The leader of the free world doesn’t believe in the free world

Michael Fullilove

Lowy Institute executive director

The institute has been described as "neoliberal", "centre-right" leaning and "reactionary".

The leader of the free world doesn’t believe in the free world and doesn’t want to lead it. Such is clear from US President Donald Trump’s ugly Oval Office exchange with President Volodymyr Zelensky and his withholding of US military aid, security guarantees and vital intelligence from a democracy fighting for its survival, even as he eases pressure on its authoritarian invader.

This is not the savvy use of leverage to end a forever war. Rather, it is the capitulation of a president determined to do a deal with a dictator, regardless of the cost.

GUS: WHO IS A DICTATOR AGAIN? AH, ZELENSKYYYYY… SURE… SO WHAT IS THE COST TO DISREGARD? ANOTHER 300,000 UKRAINIAN TROOPS DECIMATED? THE WAR — AN AMERICAN/WEST PROXY WAR AGAINST RUSSIA — IS LOST FOR THE WEST… SHOULD TRUMP WANT TO WIN IT, HE WOULD HAVE TO GET NATO SEND ONE MILLION TROOPS INTO YUCKRAINE (THE KIEV NAZI REGIME) TO FIGHT THE RUSSIANS… THIS HAS NO OTHER OUTCOME THAN NUCLEAR WORLD WAR THREE…

UNLIKE FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT, TRUMP DOES NOT HAVE THE LUXURY OF LAUNCHING A FULL-BLOWN WAR ON RUSSIA… HE HAS TO MAKE A DEAL WITH RUSSIA REGARDLESS OF THE COST… THE DEAL THAT TRUMP IS TRYING TO MAKE IS DIFFICULT. THE EUROPEANS WANT TO CARRY ON FIGHTING, WHICH IS STUPID ON SEVERAL FRONTS: BY THE TIME THE EU HAS ENOUGH WEAPONS TO FIGHT RUSSIA, RUSSIA WOULD HAVE INCREASED PRODUCTION OF BETTER WEAPONS UP TO FIVE FOLDS (AT LEAST THREE)… AND EUROPE WOULD BE SO BROKE, THEY WOULD FIGHT AMONGST EACH OTHER FOR CRUMBS… SO THE REST OF FULLILOVE’S ARGUMENT IS SO SO SO 1939… WE LIVE IN 2025…:

Franklin D. Roosevelt took the United States into World War II – and into the world – by persuading Americans they had a stake in preventing aggression in Europe and Asia. Every US president since FDR has defined the US national interest broadly. They understood that global leadership enables Washington to embed its own values and interests in the international system.

Donald Trump disagrees with them all.

FDR defeated America First; Trump has revived it.

John F. Kennedy promised that America would “pay any price” and “bear any burden … to assure the survival and the success of liberty”. Trump reckons it is for others to pay the price and bear the burden. Liberty is for losers.

THIS IS SO GLIB… SO POORLY ARGUED. SO WHAT WOULD YOU DO? GIVE ZELENSKY ALL THE MISSILES TO HIT MOSCOW WITH AND PAY THE PRICE? WHAT WOULD BE THE PRICE? NUKES EVERYWHERE AS FRENCH LITTLE MACRON IS THREATENING RUSSIA WITH. REMEMBER CHURCHILL WANTING TO NUKE MOSCOW IN 1947? HARRY S TRUMAN TOLD HIM A CATEGORICAL NO — DESPITE THE DESIRE OF AMERICA TO DESTROY RUSSIA SINCE 1917…

FULLILOVE CONTINUED....:

Most of the foreign policy themes of Trump’s second term are familiar from his first. He remains sceptical of alliances, though, of course, Moscow or Beijing would dearly love to have alliance networks as powerful and cost-effective as those of the US. Trump still prefers the company of autocrats and strongmen to democratic leaders. His hostility to free trade has intensified. Tariff is “the most beautiful word in the dictionary”, he says: both a means to force concessions from other states and a revenue-raising end in itself.

