‘Pakistan Prime Minister’s recent visit to Russia was a bold declaration.’

This is Russia against NATO with Ukraine unfortunately caught up in the middle as a pawn. But it was not Russia that made it a pawn.

We must draw timelines at the beginning, not in the middle. A boy launches his boat into a pond. Another boy throws a huge stone in the pond which creates a wave and sinks the boat. If we draw the timeline at the beginning, we see that the boy who threw the stone was the culprit, if we draw it later, we can say that a wave, from somewhere, sank the boat. Maybe it was a storm? Two timelines, two stories, two conclusions.

So, contrary to all, the nonsense out there in the newspapers, let us draw the timeline at the beginning. We might choose to go back hundreds of years and see that Russia actually started in Ukraine, which in turn means “frontier, border region” in Russian. Border of what? Russia.

We might also decide to ignore hundreds of years of history, ignore the decision by President Khrushchyov (some say a drunken decision) to award Crimea to Ukraine (he was Ukrainian) during the time of the Soviet Union, in 1954 and start our story in 2022 with the Russian military operation. Wow.

Telling the truth
I work for Pravda. Pravda means “truth”. So let us remember that as journalists what we write is our epitaph and the register of what we write is what we leave. We can write nonsense, in which case our grandchildren will remember grandfather as some kind of a nutcase, or we can write the truth and we can decide to write the truth at such times when doing so entails issues, challenges and danger. I have already started receiving death threats via email, insults, promises to place my family and dog in acid, from accounts placed, guess where?

You got it. Same as usual, it happened during the Libyan war when I launched an indictment against NATO’s political and military leaders. Russia is involved after decades of exposing Western attacks on sovereign states? If the truth hurts, then I do not apologise. Neither do I run from it.

Drawing the timeline at the beginning
So let us draw the timeline at 2014 when the democratically elected President of Ukraine was ousted in a coup when Obama and Biden were President and Vice-President of the USA, before Biden’s son became a member of the board of Buresma, a Ukrainian energy company. During this coup in Maidan Square, Kyiy, I am informed by independent journalists staying in the Hotel Ukraine that from the fifth and sixth floors unmarked agents were firing into the crowd to start a riot and to blame the President (Yanuovich) and the police.

After this, groups of armed thugs chanted “Death to Russians and Jews” on the streets of Kyiy and fascist massacres of Russian-speaking Ukrainians took place in Odessa (Trade Union Building), in Mariupol, in Donetsk and in Slavyansk. A lot of material has been pulled from the internet, so that today when one makes a statement they can say “Prove it” and of course the proof has gone.These days you have to form networks to get those videos and photographs and fight a constant war against hackers. Such is life.

And then started an eight-year campaign against the residents of Donbass, the Basin of the River Don (basically in Ukraine the further east you go, the more concentrated the Russian-speaking population with its own Russian Orthodox Church, Russian-speaking schools and traditions and customs). The Republics of Lugansk and Donetsk declared their independence and their will to practise and enjoy their cultural identity (Russian) which was being forbidden by the new Putschist government. Russia’s position was to respect international law and state that these republics belonged to Ukraine but should have a special status of partial autonomy. The Minsk Agreements (2015) drawn up by Russian President Vladimir Putin enshrined this right in law, and catered for a demilitarisation of the scenario, with the republics inside Ukraine.

Factor into this news from the Russian side (now censored in the west with the banning of RT and Sputnik but others like Pravda.Ru continue to tell the truth) about CIA laboratories in Ukraine trying to genetically manipulate viruses to attack Russian DNA (Russian Ministry of Defense), factor into this news from the same source about NATO divisions already inside Ukraine and concentration of Ukrainian troops ready to pounce on Donbass and there you have Russia’s decision to protect Donbass by launching a large-scale special military operation to hold Ukrainian troops down so that they cannot attack Donbass and to expand the territory of the Lugansk People’s Republic and the Donetsk People’s Republics to their original areas.

Factor into this the Fascist massacres perpetrated by the Azov Battalion (Fascists, using Fascist insignia) and the decision to integrate these neo-nazi bands of thugs into the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The fight against this is the denazification that Russia is speaking about.

