I’m confused, can anyone help me?
I’m confused. A few weeks ago we were told in the West that people occupying government buildings in Ukraine was a very good thing. These people, we were told by our political leaders and elite media commentators, were ‘pro-democracy protestors’.
The US government warned the Ukrainian authorities against using force against these ‘pro-democracy protestors’ even if, according to the pictures we saw, some of them were neo-Nazis who were throwing Molotov cocktails and other things at the police and smashing up statues and setting fire to buildings.
Now, just a few weeks later, we’re told that people occupying government buildings in Ukraine are not ‘pro-democracy protestors’ but ‘terrorists’ or ‘militants’.
Why was the occupation of government buildings in Ukraine a very good thing in January, but it is a very bad thing in April? Why was the use of force by the authorities against protestors completely unacceptable in January, but acceptable now? I repeat: I’m confused. Can anyone help me?
Pro-Russian activists gather outside the secret service building in the eastern Ukrainian city of Lugansk on April 14, 2014. (AFP Photo / Dimitar Dilkoff)
The anti-government protestors in Ukraine during the winter received visits from several prominent Western politicians, including US Senator John McCain, and Victoria Nuland, from the US State Department, who handed out cookies. But there have been very large anti-government protests in many Western European countries in recent weeks, which have received no such support, either from such figures or from elite Western media commentators. Nor have protestors received free cookies from officials at the US State Department.
Surely if they were so keen on anti-government street protests in Europe, and regarded them as the truest form of ‘democracy’, McCain and Nuland would also be showing solidarity with street protestors in Madrid, Rome, Athens and Paris? I’m confused. Can anyone help me?
A thousand people gather in front of fences blocking the street leading to the Spain’s parliament (Las Cortes) during an anti-government demonstration in Madrid (AFP Photo / Javier Soriano)
A few weeks ago I saw an interview with the US Secretary of State John Kerry who said, “You just don’t invade another country on phony pretexts in order to assert your interests.” But I seem to recall the US doing just that on more than one occasion in the past 20 years or so.
Have I misremembered the ‘Iraq has WMDs claim’? Was I dreaming back in 2002 and early 2003 when politicians and neocon pundits came on TV every day to tell us plebs that we had to go to war with Iraq because of the threat posed by Saddam’s deadly arsenal? Why is having a democratic vote in Crimea on whether to rejoin Russia deemed worse than the brutal, murderous invasion of Iraq – an invasion which has led to the deaths of up to 1 million people? I’m confused. Can anyone help me?
We were also told by very serious-looking Western politicians and media ‘experts’ that the Crimea referendum wasn’t valid because it was held under “military occupation.” But I’ve just been watching coverage of elections in Afghanistan, held under military occupation, which have been hailed by leading western figures, such as NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen as a “historic moment for Afghanistan” and a great success for “democracy.” Why is the Crimean vote dismissed, but the Afghanistan vote celebrated? I’m confused. Can anyone help me?
An Afghan policeman keeps watch as Afghan voters line up to vote at a local polling station in Ghazni on April 5, 2014. (AFP Photo / Rahmatullah Alizadah)
Syria too is rather baffling. We were and are told that radical Islamic terror groups pose the greatest threat to our peace, security and our ‘way of life’ in the West. That Al-Qaeda and other such groups need to be destroyed: that we needed to have a relentless ‘War on Terror’ against them. Yet in Syria, our leaders have been siding with such radical groups in their war against a secular government which respects the rights of religious minorities, including Christians.
When the bombs of Al-Qaeda or their affiliates go off in Syria and innocent people are killed there is no condemnation from our leaders: their only condemnation has been of the secular Syrian government which is fighting radical Islamists and which our leaders and elite media commentators are desperate to have toppled. I’m confused. Can anyone help me?
Then there’s gay rights. We are told that Russia is a very bad and backward country because it has passed a law against promoting homosexuality to minors. Yet our leaders who boycotted the Winter Olympics in Sochi because of this law visit Gulf states where homosexuals can be imprisoned or even executed, and warmly embrace the rulers there, making no mention of the issue of gay rights.
Surely the imprisonment or execution of gay people is far worse than a law which forbids promotion of homosexuality to minors? Why, if they are genuinely concerned about gay rights, do our leaders attack Russia and not countries that imprison or execute gay people? I’m confused. Can anyone help me?