But Trump 2.0 also contains an innovation. Trump has always believed, despite the evidence, that America is on the wrong end of the global deal: ripped off and disrespected. Last time, his solution was to reduce America’s stake: to retrench, to withdraw from international institutions and geographies. This time, Trump’s idea is to increase America’s payout: to expand, to grab more protection money and more land.

Trump’s stated desire to acquire new territories for the US, including Greenland, the Panama Canal, Canada and Gaza – in some cases, perhaps, through the use of force – is genuinely shocking. It blurs the clear bright line breached by Russia in its brutal and illegal invasion of Ukraine. It may well encourage China to chance its arm on Taiwan. If this were to occur, it is unlikely that Trump would deploy America’s forces in Taiwan’s defence. He seems more disposed to seek an accommodation with Beijing than a confrontation.

The irony is that Trump’s plans to make America great again will subvert the pillars of American greatness. The US alliance network is a key comparative advantage vis-à-vis its adversaries. America’s companies and entrepreneurs dominate the international economy. Trump’s graceless conduct will alienate the world.

The genius of FDR and his successors lay in the fact that they were able to achieve what historian John Lewis Gaddis described as “hegemony by consent”. America’s friends could see a place for themselves in Washington’s worldview, so they went along with Washington’s ways.

But if you push your friends to the brink in every negotiation – if you demand the very minerals from the land they are defending with their lives, and then insist they thank you for the privilege – well, then, sooner or later, that consent will evaporate.

“The free world needs a new leader,” said EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas. But Europe is not up to this task. The hope of the free world – especially Australia and other US allies in Asia – must be that the fever in Washington will soon pass.

YES EUROPE IS NOT UP TO THE TASK BECAUSE THEY ALL THINK WITH THEIR BUTTS INSTEAD OF THEIR BRAINS... DREAM ON, DREAM ON...

Michael Fullilove is executive director of the Lowy Institute. He is writing a book about John F. Kennedy.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/the-leader-of-the-free-world-doesn-t-believe-in-the-free-world-20250307-p5lhqc.html

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

The recent suspension of US intelligence sharing with Ukraine has critically weakened Kiev’s defense capabilities, leading to substantial casualties, territorial losses – particularly in the occupied part of Russia’s Kursk Region – and plummeting morale, Time reported on Friday, citing Western and Ukrainian officials familiar with the situation.

One unnamed official claimed that the lack of US intel directly resulted in “hundreds of dead Ukrainians,” adding that “the biggest problem is morale,” as Kiev is unable to effectively use some of its most powerful Western-supplied weapons.

https://www.rt.com/russia/613927-ukraine-losses-us-intel-freeze/

ME CAN TELL YOU THAT THE US INTELLIGENCE HAS BEEN OVERRATED IN THIS CONFLICT. EVEN WITH THE BEST INTELLIGENCE, THE AMERICANS WERE UNABLE (UNWILLING?) TO WIN IN AFGHANISTAN...... IN REGARD TO SADDAM'S WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION, THE AMERICANS FABRICATED THE "INTELLIGENCE" TO SUIT (TOLD PORKIES).... SOME OF THE MOST "POWERFUL" WESTERN SUPPLIED WEAPONS HAVE BEEN DESTROYED BY THE RUSSIANS, US INTELLIGENCE OR NOT....

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZywdpcPuGvc

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

SEE ALSO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-NsHVUU89Q

SEE ALSO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4o4A8mT4Z8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqdS-KyNtSk

The presentation details a major shift in the battlefield situation in the Kursk incursion, a conflict that has been ongoing for seven months. It reports the collapse of Ukrainian defensive lines, with entire units retreating toward the city of Sudzha. Russian forces have made significant advances in multiple directions, capturing key settlements and cutting off Ukrainian supply lines.

The discussion highlights how the Ukrainian incursion into Russian territory was initially seen as a strategic success to boost morale and divert Russian forces from the eastern front. However, Russia reportedly anticipated the move and allowed Ukrainian troops to enter a "cauldron" where they were gradually worn down through airstrikes, artillery, and direct engagements.

