Posted on 07/26/2022 8:39:28 AM PDT by Kazan
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul and former Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard have been listed by Ukraine among a number of American politicians, academics and activists Kyiv claims have promoted “Russian propaganda.”
The list was compiled by the Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation, founded in 2021 by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to study the impact of Russian disinformation. The center is part of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council.
The list—which also includes retired U.S. Army Colonel Douglas Macgregor, military strategist Edward Luttwak, political scientist John Mearsheimer and journalist Glenn Greenwald—does not explain what the consequences are for those who Ukraine clearly considers responsible for promoting the Kremlin’s line. But it offers explanations for inclusion on the list.
In April, Paul said President Joe Biden provoked Russia to invade its neighbor by advocating Ukraine’s entrance into NATO.
He also said: “You could also argue the countries they’ve attacked were part of Russia. Or part of the Soviet Union.”
Paul was immediately rebuked for this by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who said Russia was not justified in invading Ukraine.
Former Rep. Gabbard said that the U.S. had provoked Putin for many years and that there are 25 dangerous biolabs in Ukraine that could release deadly pathogens.
The former representative has been accused of of lending credibility to Russian propaganda.
The biolab claims have also been supported by Greenwald, who Ukraine says didn’t want the U.S. to help Ukraine to avoid provoking Russia into a nuclear war.
Macgregor is listed as having said that the Russian army was highly skilled and “invincible,” while Mearsheimer is on Ukraine’s blacklist for having said NATO provoked Vladimir Putin into war.
Luttwak is listed as having given support to holding referendums in the breakaway Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk.
Newsweek has contacted Paul, Gabbard, Macgregor, Mearsheimer, Greenwald and Luttwak for comment.
Greenwald told UnHerd that the list was “standard McCarthyite idiocy.” Mearsheimer told the news site he was disappointed with being listed as a Russian propagandist, while he defended his claim that the war was provoked by the U.S. wanting to accept Ukraine into NATO.
Luttwak also objected to the label of Russian propagandist. Talking to UnHerd, he said he was not “exactly Putin’s most faithful agent,” saying he has argued for Western powers to send weapons to Ukraine since “day one of the war.”
As well as U.S. citizens, the list of “Russian propagandists” includes political figures, experts and public figures from Germany, Switzerland, Brazil, Poland and France.
Other Americans on the list are: political and business advisor Harlan Ullman, author Paul Pillar, economists Jeffrey Sachs and Steve Hanke, political analyst Brian Berletic, academics Patrick Basham and Clifford Kiracofe, former army officer David Payne, ex-diplomat Michael Springmann, retired intelligence officer Scott Ritter, finance specialist Jason Ross, businessman Mike Callicrate, politicians Geoff Young and Diane Sare, journalists Caleb Maupin and Tony Magliano, retired business consultant George Koo, Republican former Senate staffer Jim Jatras, former CIA officer Ray McGovern, former Virginia State Senator Richard Black and political analyst Graham Fuller.
I was aiming for kindergarten level so that you could fully comprehend it. Apparently even that was too complex for your intellect to grasp.
Yeah. I know that’s how you see it.
LMAO
Attacking other nations across borders does put a nation in
a different situation than what the Ukraine was in. You
either don’t know that or are convinced no one else will.
It still doesn’t even dawn on you that Germany still
exists today. So yeah, it did have a right to exist
even then lame brain.
You’re an ignorant nut-job.
Oh you definitely hit the kindergarten level alright.
Finally we agree on something.
So glad you finally acknowledged you lost the argument.
You’re quite a distance away from reaching up to the level of kindergarten, which is now readily apparent. You have a nice day.
On no point did I lose to you.
You have my blessing on claiming anything you like.
Once again, you can cast this any way you like.
You have a good rest of the day also.
Yes, Ukrainians ARE fighting for their very survival -- those in Donetsk and Lugansk -- and have been for EIGHT years. We fomented a revolution that setoff a civil war. We trained funded neo-Nazis and Ukrainian nationalists have persecuted and killed ethnic Russians in Donbass.
You utterly clueless that the MAJORITY in the areas the Russians are occupying VIEW AS LIBERATORS. I've seen video after video of the people in these regions embracing the Russian soldiers and telling them they have waited for them to come for eight years.
If you give a damn the truth, you'd be seeking out the opinions of those ethnic Russians on platforms like Rumble.
You're either totally ignorant and brainwash or a Deep Stater spreading propaganda.
God knows the truth. And, you will be held accountable for backing those that have been persecuting innocent ethnic Russians for eight years, including in this war.
I’ll be “held accountable” for disagreeing with you.
Fascinating.
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