5

Guardian-watch: The referendum that never was

by BlackCatte

The Guardian’s slide from liberal, informed media outlet, to crass, Ministry of Truth propaganda-sheet, gathers pace every day. Yesterday, for example, came this offering:

Vladimir Putin describes secret meeting when Russia decided to seize Crimea

Brief, yet crammed with splendid examples of honest, objective reporting, and paradigm-neutral language. For example…

“In a trailer shown Sunday for an upcoming documentary on state-run Rossiya-1 television called “Homeward bound”, Putin openly discusses Moscow’s controversial grabbing of Crimea a year ago.”

See that? Crimea was “grabbed”. It’s official. Not “liberated” like Iraq or Libya, or Kosovo. Grabbed.

“Putin recounts an all-night meeting with security services chiefs to discuss how to extricate deposed president Viktor Yanukovych, who had fled a pro-Western street revolt in the Ukrainian capital Kiev.”

Who knew that multi-million dollar-funded, nazi-infiltrated, CIA-handled Maidan Experience was just a big old spontaneous street revolt? Who knew those carefully-placed snipers murdering people on both sides were just ordinary everyday folks up there in their perches on a whim, like latter-day sans-culottes at the Bastille? But it gets better.

“More than 6,000 people have since been killed in fighting between Ukraine’s government forces and heavily armed separatist militias based in Donetsk and backed – according to Western governments – by Russia, although Moscow denies this.”

Well, at least the author of this grotesquery stops short of actually alleging the “heavily armed separatists” did most of the killing. But they certainly do their best to imply it don’t they. And the lie by omission is truly disgusting. Nothing about the “Anti-Terror Operation”. Nothing about the Odessa Massacre, nothing about the months-long shelling by the Ukraine Army of civilian Donetsk, described as a war crime by that objective body Human Rights Watch. Nothing about the debaucheries of the various neo-nazi militias, all funded by the west and its friends.

But let’s leave the best bit until last.

“Four days after that February 2014 meeting, unidentified soldiers took over the local parliament in Crimea and deputies hurriedly voted in a new government. The Ukrainian province was then formally annexed by Moscow on 18 March, triggering international condemnation.”

Read this para carefully. Notice anything missing? Hint- it’s the referendum.

Yes, apparently – as someone pointed out in the comments – the Crimean popular vote, which returned the autonomous region to Russia by an overwhelming majority – has simply vanished down the Memory Hole, and the gap sealed up.

It never happened. Crimea was “formally annexed”. Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia. And two plus two equals five.

Ask the Guardian if you’re in any doubt.

Note: the Guardian tends to edit its articles in response to criticism, but without declaring it, so this is a PDF of the version that was published at the time of writing.

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