A key moment in the collapse was a sophisticated Russian maneuver involving a gas pipeline. Russian troops moved through the pipeline undetected for 16 kilometers, emerging behind Ukrainian lines near Sudzha, causing panic and mass withdrawals. This maneuver, along with coordinated airstrikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, showcased Russia's growing operational sophistication.

The broader analysis argues that Russia’s primary goal is not territorial acquisition but the systematic destruction of Ukrainian forces, aligning with its stated objectives of "demilitarization and denazification." The speaker also notes that this strategy has allowed Russia to maintain pressure on multiple fronts without compromising its positions elsewhere.

The presentation concludes by emphasizing that this operation demonstrates increasing Russian military competence, particularly in operational planning and execution, and suggests that Western observers should take note of these developments.

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPJZom3IjD0

MEANWHILE:

Zelensky: Kiev Won’t Cede Territory, Wants ‘Strong’ US Response If Russia Rejects Ceasefire

by Kyle Anzalone

President Volodymyr Zelensky explained his understanding of the ceasefire proposed by Ukrainian and American officials this week, saying his country would not make any territorial concessions. Additionally, Kiev expects “strong steps” from President Donald Trump should Moscow reject the plan.

Discussing the ceasefire proposal on Wednesday, Zelensky said, “We are fighting for our independence. Therefore, we will not recognize any occupied territories as Russia’s,” adding, “Our people have fought for this, our heroes died. How many injured, how many passed. No one will forget about it… This is the most important red line. We will not let anyone forget about this crime against Ukraine.”

Zelensky’s refusal to give up territory makes it unlikely the Kremlin will agree to the ceasefire, as Russian officials insist the five Ukrainian provinces annexed by Moscow will never be returned to Kiev. Additionally, Russia says it is seeking a permanent end to the conflict, not a short-term truce.

Even if the ceasefire had multiple points that crossed Russia’s red lines, Zelensky said he expects Trump to sanction Russia and send more arms to Ukraine. On Tuesday, he said, “I understand that we could count on strong steps. I don’t know the details yet, but we are talking about sanctions and about strengthening Ukraine.”

Trump has previously threatened severe sanctions and tariffs on Russia if Putin did not agree to a ceasefire. Zelensky repeated on Wednesday that he still expected Trump to take those steps if the proposal is rejected. “If [the Russians] are not ready [for a ceasefire], we do hope that the American side will demonstrate exactly what it said,” he stated. 

The White House has led Western officials in saying that it is now on Putin to accept the peace plan. “It’s up to Russia now,” Trump said. “Our people are going to Russia right now as we speak. And hopefully we can get a ceasefire from Russia.”

While Zelensky’s reluctance to make key concessions suggest that Moscow will reject the proposal, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin will wait to hear the details from US officials before responding.

“Yesterday, both Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz mentioned that they would provide us with detailed information about the essence of the conversation that took place in Jeddah through various channels. We need to receive this information first,” the spokesman explained.

https://libertarianinstitute.org/news/zelensky-kiev-wont-cede-territory-wants-strong-us-response-if-russia-rejects-ceasefire/

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

Putin urges Kiev to order troops in Kursk Region to surrender
The Russian president has said he was “sympathetic” to Donald Trump’s call on Moscow to spare the Ukrainian soldiers’ lives

Moscow is “sympathetic” to US President Donald Trump’s request that the lives of the Ukrainian troops encircled in Russia’s Kursk Region be spared, President Vladimir Putin said during a National Security Council meeting on Friday. Russia will guarantee their lives if they lay down their arms, he added.

Earlier in the day, Trump urged Putin to preserve the lives of the “thousands of Ukrainian troops" who are "completely surrounded by the Russian military.”

“This would be a horrible massacre, one not seen since World War II,” he said in a post on Truth Social. 

Putin responded that he was aware of Trump’s request, adding that Russia was willing to consider it. “If they lay down their arms and surrender, [we] will guarantee them their lives and dignified treatment in accordance with international law and Russian legal norms,” the president said.

