Media Big Lies About Putin’s Federal Assembly Address
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org – Home – Stephen Lendman)
Western major media, especially in the US, are a collective lying machine on issues mattering most, notably geopolitical ones, especially anything about Russia.
A separate article discussed Vladimir Putin’s Wednesday Federal Assembly address, the equivalent of the US president’s SOTU – his remarks polar opposite Trump’s bombast, bravado and Big Lies.
It’s how he always trumpets publicly (pun intended), Big Lies, deception, and gross exaggeration featured over truth-telling – why most everything he says lacks credibility.
In his Wednesday address, Putin explained that hostile US actions forced Russia to respond defensively, developing, producing, and deploying super-weapons exceeding the Pentagon’s best.
They’re not for use against another nation preemptively, he stressed, only to defend the Russian Federation effectively if attacked by an aggressor – Washington the key threat to Russia’s security.
US establishment media responded to Putin’s address with a litany of bald-faced Big Lies, part of their longstanding Russia bashing agenda for reasons I explained many times before – mainly its sovereign independence, Washington’s key target for regime change.
The NYT reacted to Putin’s address as expected. Turning truth on its head, it falsely claimed he “doubl(ed) down on threats against the United States” – a bald-faced Big Lie.
Putin clearly said Russia threatens no other nations. It has no intention to attack any preemptively, proved by its actions.
Its super and other weapons are solely for defense – not offense the way the US operates, waging endless wars of aggression against one nation after another, what the Times and other US media never explain, supporting what demands denunciation.
The Times: On Wednesday, “Putin made some of his most explicit threats ever” – a bald-faced Big Lie.
The Times: “His aggressive tone (sic) appeared to be intended, in part, to persuade Washington not to abandon the (INF) treaty.”
His Wednesday remarks and others on geopolitical issues are consistently moderate to a fault. They lack toughness when needed, the only language the US understands, moderation seen as weakness.
The neocon/CIA-connected Washington Post repeated the same Big Lies about Putin’s address, saying “his remarks were among the strongest yet on a potential new arms race after the countries’ mutual pullout (sic) from a Cold War-era nuclear weapons treaty” – referring to the INF Treaty, disparaging the landmark treaty.
No “mutual pullout” occurred. The Trump regime preemptively withdrew from the 1987 agreement, forcing Russia to react defensively, its only option.
WaPo: “Nuclear saber-rattling has become key to the Kremlin’s projection of power both at home and abroad, and could be an attempt to bring Washington to the negotiating table.”
Saber-rattling and naked aggression reflect how Washington operates, not Russia – at war with no other country. The US wages endless wars against nations threatening no one.
The Trump regime, WaPo, and other US establishment media falsely claimed Russian INF Treaty violations. Not a shred of credible evidence suggests it.
The Wall Street Journal turned truth on its head, accusing Putin of “ratchet(ing) up (a) nuclear warning against the US,” adding:
“Russia…suspend(ed) its obligations under the INF treaty…in response to Washington’s plans to abandon the pact in six months if Moscow doesn’t destroy missile systems the US says are in breach of the agreement.”
The Trump regime lied about Russian missiles, the Journal failed to explain – nor that the US alone is a serial treaty violator.
According to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, “publicly available information makes it clear that the US Aegis-based systems in Eastern Europe, if equipped with cruise missiles, would indeed violate the INF,” adding:
“If the Aegis-based systems in Eastern Europe were supplied with American cruise missiles — either the existing Tomahawk or a new missile that Russia claims the United States has been developing — they would become fearsome offensive forces, staged on the frontiers of Russia.”
“And there would be little way for Russia to know whether Aegis systems were loaded with missile defense interceptors or nuclear-armed cruise missiles.”
The Journal, WaPo, the Times, and other US major media failed to report the above assessment, along with not explaining that no credible evidence suggests Russia violated the INF Treaty.
The Journal instead called Putin’s straight forward talk “tough.” It was moderate, far short of needed toughness in dealing the the US.
As explained in the same day article on this issue, decades after the 1962 missiles of October crisis, world tensions are heightened over the Trump regime’s INF Treaty pullout and likely deployment of nuclear capable short and/or intermediate-range missiles in Eastern Europe close to Russia’s border – forcing the Kremlin to respond defensively, increasing the risk of nuclear war.
Russia is falsely blamed for hostile US actions. The imperial agenda pursued by Republicans and undemocratic Dems threatens world peace, stability and security.
US major media are silent on the most important issue of our time – along with supporting US aggression instead of denouncing it.
VISIT MY NEW WEB SITE: stephenlendman.org (Home – Stephen Lendman). Contact at [email protected].
My newest book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."
