INVASIONS, WAR & ATROCITY TALES

 

INVASIONS, WAR & ATROCITY TALES

The tragic events in Europe have not slowed down since our last issue of TBR. There is still a war raging in Ukraine with heavy fighting in the Donbass region. Most Americans had never even heard about this region before the Russian invasion, yet it nearly—and could still—bring us to the brink of a shooting war in Eastern Europe. Learn more about the complex history of the Donbass in an article from Dr. Matthew Raphael Johnson starting on page 54.

We also hear in the news that Putin is a modern-day Adolf Hitler, both of them standing accused of wantonly invading a “peaceful” neighbor. Why did Hitler invade Poland, anyway? So as to give you an unbiased take on that event, researcher John Wear has compiled an article quoting heavily from non-German sources. Read that article beginning on page 18. Hitler himself explains why he invaded Poland on page 24 if you prefer the reasoning from the horse’s mouth. And, to give both men a fair shake, Vladimir Putin tells us why he invaded Ukraine in a transcript we’ve included for your edification. Here, the Russian leader paints a different picture of Ukraine than we get from the Western press. This speech was heavily censored outside Russia. We include it here because we believe a physical, print reproduction of Putin’s justification for the invasion of Ukraine is an important addition to the permanent, written historical record.

Hitler and Putin also stand accused of being warmongers. We lay at least one of those myths to rest in an article by Karl Haemers starting on page 32 that discusses Hitler’s many viable peace offers. More than 75 years after the end of WWII, allegations are again being made that mass atrocities—brutal war crimes perpetrated against Ukrainian civilians—are being carried out in Europe. We caution readers to listen to these accusations with critical ears. TBR readers know, more than most Americans, that atrocities are committed in war. War is itself an atrocity, one that has plagued Mankind since we first emerged from our Paleolithic caves.

But you also know that exaggerated atrocity tales and accusations of genocide are two of the most effective ways to rile up the public to support the atrocity of war. In that vein, our lead article in this issue discusses one of the most egregious atrocities of the World War II era: the Katyn Forest massacre. The Soviets effectively blamed the mass execution of Polish military and police officers on the Nazis and used it in their agitprop. The problem with that version of history is that it is false. The Germans had nothing to do with the massacre. It was carried out with the written approval of Josef Stalin. Yet, for years, the truth remained hidden, even though the Germans, with the help of the Poles, had conducted a thorough forensics examination in 1943 proving the Soviets were the culprits.

Western intelligence knew this, as well, but kept silent, as fictional tales of Nazi atrocities played well in their own incessant “evil German” propaganda play. In this issue we offer a closer look at the rare German report on Katyn, translated by historian Arthur Kemp into English for the first time ever. At over 300 pages, the report itself is too lengthy to reproduce here, but is available in full in an eye-opening new book assembled by Kemp. See page 15. But there’s even more in this May/June issue. Please don’t miss our articles on Maurice Duplessis, Nixon’s golden mistake and a fateful encounter on America’s High Plains plus John Amery. Enjoy! — PAUL ANGEL, Executive Editor

YELLOW JOURNALISM, BLACK INTENTIONS

I n the late 1800s, a major rivalry developed between two of the leading newspaper publishers of the time, Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst. Pulitzer, the Jewish-born publisher of the popular daily The New York World, is the namesake of the coveted Pulitzer prizes awarded for excellence in journalism and literature. Hearst published The New York Journal. Prior to publishing the Journal, Hearst managed The San Francisco Examiner. Both men helped revolutionize journalism and news reporting, but in ways that weren’t necessarily beneficial to the public. Pulitzer and Hearst would go down as icons in the history of journalism in America, known for their innovation in the industry and mastery of what would become known as yellow journalism, a concept coined in 1896 that described the sort of sensational, emotionally charged reporting championed by both Pulitzer and Hearst in their daily newspapers.

Facts and objective reporting were of lesser importance to the practitioners of yellow journalism than circulation. This approach to reporting the news has come to dominate the reporting produced by virtually every mainstream mass media organ in existence in the modern Western world today. At that time, however, both men were competing for readers and thus used sensational, over-the-top headlines and imagery, largely in the form of cartoons, to attract eyeballs to their respective papers. In 1898, the pinnacle of yellow journalism at the time was reached, as both Pulitzer and Hearst played leading roles in the escalation of the conflict between the United States and Spain, that ultimately led to a global war.

In February 1898, the USS Maine, a Navy ship sent to Cuba as a display of U.S. power and a clear provocation against Spain, which then ruled Cuba, was sunk in Havana Harbor. Pulitzer and Hearst quickly launched their popular newspapers into overdrive, churning out endless stories demonizing the Spanish, demanding revenge and insisting on an escalation between the two powers, despite Spain’s insistence it had nothing to do with the sinking of the ship. Suddenly, U.S. papers were also filled with stories of mass atrocities committed by the Spanish against the natives of Cuba and the Philippines. Though the claims were false, readers had no way of checking the facts, as we can today with instantaneous global communications technology.

Nearly all of what Pulitzer and Hearst published had little to do with the facts on the ground or the complex geopolitical realities in contention. Exaggerations, rumors, entirely distorted or even fabricated “news” was presented, largely driven by their desire to hawk their paper and inflame tensions regardless of the consequences of their incendiary copy. “You furnish the pictures, I’ll provide the war!” Hearst once infamously stated. This sort of mindset, and the irresponsible, reprehensible perversion of journalism it has produced, has proven to be disastrous to humanity and to the cause of truth and justice in the world. Currently, the slanderous atrocity propaganda leveled against Russia we see so vividly on display in the conflict in Ukraine has its roots largely in the practice of yellow journalism pioneered so effectively by Pulitzer and Hearst over 125 years ago.

Western media outlets obediently parrot and amplify entirely unverified and extremely dubious narratives and reports coming out of Ukraine, without even attempting to fact check or confirm the allegations. Western politicians, including President Joe Biden, are no better. They have repeatedly affirmed some of the more outlandish claims made by the Zelensky regime, all in an effort to demonize Russia and, ultimately, justify a potential Western intervention in the conflict that could inevitably spark WWIII. Lurid tales of Russia war crimes and other unspeakable atrocities, including brutal killings of innocent civilians, torture, deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure—including a nuclear power plant—buildings and homes and the use of chemical and biological weapons, have dominated headlines for months,. No doubt it will continue unabated for weeks to come as long as this NATO-instigated conflict continues.

At this time, however, there is no proof Russia has done any of this. It’s hard to decide who is worse: the Western political establishment or the Western press? Both work hand-in-hand in their promotion of blatant falsehoods and deceitful narratives to advance the interests of the New World Order and their own kleptocracy. Both are equally as guilty in their irresponsible and mendacious rhetoric, their loathing of Russia and their promotion and amplification of outright war propaganda. As real students of history know full well, this sort of brazen dishonesty has been a mainstay of the fake news media establishment and the political elite in America and the wider Western world for far too long. Russia and their budding coterie of allies, including China, India, Brazil and others, are tired of living under Uncle Sam’s boot. They, like Russia, have reached their limit when it comes to the lies endlessly spewed by the Western press and its double-dealing ruling class.  — JOHN FRIEND, Assistant Editor