The Russian leader pointed out that Kiev’s forces had committed “numerous crimes against civilians” during their incursion into Kursk Region and that the Russian law enforcement authorities were treating their actions as “terrorism.” 

For the US president’s call to be “effectively heeded,” Kiev must order its troops to lay down their arms, Putin stated.

Kiev launched a major offensive into the Kursk area in August 2024, capturing the town of Sudzha and dozens of villages. Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky said the incursion across the two countries' internationally recognized border was an attempt to gain leverage for future peace talks. 

The Ukrainian advance was quickly halted by the Russian military, which has been gradually reclaiming ground ever since. As of Wednesday evening, Moscow’s forces had liberated 86% of the territory occupied by Ukraine in August 2024, according to the head of the Russian General Staff, General Valery Gerasimov. The remaining Ukrainian units in the area are largely “encircled” and “isolated,” he explained, without providing any specific figures about the number of troops surrounded.

Putin had earlier named the fate of the Ukrainian troops in Kursk Region as one of key issues to address before any deal on a ceasefire between Moscow and Kiev can be reached.

Speaking on Thursday, the president said that Russia supports the idea of a 30-day ceasefire proposed by the US but emphasized the need for further discussions with Washington to resolve specific concerns.

Kiev has so far not commented on Putin’s call. Earlier, the Ukrainian General Staff dismissed the reports about Kiev’s troops being surrounded in Kursk Region as “political manipulation” by Russia.

https://www.rt.com/russia/614241-putin-urges-kiev-kursk/

OF COURSE THE PSYCHOPATHIC MEGALOMANIACS IN KIEV WOULD PREFER THEIR TROOPS TO BE MASSACRED IN A BAD PR EXERCISE FOR RUSSIA INSTEAD OF SURRENDERING WHICH WOULD BE BAD PR FOR KIEV....

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

The near-total collapse of Ukraine's operations in Kursk region has highlighted the folly of Zelensky’s obsession with throwing his best troops and materiel into a hopeless campaign. Here’s a selection of NATO equipment that has “found its peace in Kursk’s ground” over the past month, complete with photo and video evidence.

Russia's Defense Ministry estimates that Ukraine has lost nearly 400 tanks, almost 2,800 armored vehicles and over 1,000 guns and mortars in fighting in Kursk region to date, and says over 85% of territories once occupied by Ukrainian forces have been freed.

Liberated areas contain scores of wrecked, burned out, damaged or abandoned vehicles, including some of NATO's most advanced equipment:

M2A2 Bradley: Over 300 of these do-it-all American infantry fighting vehicles have been sent to Ukraine, with nearly half confirmed lost by Oryx. They've been spotted among other wrecked NATO equipment in Kursk region.

M1 Abrams: 31 of these custom-made monkey model American main battle tanks have been delivered to Ukraine. 20 lost to date. One recently spotted being towed away intact in Kursk region. Australia plans to send 49 more.

Leopard 1 AVLB Biber: Armored vehicle-launched bridge built on a German Leopard-1 tank chassis. 30+ sent to Ukraine. One recently found abandoned, in mint shape, in a Kursk village.

M777 : A third of the 180 US-made 155mm howitzers sent to Ukraine have been lost, damaged, or abandoned to date, with several recently captured almost intact in Kursk region.

Stryker: Over 400 of these Canadian-built armored fighting vehicles have been transferred to Ukraine. At least 55 destroyed, some caught on Russian MoD FPV drone videos moments before meeting their fate.

BMC Kirpi II: 200 of these Turkish MRAPs have been sent to serve in Ukraine’s elite units. Scores destroyed, damaged or captured by Russian forces, including in Kursk.

HMMWV: 5,000 of these ubiquitous US vehicles, better known as Humvees, have been delivered to Ukraine. Scores captured on Russian FPV drone cam footage in Kursk region.

Roshel Senator: Over 1,700 of the Canadian-built armored cars have been delivered to Ukraine. Also spotted in Russian FPV drone videos.

