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       #Post#: 1743--------------------------------------------------
       Words that kill: How Western spin doctors dehumanize select
       peoples to justify war
   DIR By: AGelbert
       Date: February 6, 2024, 8:28 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       👉 Graphics and emojies by AGelbert. 👈
       [center]
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       [center]
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       [center]Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek
       after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put
       to shame that wish me evil. -- Psalm 40:14[/center]
       AGelbert NOTE: If you think an article is not "credible" because
       it is published at RT, you are a brainwashed victim of the
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       />[glow=red,2,300]Oligarchs 'R' US[/glow] Media &#128013;
       Mandarins for Empire Propaganda
  HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040622202527-13931485.png<br
       />Machine.
  HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-060224211804.png
       6 Feb, 2024 By Chay Bowes
  HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-120422122257-6561489.gif,<br
       />journalist and geopolitical analyst, MA in Strategic Studies,
       RT
       correspondent
       [move]Words that kill: How Western &#128013; spin doctors
       &#128127; [glow=red,2,300]dehumanize[/glow] select peoples to
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       />&#128520; justify
       &#129421;[glow=maroon,2,300]
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       />war[/glow][/move]
       SNIPPETS:
       With Israel’s punitive operation against Gaza now in its fourth
       month, it’s impossible not to compare Western outrage regarding
       other conflicts with the selective morality now being applied
       when dealing with Israel.
       Even the briefest assessment of how the West’s innumerable wars
       have been portrayed in a client media quickly yields irrefutable
       evidence that the marketing of conflicts, as justified by
       Western powers, is central to their continued legitimization.
       ... ...
       Language and terminology are, of course, a central and
       fundamental element when you need to portray a war as morally
       acceptable. This is glaringly obvious when we examine how
       Western media are portraying the current escalation in Gaza.
       American and British media subtly portray victims on one side as
       more expendable as opposed to the other, for example, by
       referring to Israeli casualties as having been “killed” while
       Palestinian ones are described as having simply “died”, while
       minors held captive by Israel, who have been detained without
       trial in some cases for several years, are referred to as
       “prisoners” while Israelis held by Hamas are referred to as
       “hostages.”
       This willful deployment of language to sterilize and dehumanize
       a victim, or indeed an entire ethnicity, is by no means
       accidental. It is an essential element of a psychological
       endeavor to tip the scales in the viewers’ (physically far
       removed from the conflict) subconscious calculation of
       culpability. It’s simple to consider the elimination of
       “terrorists” as justifiable, whereas the mass killing of many
       thousands of defenseless children, women, and sick and elderly
       people is a far harder task to sell to an increasingly informed
       Western public. ... ...
       Let’s look at the convenient demonization of Islam. It is by no
       means an accident that the majority of victims of America’s
       catastrophic post-9/11 “war on terror” were Muslim. Decades of
       demonization of Islam as a savage religion bent on world
       domination have had a subconscious effect on the “collective
       mind” of the West. This is then energetically exploited by the
       Western media as required. ... ...
       The intimate relationship between the client media and the
       military industrial complex also requires deep investigation and
       analysis. Media empires such as Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp exert
       vast and overwhelming influence on the public discourse when it
       comes to the justification of war. The relationship between the
       critically important military industrial complex and the
       creation of a defensible war narrative is undeniable yet
       persistently denied. ... ...
       It now seems shockingly obvious that the Western media is
       determined to suppress any informed debate around the rationale
       for conflict when that conflict emanates from the US or one of
       its clients or allies. ... ...
       It is, after all, &#128586;&#128585;&#128584; Western taxpayers
  HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-100823181638.png<br
       />that unwittingly fund this  grotesque circular profit mill, a
       [glow=maroon,2,300]meat grinder[/glow] that sucks in human lives
       and spits out
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       />vast wealth for a
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       />tiny &#127913; elite, the same
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       />tiny &#127913; elite intimately related to the
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       />political class seeking to justify those needless conflicts.
       All
       licensed and peddled as &#128519; morally
       &#128521;
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       />defensible by the ever loyal &#128013; client media.
       Full UNVARNISHED TRUTH article:
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       />
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       #Post#: 1744--------------------------------------------------
       CNN CEO and Editor-in-Chief Mark Thompson AND Sara Sidner et al
       Zionist LIARS for HIRE
   DIR By: AGelbert
       Date: February 7, 2024, 12:15 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       Graphics and emojies by AGelbert:
       [center]
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       [img
       width=120]
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       FEB 5, 2024 News Desk
       [center]CNN &#128367;&#65039;&#128509; journalists
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       />angry at network's '[glow=red,2,300]systemic[/glow]'
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       />pro-Israel [glow=red,2,300]bias[/glow][/center]
       [center]The US network's coverage of Israel's war on Gaza has
       sought to 'implicitly justify [glow=maroon,2,300] Israeli
       &#128165;
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       />
  HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-310822143514.pnghttps://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-310822143514.pnghttps://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-310822143514.pnghttps://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-310822143514.pnghttps://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-310822143514.png<br
       />actions[/glow]' some of its own journalists and staffers
       say[/center]
       CNN &#128367;&#65039; staffers and &#128509; journalists are
       speaking out against the network's editorial policies they say
       have led to uncritically repeating Israeli propaganda and the
       censoring of Palestinian voices and perspectives in its coverage
       of the war in Gaza, the Guardian reported on 5 February.
       "The majority of news since the war began, regardless of how
       accurate the initial reporting, has been skewed by a systemic
       and institutional bias within the network toward Israel," said
       one CNN staffer. "Ultimately, CNN's coverage of the Israel-Gaza
       war amounts to journalistic malpractice."
