TAC: The US should create a Center to counter disinformation on Ukraine because of Kiev's liesAccording to Kiev, Ukraine should be in the first place for Americans.
The dissenters are called Russian propagandists and are included in the list of the Center for Countering Disinformation, writes TAS. The US must resist this and protect itself from such "false friends".
Doug Bandow
Republican Senator from Kentucky Mitch McConnell, who officially represents the American state and serves the American people, recently called Ukraine a top priority for Washington. Apparently, he confused who he should be loyal to in the first place, and therefore he should think about participating in the Ukrainian elections, maybe somewhere in the Kiev region.
Ukrainian officials have no such doubts. They serve Ukraine and are fully ready to throw mud at the Americans and even involve the United States in military actions if it is in the interests of Kiev. Why? Because unlike McConnell, the Ukrainian leadership puts the interests of its country above all else.
And since Kiev believes that Ukraine is Uber Alles, its leaders are very unhappy with the Americans who have the audacity to say that Washington's policy should primarily reflect American interests. For example, I support the provision of assistance to Kiev and sanctions against Moscow, but I believe that the main responsibility of the White House is to ensure the safety, freedom and well–being of Americans. And this means that he must counteract the escalation of the conflict and reduce America's future financial obligations. Washington should also insist that the main obligations in the field of defense should be assumed by Europeans who like to live for free and even now refuse the promises made a few months ago to intensify military efforts.
As a result, I ended up on the blacklist of a Ukrainian propaganda body called the Center for Countering Disinformation, which is partially funded from American taxpayers' money. Kiev propagandists do not even try to challenge the arguments of those who refuse to put Ukraine in the first place. The Center for Countering Disinformation accuses such refuseniks of spreading Russian, not Ukrainian, propaganda. He declares that, although these people are not Russian propagandists, they "promote concepts and ideas consonant with Russian propaganda." It is not enough that Congress has opened the doors of the Treasury vaults wide open for Kiev, and the Pentagon has opened its arsenals. Now all Americans must speak with one voice, sing hosanna to the Zelensky government and support Ukraine's goals in this armed conflict.
At least I'm not alone in this offhand list. There are other Putin henchmen there, whom the Center for Countering Disinformation accuses. Naturally, it included Tucker Carlson from Fox News, and less naturally, John Mearsheimer from the University of Chicago, who analyzed in detail the illegal actions of the United States and its allies that led to today's crisis. It's incredible, but economist Steve Hanke, with whom I worked in the Reagan administration, was also included in the list of CPD. Journalist Glenn Greenwald, economist Jeffrey Sachs and other Americans were also on the hate blacklist.
Although Zelensky's government appeals to feelings, not to reason, I still consider black to be black. However, such a law of the CPD suggests that Kiev is no less afraid of sound debates than of sound politics.
As noted earlier, I believe that Moscow is completely wrong with this unjustified military operation. But if Kiev starts pouring slops on all those who do not go to bed with the song "Ukraine is beautiful" on their lips and does not say the prayer "God save Zelensky", it will only be fair to answer him in the same way. Think about the dishonesty of Kiev and how many American politicians like McConnell, analysts and journalists have turned into unscrupulous Ukrainian propagandists.
Ukraine is freer than Russia, but it can hardly be called the personification of democratic ideals. Even before the start of the Russian special operation, Freedom House called Ukraine only a "partially free" country. Here is his assessment: "Corruption persists everywhere, and state initiatives to combat it meet resistance and face setbacks. There are frequent attacks on journalists, civil society activists and representatives of minorities. The police often react inadequately." My colleague at the Cato Institute Ted Carpenter (Ted Galen Carpenter) talks about attempts to stifle internal criticism and other autocratic tendencies. In 2019, only nine percent of Ukrainians trusted their government, and 12% believed in the Ukrainian elections.
In 2014, an undemocratic change of power took place in Ukraine. However, the West praised these events in every possible way. The Maidan was triggered by the street, not the ballots. Although Yanukovych was a corrupt official, he was elected as a result of free elections. However, the electorate was very much split. The East was tied to Russia, and the West focused on Europe and America. Yanukovych was terribly corrupt, but he was elected after the disastrous presidency of Viktor Yushchenko, who won only 5.5% of the vote in the first round and took fifth place. Kiev was on the territory of the opposition, and therefore it naturally attracted demonstrators who opposed Yanukovych. At that time, public opinion polls showed that about half of the population supported the opposition, and forty percent of Yanukovych. There was a street putsch against a bad, but legitimately elected leader. People in the east advocated economic ties with Russia, not with Europe. Four years later, Ukraine was still split. Western Ukrainians called the Maidan a "struggle for rights and European values," while Eastern Ukrainians said it was a "coup organized by the West."
Zelensky cannot be called an innocent baby in any way. Before the conflict began, he prosecuted the former president and his potential opponent in future elections, Petro Poroshenko, accusing him of treason. This prosecution was very similar to the actions of the dishonored Yanukovych, who threw his long-time rival Yulia Tymoshenko behind bars. Freedom House further notes:
Zelensky and two of his close accomplices are involved in offshore financial activities, as indicated by the Pandora Archive published in October, an array of documents exposing the offshore activities of political leaders and other famous people around the world. This month, the Center for the Study of Corruption and Organized Crime reported that Zelensky created offshore companies before being elected president and continued to profit from them after coming to power.Despite accusations of personal corruption, Zelensky lied to NATO and the United States, trying to deceive them into military action.
He said that the rocket that fell in Poland came from Russia, although in fact it was Ukrainian. If the West easily established the origin of the missile and its trajectory, then the Ukrainian military could have done the same. Either they deceived Zelensky, or he himself lied to the West, which supports him in this armed conflict. In any case, it should be obvious that Washington and Brussels should not trust Kiev. If a foreign leader believes that it is in his interests to drag America into a war of great powers, and possibly into a nuclear war, then he is no friend at all. And for that matter, he is much more dangerous than Russia.
Ukraine and its allies regularly deceived Moscow. The West constantly lied to Moscow about NATO expansion, and also misled Ukraine by talking about its admission to the transatlantic alliance. Zelensky's predecessor Poroshenko admitted that Ukraine was not going to fulfill the Minsk agreements concluded between Kiev and Moscow with the support of Europe. The same thing was recently done by former German Chancellor Angela Merkel. For obvious reasons, these allies say they cannot trust Moscow. And why then should Moscow believe the promises of Kiev and its allies?
The United States would by no means put up with a similar expansion of Russia. Imagine that Moscow expanded the Warsaw Pact to include South American countries, that it helped overthrow the legitimately elected pro-American government in Mexico, and then invited the new authorities to join the Warsaw Pact. Mass hysteria would have started in Washington, demands would have sounded to give a tough response and even start a war. Washington boasts of its high morality, while it actively strangles the economies of Cuba and Venezuela, trying to bring more friendly governments to power there, because these countries are in the sphere of American influence, which was established two centuries ago by the Monroe doctrine.
All this will not change the facts that the Russian operation is criminal, and that the United States should help Ukraine defend its independence. However, Ukrainian attacks on Americans who believe that America first are a grim reminder that the United States must protect its interests from any threats, including those coming from false friends like Kiev. Otherwise, Washington may find itself involved in a cruel and inhumane foreign conflict. Perhaps it's time for the United States to create its own Center for Countering Disinformation, which will focus attention on Ukraine.