MAXXPRO: About 440 these Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles (MRAPs) have been sent to Ukraine by the US, with at least 197 lost to date, including in fighting for Kursk.

M113: 1,000+ of these ancient tracked APCs have been sent to Ukraine by the US and allies, with nearly 300 destroyed to date, including in Kursk region.

BATT UMG: Ukraine has received 116 of these US-made vehicles. Rarely seen, some are known to have met their fate on the battlefields of Kursk.

Bushmaster PMV: About 120 of these Australian-made Protected Mobility Vehicles have gone to Ukraine, some ending up in Kursk region, and at least 25 lost to date.

M240: Besides heavy equipment, an array of NATO small arms has also been destroyed or captured in Kursk as well, among them the FN M240 7.62mm machinegun, delivered to Ukraine by the US and France. In February, a Russian trooper in Kursk captured an M240 after storming a Ukrainian position and bringing the gun back to friendly lines.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20250315/russias-kursk-region-becomes-final-resting-place-for-natos-top-tech-1121640435.html

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PxKiGUd0xU

METHINKS THAT RUSSIA SAW THE KIEV REGIME SET A TRAP FOR ITSELF... UNFORTUNATELY, DESPITE EVACUATING MANY PEOPLE, SOME RUSSIAN CIVILIANS GOT HURT... BUT IN THE END, ZELENSKY LOST NEARLY 70,000 TROOPS, NEARLY 500 TANKS AND MANY OTHER ASSORTED GUNS AND VEHICLES...

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

THE YUCKRAINIAN INCURSION INTO RUSSIA KILLED MANY CIVILIANS BUT...:

Germany's likely next chancellor Friedrich Merz strongly condemned a Russian attack in northeastern Ukraine that killed more than 30 people. He also remains open to providing Ukraine with Taurus missiles.

Germany's likely next chancellor Friedrich Merz has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of committing a war crime after a Russian missile attack killed at least 34 people, including children, in the Ukrainian city of Sumy.

The leader of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) told German public broadcaster ARD on Sunday that the deadly Russian missile assault was "a deliberate and calculated war crime."

"There are two waves of attacks, and the second arrived as emergency workers were taking care of the victims," said Merz.

"That is the response, that is what (Russian President Vladimir) Putin does to those who talk with him of a ceasefire," he added, mentioning those in Germany who "naively" call for peace talks with Putin. 

"Our willingness to discuss with him is interpreted not as a serious offer to make peace, but as weakness," said Merz.

https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-merz-says-sumy-attack-war-crime-by-russia/a-72234160

BUT BUT BUT:

‘He was warned’ – Ukrainian mayor blames Sumy military administration for recent strike
The frontline region’s acting governor left Kiev’s troops open for attack, Konotop head Artyom Semenikhin has accused

Konotop Mayor Artyom Semenikhin has accused the head of the Sumy regional military administration, Vladimir Artyukh of being responsible for making a gathering of Ukrainian soldiers in the border city a target for a supposed Russian missile strike.

Sumy is a frontline city bordering the Russian Kursk Region, situated just a few miles away from the fighting. According to local authorities, a cruise missile strike on Sunday left over 20 people dead and more than 80 wounded.

Speaking in a Facebook stream on Sunday, Semenikhin, a member of the neo-Nazi party Svoboda and the head of a nearby town of Konotop accused Artyukh of being complicit in the deaths of Ukrainians in the attack.

“He organized an award ceremony for the soldiers of the 117th brigade in that building. He was warned that this should not be done,” Semenikhin said, adding that he’s risking a lot broaching the subject.

He claimed that none of the soldiers were injured and that the strike only hit civilians who were near the award ceremony at the time.

”Thanks to our long-standing governor Artyukh, we now have victims,” Semenikhin said.

He added that local authorities have begun criminal investigations into who organized the military ceremony, as well as into the strike itself.

”I have no doubt that Mr. Artyukh... will receive an appropriate response from the law enforcement system, law enforcement agencies, and prosecution will begin against him,” Semenikhin said.

