Genocide in Ukraine: Fact, Fiction or Both

   We hear so many reports of genocide and war crimes from the iron tentacles of the Mainstream Media you'd think Mariupol is comparable to Riga, Latvia circa 1941. And folks it's certainly far from that.

  I've seen the footage from Bucha, whom do we believe when anyone with a camera and youtube account these days are deemed journalists?

 The reports from "professional" news source, Reuters are at least 403 bodies of dead Ukrainian civilians have been discovered since the first week of April. Sounds believable, only until you realise the only source of this information is the Mayor of the town! If you've heard my podcast or read any of my prior editorials you'd definitely be well aware I'm never going to defend some wayward autocrat like Vladimir Putin. But the more I dig in the dirt of this Ukrainian catastrophe the more I'm learning about the ugly truth of modern warfare, and more importantly, modern propaganda.

  In 2022 the truth is unerringly in the eye of beholder. Eight sets of eyes can watch the same video and all see different outcomes, and be willing to strongly argue what they witnessed was reality. As opposed to denying footage of holocaust atrocities filmed in 1940, with the assistance of CGI and slick editing techniques now available to anyone with an iphone, repudiating such videos have become much more acceptable. Thanks too France 24 news, a Russian "journalist/video expert" performed a compelling, rebranding analysis of Ukrainian soldiers placing "dead" bodies in different angles on the street too better present their theory of Russian war crimes. Could these films of perceived Massacres, committed willingly by murderous Russian shock troops, actually be an Anti-Putin, Pro-Ukrainian lens we're all being force-fed by handpicked United States mainstream media outlets?

 We all know how much Joe Biden can't stomach the sight of Vladimir Putin, and who could blame him? But it's more than fair too say that President Biden is attempting to garner a much needed boost in popularity by jumping on the Voldomir Zelenskyy bandwagon. Joe Biden announced the US government will bestow a whopping 800 million dollars in aid too assist the Ukrainian war effort ( info courtesy of newyorktimes.com). Many of you may react to that obscene amount of money and say, "What's another blank check from America?" Most folks agree that eight figure cash package is assuredly going to a good cause. 

  The United States are experiencing the worst inflation in fourty years, so when you take that into account such an enormous amount of money should cause most people too be taken aback. In the month of March inflation rates soared to an unsightly 8.5% which is the highest since 1981 (info courtesy of theguardian.com). 

  How could anyone with a purely objective eye be completely sure war crimes have been committed by Russia? There are undoubtedly plenty of evidence that genocide, extrajudicial killings and even rape have taken place. Amnesty International, an organization I have much respect for stated on April 4th, "To date, Amnesty International has gathered evidence of civilians in Ukraine killed by indiscriminate attacks in Kharkiv and Suny Oblast, documented airstrikes that killed civilians queuing for food in Cherniniv, and gathered evidence from civilians living under siege in Kharkiv, Izium and Mariupol." Mariupol has reportedly suffered some of the worst bombing raids during the first month in a half of the Russian invasion. There's no excuse for Vladimir Putin's actions and decision to invade Ukraine. His reasoning were vague and unconvincing to say the least. According to a BBC report, Putins excuse for his military conquest was to overrun and dispose Ukraines government and its desire to join the Western alliance NATO. Putin also announced shortly before the invasion that Russia's goal was to "demilitarize and de-nazify" the government of Ukraine.

  As outrageous as that quote may sound theres certainly a bit of truth that Ukraine has a large neo nazi contingent. A militia known as the "Azov Regiment" are well known for their xenophobic and strong anti semitic beliefs have fought along side the Ukrainian Army while fighting on Pro-Russian separatists in the Donbass region. (info courtesy of aljazeera.com).

  The message here that the more you dig in the dirt of this horrific conflict is there really is no "good"guys. When it comes to Russian war crimes whatever your take is on the reasoning behind this conflict its impossible to ignore the massive bombing campaigns by the Russian military which has destroyed entire cities, therefore resulting in the deaths of civilians. According to numbers compiled by statistica.com, as of May 4th, 3480 civilians have been killed and 230 children. 

  Whether or not the aforementioned videos of bodies strewn across a roadway in a suburb of Kyiv are legitimate or doctored too create more intense outrage is still in question. Are the Ukrainian complete innocent of committing war crimes against Russian POW? More than likely not, but since the Russians and their supreme leader Putin have been the aggressors since the war began the international community will come down hard on Russian leadership for their actions and ignore any Geneva convention violation committed by Ukrainian soldiers. No matter your opinion on this catastrophe, war crimes have been perpetrated by the Russian military. And if their invasion continues to stall and Putins dreams of conquest becomes a massive failure they'll certainly be heavy consequences for the ones who initiated these actions.