^ The Nation Magazine’s journalistic twin
No, I’ve not become an unabashed supporter of Marine Le Pen. And I am not in love with Putin’s conservatism in every respect. But the thing is, when truth is trashed by the neo-liberal left, it should be exposed equally as to any truths trashed by the neo-conservative right. Where Putin, Le Pen and Farage stand head and shoulders above Obama, Hollande, Cameron and Merkel is, Putin, Le Pen and Farage have some degree of principled ethics which are actually meant to be put into practice, as opposed to the political lies of the western political personalities and pundits, so easily and naturally expressed (and exposed I might add.)
The so-called ‘left-liberal-progressive’ “NATION” magazine has become, over this past decade, a shameless disinformation yellow sheet (or ‘rag’) little better than the “National Enquirer” in respect to factual reporting. Hosting guests such as Zbigniew Brzezinski, and with columnists such as Robert ‘Bob’ Dreyfuss, recalls George Orwell…
“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which”
…considering the neo-liberal foreign policy wonks cannot be distinguished from the neo-conservative, let alone distinguish for themselves the difference between a legitimate conservative and a Nazi. I had already dealt with Brzezinski’s geopolitical lies and now it is Dreyfuss turn. Dreyfuss opens his 30 May 2014 column at The Nation with:
“The scary fascists who, according to Russia, have taken over Ukraine since the “coup d’état” and ousted the former president didn’t do too well. Who did do well were the actual scary fascists in Western Europe who were supported by, well, Russia. According to one report:
“”The supposed reservoirs of reactionary thinking in Western Ukraine generated an embarrassing 1 percent of the vote for Oleh Tyagnibok of ultra-nationalist Svoboda Party and less than 1 percent for Dmitry Yarosh of the new Right Sector party that sprung up during the protests. A story run by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency notes that Tyagnibok and Yarosh together received fewer votes than Vadim Rabinovich, a Jewish candidate who captured a little over 2 percent of the ballots””
“There’s no doubt that Svoboda and Right Sector are bad actors. But the overweening propaganda from Moscow claiming that Kiev is being ruled by “fascists” is now proved to be ridiculous. (Not that Moscow’s propaganda since the Ukraine crisis erupted has been anything but ridiculous, starting with its claims that it wasn’t invading Crimea and its claims that it isn’t secretly behind the eruption of ersatz “people’s republics” in Eastern Ukraine’s Donets Basin region.)”
This sort of drivel is why I’d long since cancelled my subscription to The Nation. In fact Svoboda still has 37 seats in parliament and five ministries in the CIA supported, putsch installed regime in Kiev. But somehow Dreyfuss would have us all believe one recently elected candy oligarch, who has not dropped a line coming from the authentic fascists holding Parliament and larger government hostage in Kiev, is a substitute for Fall elections, before we can know the rest of the story. At the pace things are moving in Ukraine, Fall is a very long ways off.
And then Dreyfuss goes on:
“Meanwhile, the elections for the European Parliament—admittedly, a weak institution—reflect a troubling shift toward right-wing, fascist-leaning and ultra-nationalist politics in several European countries, including France and Great Britain. While some left-leaning parties did well, too, the biggest gains were made by parties such as the UK Independence Party, France’s National Front and a pair of far-right Greek parties. As I wrote in this space on May 21, Russia has formed an anti-EU alliance of convenience with many of these self-same fascist parties in Europe”
In fact the UK Independence Party is quite a long a stretch to compare to the neo-nazis in Kiev. It is only recently UKIP has been smeared as fascist and racist, when it became apparent voters were turned off by the neo-conservative/neo-liberal partnership of Cameron-Clegg and wanting nothing to do with the neo-liberal legacy of Tony Blair represented in the Labor Party, had turned to the man who was making desperately desired common sense on an out of control European Union: Nigel Farange.
