Spaghetti Putin-esca

A striking contradiction has emerged out of the hearings on Trump's cabinet appointees.  We are witnessing a spaghetti-like tangle that shows little promise at the moment of lending itself to teasing out any clear indication of what will emerge as Trump's real foreign policy, particularly with regard to Russia.  On the one hand,  a constant accompaniment to Trump's campaign has been his regard for Putin and an implied desire to establish friendly relations with Russia.  Trump's designated candidates for key cabinet posts, on the other hand, have testified to Russia being "the greatest threat to our national security" and accused Russia of aggression in Syria and the Ukraine.  This, while the U.S. encircles Russia with arms and troops.  In the course of reporting on the permanent deployment of thousands of U.S. soldiers in Poland, a PBS NightlyNews commentator spoke of the move as meant to "deter" the Russians.  No explanation was given about what was being deterred.  Not surprisingly, RT, the Russian news outlet, has come in for another round of attacks.



       There is little wonder that RT is a very big bone in the throats of war hawks in Washington.  It must be more than a little annoying to U.S. policy makers that, while they can count on the domestic media, starting with the New York Times, to play down or fail to cover at all our own antics as well as those of Israel, RT has proven to be a reliable source of what is actually occurring here and abroad.  A few months back, we were hearing talk of Russia "winning the propaganda war," a notion presented with alarm and with at least the veiled threat of shutting down RT's television and internet outlets here in the states.  In fact, thousands now turn to RT to get some semblance of objective news reporting.  The most recent example grows out of yet another attack on Syria by the Israeli military. Just a few days ago, (January 12), Israel bombed a military airport near Damascus.  RT immediately covered the story.  Prompted by RT's coverage to seek coverage by the Times, the search took some time since the paper buried the story far from its front page.

       When Israel was demolishing large sectors of Gaza during their last assault on the Palestinian territory, much of the world reacted with horror at the scale and intensity of the attacks.  RT reported that the U.S. Senate made its position clear during the heat of the attacks by voting unanimously to send supplemental arms assistance to Israel.  Not one U.S. senator had the courage to stand up against the Israel lobby.  Once again turning to the Times for coverage of the event proved a vain exercise.
       U.S. covert (and not so covert) operations in Syria and the Ukraine--from "peaceful" demonstrations against the Assad government in the early stages of the conflict in Syria to Victoria Nuland, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, doling our biscuits to anti-government protesters in the Maidan--were and are largely glossed over by our own media.  Larger questions, such as why President Obama's administration provides a happy home for neo-conservatives one might have thought we were rid of when the Bush presidency ended, go unaddressed.