To put things in crystal-clear perspective, there is only one of two ways that the war in Ukraine can conclude; Either Russia prevails or nuclear weapons are used
According to columnist, essayist, author, lecturer and former foreign correspondent for the International Herald Tribune, Patrick Lawrence, that’s the choice.
Neither side can afford to lose in Ukraine. But what is at stake for Russia and what is at stake for the US – via its Ukraine proxy – are two very different things, he says.
To the Russian people it is fundamental; – to lose in Ukraine would be a direct threat to Russia’s security, sovereignty, and ultimately to the Russian Federation’s survival. And so, in light of that understanding, and given Washington’s record of fostering insurrections in foreign nations for its own ends, Russia simply cannot flinch.
So what’s it to be – Armistice or Armageddon?
In mulling over that dreadful question, please first ask yourself another; – what do you really know about the war in Ukraine, – NO, not what you believe to be true, but what do you really know?
It’s my guess that most of what people think they know about the war in Ukraine will have come to them via the media. And on the face of it that’s fair enough – how else are we supposed to get to know anything?
But in the light of the investigation into foreign news service feeds to Radio New Zealand being edited to allegedly make them pro-Russia, what does that say about the “unedited” versions of those stories which the rest of us have been fed. And how have they influenced our understanding of what we think we know?
If RNZ’s “edited” news stories can be deemed to have been made “pro-Russian”, might we conclude that the “unedited” versions were the polar-opposite, “pro-Western”, or is the news we’re supplied by foreign news agencies truth beyond question?
The CEO of Radio New Zealand says the news stories supplied by our media’s foreign news services are sacrosanct and cannot be altered without consent. And you might be happy with that. You might trust that someone unknown to you, working for an unknown foreign news service, covering a story involving the potential for human annihilation, can be trusted to tell you the truth, and there’s an end to it.
If that be the case, if you’re happy with the assurance that foreign news services are so trustworthy, then you’ll be more than happy for our media to save some money and, rather than sending their own people, get one of those agencies to cover the All Black games in the upcoming Rugby World Cup.
Malcolm Evans