So was Russia right? Put yourself in Putin’s shoes. You see NATO advancing eastwards after it promised it would not if the Warsaw Pact was dissolved. It advanced in five waves.You see rumours of germ laboratories in Ukraine working on targeting viruses to attack Russian DNA, you see rumours of NATO troops in Ukraine, you see the Ukrainian Armed Forces moving to attack Donbass, after eight years of shelling and murdering Russian-speaking residents, you see the Ukrainian president saying he will never implement the Minsk Agreements, which his country signed, you see fascist elements such as the Azov Battalion integrated in the Ukrainian armed forces... so what do you do? Wave a white flag? Watch your (Russian-speaking) people being massacred? Insist on diplomacy? Russia did. For eight years.

Has the Russia-Ukraine war reunited Europe, or will transatlantic unity last?
Transatlantic unity will last because Europe is the USA’s favourite lapdog. However not all European countries put the same measure of salt in the Ukrainian soup. Johnson has predictably been following his American masters, making cooing noises about having been born in New York. Macron (more experienced) and Scholz (less) have presented themselves as politicians who are trying to form a consensus and the rest of Europe nods and bows to its American masters across the pond. I would say that Europe is still united and still has a master. He calls, Europe whimpers and crawls around his feet. Today this is still the case. Tomorrow? Economics will dictate the way things flow.

Different EU states are more or less dependent on Russian coal, natural gas or oil and to cut the link right now would spell chaos. So there is some noise but the devil is in the details.

Whatever the decision(s), sanctions are a huge opportunity for Russia to move its economic dependence away from mineral resources. True, the gas and oil pipelines can be switched from Poland and Germany and Romania to any Asian country, easily. But the issue is a deeper economic powerhouse in all sectors, not only the Primary Sector.

Was the remark made by a British newspaper writer that the Ukrainians also had ‘blue eyes and blonde hair’ justified?
Yes this is an issue. There have been Fascist elements in Ukraine for decades, since the Second World War, when there were collaborationists working with Nazi Germany. There are photographs of Ukrainian women running screaming as they are attacked by Nazis and at the same time being stoned by Ukrainian youth because of their religion or ethnicity.

More recently, we saw the actions of the Azov Battalion, with Nazi insignia, attacking civilians in Donbass, eastern Ukraine, attacking grandmothers, murdering cleaning ladies, we have seen racist discrimination against refugees trying to escape from Ukraine. However, let us not spread hatred. Not all Ukrainians are fascists, most just want to get on with their lives. There is a fascist element and an active one, and this is what Russia is trying to eliminate in Ukraine in this special military operation but let us remember that this is not about Ukraine and Russia or Russians and Ukrainians. This is about Russia and NATO with Ukraine caught in the middle. Many Russians are supplying humanitarian aid to Ukrainian cities. Wherever the media is present, there is a story to pen and headlines to sell. Whether this means that all Ukrainians are fascists and racists is another matter.

This is Russia against NATO with Ukraine caught up in the middle.

Do you think that there are chances of World War III being triggered as a result of the Russia-Ukraine crisis?
No, I do not, basically because once nukes start flying we are all doomed and we will have ruined this beautiful home, our planet, that was given to us. Nobody wants that. Whatever the West says about Putin and however strong the demonology around Russia’s President at the moment, let us remember that he has been democratically elected several times and that he is a cultured, educated and balanced gentleman. He will have thought this through in every detail, looking at worst case scenarios. I am sure that pressing the button is not one of them.

Freedom of expression, censorship and the media
A balanced way to approach crisis management is to treat readers and viewers as adults. Most people are able, when presented with the two sides of the argument, to discern their version of the truth. This may change over time but they need to have access to both sides. Now what the West has done is to ban Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik, two of Russia’s main news sources. You might ask what I am complaining about because this is only good for Pravda.Ru (which I have been associated with for over two decades) and yes this is true. Pravda.Ru is itself being attacked daily by cyber terrorists. But this does not mean that censorship is right. Facebook is also blocking hundreds of accounts arbitrarily, so where is the freedom of expression?

So what we see in the West is a wave of anti-Russian hysteria with only one side fanning the flames of hatred. The vitriol in Western media outlets and in social media sites hits the stratosphere. References are made to “Putin” “Devil” “Demon” “Murderer” and Russians are shown as laughing at Ukrainian deaths. There are news items that say “Putin might use chemical weapons”.

Might? He might not. Boris Johnson might decide to have a party. His Home Secretary Priti Patel might, one day, smile. An asteroid might strike one day. Is this news? No, it is hype and hysteria, fanning the flames of hatred and inviting the public to chomp at the bit like a horse before a race.