Marine Le Pen’s National Front is another long stretch to compare to avowed neo-nazis such as the Ukrainian Svoboda party. Marine Le Pen’s political philosophy:
“advocates to “restore the political framework of the national community” and to implement the direct democracy which enables the “civic responsibility and the collective tie” thanks to the participation of public-spirited citizens for the decisions. The predominant political theme was the uncompromising defence of a protective and efficient State, which favours secularism, prosperity and liberties. She also denounced the “Europe of Brussels” which “everywhere imposed the destructive principles of ultra-liberalism and Free trade, at the expense of public utilities, employment, social equity and even our economic growth which became within twenty years the weakest of the world””
Compare this preceding to the facts as laid out by renown scholar Robert English, commenting on Ukraine’s Svoboda and Right Sector controlling events from Kiev:
“These are groups whose thuggish young legions still sport a swastika-like symbol, whose leaders have publicly praised many aspects of Nazism and who venerate the World War II nationalist leader Stepan Bandera, whose troops occasionally collaborated with Hitler’s and massacred thousands of Poles and Jews.
“But scarier than these parties’ whitewashing of the past are their plans for the future. They have openly advocated that no Russian language be taught in Ukrainian schools, that citizenship is only for those who pass Ukrainian language and culture exams, that only ethnic Ukrainians may adopt Ukrainian orphans and that new passports must identify their holders’ ethnicity — be it Ukrainian, Pole, Russian, Jew or other”
To conflate the Ukrainian Svoboda & Right Sector with UKIP & LePen’s National Front, labeling them collectively fascist, and this is what Dreyfuss attempts to do, lends an understanding to the conservative alliance of Putin, Farage and LePen… they all share in common being smeared by western media elements. In fact were there any truth in Dreyfuss’ assertions (and Western media generally) concerning the character of UKIP & National Front, they would be on the side of Kiev rather than Putin. In fact Marine Le Pen rejects the NDP & Golden Dawn extreme right or neo-nazi parties Dreyfuss insinuates are consistent or complicit with Le Pen’s National Front in the Europen Parliament. The more honest facts of the matter are, Germany’s support of Kiev is factually sympathetic to the neo-nazi Svoboda party, with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats authentic Nazi legacy in cooperation with known neo-nazis, is well documented. Recalling the election for Ukrainian parliament are put off to Fall and neo-nazis remain in control of Ukraine in the meanwhile, Dreyfuss stating…
“the overweening propaganda from Moscow claiming that Kiev is being ruled by “fascists” is now proved to be ridiculous”
…is simply the worst sort of ‘overweening’ propaganda.
I’ll simply go on to note as an analyst of many years, what Dreyfuss presents in his article falls under the process of invention (fantasy.) On the other hand, Russian propaganda works because it employs a superior technique to western propaganda. The Russian method is minimal omissions of fact in the narrative, whereas the western method is largely broadcasting inventions. At the end of the day, when it comes to thinking people willing to cross check a few facts, the Russians omitting 10% of the reality, or less tampering with the facts, is by far superior to the western press, in this case Dreyfuss inventing 90% of the picture or better said, illusion. In fact RT (Russian TV) has been providing reliable video of the new Ukrainian National Guard (i.e. Svoboda militia) indiscriminately shooting civilians. Nothing quite like ‘seeing is believing.’ The Nation could do better but has a long ways to go, to become as competent as Russian propaganda. They cannot match the Russians when it so happens the facts more or less line up on Putin’s side… or better said, so long as the editorial board at the Nation is willing to insult people’s intelligence with the rot we see in articles like Dreyfuss presents.
Meanwhile, there are stories the Nation doesn’t touch with a ten foot pole, like how Obama is pursuing liberal/criminal policy wonk Zbigneiw Brzezinki’s ‘grand chessboard’ strategy of cornering and attempting to isolate Russia. Or how creating insurgencies prop up the western economies and how Ukraine plays in that.
You’ve heard of ‘you are what you eat’? The Nation would prefer ‘you are what you think.’ Unfortunately, in the case of the USA supported putsch regime in Ukraine, they’d like you to think along the lines of George Orwell’s observation:
“In the case of a word like DEMOCRACY, not only is there no agreed definition, but the attempt to make one is resisted from all sides. It is almost universally felt that when we call a country democratic we are praising it: consequently the defenders of every kind of régime claim that it is a democracy, and fear that they might have to stop using the word if it were tied down to any one meaning. Words of this kind are often used in a consciously dishonest way”
The Nation, per Orwell’s observation, demonstrates itself a consciously dishonest publication
Ronald Thomas West is a former U.S. intelligence professional
Ronald Thomas West 