Is Russia a threat to Western Europa and the U.S.?

In my article “What kind of a country is modern Ukraine?” I have provided some examples that situation in the sphere of rights of ethnic minorities and in the sphere of freedom of speech in Ukraine has become worse as compared with the situation before the so-called Euromaidan.

That article has been discussed on Internet forums and some American users have written that it does not matter much for them what kind of a country is modern Ukraine. In their opinion, the main thing is that Ukraine is now fighting against Russia and therefore Western Europa and the U.S. must help Ukraine because Russia – as a variant “Russia under V. Putin” is allegedly a threat to Western Europa and the U.S.

And in this article, I am going to consider the question: Is Russia really a threat to Western Europa or the U.S.?

Ukrainian laws on ethnic minorities

There have been two main subjects in the first part of this article – freedom of speech and rights of ethnic minorities in modern Ukraine.

I would like to add some information about these rights.

What kind of a country is modern Ukraine?

When the question “What kind of a country is modern Ukraine?” is asked, Americans usually answer that it doesn’t matter for them, what kind of a country modern Ukraine is.

However, in the past it did matter for Americans what kind of a country Libya was in 2011 when the U.S. bombed it; or it did matter for Americans what kind of a country Iraq was in 2003 when U.S. invaded it, etc.

The second Americans’ answer to the question “What kind of a country is modern Ukraine?” is the answer “Modern Ukraine may be a not especially good country now, but it is changing for the better”.

In this article, I am going to consider both above-mentioned theses.

Ukrainian media get out of Zelensky’s control

Post-Maidan Ukrainian authorities exert control over media in their country in two ways. On the one hand, these authorities forbid work of opposition media; see here a decision of the Ukrainian Council for Broadcasting revoking licenses of seven Ukrainian  opposition television companies.

On the other hand, the Ukrainian authorities often do nothing when opposition journalists are attacked or even killed in Ukraine.

Ukrainian authorities may organize another “Bucha” now

In order to beg for money and weapons from the West, it is vital for Ukrainian authorities that the Ukrainian crisis is constantly among the main topics in the Western media.

However, since the first decade of October the main attention of the world community has been drawn to the situation in the Middle East; see above the screenshot of the main page of the news section of the BBC as of October 09, 2023.
All top eleven news headlines focused on the situation in Israel and the Gaza Strip.

The UN has not confirmed “deportation” of thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia

 

After threats of Ukrainian authorities to use military measures in order to “reintegrate” the Crimea into Ukraine (see here), the Russian Federation started its military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

After a while, the Ukrainian authorities began to accuse Russia of deporting Ukrainian children to the Russian territory.

Situation with respect to mass media in Russia and Ukraine

Western media and politicians tell very much about mass media in Russia where – in Western opinion – mass media and journalists are allegedly persecuted. But the Western media and politicians tell very little about Ukrainian mass media and journalists.

Therefore, in this article I am going to offer some information about situation in Ukraine in this sphere.

Patterns of distortion in American statements about Ukrainian crisis

There are several trends in modern psychology which study the so-called psychologic or cognitive distortions; the founders of the most famous such trends were Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck.

One essential part of the above-mentioned studies is detection of patterns of distortion which create an incorrect picture of the world.

And I am going to show in this article that American politicians and media use patterns of distortion in their statements about Ukrainian crisis. 

Explanation for Ukrainian authorities’ behavior towards Western politicians

There have been numerous cases when Ukrainian authorities have exhibited a kind of behavior towards Western politicians which is absolutely unexplainable within the framework of official picture of relations between Ukraine and Western countries.

ICC arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin (2023) and Interpol arrest warrant for Victor Yanukovych (2015)

I cannot fully understand the joy with which Ukrainians received information this spring that the International Criminal Court had issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, and Maria Lvova-Belova, Russian Commissioner for Children's Rights because of allegedly forced transfer of Ukrainian citizens including children to the Russian territory during the Russian Special Military Operation in Ukraine.

Algorithm of Ukrainian lies about Russia and a counter-algorithm

False Ukrainian accusations against Russia and its leaders always have such a uniform character that we can say that Ukrainians use a certain algorithm.

Northern Ireland (UK) and the Crimea (RF)

The British Government is one of the harshest critics of the actions which have been undertaken by Russia for protection of ethnic Russians in the Crimea and in Donbas.

But in the past century, the British Government had undertaken similar actions for protection of ethnic Britons in Northern Ireland when Ireland began gradually - at first autonomy, later status of a dominion etc. - to gain its independence from the British monarchy.

The U.S. attitude to Yugoslavia and to Ukraine

The subject of this article is the U.S. attitude to two different Slavic countries, to Yugoslavia and to Ukraine.

At first, I would like to remind about the situation in Yugoslavia at the end of the 1990s.

