Scottish journalist and blogger living in Dublin, Ireland. Postgraduate in Sociology, Academic Fellowship (History of World War I) and lecturer in Biblical Studies.
This is the nature of the information war being fought by the Ukrainian government — the side that is the righteous victim, the side that does not need to tell lies, the side that has innocence on its side. Yet, the multiplication of the entities of these stories — their details — point to them being fictitious; they push the boundaries of believability. … More Zelenskyy’s Dirty Propaganda War
NATO and the western media have made a great fuss about Russia’s revision of its nuclear strategy; suggesting that, by incorporating a particular nuclear option into its conventional military response, the Putin administration has adopted a fundamentally more aggressive and bullying strategy — and has leapt on this to accelerate the expansion of the anti-Russian nuclear alliance and the buildup of ‘defensive’ forces on the Russian border. Little if anything, however, has been said about why Russia made these revisions in the first place. … More Chekhov’s Nuclear War
Now that the war is happening, and now that we are at — as Noam Chomsky described it — ‘the most dangerous point in human history,’ the West finds itself unable to see Russia correctly. We are still looking at our projection of Russia — a false image of our fears rather than Russia as it really is. In effect, then, Washington and its NATO client states are boxing their own shadows while the real Russia acts in totally unexpected ways because we don’t expect a fiction to behave as anything other than a fiction. … More The Problem with Russia
The Russian flagship guided missile cruiser Moskva is reported to have sunk in the Black Sea under tow after a fire in the ammunition hold led to an explosion that seriously damaged the vessel. The Russian Defence Ministry, however, has denied that the cruiser has sunk, stating that it was still afloat and heading for repairs. What is known for sure is that the ship did suffer significant damage and is for the time being out of service. … More War Room | Ukraine, 15 April 2022
Within Ukraine, there is clear evidence of a disinformation mill churning out outrageous anti-Russian propaganda that is repeated by western Ukrainian journalists in English on their social media pages for western consumption. Naturally, this is picked up by western media and treated — uncritically — as news from the war. It is interesting to note that Lapatina also contributes in English to The Guardian and The New York Times. … More The Propaganda War
Russian and DPR forces have accelerated their assault on the Azov Nazi stronghold of Mariupol, overrunning the port facility in the south-west of the city on 8 April and forcing Ukrainian Army (AFU) and Azov units to retreat into the Azovstal steelworks along the coast. The port had been a key defensive position of the Ukrainian forces, the loss of which has been a terrible blow to the defence of the city. … More War Room | Ukraine, 12 April 2022
With forces fresh from Kyiv, the Russian General Staff has launched a number of offensives along the line of contact in Donbas. In the north of this front the Ukrainian resistance at Kharkiv has been stiff, making it difficult for allied forces to flank the city’s defences. Towards the centre, however, the Ukrainian resolve has faltered allowing armour and infantry to puncture the frontline at Popasna. Russian forces now have a toehold inside the giant cauldron forming in the south of Kharkiv and north of Donetsk oblasts. … More War Room | Ukraine, 11 April 2022
Rape, while a particularly egregious and henious crime, is and has always been a feature of warfare. Women and girls face the threat of sexual assault and rape in peacetime, in every town and city in the world, surrounded by well-funtioning policing and legal institutional structures. All too often in wartime, these civilian structures are among the first things to breakdown; making people vulnerable to all kinds of danger, violence, and violations. … More Partisan Hacks and Russian Rapists
Doubling-down on the massacre narrative, The New York Times released satellite images from the US military contractor Maxar showing a number of bodies lying about the streets of Bucha. Perhaps to the uninformed this proves the corporate media case that Russian soldiers were indiscriminately killing defenceless civilians during the occupation, but to anyone familiar with modern urban warfare this scene proves the opposite. … More The Anatomy of a Russian Massacre
One does not have to be ‘pro-Russian’ or a ‘Putin apologist’ to ask these questions. Bucha is a story about ordinary human beings caught up in an awful situation. Journalism should be about seeking the truth and serving people in a healthy and informed democracy. What we know for certain is that hundreds of people have been deliberately targeted and ruthlessly and mercilessly murdered by a state actor. What we do not know is which state actor perpetrated this despicable crime … More Serious Questions about Bucha
Standpoint Zero 