The Reality of the Ideological and Economic Struggle in Ukraine, and the Ongoing Battle for Control of the Narrative There

“Reply to the US ‘Left’ on the US-Russia Proxy War in Ukraine, Part 2”, April 16, 2022, by Jack Rasmus, Jack Rasmus: Predicting the Global Economic Crisis, at < https://jackrasmus.com/2022/04/16/reply-to-the-us-left-on-the-us-russia-proxy-war-in-ukraine-part-2/ >.

And

“ON UKRAINE, THE WORLD MAJORITY SIDES WITH RUSSIA OVER US”, April 29, 2022, By John V. Walsh, Popular Resistance, at < https://popularresistance.org/on-ukraine-the-world-majority-sides-with-russia-over-us/ >

And

“WESTERN CLAIMS OF RUSSIAN MASS GRAVES NEAR MARIUPOL ANOTHER FAKE NEWS HOAX”, April 25, 2022, by Eva K. Bartlett, Popular Resistance, at < https://popularresistance.org/western-claims-of-russian-mass-graves-near-mariupol-another-fake-news-hoax-i-know-i-went-to-see/ >

~~recommended by dmorista ~~

Introducton:

The war rages on in Ukraine, and even more fiercely the battle to control the narrative continus on unabated. The last time we posted material by Jack Rasmus was nearly 3 weeks ago. Since then Dr. Rasmus has posted just 1 written article at his website and it (“Reply to the US ‘Left’ on the US-Russia Proxy War in Ukraine, Part 2”) addresses the massive disinformation and propaganda campaign that the Corporate Controlled Media and the U.S. State Apparatus have waged to control the narrative and particularly the thinking and opinions of the left.

In the first paragraph he points out how the most gullible factions of: “ ... the Left have fallen into the black hole created by the massive US media propaganda barrage. They adopt the imperialist view that Russia is solely to blame by invading and the US and NATO are the good guys responding to the bad guy’s invasion.” (Emphases added). The more realistic elements of the American Left did not fall for the canard above, but still have mistaken the actual situation and in Rasmus opinion: “ ... those formations on the US left were incorrect to assume the position that both the US and Russia were ‘equal imperialists’ and a ‘plague on both their houses’ position was incorrect.”

Rasmus goes on to point out that: “US imperialism is the greater danger, willing to provoke a third world war in order to restore its hegemony .... US imperialism’s current global strategy, of which the war in Ukraine is just the first phase: .... US imperialism’s role in preparing, instigating, expanding, and now continuing the conflict in Ukraine which is a deeply influenced fascist regime. This is a US proxy war with Russia .... designed to debilitate and undermine Russia militarily and economically as a prelude move by the US before ‘taking on’ China. .... Already US imperialism has re-solidified its hegemony in Europe and US capitalists opened vast new profitable markets there as Russia is driven completely out of Europe’s economy. US energy and defense corporations will now reap hundreds of billions more profits, climate change investment has been completely sabotaged in the US, and capitalists in US have succeeded now eliminating any social program spending initiatives. .... The greatest risk today and in the near future is that US imperialism is preparing to fight a tactical nuclear war if it deems it necessary. It has already begun preparation and its media has begun the process of convincing public opinion it is permissible to do so. The internal ‘debate’ among US neocons and capitalists is not whether to engage in a tactical nuclear confrontation with Russia, but how to develop the best strategy to do so.” (Emphases added)

The Second article (“ON UKRAINE, THE WORLD MAJORITY SIDES WITH RUSSIA OVER US”) takes on the mistaken impression, reinforced constantly by the Corporate Controlled Media noise machine and statements by various political, administrative, and military figures, that the whole world supports the Ukrainian Coup Regime and the military support that the U.S. and NATO have provided for the Ukrainian Military and Ukrainian para-military fascist organizations. This is clearly not the case. In fact as the author points out: “Out of 195 countries, only 30 have honored the US sanctions on Russia. That means about 165 countries in the world have refused to join the sanctions. Those countries represent by far the majority of the world’s population.” In fact the countries that have enacted sanctions against Russia are, Canada, the European Union (27 countries), Japan, New Zealand, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States for a total of 33. (See, “List of sanctions against Russia after it invaded Ukraine”, Updated: 3 Mar 2022, Al Jazeera Staff. Al Jazeera, at < https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/25/list-of-sanctions-on-russia-after-invasion >) I have heard that 40 countries have committed to providing military aid and supplies to Ukraine, that would change the balance to 40 vs 155.

The author, John V. Walsh, also states that: “We in the West hear that Russia is 'isolated in the world' as a result of the crisis in Ukraine. If one is speaking about the Eurovassal states and the Anglosphere, that is true. But considering humanity as a whole and among the rising economies of the world, it is the US that stands isolated.” The article also discusses the economic power that the societies in Asia, Latin America, and Africa now wield, as measured by a combination of Purchasing Power Parity and Gross Domestic Product. The Article further notes that: “These dissenting countries of the Global South are no longer as poor as they were during the Cold War. Of the top 10 countries in PPP-GDP, 5 do not support the sanctions.”

The third entry, “WESTERN CLAIMS OF RUSSIAN MASS GRAVES NEAR MARIUPOL ANOTHER FAKE NEWS HOAX”, takes on one of the recent attempts to prove atrocities by Russian forces, but one that is apparently not true. The intrepid Eva K. Bartlett, has a long history of writing articles and posting videos that disprove the propaganda and disinformation claims of the U.S. (mostly in the Middle East where she worked for several years). Rather than act as a scribe, while sitting in a luxury hotel bar in Warsaw or London, or working as an embedded reporter, Bartlett has always gone out on-the-ground, working independently, and looked at the actual atrocity sites and other dubious stories. In this case she visited the area where the supposed mass graves were located outside of Mariupol and found nothing of the kind. The article has a video that is just 4 minutes and 47 seconds long in which she tours the grave sites and talks to the two men in charge of digging the graves and interring the bodies. The graves are clearly individual and everybody has a name and date of birth where known, or is identified by a number if not known. This is what is known as “Independent Investigative Journalism”, as opposed to propagandistic disinformation scribe work. Her video is accompanied by 112 words of text in the article. Anybody interested in confirming the quality and history of the body of work by Eva Bartlett can take a look at “Articles by Eva Bartlett”, Muckrack, at < https://muckrack.com/eva-bartlett/articles >.

Reply to the US ‘Left’ on the US-Russia Proxy War in Ukraine, Part 2

April 16, 2022 by jackrasmus

As the war in Ukraine continues to grow and all sides stumble toward a greater conflict, what represents the US ‘left’ has taken various positions with regard to the war. Some on the Left have fallen into the black hole created by the massive US media propaganda barrage. They adopt the imperialist view that Russia is solely to blame by invading and the US and NATO are the good guys responding to the bad guy’s invasion.

Other organizations on the US Left have take the position of ‘plague on both their imperialist houses’,thereby ignoring the history and role of the US in Ukraine since 2014 to use local fascist forces in there–first to drive out any pro-Russian influences in Ukraine government and install in its place clearly fascist elements, secondly to use that government to attack eastern Ukraine 2014-2021, and thereafter to expand US-NATO into Ukraine.

Other ‘Left’ formations in the US lean toward correctly identifying US imperialism as the originating culprit in the war. While both the US and Russia are capitalists, it is not a case of two ‘imperialisms’ more or less equally responsible. The US form is clearly the more dangerous to world peace and has decided to restore its former political and economic world hegemony at any cost–including use of tactical nukes if necessary. US political elites have already begun debating and convincing themselves the US can prevail if tactical nukes are used. Russia in Ukraine is clearly the proxy conflict (much like Spain was in the 1930s) as the US has decided it must neutralize Russia before it ‘takes on’ China, the even greater challenger to its global empire. It is prepared to use nuclear weapons if necessary to achieve its objectives, this writer is convinced.

Therefore in a previous piece poster on this blog, this writer explained why those formations on the US left were incorrect to assume the position that both the US and Russia were ‘equal imperialists’ and a ‘plague on both their houses’ position was incorrect. US imperialism is the greater danger, willing to provoke a third world war in order to restore its hegemony now under greater threat at any time since 1945. Russia and China are the loci of that threat, while other lesser countries also show increasing resistance to continuing per the rules of the American empire (Venezuela, No. Korea, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Syria, Yemen, Iran, So. Africa, and even India).

