THE TRUTH ABOUT EVENTS IN THE UKRAINE

George Orwell came to believe that an objective account of events in Barcelona in May 1937 had become impossible.

‘IT will never be possible to get a completely accurate and unbiased account of the Barcelona fighting, because the necessary records do not exist. Future historians will have nothing to go upon except a mass of accusations and party propaganda. I myself have little data beyond what I saw with my own eyes and what I have learned from other eyewitnesses whom I believe to be reliable. I can, however, contradict some of the more flagrant lies and help to get the affair into some kind of perspective.’[1]

As misinformation, inadvertent or deliberate, propaganda, self serving spin and outright lies pour out of Ukraine I have often thought about Orwell’s Barcelona experiences.
Sitting in the safety and security of a London apartment, far removed from events in Ukraine I cannot hope to fully understand the finer nuances of the struggle.[2] In such circumstances one must rely on gut instinct and a sense of what looks and feels right. On a more basic level again I find it necessary to quote Orwell “…but when I see an actual flesh-and-blood worker in conflict with his natural enemy, the policeman, I do not have to ask myself which side I am on.” [3]
I have other basic ground rules:-
1) Don’t trust anything written by the anti-western left.
2) Don’t trust anything written by the Murdoch or Rothermere press.
3) Don’t trust anything that comes from the US media, particularly emanating from the Republican Party.

After following these rues you’re pretty much on your own and you have to do what you can to negotiate your way through the myriad sources on the Internet.

All that said I want to end with a voice from Ukraine. Perhaps she is the unwitting dupe of Fascists and oligarchs as Mr Milne on the anti-western left would have you believe, you will have to judge for yourself.


[2] Though this does not appear to deter Seamus Milne http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/29/ukraine-fascists-oligarchs-eu-nato-expansion Who clarifies the situation by explaining a) that the demonstrators are primarily Fascists financed and supported by Oligarchs and b) that the demonstrators are being duped and manipulated by outside forces. It does not appear to Mr Milne to conclude that both these statements cannot be true.
[3] Fighting in Spain

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