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| Afghanistan war memorial in Bucha, Kiev oblast, Ukraine (Source) |
The murder of numerous civilians in the small town of Bucha has come to light in recent days. I have heard outrageous explanations for this from many sides. It's a war, innocents have died, only the most craven would not see this as a war crime.
I found the following on YouTube, a reporter recording the reactions of typical Russians to the events in Bucha. "Man in the street" interviews. They are interesting ...
Very interesting reactions.
I find it interesting that while there is a Russian word for fake, подделка (poddelka), the Russians in the video tend to use the English word.
In the old days of the Cold War, there was a lot of "fake news."
On both sides.
Bottom line, this was a war crime.
Speaking of fake news on both sides, American Thinker has another take on this - with an interesting timeline
ReplyDeletehttps://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/04/was_there_really_a_massacre_at_bucha.html
Interesting. I see allegations on both sides, some supported by evidence, some not.
DeleteI can't say I lend much credence to this report.
TNX for providing a link to another view. We are in the midst of a well-played propaganda war and as we have have seen from the last century, those who control (have paid the most money to) the media, will win.
DeleteHave to look at both sides, that's for sure.
DeleteMore than one person was afraid to express their opinion, that's telling. Relying on just TV for information is easy and simplistic and a good many people don't even do that. Killing civilians, well......comrade Putin has much to answer for.
ReplyDeleteYup, fifteen years for speaking your mind. Nothing ever seems to change in Russia.
DeleteWho invaded who?
DeleteThat's the bottom line.
DeleteThis brings to mind my bus tour of East Berlin when my unit was sent to augment the U.S. Army's Berlin Brigade. We entered East Berlin through Checkpoint Charlie and drove through East Berlin for an hour or so. We passed an elderly woman with a young boy by her side. When the boy started waving to us she grabbed his arm and pushed it down while looking around to see if anyone had seen the boy. That one scene has stuck with me over the years and reminds me of the great freedoms that we enjoy in this country.
DeletePerfect example.
DeleteWatching a clip like that...all I could think if was how blessed I am to be living in the US of A.
ReplyDeleteDo we have troubles? Of course we do.
Am I a fan of the mass media? Not much any more.
Do all media spread some form of propaganda? Yup.
However, if a cameraman stops ya on the street in one of the cities in this country, the average joe/jane here in America doesn't have to worry much about being identified by the powers that be, or them hunting you down to put you in prison for 15 years for just expressing your opinion.
To folks who say The Constitution is an old, dead, moldy document that no longer applies to these modern times---watch that clip, look at the faces, at the eyes, at the lack of eye contact....then be very grateful for the First Amendment.
I don't even ever look at Twitter or Instagram, rarely at Facebook. But if I want to know what is going on, or to learn more about a topic or event, I can go on-line, I can go look at a newspaper, or watch the news on TV where, thanks to cable/satellite TV there are a boatload of possibilities of ways to explore different angles of a current event. Yes, it probably meets the definition of propaganda, but at least I can see where the view is being slanted from. And, we can go look at news feeds from other countries as well. As opposed to just being a good girl and taking the government's point of view as gospel.
1984 was supposed to be a warning, not an instruction manual!
Putin absolutely has much to answer for!!
I try to gather information from multiple sources, sometimes a trusted source will turn out to be false. Guess who then is never trusted again.
DeleteThe world is swirling with hate, lies, and deceit. No matter what one might believe, the common people of Ukraine are suffering. As are the conscript soldiers of Russia. Putin indeed has much to answer for.
Sarge, what this kind of ultimately points to is the fact that neither government nor media has shown themselves to be credible. The fact that we have a modern phrase to describe this - fake news - really summarizes where we are as a media consuming society.
ReplyDeleteThe sad reality is that people died and that there should be justice - for whomever is responsible. And there should be justice for the Ukrainians that have died in the invasion - and people really should never forget that Russia invaded Ukraine, not the other way around. And, as you say, internal Russian justice by the Russian people for the Russian conscripts that have died in this fruitless war that will likely smolder for years with no resolution. But that always takes time to investigate and assign blame appropriately.
The common people suffer, and the powerful couldn't care less. Special place in Hell for that lot.
DeleteAgreed Sarge. This it seems to have always been, this it seems destined (in this life) to always be.
DeleteAfraid so ...
DeleteI'm pretty much a black & white kinda guy, although I do understand the "Fog of War" thing. That having been said, I'm not a lawyer nor played one on TV. Aircrew did get extensive training on "The Rules" however. Given that... Here's how I see it. If Country A invades Country B, ANY non-uniformed Country B casualty is a war crime. Even if Country B citizens are killed while armed and trying to defend Kith and Kin. If Country B kills civilians that are under arms and supporting Country A, those civilians are committing treason. Not a war-crime. If Country B accidentally kills civilians (e.g. wrong target coordinates) a tragedy but again, not a war crime. The only wiggle room is when Country A does the same. Is it truly a tragic mistake or something intended?
ReplyDeleteOf course, actually winning the war makes a big difference in who get's hung and who gets medals.
My $.02
Your 2 cents is pretty valuable.
DeleteThe entire conflict is arguably a war crime since there was no conflict prior that existed or was attempted to be reconciled through diplomatic means. But unless it's against the UKR military or likely military targets (better have your evidence Putin), it's a war crime. If the world has the chance to try him, it won't go well for him, especially when we have HD video of train stations of refugees being blown up, and fleeing families carrying suitcases being shot up in the street. I almost wish he'd use chems so he'd cross at least some line Biden will get mad at. We thought Russia was a 20 foot giant and UKR wasn't strong enough to join NATO, but we were wrong on both counts. Some slammed Biden for the regime change comment, but I agree, this guy should be assassinated. There's a religious component to this as well. Many of the Ukrainians have left the Russian Orthodox church and become Roman Catholic. Putin is supposedly a staunch RusOrtho so he's killing his religious rivals now. Many of them fled to Poland where Catholicism is very strong.
ReplyDeleteYup, waging a war of aggression is against international law, so yeah, Putin is a war criminal.
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