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Thought experiment. Dateline Ukraine

Independence Square, Kiev, Ukraine
Independence Square, Kiev, Ukraine

“It was not immediately clear what, if any, direct role Russia played in engineering the tumult in Crimea, but the situation here matches in some ways a situation that previously played out in areas like Abkhazia and South Ossetia, where largely pro-Russia populations broke away from Georgia, a former Soviet republic like Ukraine, to effectively become Russian protectorates.”

“It was not immediately clear what, if any, direct role the U.S. played in engineering the tumult in Ukraine, but the situation here matches in some ways situations that have previously played out in countries like Libya and Syria, where Arabist rebels began to express largely pro-Western sympathies and revolted against the government, precipitating civil war and, in the case of Libya, replacement of the government by a U.S. client regime.”

One of the above paragraphs appeared in the New York Times, and one did not.

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One can break the bread [oh, lord, did he just do that?], but one cannot break the basket.

The eagle can soar, but only the bear can roar. The west will end up with the desolate, bankrupt end of the We-crane Ukraine debacle and its citizens folded into the pages of the IMF’s tentacles of ‘love, freedom and understanding.’

The yeast beast east will retain its port @- the Block Black Sea.

http://www.moonofalabama.org/2014/02/anne-applebaums-dull-conspiracy-existence.html

The neocon demagogue Anne Applebaum asks:

No one has yet explained, for example, why Ukrainian President Viktor Yanu­kovych not only left Kiev last week after signing a treaty brokered by the European Union but also ordered security guards to abandon all government buildings as well. Was that an unsubtle invitation for the opposition to ransack the offices so that he could claim he had been chased out by a violent coup?

No, Mrs. Applebaum, it wasn’t. The removal of the guards was a condition in the agreement (not “treaty”) brokered by the European Union.

This hypocrisy is so sickening.

Regrettably Timothy Snyder was on NPR recently cooking up similarly runny pablum about the Ukraine. I don’t remember a single detailed fact, or counterfactual, just platitudes and smug condescension about conspiracy theory.

I constantly view this crisis and compare it to how the protesters during the Occupy Movement were portrayed.

Never once did I ever hear the U.S. media describe the Occupy Protesters as being “Brave”.

Earlier this week I contacted Media Lens and IPS and suggested a story which compared media coverage of protesters during the British riots or with Occupy Wall Street.

As of this date, I have on viewed one commentary which sort of makes the comparison.

What if Americans Demanded the Ouster of This Government?
Criticizing repression of protest abroad, practicing it at home
By Dave Lindorff
February 26, 2014
http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/print/2165

Calm