       According to &#128367;&#65039; accounts from six CNN &#128509;
       staffers in multiple newsrooms and more than a dozen internal
       memos and emails obtained by the Guardian, the "editorial
       policies include tight restrictions on quoting Hamas and
       reporting other Palestinian perspectives while Israel government
       statements are taken at face value."
       Further, every CNN report on the war must be cleared by the
       network's Jerusalem [glow=red,2,300]bureau[/glow] before
       broadcast or publication.
       In January, The Intercept reported that CNN's
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       />Jerusalem bureau, in turn, submits stories to &#128520;
       Israel's
       military censor for approval.
       Crucially, CNN has provided no coverage of Israel implementing
       the [glow=red,2,300]Hannibal Directive[/glow], which instructed
       Israeli forces to kill Israeli civilians to prevent them from
       being taken captive to Gaza by Hamas on 7 October. As a result
       of the controversial policy, Israeli forces used attack
       helicopters, armed drones, and tanks to kill Israeli civilians
       in their homes in settlements (kibbutzim) and in the open fields
       near the Gaza border and even within Gaza during the Hamas
       attack.
       CNN journalists say the tone of coverage is set at the top by
       CEO and Editor-in-Chief [glow=red,2,300]&#128520; Mark
       Thompson[/glow], who was placed in his position just two days
       after 7 October.
       Thompson's policies have resulted, particularly early in the
       war, "in a greater focus on Israeli suffering and the Israeli
       narrative of the war as a hunt for Hamas and its tunnels, and an
       insufficient focus on the scale of Palestinian civilian deaths
       and destruction in Gaza," the Guardian wrote.
       "Many have been pushing for more content from Gaza to be alerted
       and aired. By the time these reports go through Jerusalem and
       make it to TV or the homepage, critical changes – from the
       introduction of imprecise language to an ignorance of crucial
       stories – ensure that nearly every report, no matter how
       damning, relieves Israel of wrongdoing."
       While roughly 1,200 Israeli civilians and soldiers were killed
       on 7 October, including large numbers by Israeli forces
       themselves, Israel's military campaign on Gaza has now killed
       over 27,000 Palestinians, the majority women and children.
       In late October, after more than 2,700 Palestinian children had
       been killed and as Israel prepared for its ground invasion,
       [glow=red,2,300]Thompson[/glow] sent a set of guidelines to CNN
       staff by email.
       The email states that while CNN would report the human
       consequences of the Israeli assault on Palestinians, "we must
       continue always to remind our audiences of the immediate cause
       of this current conflict, namely the Hamas attack and mass
       murder and kidnap of civilians."
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       CNN &#128367;&#65039; staff members said the memo ensured the
       network's coverage would &#128520; implicitly justify Israeli
       actions and that other context or history about the roots of the
       conflict long before 7 October was often unwelcome or
       marginalized.
       "How else are editors going to read that other than as an
       instruction that no matter what the Israelis do, Hamas is
       ultimately to blame? Every action by Israel – dropping massive
       bombs that wipe out entire streets, its obliteration of whole
       families – the coverage ends up massaged to create a &#128013;
       'they had it coming' narrative,'" said one &#128367;&#65039;
       staffer.
       The same memo said that any reference to casualty figures from
       the Gaza health ministry must say it is "Hamas-controlled,"
       implying that reports of the deaths of thousands of children
       were unreliable even though both US and Israeli intelligence
       quietly acknowledged they are roughly correct, or even
       undercounted, with so many buried under the rubble of apartment
       blocs leveled by Israeli bombing.
       &#128013; David Lindsay, the senior director of news standards
       and practices, issued a directive in early November preventing
       the reporting of most Hamas statements, calling them
       "inflammatory rhetoric and propaganda."
       "Most of it has been said many times before and is not
       newsworthy. We should be careful not to give it a platform," he
       wrote.
       Another instruction on 23 October stated that reports must not
       show Hamas video of the release of two elderly Israeli captives,
       Nurit Cooper and Yocheved Lifshitz. As they were placed in a Red
       Cross vehicle to be freed, Lifshitz shook hands with a Hamas
       fighter escorting her, portraying Hamas in a potentially
       positive light. She also stated that Hamas had treated her well
       while in captivity during a press conference at a hospital upon
       release. The Israeli government later placed &#128127;
       restrictions on freed captives speaking with the media.
       "Some CNN staff fear that as a result of these policies, the
       network is acting as a &#128520; surrogate censor on behalf of
       the [glow=red,2,300]Israeli government[/glow]," the Guardian
       reported further.
       "The system results in chosen individuals editing any and all
       reporting with an institutionalized
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       />pro-Israel bias, often using passive language to absolve the
       [Israel Defense Forces] of responsibility and playing down
       Palestinian deaths and Israeli attacks," said one of the
       network's journalists.
       One staffer pointed to the appearance of [glow=red,2,300]Rami
       Igra[/glow], a former [glow=red,2,300]senior Israeli
       intelligence official[/glow], on CNN's flagship news program
       hosted by Anderson Cooper.
       Igra claimed that the entire Palestinian population of Gaza
       could be regarded as combatants, while Cooper failed to push
       back on the clearly false claim.
       "The non-combatant population in the Gaza Strip is really a
       nonexistent term because all of the Gazans voted for the Hamas,
       and as we have seen on the 7th of October, most of the
       population in the Gaza Strip are Hamas," he said.
       By the time of the 19 November interview, more than 13,000
       people had been killed by [glow=red,2,300]Israel[/glow] in Gaza,
       most of them &#9760;&#65039; civilians].