Ukrainian authorities have not yet commented on reports that a gathering of soldiers was hit.

Earlier in the day, former member of Vladimir Zelensky’s political party, Ukrainian lawmaker Mariana Bezuglaya demanded that officers stop staging troop gatherings, warning that the practice makes service members targets for Russian strikes.

“Do not do roll calls. Do not stage award ceremonies,” she urged Kiev’s military.

The Russian Defense Ministry has not commented on the strike as of Sunday evening.

https://www.rt.com/russia/615716-ukrainian-mayor-sumy-strike/

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

The Sumy missile strike: War, propaganda, and hypocrisy
Russia’s attack on a gathering of Ukrainian servicemen has become immediate fodder for the information offensive against Moscow

On April 13, Russia launched an attack on a target in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy. All reports –Western, Ukrainian, and Russian – agree on some basic facts: The attack consisted of two ballistic missiles; substantial numbers of people were killed (over 60, according to the Russian Defense Ministry; over 20 in Western and Ukrainian reports) and injured (over 110, per Ukrainian reports).

Beyond that, however, a thick fog of war has descended. Or rather, a fog of propaganda. Western media and politicians have denounced the Russian strike as, in essence, an atrocity or war crime. The New York Times, for instance, presented it as slamming “into a bustling city center […] on Sunday morning, […] killing at least 34 people in what appeared to be the deadliest attack against civilians this year.” Incoming German chancellor Friedrich Merz (to be sworn in at the beginning of May), speaking on one of his country’s most popular TV shows, condemned what he called a “perfidious act” and “serious war crime.”

In the US, President Donald Trump’s special – if largely sidelined – envoy for Russia and Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, has invoked his experience as a “former military leader” who “understand[s] targeting” to denounce the Russian strike as “wrong,” adding that the attack “on civilian targets in Sumy crosses any line of decency.” Britain’s prime minister, Keir Starmer, is “appalled at Russia’s horrific attacks on civilians in Sumy.”

Both Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron saw an opportunity to call for “imposing” a ceasefire on Russia. Merz, for his part, felt the need to talk, once more, about providing Kiev with German Taurus missiles. The fact that Ukraine has made a point of not complying with the partial ceasefire officially already in place seems to make no difference. Neither, clearly, does the fact that neither France nor Britain has the means to compel Moscow. That the use of the German Taurus to strike at, for instance, the Kerch Bridge may well invite – perfectly justifiable – Russian retaliation against German targets, whether in Germany or elsewhere, seems to appear equally irrelevant to Merz

More examples could be added, but the trend should be clear: In the West, almost everyone agrees that the Russian attack on Sumy was an atrocity and in the EU there is talk – if we are lucky, it will remain just that – of exploiting it as a pretext to escalate further the proxy war in which Ukraine is being used up against Russia.

Yet there are two major problems with this escalatory approach: Most importantly, it is not based on facts but on disinformation originating with the Kiev regime, taken over uncritically and spread enthusiastically by Western mainstream media and many political leaders.

Though not, actually, all of them. That is the second, as it were, practical problem for the escalation brigade: The single most powerful Western figure is not playing along. Trump has not condemned Russia. He did call the attack “terrible” and “horrible” and claimed that he was told that “they [presumably meaning Russia] made a mistake.”

Whatever basis (US signal intelligence? Hearsay?) he has – or not – for this statement, politically, the key point of Trump’s first reaction was that he demonstratively refrained from joining the rest of the West in escalating, while stressing that the war as such is the issue and ending it the solution.

A similar approach in a statement on X by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirms that this is not a fluke but Trump’s and therefore Washington’s policy, at least for now. America’s president has clearly – and unsurprisingly – decided that his halting and open-ended yet still at least ongoing attempt to achieve a normalization with Moscow is more important than joining the latest propaganda campaign against Russia.