The following comment is my follow on response to those US left formations that have assumed a position that the US imperialism is the greater threat with which I agree–but with some qualifications that their analysis still does not give sufficient attention to US imperialism’s current global strategy, of which the war in Ukraine is just the first phase:

“You are correct to reject the ‘equal’ imperialisms’ (US and Russia) position and realize the greater cause of the conflict to be US imperialism. Too many ‘left’ positions today unfortunately do not give sufficient cause and weight to US imperialism’s role in preparing, instigating, expanding, and now continuing the conflict in Ukraine which is a deeply influenced fascist regime. This is a US proxy war with Russia on the ground of Ukraine (not unlike Spain 1937), designed to debilitate and undermine Russia militarily and economically as a prelude move by the US before ‘taking on’ China. Since assuming power in 2021, Biden and the US clearly taunted and provoked Russia to invade which fell into the trap—no doubt deciding to fight on the ‘foreign ground’ of Ukraine now rather than on Russian ground later at which it would be at an even greater disadvantage. Already US imperialism has re-solidified its hegemony in Europe and US capitalists opened vast new profitable markets there as Russia is driven completely out of Europe’s economy. US energy and defense corporations will now reap hundreds of billions more profits, climate change investment has been completely sabotaged in the US, and capitalists in US have succeeded now eliminating any social program spending initiatives. In addition, Biden and Democrats see the ‘war issue’ as the only tangible position to run on in November elections after having abandoned all promises of social spending benefiting US workers and facing a coming debacle in November 2022 as inflation accelerates and the US central bank embarks on a policy of extraordinary interest rate hikes that are clearly intended to generate a recession no later than 2023 and possibly even earlier. The US empire is under rising global challenge today, and US imperialists have decided to attack both Russia and China before their strength and challenge become even greater at a later date and even more difficult for the US empire to confront. The greatest risk today and in the near future is that US imperialism is preparing to fight a tactical nuclear war if it deems it necessary. It has already begun preparation and its media has begun the process of convincing public opinion it is permissible to do so. The internal ‘debate’ among US neocons and capitalists is not whether to engage in a tactical nuclear confrontation with Russia, but how to develop the best strategy to do so. I agree with much of your analysis–with the exception that, like most of the rest of the US left you need to see Ukraine proxy war as the first move in the US strategy to restore its unchallenged global hegemony”

ORT THIS AD

Jack Rasmus, April 16, 2022

ON UKRAINE, THE WORLD MAJORITY SIDES WITH RUSSIA OVER US

• By John V. Walsh, Popular Resistance.

• April 29, 2022
• Educate!

Above photo: Prime Minister Narendra Modi (right) with visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. MFA Russia/Twitter.

Russia Pivots To The Dynamic East And Fast Developing Global South.

2014 saw two pivotal events that led to the current conflict in Ukraine.

The first, familiar to all, was the coup in Ukraine in which a democratically elected government was overthrown at the direction of the United States and with the assistance of neo-Nazi elements which Ukraine has long harbored.

Shortly thereafter the first shots in the present war were fired on the Russian-sympathetic Donbass region by the newly installed Ukrainian government.  The shelling of the Donbass which claimed 14,000 lives has continued for 8 years, despite attempts at a cease-fire under the Minsk accords which Russia, France and Germany agreed upon but Ukraine backed by the US refused to implement.  On February 24, 2022, Russia finally responded to the slaughter in Donbass and the threat of NATO on its doorstep.

Russia Turns to the East – China Provides an Alternative Economic Powerhouse.

The second pivotal event of 2014 was less noticed and in fact rarely mentioned in the Western mainstream media.  In November of that year according to the IMF, China’s GDP surpassed that of the U.S. in purchasing power parity terms (PPP GDP).  (This measure of GDP is calculated and published by the IMF, World Bank and even the CIA.  Students of international relations like economics Nobel Laureate, Joseph Stiglitz, Graham Allison and many others consider this metric the best measure of a nation’s comparative economic power.)   One person who took note and who often mentions China’s standing in the PPP-GDP ranking is none other than Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.

From one point of view, the Russian action in Ukraine represents a decisive turn away from the hostile West to the more dynamic East and the Global South.  This follows decades of importuning the West for a peaceful relationship since the Cold War’s end.  As Russia makes its Pivot to the East, it is doing its best to ensure that its Western border with Ukraine is secured.

Following the Russian action in Ukraine, the inevitable U.S. sanctions poured onto Russia.  China refused to join them and refused to condemn Russia.  This was no surprise; after all Putin’s Russia and Xi’s China had been drawing ever closer for years, most notably with trade denominated in ruble-renminbi exchange, thus moving toward independence from the West’s dollar dominated trade regime.

