Last July, my editorial introduced Watani readers to a bunch of opinions of strategic experts on the Russia Ukraine War. I ended my article promising to “carry on with my close follow up of reliable opinions on the Russia Ukraine war, in order for our readers to remain adequately informed and updated on the situation and what our world is about face.”
It is obvious that many of the public who only lend their ears to Western media remain captive to the sight of just one side of the coin, without ever glimpsing the other side. However, as journalists and media professionals, we are adept at exposing the other side of the coin through scrutinising facts, seeking different opinions, and holding various claims in doubt until verified or proved wrong. We thus claim to possess a reasonable degree of moral awareness of the course of events, which we convey to our readers or audience in order to offer a complete, multidimensional picture of the facts on the ground.
Today I carry on presenting contents of some video footage that I receive, which introduce opinions that go against the tide of US policy and media. Holders of these opinions were bold enough to express their denunciation of the official falsification of the conscience of the American people and the world in general as regards the current course of events of the Russia Ukraine war.
Senator Richard H. Black, ex-member of the Senate for Virginia commented on US foreign policy concerning the Russia Ukraine situation. He said that the US and NATO do not care how many Ukrainians die, not civilians, not women, not children, not soldiers… “They are shipping fantastic quantities of weapons,” Mr Black said, “and it’s caused the stock of Raytheon which creates missiles and Northrop Grumman which creates aircrafts and missiles, all of these defense industries which have become tremendously bloated with tax dollars.” Mr Black said he doesn’t think it’s ultimately going to change the outcome, “I think that Russia will prevail the Ukrainians who are in a very awkward strategic position… If you look at the way that this unfolded, President Putin made a desperate effort to stop the march towards war. Back in December 2021, he went so far as to put specific written proposals on the table with NATO, peace proposals to defuse what was coming about, because at this point Ukraine was massing troops to attack the Donbass… So Russia was forced to go into pre-empt that planned attack by Ukraine. You could see that Russia very much hoped that they could conduct this special operation without unduly causing casualties for the Ukrainians. Because they think of the Ukrainians—or at least they did think of the Ukrainians—as brother Slavs and wanted to have good relations.” The rules of engagement for the Russians were very very cautious, Mr Black was keen to point out, “they didn’t want to create a great deal of hatred and animosity. The Russians did not go in, they did not bomb the electrical system, the media systems, the water systems, the bridges. They tried to retain the infrastructure of Ukraine in good shape.” Until Russia was provoked by the US and NATO supported Ukrainian troops which hit Russian infrastructure. Russia had no choice but to resort to revenge and destruction.
In an interview with CNN’s Michael Smerconish last August, British musician Roger Waters, co-founder of the band Pink Floyd outspokenly expressed his opinion when he said that President Biden is fuelling the fire in Ukraine, and that is “a huge crime”. Mr Waters wondered why the United States of America won’t encourage Zelensky to negotiate. After the Ukrainian President Zelensky ratified the Minsk Agreements, Mr Waters said, somebody whispered in his ear or he completely changed his mind about making peace in the Donbass, about solidifying the Minsk Agreements, making peace with their Russian neighbours, and obviating the need for this horrific horrendous war. In order to define when any war started, you need to look at the history, Mr Waters told CNN. For the Russia Ukraine crisis “You can say it started in 2008,” he said. “This war is basically about the action and reaction of NATO pushing right up to the Russian border which they promised they wouldn’t do when Gorbachev negotiated the withdrawal of the USSR from the whole of eastern Europe. He said we will do this on one condition that you don’t come one inch closer to the Russian border than the eastern borders of Germany.” Why don’t the USA sue for peace now, don’t they care about Ukrainians? Mr Waters wondered. “Why are they prolonging this war? It could be ended tomorrow. If Joe Biden stood up and said let’s put a stop to this, it would end tomorrow. After the illegal USA inspired coup in 2014 that put out the democratically elected government of the Ukraine, the Russians were completely clear about how they felt.” Many things are not told, not taught in your schools obviously, Mr Waters told the host. “But what about our roles as liberators?” Mr Smerconish asked, to which Mr Waters vehemently replied: “You of all people have no role as liberators.” He said the US was completely “isolationist”, claiming that it got into World War II after the US Navy was hit in Pearl Harbor, “but the Russians had already almost won the war by then, after 23 million Russians died protecting you and me.” What will the US do if the Chinese were putting nuclear armed missiles into Mexico and Canada, Mr Waters wondered; he was alluding to the double standards that reign in international politics.
This was a glimpse of the other side of the coin. I promise there would be more to come.
Watani International
28 October 2022
Discussion about this post