Rebecca Solnit: It’s time to confront the Trump-Putin network / George Monbiot: We must confront Russian propaganda / Moscow police detain children for laying flowers at Ukrainian embassy

By Dilip -

NB: The UN General Assembly has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and called for withdrawal. Putin is a gangster in absolute power, and those Indian commentators who find excuses for this brutal invasion in the name of 'national interest' are ethical nihilists. By the way, it was the Soviet Union, not 'Russia',  which stood by India's action in Bangladesh in 1971. Mrs Indira Gandhi's government was morally justified in taking action: about one crore of poor people from East Pakistan had poured into India to take shelter from the genocidal actions of the Pakistan Army. In this case, Ukraine has not invaded Russia, it is the other way around. And the Ukraine army is not slaughtering innocents, it is the Russian Army. I am in sympathy with the Russian soldiers too, who have no stomach for this senseless war.

Unfortunately living in a normative vacuum has become a habit with experts who prefer to adopt an air of academic detachment when it comes to any event that requires us to take a moral stand. Innocents including children are being killed, a million people have fled their homes, tragedy and trauma have been unleashed on people with no blame whatsoever; and some of our experts (with honourable exceptions) are musing about arms imports, and indulging in what-aboutery. Yes, the Western world is completely hypocritical, having committed war crimes and backed coups all over the world from WW2 till now. I have written about this here. But are Ukrainian citizens to pay for Western hypocrisy? Do we have any moral sense whatever, or has it all been sacrificed at the altar of mindless nation-worship and Machiavellian calculation? Imperialism is doomed, no matter of which origin, and all decent minded people must stand by suffering humanity. DS

Rebecca Solnit: It’s time to confront the Trump-Putin network

In 2014, the Putin regime invaded Ukraine’s Crimea. In 2016, the same regime invaded the United States. The former took place as a conventional military operation; the latter was a spectacular case of cyberwarfare, including disinformation that it was happening at all and promulgation of a lot of talking points still devoutly repeated by many. It was a vast social-media influencing project that took many forms as it sought to sow discord and confusion, even attempting to dissuade Black voters from voting….

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/02/time-to-confront-trump-putin-network


As his attack falters, Putin could become more brutal – and even more irrational


Karazin Kharkiv National University, Kharkiv, on Wednesday. Photo: Sergey Bobok/ AFP/ Getty Images



Moscow police detain children for laying flowers at Ukrainian embassy


Stalinism: A Study of Internal Colonialism (1977) by Alvin Gouldner


We must confront Russian propaganda

The propaganda war has always been crucial to Vladimir Putin. He uses floods of disinformation to confuse and misdirect people overseas and bolster support at home. The Kremlin knows that every action requires an apparatus of justification. Russia cannot continue its costly war without the consent of its troops and many other citizens.

Putin’s troll factories are notorious for turning out misleading claims, but their power is limited by their lack of credibility. What serves him well, as a study by Cardiff University’s crime and security research institute suggests, are “organic comments”: statements by real people, repeating and amplifying his propaganda. These are liked or upvoted by his bots then reproduced in Russian media to create the impression that he has widespread overseas support…

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/02/russian-propaganda-anti-imperialist-left-vladimir-putin


Sergey Faldin: Putin is digging his own grave in Ukraine / Berlin stands up against Putin at huge anti-war rally / Indian Student Killed In Shelling In Kharkiv


Nesrine Malik: Let the horror in Ukraine open our eyes to the suffering of war around the world


10 Theses on the Proliferation of Egocrats (1977)

 

Ukraine: India refuses to take a clear position on the Russian invasion


Jonathan Steele: Understanding Putin’s narrative about Ukraine / Oliver Stone: American Exceptionalism Is on Display in Ukraine / Mariia Shynkarenko: Not about NATO


Kelly Denton-Borhaug: The True Costs of America’s All-Consuming War-Culture / Chris Hedges: Chronicle of a War Foretold


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