Russians
are worse off now, especially after the “phase-three” economic sanctions by the
United States and European Union are now unleashed. The purported “phase-one” started after the
annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and the most recent sanctions were induced by
the downing of MH17, a Malaysia-based civilian airliner allegedly by
pro-Russian rebels. However rather surprisingly, Russia’s oil industry is be
subjected to any sanctions directly. Surprised? Well, since one-third of
Europe’s consumed oil comes from Russia, European Union has no guts to sanction
the Russian oil industry as it will pose systemic risk to EU’s already struggling
economy. How opportunistic!
Whilst
the initial exercise of economic sanctions could be justified, the reason for
the latest sanction is very much doubted. Before I even start, I wish to stress
that I am neither a Russian apologist nor a supporter of Putinism. But looking
at the pace where Russia is made a scapegoat before a full-scale investigation
concludes, creates suspicion whether the US and European Union are trying to
engage in a “zero-sum game”.
The
international team tasked with the thorough investigation at the crash site has
barely started its work. Theories and speculations are running wild on the
possible causes that have killed almost 300 innocent lives on their flight en
route to Kuala Lumpur. Any interested souls can have a simple browse on the Net
regarding MH17, only to find almost 90% of articles in international news
portal pointing their finger to Russia and its brutal honchos, the rebels in
eastern Ukraine.
The
fact that these sources of information, may it be by news portal or even from
the “official sources” are mostly Western-backed or pro-Western mediums. Thus,
by reading such sources, readers can be easily fooled into believing that the
Russians are the ones behind this mishap. I am not suggesting that the Western
news sources are all bad, but the question is “how reliable is their
reporting?”. The Ukrainian intelligence unit has released a purported leak
conversation between the rebels and a Russian military officer. The validity of
the “leaked tape” has since been debunked by a group of international experts. How
true the “finding” of this group is, too is questionable. Similarly, a video
showing a surface-to-air missile being transferred to the rebel-stronghold from
the borders of Russia has also been declared as doctored.
Okay,
so it seems that the Western forces are unleashing their propaganda machineries
to out-win their arch-nemesis, the Russian Federation. But, Vladimir Putin does
not just stand by and watch. He too, has engaged the Russian propaganda tools
to influence the Russians that it is indeed Ukraine, which is responsible in
shooting down the MAS airliner. A research by the Lezada Centre shows that 82%
of Russians feel that the Ukrainian force is the black sheep behind the mishap.
Both
sides are busy influencing the world that their rivals are actually responsible
for the tragedy. But as always, the United States and its backers are winning
the race. As expected, none is and never will be, accepting the blame as it
would only lead to international condemnation. To all the ordinary men and
women hoping for justice to be done for the victims, do not ever fall into the
traps of these propagandists.
In
this case, the biggest propaganda comes from the United States. Let’s just
admit it; most of us have huge admiration for the Uncle Sam’s nation, making us
easily believing whatever it says. For me, taking a retrospective view, the
United States is one of the biggest spin-doctors the world has ever met. The
previous governments of the United States, be it under the leadership of Democrat
or Republican presidents, have frequently used false claims and fabricated news
to make the Congress and the civilians agree on the need to enter into a war.
Remember
Vietnam War? In order to combat and defeat the Communist forces of North
Vietnam, the Lyndon Johnson administration fabricated a false mishap called the
Gulf of Tonkin incident, in which it was claimed that the Communist North Viet
Nam force has attacked the US’s sea destroyer. It was because of this lie, a
resolution was passed in the Congress allowing the United States to fight the
communist force.
Remember
the First Gulf War and US’s Operation Desert Storm? Iraq pursued on a mission
to annex Kuwait, only to be stopped by the United States’ interference.
Ironically, the US has aided Iraq when the latter fought against the newly
founded Islamic Republic of Iran from 1980 till 1988. To obtain approval from
the Congress and the public to attack the Iraqi forces, the George Bush Sr.
administration fabricated rumours by broadcasting a “revelation” by a nurse who
claimed to work in a hospital in Kuwait. She alleged that the Iraqi forces
brutally remove babies from incubators and threw them onto the floor, leaving
them to tragic death. This was also later proven untrue.
Remember
Operation Desert Fox in 1998? The Democrat Clinton-government initiated this
CIA-led operation by attacking Iraq by making false claim that the
freshly-defeated Saddam regime from the First Gulf War has been hiding its
clandestine nuclear programme and not cooperating closely with the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to dismantle its nuclear facilities.
This fabricated claim helped to “legitimise” the airstrikes on Iraq by the
Clinton government. This claim was later repudiated by Mohamed El Baradei, the
Director General of IAEA, saying instead, the Iraqi government and its
scientists have cooperated in bringing Iraq’s nuclear capacity within United
Nation’s requirements. This was even mentioned in his book, “The Age of
Deception”. The lie fabricated by United States has created distrust among
Iraqis and Saddam himself, making it difficult or even impossible to verify
Iraq’s nuclear capacity after the Operation.
Remember
the invasion of Iraq in 2003 or the “Purple Revolution”? George Bush Jr.
fabricated a claim that the Saddam regime was developing Weapons of Mass
Destruction (WMD) programme and this will endanger the Western and worldwide
population. This was the basic reason to topple the dictator Saddam. Although
Saddam is not a public figure to be valued due to his atrocities, the actions
of US to intrude a country by basing on false lies should never be supported.
I
am not a US hater, but I urge the laypeople not to simply believe the
information by the news providers, even if it is the CNN or BBC. Let us all wait
for the end-result of the on-going international investigation (hopefully a
neutral one). By the way, the Malaysian Premier, Mr. Najib Razak deserves
plaudits for securing a deal with the separatists for a smooth investigation
and return of the bodies and black boxes.
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