       CNN staffers and journalists also criticized CNN presenter
       [glow=red,2,300]&#128013; Sara Sidner[/glow], who excitedly
       reported unverified Israeli
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       />claims that
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       />Hamas beheaded dozens of babies on 7 October.
       By the time of[glow=red,2,300] Sidner's report[/glow], doubt had
       already been cast on the claim, which later was shown to be a
       fabrication.
       CNN
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       />insiders said, "Senior editors should have treated the story
       with caution from the beginning because the Israeli military has
       a track record of false or exaggerated claims that subsequently
       fall apart," the Guardian added.
  HTML https://thecradle.co/articles/cnn-journalists-angry-at-networks-systemic-pro-israel-bias
       #Post#: 1746--------------------------------------------------
       Resisting &#128013; ISRAELI Brainwashing Propaganda
       &#128330;&#65039; UNRWA &#128520; DEMONIZING LIES
   DIR By: AGelbert
       Date: February 7, 2024, 10:09 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       [center]
  HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-120422122431-6691826.gif<br
       />BREAKING: MAJOR ISRAEL [glow=red,2,300]LIE[/glow] EXPOSED |
       The
       Kyle Kulinski Show[/center]
       [center]
  HTML https://youtu.be/o81Ql-rekfM[/center]
       [glow=teal,2,300]&#128367;&#65039; Secular Talk[/glow] 1.11M
       subscribers
       Subscribed 6.6K 69,131 views  February 7, 2024 #KyleKulinski
       #SecularTalk #news
       Support The Show On Patreon!:
       
       / seculartalk
       Subscribe to Krystal Kyle & Friends On Substack!:
  HTML https://krystalkyleandfriends.substac
       ...
       [center]
  HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-020224131328.png[/center]
       #Post#: 1761--------------------------------------------------
       Invented Peoples - The Grayzone live
   DIR By: AGelbert
       Date: February 13, 2024, 4:15 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       [center]Invented Peoples -
       &#128509;&#128330;&#65039;[glow=blue,2,300]The Grayzone
       live[/glow][/center]
       [center]
  HTML https://youtu.be/lr2xWZ0g2iY[/center]
       [glow=blue,2,300]The Grayzone[/glow] 343K subscribers 11K 97,074
       views  Streamed live on Feb 10, 2024
       Max Blumenthal &#128077; and Aaron Mate &#128077; discuss
       Vladimir Putin's &#128077; stemwinding interview with Tucker
       Carlson &#128077;, the continuing blowback from
  HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-281223163648.png<br
       />Biden's Middle East policy, and the latest from the
       [glow=red,2,300]Gaza war[/glow].
       AGelbert COMMENT:
  HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040622202545-13961729.png<br
       />Somebody needs to sue LIAR Jeffrey Gettleman, the New York
       Times, Hillary Clinton AND ALL the mainstream media AND the
       Israeli Government for the serial repeated abominable slander
       against the successful military operation by Hamas on October 7,
       2023. On that day NO men, women or children were sexually abused
       by Hamas, PERIOD.
       Furthermore, MOST of the Israelies killed that day were killed
       by IDF helicopter and tank fire! 70 cars that were INCINERATED
       is IRREFUTABLE EVIDENCE of this MASS Hannibal ATROCITY of Israel
       against its own citizens!
       [center]
  HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-250124004058.png[/center]
       All the bold faced mendacitiy filled stories about "sexual
       violence against and/or mass incineration of Israeli captives by
       Hamas" must be RETRACTED by the Biden Administration, the UK,
       the BBC AND anyone else, including the New York Times and
       Washington Post et al, that have contributed to spreading these
       Israeli DESPICABLE LIES.
       The TRUTH that on October 7, 2023 MOST of the Israeli deaths
       were CAUSED by IDF helicopter and tank fire, AND NO Israelies
       were victims of sexual violence, needs to be REPEATED EVERY DAY
       UNTIL Israeli LIES about Hamas that day are totally exposed AND
       the DELIBERATE MURDER of MOST of the Israeli captives, along
       with their Hamas captors driving the 70 cars that were
       INCINERATED BY IDF Helicopters and tanks that day, can no longer
       be denied by Israel, the USA AND Europe!
       #Post#: 1777--------------------------------------------------
       Despite constant restrictions imposed on The Palestine
       Chronicle, we have managed to make it to the top ranking ...
   DIR By: AGelbert
       Date: February 16, 2024, 7:46 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
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       February 16, 2024 Articles, Features
       [center]
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       [move]Despite constant restrictions imposed on The Palestine
       Chronicle, we have managed to make it to the top ranking on
       various Google pages. (Image: Palestine Chronicle)[/move]
       [center]
  HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040622202540-1395150.gif<br
       />Defeating Censorship – How
  HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-221223124036-2627683.png<br
       />Climbed the Google Ladder to Reach Millions
  HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-080822141006-1726249.png
  HTML https://www.palestinechronicle.com/defeating-censorship-how-palestine-chronicle-climbed-the-google-ladder-to-reach-millions/[/center]
       [center]
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       I congratulate the Palestine Chronicle's staff. What they have
       achieved is significant.
       My experience has been similar, but I can't get past the shadow
       banning in you-tube comments. The shadow banning by Google et al
       is getting quite sophisticated. When I post certain words in a
       comment, I KNOW I get shadow banned because there are never any
       replies or down or up votes. Yet when I post on some YouTube
       video unrelated to the Israeli Genocide of Palestinians in Gaza
       OR Russia, I do get replies and up (or down) votes.
       &#128533; We are ruled by clever bastards.