The World Majority Refuses to Back U.S. Sanctions

But then a big surprise. India joined China in refusing to honor the US sanctions regime.  And India kept to its resolve despite enormous pressure including calls from Biden to Modi and a train of high level US, UK and EU officials trekking off to India to bully, threaten and otherwise attempting to intimidate India.  India would face “consequences,” the tired US threat went up.  India did not budge.

India’s close military and diplomatic ties with Russia were forged during the anti-colonial struggles of the Soviet era.  India’s economic interests in Russian exports could not be countermanded by U.S. threats. Now India and Russia are now working on trade via ruble-rupee exchange.  In fact, Russia has turned out to be a factor that put India and China on the same side, pursuing their own interests and independence in the face of U.S. diktat.  Moreover with trade in ruble-renminbi exchange already a reality and with ruble-rupee exchange in the offing, are we about to witness a Renminbi-Ruble-Rupee world of trade – a “3R” alternative to the Dollar-Euro monopoly?  Is the world’s second most important political relationship, that between India and China, about to take a more peaceful direction?  What’s the world’s first most important relationship?

India is but one example of the shift in power.  Out of 195 countries, only 30 have honored the US sanctions on Russia.  That means about 165 countries in the world have refused to join the sanctions.   Those countries represent by far the majority of the world’s population.  Most of Africa, Latin America (including Mexico and Brazil), East Asia (excepting Japan, South Korea, both occupied by U.S. troops and hence not sovereign, Singapore and the renegade Chinese Province of Taiwan) have refused.  (India and China alone represent 35% of humanity.)

Add to that fact that 40 different countries are now the targets of US sanctions and there is a powerful constituency to oppose the thuggish economic tactics of the U.S.

Finally, at the recent G-20 Summit a walkout led by the US when the Russia delegate spoke was joined by the representatives of only 3 other G-20 countries, with 80% of these leading financial nations refusing to join!  Similarly, a US attempt to bar a Russian delegate from a G-20 meeting later in the year in Bali was rebuffed by Indonesia which currently holds the G-20 Presidency.

Nations Taking Russia’s side are no longer poor as in Cold War 1.0.

These dissenting countries of the Global South are no longer as poor as they were during the Cold War.  Of the top 10 countries in PPP-GDP, 5 do not support the sanctions.  And these include China (number one) and India (number 3).  So the first and third most powerful economies stand against the US on this matter.  (Russia is number 6 on that list about equal to Germany, number 5, the two being close to equal, belying the idea that Russia’s economy is negligible.)

These stands are vastly more significant than any UN vote.  Such votes can be coerced by a great power and little attention is paid to them in the world.  But the economic interests of a nation and its view of the main danger in the world are important determinants of how it reacts economically – for example to sanctions. A “no” to US sanctions is putting one’s money where one’s mouth is.

We in the West hear that Russia is “isolated in the world” as a result of the crisis in Ukraine.  If one is speaking about the Eurovassal states and the Anglosphere, that is true.  But considering humanity as a whole and among the rising economies of the world, it is the US that stands isolated.  And even in Europe, cracks are emerging.  Hungary and Serbia have not joined the sanctions regime and of course most European countries will not and indeed cannot turn away from Russian energy imports crucial to their economies.  It appears that the grand scheme of U.S. global hegemony to be brought about by the US move to WWII Redux, both Cold and Hot, has hit a mighty snag.

For those who look forward to a multipolar world, this is a welcome turn of events emerging out of the cruel tragedy of the U.S. proxy war in Ukraine.  The possibility of a saner, more prosperous multipolar world lies ahead – if we can get there.

WESTERN CLAIMS OF RUSSIAN MASS GRAVES NEAR MARIUPOL ANOTHER FAKE NEWS HOAX

• By Eva K. Bartlett, Eva K Bartlett.

• April 25, 2022
• Resistance Report

I Know, I Went To See.

According to Western media, now copy-paste reporting the same claims, Russian forces apparently secretly buried up to 9,000 Mariupol civilians in “mass graves” in a town just west of the city.

Except, it never happened, there is no mass grave.

It’s actually just a normal, small, cemetery…no pits, no mass graves, just an orderly cemetery whose grave diggers refuted Western claims.

On April 23, with journalist Roman Kosarev, I went to Mangush (Manhush in Ukrainian), found a normal cemetery setting, and spoke with the men responsible for burials, who refused the allegations and said they buried each person in a coffin, including, they noted, Ukrainian soldiers.