Manufactured consent is alive and well with Ukraine-Russia
as always, we are the targets of propaganda
When Russia officially invaded Ukraine on February 24th of this year the internet blew up with shows of support for the citizens of a country most of us could not point to on a map. The inhumanity of war, after all, knows no national borders. Even if they are transgressed.
Very quickly, though, it became apparent that our ignorance would be exploited. As in every official US war in my lifetime, from Iraq to Kosovo to Afghanistan to Iraq again, we are in the perfect position to be lied to by the media and our government.
The word “official” in the sentence above holds a lot of weight. This list does not take into account the proxy wars we are or have been involved in throughout the world from Syria to Libya or the regime change efforts too many to catalog. Or the ongoing direct bombing campaigns in Africa and across the globe.
The fact, then, that Ukraine and Russia are suddenly in the news - it should be noted that the war itself has been going on since February of 2014 - should raise an eyebrow. Over 14,000 casualties have been recorded in the Dunbas region as Russian separatists have been shelled by the Ukrainian military. Yes, the one with literal Nazis in it.
That is to say nothing of our involvement in the expansion of NATO, that has amassed troops around Russian borders. Even Henry Kissinger thought this placed Ukraine in an untenable position. In a 2014 Washington Post op-ed he wrote:
Far too often the Ukrainian issue is posed as a showdown: whether Ukraine joins the East or the West. But if Ukraine is to survive and thrive, it must not be either side’s outpost against the other — it should function as a bridge between them.
Think about that. A primary architect of the devastation in Vietnam and Cambodia could see that NATO expansion would lead to this.
The larger point is that when wars that we are not directly involved in suddenly dominate the news, that information tells us something. If the concern of our government and media were truly human rights abuses or preemptive war there are enough stories to take the place of, say, Will Smith slapping Chris Rock.
I have been thinking of a way to articulate my frustration with left/liberal media this past month. Initial calls for solidarity with Ukraine and horror at Putin’s aggression seem to have transformed into unqualified hero worship of his counterpart Zelensky. This is accompanied by demands for denunciation of all things Russian - including vodka - all over social media. It also includes, for whatever reason, a preference to pay outrageous sums of money for gas.
The other day, however, my New York Times daily news brief completely broke me. Playing off the past six or so years of baseless associations of Donald Trump and the GOP being in the Kremlin’s pocket, David Leonhardt wrote seventeen paragraphs of almost pure propaganda.
NYT does war propaganda
The headline is “We look at “the Putin wing” of the Republican Party.” For reference, the “Putin wing” phrase is attributed to Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY). Yes, Liz, from the family of the most despicable family in US politics in my lifetime. And yes, Liz, who helped turn on the fire hose of cash for oligarchs in post-Soviet Russia, destroying whatever hope regular people had accumulated. But sure.
That the stated targets of the article are hardly worthy of sympathy is beside the point. Leonhardt takes aim at the likes of Tucker Carlson, the Koch brothers, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-GA) and a lesser collection of GOP hacks.
Under normal circumstances I would not think twice about joining in the chorus to heckle this group. That they are deserving of undying derision hardly demands explanation. The world is a more dangerous place particularly for the poor because these people are public figures.
And yet here we are. So a few notes. Here is the second paragraph of the article:
Taking their cue from Trump, some Republican voters began to view Putin more favorably. A YouGov poll in January found that Republicans viewed Putin more favorably than they viewed President Biden, Kamala Harris or Nancy Pelosi.
This seemingly damning statement begs the question. If Putin was not in Ukraine until February 24, why is it relevant what anybody thought of him in January? Second, how is partisan hatred - particularly of bozos like Biden, Harris and Pelosi - indicative of anything?
Think what you will of Putin, the poll is completely irrelevant to the point being made. And yet it serves a vital function in the argument.
Undaunted, Leonhardt takes a predictably shallow shot at Donald Trump. Again taking statements made before the invasion. Trump has since called Putin’s actions a crime against humanity, but whatever. Look, he complimented Putin’s strategy of defending his own borders! While leftists the world over argue for open borders and the brotherhood of all, are we really supposed to believe the Times suddenly takes this view?
In other words, as long as you believe in borders that should be enforced, Trump’s comments here are materially indistinguishable from Obama or Biden’s. The only distinction is rhetorical. Which should be a comfort to some 1,700 families still separated by an arbitrary border line between the US and Mexico.
And, not for nothing, Putin’s borders have absolutely been surrounded by the continual advance of NATO up to and including the possibility of Ukraine joining.
Next up as the ritual punching bag is Tucker Carlson.
Tucker Carlson, the host of one of cable television’s highest-rated shows, has suggested that American liberals represent a bigger threat than Putin. “It might be worth asking yourself, since it is getting pretty serious, what is this really about?” Carlson said in February. “Why do I hate Putin so much? Has Putin ever called me a racist?”
