I must protest at the dishonestly and openly propagandistic nature of an October 30, 2022, Associated Press article on Bucha and alleged Russian massacres (click here). I am not denying war crimes have been committed, on both sides. I am denying there is proof of them being ordered by the Russian high command and that there were crimes to the extent alleged, especially in Bucha.  This article by AP lies through omission and implying things that may not be so.  Hear-say is not fact?

Soldiers Talk a lot of Shit when the Day is Long

Obviously, the reporter has spent no time with Infantry soldiers and knows nothing of their empty bravado:

• “We don’t take prisoners.”
• “I shoot anything that moves.”
• “If they resist, we kill them.”
• “I’m a heartless mother fucker!”
• “We have orders to shoot anything that moves.”
• “If I die on the Russian Front, bury me with a Russian cunt.” —US 1970s Military Cadence Chant.

One such example in the AP article is a Russian soldier who calls the mother of his prisoner on his prisoner’s phone and informs her that the son is now a POW, that they confiscate the phones of all prisoners (obviously), and then implies they shoot those who resist:

This from AP : « On Mar. 21, a soldier named Vadim called his mother: “We have the order to take phones from everyone and those who resist — in short — to hell with the f——.” » I wonder how many US soldiers called the mothers of Iraqi prisoners to tell them their son was a POW, or let them keep their cell phone? Wake up people!

They use such soldiers’ quotes to justify the accusation that Russian generals ordered war crimes. They are also using quotes from civilians (the man in the street?) months after the fact. Too many reporters use Vox Pop with unknown and unvetted sources as props for their propaganda or just lazy and sloppy journalism.

What is Really being Targeted?

Here is another disinformation by the western press: the Russians are targeting civilian homes. Firstly, have you ever asked yourself what happens when you intercept a drone or missile? You don’t control where it falls, and the proof is many have fallen in parks and yards rather than housing.

Secondly, why would the Russians waste a perfectly good missile on an apartment block?

However, nothing is written on Ukraine’s targeting of civilians in Donbas, especially on the day of the controversial “referendum,” nor on the fact that many of those killed in the eight years from the 2014 coup to February 24, 2022, were in fact ethnic Russians in Donbas under Ukrainian fire (click here). Apparently, in the western media, the only people who die are Ukrainians. Look it up for yourselves!

I would add that with less than 10,000 civilians killed in eight months of war, the Russians have been careful, especially as Amnesty International pointed out, the Ukrainians have been using civilian areas as shields for firing positions, making them a military target. (Amnesty International click here)

Amnesty International was forced to backtrack after western governments and donors complained furiously, just as those who criticized Israel’s onslaught on Gaza in 2009 were forced to backtrack. (UN backtracks on Gaza report, click here)

How many tens of thousands did the US kill in the first days of the invasion of Iraq? The US completely destroyed the energy grid, the water and sewer works, all civilian infrastructure from bridges to public toilets, in the first 48 hours. Russia began doing this in the second half of October 2022, and on a much lower scale, after the Ukrainians began attacking Russian infrastructure. Taking out power sub-stations was a way of stopping Ukrainian electric powered trains from supplying their troops on the offensive in the east.

According to a 2009 study by The Lancet and John Hopkins University, one million Iraqis had died as a direct result of the US/UK invasion of Iraq by that year. (For the Lancet study, click here & here) Did western mainstream press deeply investigate the US war crimes of Falluja or did they bury it?

Talk to a Grunt

As a former infantry soldier myself, during a time of war, I know what the empty bravado of Grunts means and what soldiers are capable of when not properly commanded. As a reporter who has covered many vicious wars with many criminal acts, I know what massive war crimes look like, such as in Yugoslavia, the RDC and CAR.

Initial reports on Bucha, like this one from the French Le Figaro (click here) indicated many of the civilians were killed by shells which shoot out hundreds of darts in all directions. This is a munition often used by Israelis against Palestinians and although Tel Aviv has been criticized for using them (but not by AP), few call out the Israelis for war crimes.

I agree these indiscriminate munitions, as well as cluster bombs (widely used by the US, Israel & al.), as well as those small anti-personal mines that look like leaves on the ground which the Ukrainians have been putting in civilian areas they evacuate, should be banned.

The French Gendarmerie sent a team of some 20 forensic specialists in war crimes to Bucha in April. The only conclusions I have seen from their investigation were that yes, some were summarily executed, and even tortured, but at no time have I found a quote saying the Gendarmes pinned all, or even most, of the killings on the Russians.

I find it very suspicious that neither the Gendarmes conclusions, nor a press follow up until now, which is based on hear-say, has been published. I also find it suspicious that the western press systematically ignores accusations of Ukrainian war crimes.

We know the Ukrainians too, and perhaps on a larger scale, have been killing civilians they say have collaborated with the Russians because they brag about it online and are often told to take down their social media posts.

How is it, the day the Russians withdrew from Bucha, the mayor announced on radio that everything was good and the people were safe without denouncing massive war crimes? The Ukrainian Army released the images of supposed victims of Russian war crimes four days after the Russians left! (Click Here) They were disposed of at regular intervals along the road.  If you were going to execute people, the tendency is to line them up together against a wall and take them down.

I’m just saying.

War Crimes Happen in War

Again, I don’t deny war crimes have been committed by Russian soldiers. We know they have. I am saying this article is pure pro-war propaganda, lying through omission and implying things that are not proven by fact.

There is no proof the Russians were ordered by their command to commit war crimes. There is no proof these war crimes were widespread. Let’s not forget, that the far-right Ukrainian parliamentarian ombudsman for human rights, Lyudmyla Denisova, was dismissed by her own ultra nationalist parliament at the end of May 2022, after she was finally called out for fabricating Russian atrocities, by the western press no less! (Click Here and Here)

 « Ms. Denisova was also accused of making insensitive and unverifiable statements about alleged Russian sex crimes and spending too much time in Western Europe during the invasion. »– WSJ.

I invite people who know nothing about being a soldier, little about war, and even less about the arms being used and why targets are being hit, to study up a bit before you swallow that one side is all black and the other all white.  While you are at it, perhaps you could do some research on the lead up to this War.

I invite you to read or listen to the voices of knowledge systematically being silenced and censored in the western mainstream media, such as John Mearsheimer (Click Here), Political Scientist at Chicago University, Jeffrey Sachs (Click Here), world renown economist at Colombia University, Noam Chomsky and many more great Americans trying to save the country from another catastrophic war adventure.

Don’t let yourselves be sucked into another, and this time globally dangerous, war, due to the lies, the omissions, half truths, and the false comparisons, you are being fed. You can no longer trust mainstream journalists to do their jobs. Just look at the ‘before-and-after’ comparison below. You have to do the footwork yourselves, I’m afraid.

Links here

Ukraine bans opposition media (2021)

Ukraine bans opposition parties (2022) and don’t forget, to be considered pro-Russian by Ukraine’s far right nationalists, it is sufficient to demand a negotiated settlement with Russia, or oppose forced “Ukrainization” on ethnic minorities. (Click Here for background)

!!! Jeffrey Sachs on Democracy Now, click on the link: https://youtu.be/wmOePNsNFw0

!!! On ignoring Ukrainian war crimes this from Gray Zone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5qAAqCL-1w

*** Don’t hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section at the bottom and please show me where I have erred. If I have, many, much smarter, people than I are dong so too. However, history demonstrates, I am probably on the right side: Pentagon Papers, Iraq Papers, Collateral Murder, lead up to the Iraq invasion, Kosovo intervention … Thank you for sharing with friends.