       #Post#: 1799--------------------------------------------------
       Resisting Biden's Navalny Celebrating Legerdemain
   DIR By: AGelbert
       Date: February 23, 2024, 12:47 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       FEB 20, 2024 by &#128509; &#129413; SCOTT RITTER
  HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-120422122257-657398.png
       [center]The Tragic Death of a Traitor[/center]
       [center]Part One: Origins[/center]
       SNIPPETS (of DETAILED, HARD TRUTH FILLED, LENGTHY ARTICLE):
       Biden cast the blame for Navalny’s death squarely at the feet of
       Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Make no mistake. Putin is
       responsible for Navalny’s death. Putin is responsible. What has
       happened to Navalny is yet more proof of Putin’s brutality. No
       one should be fooled, not in Russia, not at home, not anywhere
       in the world.” Navalny, Biden said, “was so many things that
       Putin was not. He was brave. He was principled. He was dedicated
       to building a Russia where the rule of law existed and of where
       it applied to everybody. Navalny believed in that Russia, that
       Russia. He knew it was a cause worth fighting for, and obviously
       even dying for.”
       Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, addressed his death before the
       Munich Security Conference, with Vice President Kamala Harris
       and Secretary of State Antony Blinken in attendance. “I want
       Putin and his entire surrounding…Putin’s friends, his government
       [to] know – that they will have to pay for what they’ve done
       with our country, with my family, and my husband. And that day
       will come very soon," she declared, adding that “Vladimir Putin
       must be held accountable for all the horrors they are doing to
       my country, to our country – to Russia.”
       Similar outpourings of grief and support have emerged from the
       leaders and media of nations that have historically been aligned
       against Russia. Navalny, it seems, has been able to rally more
       support to his cause in death than he could while alive.
       Navalny has been elevated into near mythical status as the
       idealized symbol of “Russian democracy.”
       But the truth is far different. ... ...
       If United Russia could be denied its Duma majority, then Putin
       would not be able to serve as Prime Minister. And a United
       Russia defeat in the Duma elections in December 2007 could pave
       the way for a similar defeat in the presidential election in
       March 2008. For Kasparov, Gaidar, Navalny, and other leaders of
       the opposition, this was an opportunity to bring an end to what
       they viewed as the autocratic rule of Vladimir Putin.
       The promoters of “democratic reform” (i.e., regime change) in
       the State Department likewise believed this to be a unique
       opportunity for change. Already, US-funded “color revolutions”
       had swept aside autocratic governments in Serbia, Ukraine, and
       Georgia. The hope was that a similar “revolution” could be
       organized in Russia. One of the key elements for making this
       happen was making sure that the opposition groups received the
       funding necessary to enable their training and organization. In
       addition to the NED and its two affiliates, the NDI and IRI,
       money was dispatched to various NGOs and Russian individuals
       covertly, using the CIA and British Secret Intelligence Service
       (SIS).
       The CIA was also involved in identifying, grooming, recruiting
       and managing Russian political dissidents who could help
       implement the American regime change strategy which targeted
       Putin and his United Russia Party for the 2007-2008 election
       cycle. One such dissident was a Russian journalist named
       Yevgenia Albats.
       Albats graduated from Moscow State University in 1980 with a
       degree in journalism. She was the recipient of an Alfred
       Friendly fellowship which saw her assigned to the Chicago
       Tribune as a visiting journalist in 1990. Albats spent 1993 at
       Harvard University after winning a prestigious Nieman
       Fellowship, where she spent two semesters “auditing classes with
       some of the university’s greatest thinkers, participating in
       Nieman events and collaborating with peers.” ... ...
       Albats had been placed on the CIA’s radar through her Alfred
       Friendly fellowship. While at Harvard there is little doubt that
       she was further groomed—perhaps without her being cognizant that
       it was happening. ... ...
       Albats returned to Russia in 2004, after successfully defending
       her PhD thesis in political science. One of the first things
       Albats did was to turn her Moscow apartment into a political
       science parlor where she gathered young activists together for
       the purpose of organizing them into politically viable entities
       capable of impacting the upcoming Russian elections in
       2007-2008.
       One of these young activists she attracted was Alexei Navalny.
       The Albats-run political parlor sessions, which began in 2004,
       helped bring Navalny together with Maria Gaidar, and led to the
       creation of the Democratic Alternative organization, as well as
       Gary Kasparov (another member of the Albats parlor scene) and
       his United Civil Front movement. One of the goals of the parlor
       was to try and find a way to recreate in Russia the kind of
       youth movement that was created in 2004 in Ukraine that helped
       bring about the so-called Orange Revolution that prevented
       Viktor Yanukovich from becoming president. This movement, Pora,
       played an essential role in mobilizing opposition to Yanukovich.
       Albats and her team of aspiring political scientists conceived a
       Russian equivalent, which was called Oborona, or “defense.” The
       hope of Albats, Gaidar, Kasparov, and Navalny was that Oborona
       could serve as the impetus for the mobilization of the Russian
       youth to oust Vladimir Putin from power.
       As Albats worked to organize political dissent in Russia, the
       foundation of western support upon which Russian political
       opposition was built, namely the funding provided by
       non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) such as the NED, was
       exposed as being little more than a vehicle for the channeling
       of illicit foreign intelligence services. In the winter of
       2005-2006, the Russian Federal Security Service, or FSB, broke
       up a sophisticated ring run out of the British Embassy involving
       a so-called “spy rock”—a sophisticated digital communications
       platform disguised as a rock—which enabled British spies to
       communicate with their Russian agents without ever having to
       meet with them.
