moscow’s doorstep? Prior to Putin’s recent invasion, the Russians had already retreated all the way into Russia itself. They have nowhere left to run, so they now turn and fight. This is not to suggest that the world wouldn’t be a better place without Vladimir Putin, but the ongoing geopolitical and military pressure that has been applied to Russia indicates that western leaders are either fools who don’t understand what they are doing or are fools who want war with Russia. Much of the legacy media purposefully ignores the importance of understanding this Russian perspective. Instead, they simply want us to know that Ukraine is good and that Putin is bad. But the propaganda doesn’t end there.

Western war propaganda includes much more than the de-emphasis of NATO expansion. It now also includes a fraudulent narrative that has a stronger than expected Ukrainian resistance holding its own against a surprisingly weak Russian military. Western government and media propaganda point to the slow advancement of Putin’s invasion and occupation of Ukraine as evidence of Russian weakness. Yeah, that’s a great story, but it simply isn’t true. Ukrainians are certainly resisting, but Russia by comparison, is anything but weak. Its nuclear arsenal aside, the Russian military is at least four times the size of Ukraine’s and is much better armed. Russia could take Ukraine in a week even without deploying nuclear weapons. By deploying nuclear weapons Ukraine could be taken in a day. Putin’s delay is intentional. The man isn’t stupid. If he was stupid he wouldn’t have been able to rule Russia unchallenged for over 20 years while controlling more nuclear weapons than any other person on the face of the earth. His assault on Ukraine is slow and deliberate by design. Despite what we are being told by the legacy media, Putin is trying to limit Ukrainian civilian and Russian military casualties. He knows that increased civilian casualties foster increased international opposition to his invasion. He also knows that higher Russian military casualties mean higher opposition to the war at home in Russia. Logic dictates that Putin limits casualties as he pursues his goals.

In the end Putin will, at the minimum, maintain control the Ukrainian Donbas region and his coveted land bridge to Crimea. Unless, that is, the West is foolish enough to try to stop him. In that case, all bets are off.

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