This is all the more possible when you stifle the news from the other side. If we read the other side, we find love stories. We find Russian families with a beloved Ukrainian grandmother. We find Ukrainian families with an adored Russian grandfather. We find Russian communities coming together and sending tonnes of food and candies and toys to Ukrainian civilians. We find some balance.

So I see our job now as one of peace and reconciliation even before this has started officially. Do we wish to see generations of children brought up on hatred? Hating one another? Children should be playing together, not looking at one another down the barrel of a gun.

Lies
And along with censorship, information becomes propaganda and lies can be repeated and repeated until they are taken for the truth. Nothing is said in the Western media these days about the campaign in Kosovo, tearing the heart out of Serbia and setting up a dubious territory in the Balkans where terrorists are trained. Nothing is said about Afghanistan which is hardly surprising. NATO ran with its tail between its legs. Nothing is said of Iraq.

About Chechnya, a lot was said while terrorists supported by the West were murdering Russian soldiers. There had been communications in American English in Chechnya picked up by Russian security services. After the Russian victory, the story disappeared.

But plenty is said about Georgia. The soundbite rings loud and clear “Putin invaded Georgia”. He did not. In 2008, Georgia invaded South Ossetia and murdered Russian peacekeeping troops, to which provocation Moscow launched a limited raid to calm Georgian troops down. There were audible instructions in American English “Get back inside” as the CIA-advised Georgian troops fled screaming from the Spetsnaz. Vladimir Putin said at the time he did not wish to humiliate Georgia, a country which refused to live up to its expectations to solve nationality issues under the terms of the Third Soviet Constitution.
Crimea. “Putin annexed Crimea”. He did not. When the democratically-elected President of Ukraine (Viktor Yanukovich) was ousted illegally in a coup, the entity with the power to enforce the law in Crimea was the Republican Assembly, which duly held a free and fair election and the people voted to rejoin Russia. There was no annexation at all, and nothing like one. But the Western media was banging the same drum and marking the same rhythm.

Transatlantic unity will last because Europe is the USA’s favourite lapdog.

Sheer hypocrisy
Finally, I would like to refer to the sheer hypocrisy of the Western stance, among the media and politicians, and public alike. In the latter case I might replace the word “hypocrisy” with “collective idiocy” or “gullibility and ignorance”. It is a population brought up on switch-off-the-brain-entertainment on TV. Reality shows. Soccer. Smut.

Who bombed Serbia into oblivion in 1999 and created a narco-traffic state in the Balkans, a state which was the heart of Serbia? (Kosovo). Who launched a savage attack on Afghanistan based on the supposition that Osama bin Laden was being protected there, an attack that lasted for two decades and resulted in utter humiliation? Who lied in the United Nations, breached the UN Charter and attacked the sovereign state of Iraq based on a tissue of lies, occasioning the death of over a million Iraqi citizens? Who launched the Shock and Awe campaign on Iraq? Who invaded Libya without a single item of justification? Who bombed the Gaddafi grandchildren from 30 thousand feet and then declared that the location was a legitimate target? Who bombed the Libyan water supply network and who bombed the pipe factory which made equipment to repair it? Who destroyed the Libyan electricity grid, depriving families of electricity? Who launched military hardware against civilian structures in Iraq, in Libya, in Serbia? We could go further back and ask who committed a twin terrorist attack in Japan, or who strafed Vietnamese kids with napalm. We could go further forward and ask what the West’s policy was in Syria, siding with takfiri extremists which had perpetrated atrocities against children and women.

As for the people, the populations of Western countries, they were unfortunately brought up in a bubble. They have distanced themselves from politics, they elect politicians to “get on with it”, have no idea what they are doing, or why? They have food on their table, so they have switched off. If someone tells them that Muslims are terrorists, they believe it because someone said so on television. And that is all they need to form an opinion. It is very sad but it is true.

So in the current crisis, with the absence of censored Russian media outlets, the Western propaganda machine can turn information into propaganda. And you know what? People believe it.
My conclusion is, we all have to sit down together as brothers and sisters and enjoy each others’ cultures, customs, traditions, gastronomy, languages and religions with respect. For that we need humility and for that we need multiculturalism and it all boils down to one word: respect.
I greet with great respect all my readers in Pakistan. As-salaamu aleikum!