       The Russian agent would pass near the rock and, using a
       hand-held communication device like a Blackberry, download an
       electronic message onto a server contained inside the rock. The
       British spies would then approach the rock and, using the same
       kind of device, upload the message to their own device. The
       scheme was discovered when a British spy, unable to retrieve the
       message, approached the rock and gave it a few kicks to see if
       the system would work. This attracted the attention of the
  HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-080822134118-1710799.gifhttps://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040622153114-13801246.png<br
       />FSB officers following him, which led to the rock being
       &#129488; seized and evaluated. One &#128520; Russian citizen,
       said to be employed by a sensitive military industrial facility,
       was
  HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-080822141004-17211668.gif<br
       />arrested.
       [center]
  HTML https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F822fa583-64c9-46f2-b90d-333a01cd8d44_800x450.png[/center]
       The “Spy Rock” used by
  HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040622153114-13801246.png<br
       />British intelligence officers to covertly communicate with
  HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040622153114-13801246.png<br
       />Russian agents.
       But the most surprising aspect of the data retrieved from the
       “spy rock” was the fact that at least one of the British spies
       was using the device to transmit [b]information about how
  HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040622210450-1415528.gif<br
       />various NGOs could access covert
  HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040922144518.gif<br
       />funds being provided by the British government. [/b]Persons
       from
       the NGOs in question, who had been issued similar devices to
       those used by their British masters, would download these
       instructions from the “rock.” Based upon the intelligence
       gathered from the captured server, the FSB was able to inform
       the Russian leadership about the specific NGOs involved in these
       illicit transactions. All in all, 12 Russian &#128520;
       NGOs—including the Committee Against Torture, the Center for
       Development of Democracy, the Eurasia Foundation, and the Moscow
       Helsinki Group—were identified as receiving the &#128176;
       illicit funds, which were administered as part of the British
       Foreign Office’s Global
  HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040622210450-1415528.gif<br
       />Opportunities Fund.
       In the aftermath of the “spy rock” scandal, the Russian
       government moved to create a new law on NGOs that imposed harsh
       conditions on the registration and operation of NGOs,
       effectively banning any NGO involved in politics from receiving
       foreign funding. While the NGOs impacted by this new law, which
       took effect in April 2006, denied any wrongdoing, they
       acknowledged that the impact of the law would be to stifle
       dissent before the 2007 Duma elections and the 2008 presidential
       race.
       Despite the crackdown on the British-affiliated NGOs, the
       Albats-run “political parlor” continued to aggressively try to
       coalesce a viable opposition effort in Russia. Egged on by
       Albats and her theories about the political potential of ethnic
       nationalism, in 2007 Navalny co-founded the democratic
       nationalist National Russian Liberation Movement, an umbrella
       organization which attracted far-right, ultranationalist
       movements. The ideology of these groups is perhaps best
       explained by Navalny’s efforts in coopting them to his cause.
       Navalny made two videos during this time as a means of
       introducing the new party to a larger Russian public. The first
       video had Navalny comparing Muslims in Russia to pests and ended
       with Navalny shooting a Muslim with a handgun, then declaring
       that pistols were to Muslims like flyswatters and slippers were
       to flies and cockroaches. &#128064; &#128544; The second video
       had Navalny comparing interethnic conflict to dental cavities
       &#129318;&#8205;&#9794;&#65039;, implying that the only solution
       was extraction.
       [center]
  HTML https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc8be2a04-c8d2-44c4-92c0-299cf97f280f_792x366.png[/center]
       Alexei Navalny in a 2007 video where he likens Muslims to
       cockroaches who should be shot.
       Navalny was kicked out of Yabloko in the summer of 2007, his
       affiliation with far-right wing Russian nationalism a bridge too
       far for the neo-liberal political party. But before his falling
       out, Navalny was able to make an impression on his underwriters.
       In March 2007 Navalny participated in the so-called “Dissenter’s
       March,” walking side-by-side with one of the major organizers of
       the protest, Gary Kasparov.
       In the aftermath of the Russian crackdown on foreign funding for
       NGOs, Kasparov had turned to a network of Russian oligarchs
       operating out of London, where they colluded with the British
       Secret Intelligence Service to fund political opposition in
       Russia. The leader of this effort was the Russian oligarch Boris
       Berezovsky, who had founded a non-profit organization, the
       International Foundation for Civil Liberties, which served as a
       front to accomplish Berezovsky’s publicly stated mission of
       bringing down Putin “by force” or by bloodless revolution.  ...
       ...
       Albats’ influence on Navalny was discernable. Later, when
       explaining why he had embraced right-wing nationalism, Navalny’s
       response sounded like it could have been lifted from Albats’
       Harvard doctoral thesis. ... ...
       The 2007-2008 election cycle represented a devastating defeat
       for the political opponents of Vladimir Putin and their western
       supporters. For Navalny, however, it was liberating—he had grown
       weary of the constant infighting and jostling for power within
       the ranks of Russia’s political opposition. Instead, Navalny
       began to pour himself into his new passion—"shareholder
       activism.” ... ...
       For the better part of the next year, Alexei Navalny focused on
       his work with the Minority Shareholders Association, which he
       publicly chronicled through his LiveJournal blog. Navalny was
       still a relatively unknown person in Russia, but his David
       versus Goliath approach toward uncovering corruption was
       starting to attract the attention of government officials and
       political junkies alike. Some people accused Navalny, through
       his shareholder activism, of simply running a giant grift,
       exposing corruption to extort payouts from the targeted
       entities. Others questioned how he was able to pay for all of
       his work, suggesting that he was being underwritten by entities
       who did not have the best interests of the Russian government in
       mind.
       Others worried about his security. Navalny spoke about this
       aspect of his life with a journalist in the winter of 2009,
       noting that his fears revolved around being arrested “or in the
       worst-case scenario with someone quietly having me killed.”
