There is a reason I devoted the first fifteen minutes of my live video broadcast on Thursday about Ukraine not to the history that led us here and the substance of the conflict, but instead to the climate that arises whenever a new war erupts, instantly creating propaganda-driven, dissent-free consensus.
U.S. public opinion has consequently undergone a radical and rapid change; while recent polling had shown large majorities of Americans opposed to any major U.S. role in Ukraine, a new Gallup poll released on Friday found that "52% of Americans see the conflict between Russia and Ukraine as a critical threat to U.S. vital interests" with almost no partisan division, while "85% of Americans now view [Russia] unfavorably while 15% have a positive opinion of it."
The ongoing validity of Obama's long-standing view of Ukraine, which persisted even after Moscow annexed Crimea in 2014 following a referendum, that Ukraine is of vital interest only to Russia and not the U.S., and the U.S. should never risk war with Russia over it;.
David Frum, fresh off his job as a White House speechwriter penning Bush's war speeches, in which Bush proclaimed the U.S. was facing an "Axis of Evil," published a 2003 article in National Review about right-wing opponents of the invasion of Iraq, aptly titled: "Unpatriotic Conservatives." Go look how cheaply and easily people were accused of being on the side of The Terrorists or traitors for the slightest deviation from the dominant narrative.
The rationale is similar to the one that drove FDR's notorious World War II internment of all people of Japanese descent - citizens or immigrants - in camps: namely, in times of war, all people who come from the villain or enemy country deserve punishment or should be regarded as suspect.
A Washington Post columnist, Henry Olsen, proposed banning all Russia athletes from entering the U.S.: "No Russian NHL, football, or tennis players so long as the war and claims on Ukrainian territory exist."
The Pentagon itself said the troop deployments were to ensure the troops "Will be ready if called upon to participate in the NATO Response Force" and that "Some of those U.S. personnel may also be called upon to participate in any unilateral actions the U.S. may undertake." Even if one disagrees with Lee's broad view of the War Powers Act and the need for Congress to approve any decisions by the president that may embroil the country in a dangerous war, that Lee is a Kremlin agent and a traitor to his country merely for advocating a role for Congress in these highly consequential decisions reflects how intolerant and dissent-prohibiting the climate has already become.
https://greenwald.substack.com/p/war-propaganda-about-ukraine-becoming?utm_source=url
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