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The American public is well aware of inherent media bias. Stay on Fox, NEWSMAX, New York Post, etc. to hear and see the side you like and agree with, or go to CNN, NBC, New York Times, etc. to hear and see the other side you agree with.
Same for most of what used to be called “Journalism,” that has descended into pure propaganda networks that provide just one side—their side—to every story.
Major media companies don’t want to lose viewers, so they develop a relationship with them, and “give them what they want.”
It’s ratings and clicks at all costs.
Russia is often mocked by the West for its propaganda arm in state media, but the Ukraine War has shown the U.S. media also has the ability to walk in lockstep with the government during conflicts.
Tracking Trends is an understanding of where we are and how we got here to see where we are going.
The corrupt Ukraine history and the United States 2014 coup of their democratically elected president, Victor Yanukovych has been completely obliterated from mainstream media coverage.
Instead, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his fighters have been depicted in Western media as freedom fighters intent on defending their own country and—and in doing so—saving Europe from Russia’s grasp.
Zelensky has been compared to Winston Churchill and has received standing ovations from parliaments around the world. The New York Times even ran a flattering article about Zelensky’s wartime attire titled, “The Man in the Olive Green Tee.” The article began, “In the beginning, it was just a T-shirt…”
When it comes to Zelensky, what’s not to love? He’s a 44-year-old comedian, who, in his former role before becoming president of Ukraine, starred in the role as the President of Ukraine in a TV comedy show.
Deal? No Deal!!
In the buildup to the Russian invasion, which we did not believe would happen and are totally opposed to, Zelensky had the opportunity to avoid war, but brushed off any agreement while the United States helped ramp up the tensions. (See “WASHINGTON GIVES COLD SHOULDER TO RUSSIA’S SECURITY CONCERNS,” “BIDEN HITS RUSSIA WITH SANCTIONS,” “NATO: WE ARE THE WORLD” and “KREMLIN BLAMES UKRAINE FOR STOKING TENSIONS AT BORDER.”)
Weeks before the invasion, Russian President Vladimir Putin chastised Zelensky for failing to abide by the Minsk II agreement that was signed on 12 February 2015 and was designed to put an end to the conflict and arrive at a peace deal.
“They are not interested in peaceful solutions—they want to start Blitzkrieg,” Putin said. “Every day they are amassing troops in the Donbass.”
Andrian Prokip, a senior associate, Ukraine, at the Wilson Center, wrote:
“The Minsk Agreements stipulate establishing a ceasefire and separating the opposing military forces, providing a special constitutional regime for the Donbass (with requisite amending of Ukraine’s constitution), and the holding of elections in the non-controlled territories, with Kyiv thereafter to have control over the Russia-Ukraine border in the Donbas.”
After refusing to abide by the deal, which is totally ignored by the Western media, when the war began, Zelensky, the actor with boyish good looks said things like, “I need ammunition, not a ride.” He seems like he belongs in central casting to play Robin in a “Batman” sequel.
He’s the perfect hero to square off against Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is hated in the West. Putin is often depicted as a James Bond villain seeking world domination and he is willing to bomb maternity wards, theaters… and poison rivals to achieve it.
Zelensky is David against Putin’s Goliath. The script writes itself. Playing a supporting role, U.S. President Joe Biden—with a perfect track record of loving every criminal war the U.S. has launched since he began sucking off the public tit 50 years ago that has cost tens of trillions and killed millions—has ramped up the hate rhetoric and fight with Putin, who he’s called a “war criminal,” and a “butcher” who “cannot remain in power.”
No Peace, Only More War
Lost in the narratives is the fact that from the U.S. to NATO and across the religious spectrum, there are no fighters for peace. Perhaps it’s because, at this point, any concession Ukraine makes would be seen as appeasing Putin. Biden has made it clear that Putin must pay.
The world does not look kindly on “war criminals” after conflicts, unless, of course, the war criminal is a Clinton, Bush, Obama from the U.S., and the NATO War Gang: Murderous, illegal Yugoslav Wars, Iraq Wars, Afghan Wars, Syrian Wars, Libyan Wars, Yemen Wars, etc., are fought in their name of God and their sanctimonious praises that “God Bless our Troops.”
Dumb and Dumber
The purpose of propaganda is that the public does not have access to accurate information to form its own opinions, which could explain why polls show Americans, despite the high cost that hurts them in their near empty pocket books… believe U.S. sanctions should be tougher against Russia.
For weeks, we’ve been told that the Russian army was in a state of disarray. But reports now say that Ukrainian fighters are turning the tables on their invaders. So which one is it?
Can’t Count?
Try doing a Google News search to find out how many Ukrainian troops have died in the conflict. Nothing. The results only show the number of casualties Russia has suffered or the latest Russian general who was killed.
PBS reported that the most recent figure came from Zelensky on 12 March when he said 1,300 have died.
It’s a travesty that anyone who questions U.S./NATO and Zelensky’s wisdom in prolonging the fight is considered to be pro-Putin. We’ve seen a similar knee-jerk response during the COVID-19 outbreak when anyone questioned the safety of the vaccines. They were called anti-science, idiotic conspiracy theorists… banned from the mainstream and social media.
And as we have seen in Canada, those who opposed forced vaccinations and launched the Freedom Convoy were sent to jail, bank accounts frozen, and are paying the price.
Challenging your own beliefs can be uncomfortable, so news outlets play to their viewers’ comfort level. We ran an article earlier this month titled, “HEY STUPID! PROPAGANDA NETWORKS WILL TELL YOU ‘WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT UKRAINE’”. Most of these reports were likely written by someone who couldn’t point to Ukraine on a map last month, now they’re the ones distilling the information for you.
Again, the Trends Journal has made clear that we are completely opposed to Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine. And while we also see the bravery of the Ukrainians fighting for their homeland in the face of great odds, to us, it makes no sense to fight to the end in a losing battle. The war is hell on earth. But the travesty cannot erase how we got here.
We’ve long pointed out that the West ignored Putin’s clear red lines with NATO’s expansion to its borders, when it came to the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO, and Ukraine’s failure to abide by the Minsk Agreement.
So the media will continue to run stories about the shortcomings of the Russian military during the still-young war. But if Moscow was really on the ropes in Ukraine, a squadron of NATO F-22s would already be flying over Kyiv.