       Before he had left Kirov, Alexei Navalny met with Maria Gaidar
       to discuss his future. Gaidar had been a part of the political
       science parlor run by Yevgenia Albats, and shared the opinion
       expressed by Albats and Gary Kasparov that Navalny had potential
       as an activist but lacked the kind of political refinement
       needed to break out on the national stage. Gaidar was aware of
       the Yale World Fellows Program, and strongly encouraged Navalny
       to apply. ... ...
       Albats turned to her Yale connections, and put Navalny in touch
       with Oleg Tsyvinsky, a Yale economics professor, who helped
       guide Navalny through the application process. Navalny was put
       in touch with Maxim Trudolyubov, an editor with the
       well-regarded Vedomosti business daily and an alumni of the Yale
       World Fellow Program, Class of 2009. Trudolyubov used his
       connections to have Vedomosti name Navalny its “Private
       Individual of the Year” for 2009, helping firm up his resumé.
       ... ...
       On April 28, 2010, Alexei Navalny made the following
       announcement in his LiveJournal blog:
       “Girls and Boys, I was lucky enough to get into the Yale World
       fellows program at Yale University. It was not easy, the
       competition was something like 1000 people for 15 places.
       Therefore, I will spend the second half of 2010 in the city of
       New Haven, Connecticut.” ... ...
       In early August, Navalny, his wife Yulia, and their two children
       left Moscow for New Haven. There, a new world order beckoned
       that would forever change, and eventually cost, Navalny’s life.
       Full article:
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       />
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  HTML https://www.scottritterextra.com/p/the-tragic-death-of-a-traitor
       #Post#: 1803--------------------------------------------------
       Resisting Hasbara Bold Faced LIES Demonizing Hamas
   DIR By: AGelbert
       Date: February 24, 2024, 8:39 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       [center]The Black Dress: Unveiling the Truth about
  HTML https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-201219195017.png,<br
       />Sexual Assault on October 7[/center]
       [center]
  HTML https://youtu.be/BiZzuroQbX0[/center]
  HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-221223124036-2627683.png<br
       />TV 3.16K subscribers 400 7,712 views Premiered Feb 20, 2024
       While sexual assaults on Palestinian women are as old as the
       Israeli war on the Palestinians, starting during the years of
       the Nakba - the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948 - there is
       little evidence that Palestinians utilized sexual violence in
       their struggle against the Israeli occupation.
       Yet, on December 28, the US’ so-called newspaper of record, The
       New York Times, claimed, in a supposedly comprehensive report
       entitled ‘Screams without Words: How Hamas Weaponized Sexual
       Violence on Oct. 7’, that Israeli women were
  HTML https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/styles/renewablerevolution/files/5482_label%20for%20the%20word%20rape.pngd<br
       />on October 7. The report was first published digitally on
       December 28, then in print on December 31.
       Two leading Palestinian media organizations, The Palestine
       Chronicle and Friends of Palestine Network, conducted a joint
       investigation, based on media reports, in addition to historical
       and political analyses.
       The outcome of their investigation resulted in the launch of
       ‘The Black Dress’, an 18-minute documentary looking into The New
       York Times allegations and the possible falsification of
       evidence regarding what has truly transpired on October 7.
       #Post#: 1806--------------------------------------------------
       Part Two: Scott Ritter and the Russian 'Path of Redemption'
   DIR By: AGelbert
       Date: February 25, 2024, 12:14 am
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       FEB 23, 2024 by &#128509; &#129413; SCOTT RITTER
  HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-120422122257-657398.png
       [center]Scott Ritter and the Russian 'Path of
       Redemption'[/center]
       [center]Part Two: The Resurrection of Crimea[/center]
       SNIPPET:
       [move][b]Deliberate neglect, followed by a blockade and now war
       have failed to break the resolve of the peninsula’s
       inhabitants.[/move]
       As the Russian military operation against Ukraine approaches its
       third year, the focus on the ongoing conflict has allowed
       another anniversary to go relatively unnoticed – it’s now around
       ten years since the violent events in Kiev’s Maidan Square that
       put in motion the circumstances which precipitated the current
       conflict.
       Over the course of five days, from February 18 to 23, 2014,
       neo-Nazi provocateurs from the Svoboda (All Ukrainian Union
       ‘Freedom’) Party and the Right Sector, a coalition of far-right
       Ukrainian nationalists who follow the political teachings of
       Stepan Bandera and the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists,
       engaged in targeted violence against the government of President
       Viktor Yanukovich. It was designed to remove him from power and
       replace him with a new, US-backed government. They were
       successful; Yanukovich fled to Russia on February 23, 2014.
       Soon thereafter, the predominantly Russian-speaking population
       of Crimea undertook actions to separate from the new Ukrainian
       nationalist government in Kiev. On March 16, 2014, the
       Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, both
       of which at that time were legally considered to be part of
       Ukraine, held a referendum on whether to join Russia or remain
       part of Ukraine. Over 97% of the votes cast were in favor of
       joining Russia. Five days later, on March 21, Crimea formally
       became part of the Russian Federation.
       [center]
  HTML https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcf4ba052-0de3-4c49-a0a4-ada6c105978f_759x505.png[/center]
       The Northern Crimea Canal after Ukraine blocked the water
       supply.
       Shortly afterwards, Ukraine built a concrete dam on the North
       Crimean Canal, a Soviet-era conduit transporting water from the
       Dnieper River that provided around 85% of the peninsula’s water
       supply. In doing so, Ukraine effectively destroyed Crimea’s
       agricultural industry. Then, in November 2015, Ukrainian
       nationalists blew up pylons carrying power lines from Ukraine to
       Crimea, thrusting the peninsula into a blackout that prompted a
       declaration of emergency by the regional government.
