Breaking Through the Media Fog on Ukraine, MH17 and Cold War 2.0

Global Research News Hour Episode 144

By Michael Welch, Robert Parry, and Roger Annis

Global Research, May 29, 2016

Theme: GLOBAL RESEARCH NEWS HOUR, Media Disinformation

“Whatever the truth about the MH-17 shoot-down, the tragedy has proven to be worth its weight in propaganda gold against Russia and Putin, even as the U.S. government hides the actual proof that might show exactly who was responsible.” [1] –Robert Parry

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Length (59:17)

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Over the past two years, since the previous government of President Yanukovych was essentially overthrown, the East and South of Ukraine has been ravaged by a civil war. [2]

A government in Kiev, including some neo-Nazi elements had taken power. [3]The people in Crimea and in the region known as the Donbass responded by attempting to distance themselves from the new regime.

In the case of Crimea, this was done through a referendum to rejoin Russia. In the Eastern and Southern regions of Ukraine, a popular resistance, dubbed “Russian-backed rebels” was formed.[4]

Determined to assert its authority, the Ukrainian government elected to use military force to subdue the resistance resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands and the displacement of millions. [5][6]

Efforts to mitigate the death toll and arrive at some sort of ceasefire have been put in place. The current peace agreement known as Minsk II has not as yet ended the violence and bloodshed. However, accountable authorities such as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have been monitoring the situation. [7]

Throughout the crisis, there has been a failure on the part of the Western media to accurately report on the situation. The coverage of the conflict is invariably skewed to portray Russia’s President Vladmir Putin as dictatorial and imperialistic.

In early May, South Front reported on increased shelling of areas in the 15 kilometre heavy weapons exclusion zone separating the combatants. Foreign mercenaries and paramilitaries, including Neo-Nazi volunteers from Poland and Austria have been observed alongside Ukrainian Armed Forces in the exclusion zone. What is more, during the period from December 2015 to February 2016, the UAF have been seizing towns and settlements in the zone, consolidating their positions and suggestive of an upcoming summer offensive.[8]

And within the last week of May, a controversial prisoner swap transpired in which Russian citizens Evgeny Erofeev and Aleksandr Aleksndrov were pardoned from a 14 year sentence and released in exchange for the pardon and release of Ukrainian paramilitary Nadya Saravchenko. [9]

On this week’s Global Research News Hour we return to eastern Ukraine with a long overdue update and assessment of events in the Donbass and in Crimea and of the propaganda campaign obscuring them from view.

In the first half hour, the renowned investigative journalist Robert Parry provides his take on the propaganda campaign and information black-out enabling US-NATO aggression in the region. In particular, he talks about the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 as a critical turning point in the so-called “Anti-Terrorism Operation” in Donbass. He also explains some important omissions in the official investigation that should cause the Western world to think twice about what they think they know about that incident.

In the second half hour, Vancouver-based writer and peace activist Roger Annis opens up about the present situation and corrects some of the impressions put forward by Kiev friendly activists and media about the Russian “occupation” of Crimea, the turmoil in Eastern Ukraine and the above-mentioned prisoner swap.

Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories for Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s, and is a founder of and contributor to the on-line investigative newsmagazine consortiumnews.com. He is also the author of America’s Stolen Narrative from Barnes and Noble.

Roger Annis is a socialist and retired aerospace worker, and a long-time champion for peace and social justice causes.He’s a contributing editor at the website New Cold War and his articles have appeared at rabble.ca, counterpunch.org, Global Research and his own website: rogerannis.com.

LISTEN TO THE SHOW

Length (59:17)

Click to download the audio (MP3 format)

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