Blazingcatfur

Reality is manipulated to strengthen their regime

The war in Ukraine poses a palpable threat to Western democracies, but this has little to do with Russia posing an inherent strategic threat to the United States or its European allies. No — more so than the Russian state, the threat to the West comes from within, a consequence of our congealing perceptions towards the conflict.

Bombs are not raining down on our cities; instead, what we are experiencing is the psychological weaponisation of war — and its exploitation as a tool of indoctrination and statecraft in the hands of the establishment.

Ukraine’s government has a contingency plan in place if President Volodymyr Zelensky is killed during the Russian invasion, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken revealed on Sunday.

Zelensky survived three assassination attempts by Russian-backed groups just this week, the Times reported on Friday.

During an interview with CBS News’ Face the Nation on Sunday, Blinken was asked if Russian leader Vladimir Putin would face ‘consequences’ for Zelensky’s murder.

U.S., Brit special forces training for high-risk Zelenskyy rescue: Report

Commandos from Britain’s famed SAS and U.S. special forces are undergoing intense training for a potential high-risk rescue of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, according to published reports.

Nearly 4,000 people have been detained at anti-war protests across Russia on Sunday, rights groups and Russian authorities say.

Some 1,700 people were detained in Moscow alone, the RIA news agency reported, citing the interior ministry.

The OVD-Info rights group says detentions took place in 53 cities.

Although protests have become increasingly restricted in recent years, numerous rallies have taken place across Russia since the invasion.

#Russia More than 2000 people have been detained in Russia during anti-war protests. This is Moscow. This man is singing the state anthem of #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/4rndvpdK2v

— Hanna Liubakova (@HannaLiubakova) March 6, 2022

#Russia: Anti-war #protest in Saint Petersburg Chanting "No to war!" #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/2jQa7qbaGk

— 🇺🇦Slava Ukraini🇺🇦 (@xx0XantiX0xx) March 6, 2022

The International Criminal Court (ICC) will investigate possible war crimes in Ukraine, but experts say it’s unclear whether the move could sway Russian President Vladimir Putin to de-escalate his government’s invasion of the country.

“Maybe, and maybe not, but I don’t think people should expect that,” said Mark Kersten, a senior researcher at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto and an expert on international criminal law.

“I don’t think anyone should rightly ever expect that just because there’s an intervention by the International Criminal Court that that will solve the war, that that will lead to peace.”

As Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine enters its third week, the naughty little law of unintended consequences is lifting its head above the parapet.

The most striking illustration of this so far is the debunking of Putin’s brazen claim that there is not and has never been a Ukrainian nation and that Ukraine is nothing but Russia misspelled. Putin insisted that Ukraine was nothing but a creation of Lenin, ignoring the fact that it was Lenin who signed away Ukraine to the Germans in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.

Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine has prompted demonstrations around the world, with hundreds of thousands taking to the streets to condemn the war.

But anger towards the Russian leader has also ensnared an unlikely casualty: a French-Canadian delicacy of potato fries, cheese curds and gravy.