       The Ukrainian assault on Crimea’s water and electricity was
       merely an extension of the lack of regard shown to the Crimean
       population during the two-plus decades that Kiev ruled the
       peninsula. The local economy was stagnant, and the pro-Russian
       locals were subjected to a policy of total Ukrainization. In
       general, the Gross Regional Product (GRP) of Crimea was well
       below the average of Ukraine (43.6% less in 2000, and 29.5% less
       in 2013). In short, the Kiev government made no meaningful
       attempt to develop Crimea culturally or infrastructurally. The
       Crimean Peninsula was in a state of decay perpetrated by
       Ukrainian governments.
       The damming of the North Crimean Canal and the destruction of
       the electrical transmission lines were simply the radical
       expression of the indifference shown by Kiev.
       Scott Ritter will discuss this article and answer audience
       questions on Ep. 138 of Ask the Inspector.
       [center]
  HTML https://youtu.be/HfHmehZADEg[/center]
       In the years that followed the return of the peninsula to
       Russian control, there has been a gradual improvement in the
       economy of Crimea. The Russian government undertook a $680
       million program to bolster water supplies which involved
       repairing long-neglected infrastructure, drilling wells, adding
       storage capacity, and building desalination plants. While this
       effort wasn’t sufficient to save much of Crimea’s agriculture,
       it did provide for the basic needs of the population. The
       Russian government also constructed the Crimean ‘Energy Bridge,’
       laying down several undersea energy cables across the Kerch
       Strait that effectively compensated for the loss of power
       brought on by the destruction of the Ukrainian power lines.
       [center]
  HTML https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8f4d270a-dee0-4922-94c6-6e35646ff457_780x439.png[/center]
       The Crimean Bridge at night.
       But the greatest symbol of Russia’s commitment to the people of
       Crimea was the construction of a $3.7 billion, 19-kilometer-long
       road-and-rail bridge connecting Krasnodar Region in southern
       Russia with the Crimean Peninsula. The bridge is the longest in
       Europe. Construction began in 2016, and it was opened for car
       traffic in a little more than two years. It has become a symbol
       of pride for the Russian people and their leadership; President
       Vladimir Putin personally drove across the bridge during its
       formal opening ceremony in 2018. The rail line was opened to
       passenger traffic in 2019, and freight traffic in 2020. The
       construction of the Crimean Bridge coincided with the building
       of the Tavrida Highway, a 250-kilometer, $2.5 billion four-lane
       road connecting the Crimean Bridge with the cities of Sevastopol
       and Simferopol. Construction of the road began in 2017 and is
       still ongoing.
       From 2014 to 2022, Crimea saw its population grow by more than
       200,000 (from 2.28 million to nearly 2.5 million) as families
       forced to flee from Ukrainian oppression arrived, and other
       Russians were attracted by the business opportunities that came
       with Crimea’s economic revival. With the population surge came
       new investments by the Russian government in schools, roads,
       hospitals, and power stations. Tourism flourished as Russians
       flocked to the beaches of the Crimean coast. A modern airport
       was built in Simferopol to help manage the flow of visitors.
       Life in Crimea was looking up.
       And then came the war.
       Full article:
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       #Post#: 1861--------------------------------------------------
       Resisting ANTI-IRAN Brainwashing Propaganda
   DIR By: AGelbert
       Date: March 12, 2024, 4:06 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
  HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-201023132226.png
       MARCH 8, 2024
       BY &#128509; JU-HYUN PARK AND &#128509; MAXIMILLIAN ALVAREZ
       &#128367;&#65039; Rania Khalek is a Middle East-based journalist
       for Breakthrough News where she hosts the show Dispatches. Her
       work has also appeared at The Intercept, Truthout, Fairness and
       Accuracy in Reporting, Al Jazeera, The Nation, Salon, AlterNet,
       Vice and more.
       &#128367;&#65039; Nima Shirazi is the cohost of Citations
       Needed, a podcast on the media, power, and politics.
       SNIPPET:
       Nima Shirazi:  I’m the worst. It’s the anti-capitalist in me.
       But I will leave us with this, describing media coverage of Iran
       at the time of the hostage crisis – Late ’79 and throughout 1980
       – Edward Said wrote this about the way that the media was
       covering things. He wrote, “Cliches, caricatures, ignorance,
       unqualified ethnocentrism, and inaccuracy were inordinately
       evident” in the media that he was seeing about Iran.
       Full Podcast and transcript:
       [center]
  HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040622202545-13961729.png<br
       /> &#128266; DEMYSTIFYING IRAN AND THE ‘RESISTANCE AXIS’
  HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-110422180554-644315.gif
  HTML https://therealnews.com/demystifying-iran-and-the-resistance-axis[/center]
       #Post#: 1867--------------------------------------------------
       Part Three: The Bittersweet Birth of New Russia
   DIR By: AGelbert
       Date: March 13, 2024, 2:42 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       AGelbert NOTE: I added some map graphics to Scott's article
       below to help readers &#129488; understand why Russia feels
       entitled to Novorossiya territories (i.e. Kharkov, Lugansk,
       Donetsk, Kherson, Mikolayiv and Odessa).