Carlson has also promoted a false rumor, popular in Russia, accusing the U.S. of funding biological weapons labs in Ukraine. These comments are consistent with Carlson’s history of arguing that the U.S. should align itself with Russia over Ukraine. “I think we should probably take the side of Russia, if we have to choose between Russia and Ukraine,” he said in 2019.
Let’s get this straight. Carlson has the audacity to ask why we should hate Putin? Furthermore he oversteps his bounds as kind-of-a-journalist by asking the basic question of “what is this really about”? What a monster!
This should be a moment of shame and lament for Leonhardt. How, in God’s name, is Tucker Carlson the only person on TV asking this question? Is it truly preferable that we mindlessly endorse the further arming of Ukraine?
As for the bio lab “debunked” theory? What should we make of Under Secretary of State Victoria Nunland essentially admitting as much to Marco Rubio?
Was she spreading a false rumor or was Carlson? Or is Leonhardt just spreading propaganda?
The Carlson roast predictably ends with statements that predate the February 24th Russian invasion.
Perhaps the most alarmingly dishonest paragraph is the one criticizing Rep. Greene.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, a far-right Georgia congresswoman, has criticized both Russia’s invasion and Ukraine’s government. President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government is corrupt, she claimed (without offering evidence), and is in power only because the Obama administration helped overthrow the previous regime (which is not true). She has argued that the U.S. should not send weapons to Ukraine.
In a statement that reads like a mic drop, Leonhardt accuses Greene of the unforgivable sin of blaming two governments for a war that is costing Ukrainian lives. Of course she should know that there are men with black hats (Putin) and men with white hats (Zelensky/Biden). It cannot be possible, apparently, to understand that multiple parties can contribute to war.
And the part about regime change that is blithely declared “not true?” First of all, regime change has been our standard operating procedure since the end of WWII. President Biden even let it slip a couple of weeks ago that we intend for Putin to lose control of Russia. So pretending that we would not participate in regime change is either absurdly ignorant or plainly dishonest.
But to Ukraine's specific instance in 2014, what about the infamous “Yats is the guy” leaked phone call between the aforementioned Nunland and a US/Ukraine diplomat? It is clear that the US is at least intending to decide on the next prime minister of Urkaine, Arseniy Yatsenyuk.
Did Obama overthrow the government of Ukraine and install Zelensky? Of course not. The timeline would make no sense. But would Zelensky have been elected if not for the 2014 overthrow? That is a fair question.
As for the last statement. Oh my God. How could anybody be so vile as to think we should not send weapons to another country so they can fight to the death in order for Putin to be dethroned, serving only US interests? The humanity!
Leonhardt’s history of Russian warmongering
It would appear that David Leonhardt is simply spreading the same propaganda regarding Russia that he was in 2018 when he bemoaned our kind-of-withdraw from another proxy war in Syria with the headline “Retreat Rhymes With Defeat”.
It would be worth asking why he is so hellbent, along with our leaders in Congress and his colleagues in the press, with opposing Russia. But then again, I would hate to be lumped in with Carlson.
Look, every government spreads propaganda. Particularly in times of war. It is a certainty that Russia is lying. But it is just as true that Ukraine is lying. And it is beyond the shadow of a doubt that our government, via a press that is regurgitating military talking points, is lying.
The difference between the liars is significant only in proximity. There is not much to be done, from our perspective, to combat lies being told halfway around the world. But calling out the blood lust of our own institutions and demanding change is another story.
Nobody is wrong all the time
As much as we would like to pretend otherwise, a broken clock is right twice a day. Just because Tucker Carlson is absolutely horrific when it comes to race does not mean he is automatically wrong about US imperialism. Likewise, just because Marjorie Taylor Greene is deep in the catacombs of Q’anon does not make her de facto wrong about Ukraine.
And just because Republicans hate Democratic leaders as a reflexive bodily function does not make them wrong about everything. In fact, that is the point. As long as we hate each other enough we can go around identifying the ghoulish monsters on the other side while the Biden administration sends nearly $1 billion in arms to Ukraine.
All this is happening at the same time billionaires in the US have increased their wealth by 60 percent just since the start of COVID. And this is happening at the same time commonsense policies like universal healthcare and student debt relief are ridiculed as fantastical. You know, because, who would pay for that?
In other words, the David Leonhardts of the world are working hard to pit us against each other and war is the perfect opportunity. If innocent lives need to be sacrificed in Ukraine, then so be it.
Maybe it is time to recognize that the enemies in our midst are familiar. Poverty. Racism. Militarism.
Maybe then we can pray for, advocate for and demand peace in Ukraine.
Along with whoever happens to be speaking the truth in this moment.
We can also call out lies when we see them. Regardless of who is telling them.