At that period, ethnic Albanians, who are majority in the Yugoslav region Kosovo, began to fight for secession of Kosovo from Yugoslavia. The Yugoslav authorities, of course, always claim that this separatist movement was supported by foreign countries, e.g. by Turkey and other Islamic countries. The Yugoslav authorities also claim that there were many foreigners – even black people - among separatists and that the regular army of the neighboring Republic of Albania took part in hostilities on the Yugoslav territory.

The UN has not confirmed Ukrainian allegations about “hundreds of victims of Bucha” so far.

At the beginning of April 2022 Ukrainian authorities invited Western journalists to the Ukrainian city of Bucha and showed them dead bodies of civilians who had allegedly been murdered there by the Russian Army.

And on May 10, 2022, the Secretary of the Bucha City Council declared that more than 390 of 416 “civilian victims of Bucha” had already been identified, please see here.

At the beginning of December 2022 - i.e. eight months after the initial Ukrainian allegations - the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk visited Ukraine including Bucha and on December 15, 2022 submitted his report about the situation there; please see the official website of the UN.

Has the Russian Special Military Operation in Ukraine been provoked?

The main “expert” in Ukrainian affairs is, of course the U.S. President Joe Biden who called the Russian Special Military Operation in Ukraine an “unprovoked attack” last year; please see the official website of the White House.

However, I am going to offer my opinion about this subject in the present article.

Why do the U.S. support Ukraine which has so many unresolved political murders?

 

There are already two articles in this blog which deal with the problem of murders in Ukraine; please see - Why are there so many unresolved political murders in Ukraine since 2014? and Was there a threat for ethnic Russians in February 2014 in Ukraine (Crimean question)?.

Therefore, I am not going to repeat information from these threads – you can read it there.

Now I would like to discuss the question: Why do the U.S. support Ukraine, which has so many unresolved political murders?

Was there a threat for ethnic Russians in February 2014 in Ukraine (Crimean question)?

 

Ukrainian and Western politicians always say that the Ukrainian crisis allegedly began in the spring of 2014, when the Crimea joined Russia and fights in Donbas started.

However, now these politicians don’t like to be reminded that before the spring of 2014 there was the Euromaidan in Ukraine and at some point, the pro-Western protesters began to burn and kill during this Euromaidan.

What have Ukrainians been fighting for since 2013?

Ukrainian politicians very eagerly speak about February 2022 when the Russian Special Military Operation in Ukraine started. These politicians also like very much to remind of spring of 2014 when the Crimea joined Russia and fights in Donbas began.

 

But Ukrainian politicians never mention that Ukrainians were setting up barricades in their country already in 2013 during the so-called Euromaidan (please see here and here).

 

And this article deals with the Ukrainian answers to the question: What Ukrainians have been fighting for since 2013?

Why have Ukrainian activists no interest at all in “victims from Bucha”?

At first some other information.

On the night of April 28, 2023, a missile fell on a high-rise building in the Ukrainian city of Uman. Some Russian media say that this missile has been launched by Ukrainian Air Defense but this material does not deal with the question, who has shot this missile.

After this missile had struck the building, Ukrainian authorities declared that 23 civilians were allegedly killed by it. The day before yesterday in the morning, i.e. only 3 days later, names of 22 - i.e. 95% - of the victims were already published, even with pictures.

The list of these victims had allegedly been prepared by an activist (see here) who could identify 7 persons per day - 22 identified persons divided by 3 days.

Events in the Ukrainian city of Bucha, which took place at the beginning of April 2022, had much more public outcry - the Ukrainian authorities declared that approximately 400 civilians were allegedly murdered then. 

However, since the first reports about these “victims of Bucha” 397 days passed, but nevertheless the Ukrainian authorities have not published any list of “victims from Bucha” so far.

And Ukrainian activists have no interest at all in “victims from Bucha” too, although they would have been able - with the rate of identification 7 persons per day - to identify all 400 “victims” within only 57 days.

The only explanation for no Ukrainian activists’ interest in this matter is - in my opinion - a prohibition of the Ukrainian authorities for activists to collect information about “victims from Bucha”.

And this fact is for me an evidence that there were no victims among civilians in Bucha.

"Investigation" of murders of Ukrainians which were allegedly committed in 2022 and 2014

 

At the beginning of April 2022 Ukrainian authorities invited Western journalists to the Ukrainian city of Bucha and showed them dead bodies of civilians who had allegedly been murdered there by the Russian Army.

But it wasn’t the first time that dead bodies were shown to Western journalists in Ukraine.

During the so-called “Ukrainian Revolution” – alias “Euromaidan” - many Western media published pictures of dead civilians many of whom had allegedly been killed by Russian snipers in February of 2014 in Ukraine.