Facts are often obscured when they challenge dominant opinions and biases. The Western narrative has spent over two years blaming Putin for refusing peace talks on Ukraine, ignoring Zelensky’s decree banning negotiations with Moscow. In March 2022, an agreement was reached in Turkey for a ceasefire, involving the withdrawal of Russian forces, Ukrainian neutrality, and Donbass autonomy. However, Johnson, backed by Biden, urged Zelensky to reject the truce and continue fighting. Now, despite significant casualties, Putin remains open to the original agreement, though this is largely ignored by Western media. This selective reporting and hypocrisy extend to France’s nuclear tests and Macron’s actions, highlighting a double standard in the portrayal of geopolitical actions.
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The Disappearance of Facts
Facts disappear when they disrupt the opinions and prejudices of the dominant mindset. The Western and Atlanticist narrative spent 27 months trying to convince increasingly skeptical public opinions that it was Putin who refused to negotiate on Ukraine, not the US-NATO-Kiev axis. Then Zelensky decreed a ban on negotiations with Moscow, but it was ignored. Then former Israeli Prime Minister Bennett, Turkish President Erdogan, Putin, and senior Ukrainian diplomats confirmed that in March 2022, a few weeks after the Russian invasion, delegations from Moscow and Kiev had reached a ceasefire agreement in Turkey. This agreement included the withdrawal of Russian forces, the integrity of the Zelensky government, autonomy for Donbass, and Ukraine’s neutrality, potentially joining the EU but not NATO (Zelensky stated this three times in one month). Then Johnson, supported by Biden, rushed to Kiev to urge Zelensky not to sign the truce and continue fighting to defeat Russia and overthrow Putin. Now, after half a million deaths, Putin repeatedly states he is ready for an agreement based on the Turkish draft. Previously, it was argued that he was forced to do so because he was losing (which was false, but propaganda said so). Now no mentally sound observer dares to repeat that lie, given the failure of Ukraine’s 2023 counteroffensive and the Russian march on Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city.
One might argue that Putin is bluffing, but at least his words should be reported. And explain why a negotiation table isn’t set up to call his potential bluff. Instead, even yesterday – like seven days before, when the autocrat spoke from China, the major Western (especially Italian) media hid his openness to negotiation, and no NATO government commented – silence ensued. Except for the usual litany from poor Scholz: “The war ends when the Russians withdraw” (he should speak for himself). Compared to this, Orbán seems clear-headed: “The EU is preparing to attack Russia.” Meanwhile, France conducts exercises and nuclear tests, but no one headlines: “France threatens nuclear war” (those headlines are reserved for Moscow when it does the same). Additionally, that desperate Macron plans to celebrate the Normandy landing without the Russians (who sacrificed 29 million lives to defeat Nazism) but with the Ukrainians (who sided with Hitler). And he lands in New Caledonia, a “French Overseas Territory” rich in nickel, with a thousand soldiers. But the colonialists and imperialists are only the Russians and Chinese. And then they say European elections aren’t important: if only they could sweep away these scoundrels, it would be a godsend.
Il Fatto Quotidiano, May 25, 2024