US President Barack Obama shakes hands with King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia (AFP Photo / Saul Loeb)
We are told in lots of newspaper articles that the Hungarian ultra-nationalist party Jobbik is very bad and that its rise is a cause of great concern, even though it is not even in the government, or likely to be. But neo-Nazis and ultra-nationalists do hold positions in the new government of Ukraine, which our leaders in the West enthusiastically support and neo-Nazis and the far-right played a key role in the overthrow of Ukraine’s democratically elected government in February, a ‘revolution’ cheered on by the West. Why are ultra-nationalists and far-right groups unacceptable in Hungary but very acceptable in Ukraine? I’m confused. Can anyone help me?
Chairman of the far-right parliamentary JOBBIK (Better) party Gabor Vona (C) reacts for the result of the parliamentary election with his party members at Budapest Congress Center in Budapest on April 6, 2014. (AFP Photo / Peter Kohalmi)
We are told that Russia is an aggressive, imperialist power and that NATO’s concerns are about opposing the Russian ‘threat’. But I looked at the map the other day and while I could see lots of countries close to (and bordering) Russia that were members of NATO, the US-led military alliance whose members have bombed and attacked many countries in the last 15 years, I could not see any countries close to America that were part of a Russian-military alliance, or any Russian military bases or missiles situated in foreign countries bordering or close to the US. Yet Russia, we are told, is the ‘aggressive one’. I’m confused. Can anyone help me?
Source: Russia Today
The article forgot to mention Portugal when refering about the west street protestors. In my opinion Ukraine are living the “American dream” and the “european dream” – We all already lived that dream ,not anymore…but it´s the kind of thing that they have to learn for theirselves,it´s like giving advices to a teenager in love(it doesn´t work),so let it be… If russia is not a dream ,the west are becoming a real nightmare.The Ukranians are living a dream where the definition of democracy is very diferent now than what it was before or maybe we were just too blind to see it, in reality they will learn latter the price to pay for that called “democracy”or “union” . I think that USA will fall in the future cause is in a descedent curve of credibility ,it will be giving more points to Russia among western people,maybe except the americans that hate the comunists that look so much like them in so many ways.The nonsense and contradition used by western countries are becoming to much visible at the eyes of populations of all countries,specially European Union.Everything western leaders promess in elections they do exactly the oposite so, can anyone help me too? is this a Democracy?liers are democratics aftherall?so people are stoping to vote(an huger mistake,they should vote in a oposition force to always winning bigger parties).And for what i can see in my country this is far from a democracy as Europeans of a Union.They are just helping the banques and big corporations but the most funny thing is that we voted on rigth parties that are saling our country to chinese government, Angola government,Brasil big groups,making deals with Cuba and i think is about to do with Russians too ,can you help on this too? is this a non comunist government or what?we´ve being ruled by the worst ideologies from the fascists and the worst from the comunists all together in one(a mixture) .so i just realized there´s no ideologies anymore cause the only ideology is their interests so everything makes sense so i guess the writer of this article found the scheem of our world leaders.The russian and chinese are becoming fascists in what their interests are with the west,and the Americans and Europeans are becoming comunists in subjects of their interests such as controling the people or puting us as only a mass of workers with low salaries(such as China that western countries criticized once because of human rights) .For instance freedom and democracy or our own self enterprise as individual became controled in all of the aspects of our lifes to the hands of big groups and the governments ,only these groups are aloud to survive in this world and of having the American dream all for them and consequently we will be dizimized like the Americans did to indians(so democratic they were since the begining) and just made other countries to leave their Empires while they have Empires everywhere by the military force they seem to just want to be them to have in order to control the Globe.Russia and China have the same mentality of USA and many more would come to join these paranoics and end the world someday.European Union is just the extended arm of USA so what to expect if not all these political events that are very well reminded in this article?In one day they are shaking the hand of a Kadafi or Osama family or Sadam or whoever and in the next day they are killing them on public TVs as some kind of freaky show for us to assist on our sofás.Is this to make anyone sane or to believe in democracies?
Might help to imagine the world as a chess board where everyone except the super powers are the pawns. Some are more valuable than others but this changes as the game progresses. Rewards come through a pyramid scheme. Pawns and all pieces have value remaining or becoming part of the scheme furthering the players climb toward the top. Incidentally this pyramid scheme logo is on the dollar bill, a concealed joke. Whoever has the highest credits on the pyramid gets to run their own space program. No side is allowed to win because the bank owns the chess board.