       March 13, 2024 by &#128509; &#129413; SCOTT RITTER
  HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-120422122257-657398.png
       [center]Scott Ritter and the Russian 'Path of
       Redemption'[/center]
       [center]Part Three: The Bittersweet Birth of New Russia[/center]
       [move]In my recent trip to Russia, I visited the “New
       Territories” of the Russian Federation and witnessed firsthand
       their struggle for identity and survival.[/move]
       [center]
  HTML https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0bc051ed-66f9-4748-a5d0-b59f062dca52_780x439.png[/center]
       The author (left) looks over a map of Kherson with Governor of
       Kherson, Vladimir Saldo (right)
       SNIPPET:
       Tucker Carlson’s confused exasperation over Russian President
       Vladmir Putin’s extemporaneous history lesson at the start of
       their landmark interview, which was aired on February 9, 2024
       (and which has since been seen by more than a billion people
       worldwide), underscored the reality that, for a western
       audience, the question of the historical bona fides of Russia’s
       claim of sovereign interest in territories located on the left
       bank of the Dnieper River, and which are currently claimed by
       Ukraine, is confusing to the point of incomprehension (for the
       cartographically challenged, the determination of what
       constitutes the “left” and “right” banks of a river is
       determined by the direction of flow of the river; the Dnieper
       River flows from the north to the south, and as such the “left”
       bank is the land located to the east of the Dnieper River).
       Vladimir Putin, however, did not manufacture his history lesson
       from thin air. Anyone who followed the speeches and writings of
       the Russian President over the years would have found his
       comments to Mr. Carlson quite familiar, echoing both in tone and
       content previous statements made concerning both the viability
       of the Ukrainian state from a historic perspective, and the
       historical ties between what Putin has called Novorossiya (New
       Russia) and the Russian nation.
       Scott Ritter discussed this article on Ep. 143 of Ask the
       Inspector.
       [center]
  HTML https://youtu.be/0sKr76a3hhA[/center]
       For example, on March 18, 2014, during his announcement
       regarding the annexation of Crimea, the Russian President
       observed that “After the [Russian] Revolution [of 1917], for a
       number of reasons the Bolsheviks—let God judge them—added
       historical sections of the south of Russia to the Republic of
       Ukraine. This was done with no consideration for the ethnic
       composition of the population, and these regions today form the
       south-east of Ukraine.”
       Later during a televised question and answer session, Putin
       declared that “what was called Novorossiya back in tsarist
       days—Kharkov, Lugansk, Donetsk, Kherson, Mikolayiv and
       Odessa—were not part of Ukraine then.
       [center]
  HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-130324162246.png[/center]
       [size=14pt]These territories were given to Ukraine in the 1920s
       by the Soviet Government. Why? Who knows? They were won by
       Potemkin and Catherine the Great in a series of well-known wars.
       The center of that territory was Novorossiysk, so the region is
       called Novorossiya. Russia lost these territories for various
       reasons, but the people remained.”
       [center]
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       [center]
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       Vladimir Putin arrives to address the Russian Parliament about
       Crimea, March 14, 2014
       Novorossiya wasn’t just a construct of Vladimir Putin’s psyche,
       but rather a notion drawn from historic fact that resonated with
       the people who populated the territories so encompassed.
       Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was an
       abortive effort by pro-Russian citizens of the new Ukrainian
       state to restore Novorossiya as an independent region which
       would initially encompass Odessa, Mykolaiv, Kherson, and Crimea,
       with the possibility of later expanding into other regions, such
       as Zaporizhia, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kharkov.
       While this effort failed, the concept of a greater Novorossiya
       confederation was revived in May 2014 by the newly proclaimed
       Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics. But this effort, too,
       was short lived, being put on ice in 2015. This, however, did
       not mean the death of the idea of Novorossiya. On February 21,
       2022, Vladimir Putin delivered a lengthy address to the Russian
       nation on the eve of his decision to send Russian troops into
       Ukraine as part of what he termed a Special Military Operation.
       Those who watched Tucker Carlson’s February 9, 2024 interview
       with Putin would have been struck by the similarity between the
       two presentations.
       While Putin did not make a direct reference to Novorossiya, he
       did outline fundamental historic and cultural linkages which
       serve as the foundation for any discussion about the viability
       and legitimacy of Novorossiya in the context of
       Russian-Ukrainian relations. “I would like to emphasize,” Putin
       said, “once again that Ukraine is not just a neighboring country
       for us. It is an integral part of our own history, culture, and
       spiritual space. It is our friends, our relatives, not only
       colleagues, friends, and former work colleagues, but also our
       relatives and close family members. Since the oldest times,”
       Putin continued, “the inhabitants of the south-western
       historical territories of ancient Russia have called themselves
       Russians and Orthodox Christians. It was the same in the 17th
       century, when a part of these territories [i.e., Novorossiya]
       was reunited with the Russian state, and even after that.”
       The Russian President set forth his contention that the modern
       state of Ukraine was an invention of Vladimir Lenin, the
       founding father of the Soviet Union. “As a result of Bolshevik
       policy,” Putin stated, “Soviet Ukraine arose, which even today
       can with good reason be called ‘Vladimir Ilyich Lenin’s
       Ukraine.’ He is its author and architect. This is fully
       confirmed by archive documents.”
  HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-050422145344-560693.png
       [center]
  HTML https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F037c996a-28bb-4d91-9802-0c91625b8014_774x516.png[/center]
       Ukrainian protesters topple a statue of Lenin in Kharkov,
       January 2015
       Putin went on to issue a threat which, when seen in the context
       of the present, proved ominously prescient. “And now grateful
       descendants have demolished monuments to Lenin in Ukraine. This
       is what they call decommunization. Do you want decommunization?
       Well, that suits us just fine. But it is unnecessary, as they
       say, to stop halfway. We are ready to show you what real
       decommunization means for Ukraine.”
       Full article:
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