Russia-Ukraine War: Narratives vs. Reality

by Kevin Barrett, for Crescent International’s January issue (posted here for my Substack subscribers only)

Since Russia’s war in Ukraine began last February, consumers of Western media have been inundated by a nonstop barrage of propaganda hammering out endless variations on three main themes: Russia is evil! Ukraine is good! Ukraine is winning! From the “heroic Ukrainian martyrs of Snake Island” (who, as it turned out, surrendered to the Russians to save their lives) to the “ghost of Kiev who shot down countless Russian planes” (a complete fabrication) to the “Russian attack on a Mariupol maternity hospital” (a PR stunt staged by Ukrainian forces) to more recent stories claiming “Putin fell down the stairs and soiled his pants” (which sounds more like something that might happen to Biden) Western mainstream media is pushing the propaganda into Orwellian overdrive.

People in denial about unpleasant realities tend to wax hysterical. That seems to be what’s driving the ever-more-manic, shrill, unhinged tone of Western mainstream reporting on Ukraine. The louder the headlines scream that Russia is suffering defeat after defeat and will completely collapse as soon as Putin dies of cancer, the more obvious it becomes that Russia is winning, Ukraine is doomed, and the declining US empire is approaching the precipice.

According to Anglo-Zionist media, Russia is always suffering stupendous casualties and has always ever run out of ammunition and missiles. Their situation is hopeless. It is only a matter of hours, perhaps a few days at most, till Putin keels over dead and the Russian Federation implodes.

The reality, discernible in the writings and interviews of such independent analysts as Col. Douglas Macgregor, Larry Johnson, and Andrei Martyanov, is starkly different.