Trump – so criminally wrong in the Middle East – is right on this one, even if he is pursuing extremely pragmatic purposes. He is also, as it happens, right here in a more fundamental sense, which brings us back to problem number one with the Western mainstream treatment of the Sumy attack: Despite Kiev’s endless record of deception, the Western claim that the Russian attack was a crime is once again based on that very murky source alone. Ukraine’s past-due-date president Vladmir Zelensky, for instance, has decried a “horrific” attack hitting “an ordinary city street, ordinary life.”

Macron, Merz, Starmer, Kellogg the New York Times, The Telegraph – to name only a few examples – all follow Zelensky’s and Kiev’s lie that this was a deliberate attack on civilians. Yet, in reality, Russia struck at a gathering of Ukrainian soldiers. Soldiers, yes, even on Sunday and also on Palm Sunday, are legitimate targets in armed conflict. It is not criminal to attack them.

That is an elementary legal reality, rooted in the Law of Armed Conflict. And, when the boot is on the other foot, the West knows this well: No one there decried a Ukrainian “war crime,” when Kiev’s Western-supplied artillery wiped out almost 100 Russian troops sleeping in their quarters behind the front line in January 2023.

Indeed, the few Ukrainian media and politicians who still dare publicly contradict the de facto authoritarian Zelensky regime are clear about the fact that Ukrainian soldiers were the target: The major Ukrainian (not Russian) news site Strana.ua has reported that the Ukrainian authorities have tried to be cagey about the exact location of the Russian strike, while, at the same time, “more and more information is emerging from various sources that the Ukrainian military was the target of the strike.”

More specifically, Ukrainian parliamentarian Maryana Bezuglaya, former parliamentarian Igor Mosiychuk (politically on the far right and definitely no friend of Moscow, by the way), and a local mayor have stated that the Russian missiles hit an award ceremony of the 117th Territorial Defense Brigade, a Ukrainian unit that fights in the region.

There also are serious accusations, but not merely against Russia. Instead local and central Ukrainian authorities are under fire: Mosiychuk and Bezuglaya surmise that Russian forces may have gotten wind of the target from what can only be described as criminal negligence, namely unguarded invitations to the ceremony.

Mosiychuk, in addition, denounces that the organizers invited civilians, including children. And he suspects not only sloppiness but extremely dubious motives. He believes that a local politician and a parliamentarian – from Zelensky’s Servant of the People party, incidentally – were using the military ceremony as a “PR” stunt, and his hope is that the “trash and scum,” as he calls them, will be arrested.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense, meanwhile, has stated that the strike targeted a meeting of Ukrainian commanders. Award ceremony for the troops, meeting of officers, or, perhaps, both – whichever way you look at it, this was a military target.

Let’s address one thing squarely: A large number of people have died and been injured, and yes, they do include civilians and children. This is terrible, but it is precisely not a matter for cheap political exploitation to make the war even worse and last even longer. As this is an armed conflict, Russia has a right to strike at Ukrainian forces, as Ukraine has a right to strike at Russian forces.

There is another thing that is clear: Those who pretend that this was a deliberate attack on civilians are either disinforming or disinformed, or both. It is possible that Russian commanders failed to consider the likelihood of also killing and hurting civilians; it is possible that they did consider it but decided that the risk was in proportion to the military gain they expected. That form of thinking, again, is part of the Law of Armed Conflict. They may have been wrong, and critics can argue that, if they wish. But this was not a massacre of civilians but a fundamentally military attack.

Those in the West who want to pretend otherwise are – this must be said as well – the same politicians and mainstream media outlets who have sided pro-actively with Israel while it has committed an ongoing, stunningly violent and perverse sequence of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes against the Palestinians as well as its neighbors in Lebanon and Syria.

Germany’s Merz, for instance, found strong, false words for condemning the Russian attack on Sumy, and is threatening once again to give German missiles to Kiev. This is the same man who wants to invite internationally wanted war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu to Berlin. The hypocrisy is breathtaking, but not surprising.

https://www.rt.com/russia/615744-sumy-strike-war-propaganda/

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

SEE ALSO: