Losing the war in Ukraine, 59-year-old U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken hoped to win the propaganda battle, accusing the Russian Federation of more war crimes, including abducting thousands of children, separating them from their families in the Ukraine battlefield. Sounds familiar to what 79-year-old President Joe Biden and the Democrat Party accused 76-year-old President Donald Trump of doing at the Mexican border, separating children from their families. Blinken now tries to seize the PR offensive, accusing, like 45-year-old Urainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russia of atrocities and war crimes. Ukraine’s 40-year-old Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba accused 69-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin of war crimes in the Hague’s International Criminal Court [ICC]. If Ukraine wants to avoid war crimes they should go to the peace table at the earliest possible time.
Blinken, based on Ukraine intel, accuses the Russian Federation of violating the 1949 Fourth Geneva convention under Article 29 concerning the relocation of displaced persons from occupied war zones. “The unlawful transfer and deportation of protected persons is a grave breach of Fourth Geneva Convention on the protection of civilians and is a war crime,” said Blinken. Blinken knows the United States does not subscribe to the ICC, because it can be used unscrupulously to charge warring factions with war crimes. Blinken claims Ukrainian intel shows Moscow “deliberately separating Ukrainian children from their parents and abducting them to orphanages before putting them up for adoption in Russia,” Blinken said. Russia denies that it’s abducting Ukrainian children for the Russian adoption trade. Winning the propaganda battle is more important to Blinken than the actual war.
When he traveled to Bali, Indonesia for a G20 meeting over last weekend, Blinken had a golden opportunity to mend fences with 72-year-old Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, especially given the White House stated objective of getting 31-year-old WNBA star Britney Griner out of a Russian jail. Instead of opening up a dialogue, Blinken used his time to denounce the Russian Federation, turning as many G20 participants into Russian enemies. All the talk today from Blinken about Russian war crimes diverts attention away from 79-year-old President Joe Biden’s Mideast trip, where he plans to meet face-to-face with 36-year-old Saudi de facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Biden spent much of his 2020 campaign accusing Trump of cozying up to dictators. Bin Salman was accused by the CIA of arranging the Oc.t. 2, 2018 hit of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
Biden said he would never recognize or meet with Bin Salman because of his alleged role in Khashoggi’s assassination. Biden changed his tune after boycotting Russian oil, causing worldwide shortages and skyrocketing prices. Biden finds himself caught between a rock and a hard place, prosecuting the Ukraine War and Russian oil embargo, watching inflation sweep into every aspect of American life. Spending more money than ever at the pumps, American consumers are at their wits’ end. Today’s 9.1% inflation number for June shows that the Federal Reserve Board has a long way to go raising interest rates, bound to cause recession in the U.S. When it comes to Ukraine, Blinken knows the U.S. mission, aimed at defeating the Russian army, has failed miserably, seizing over 25% of Ukraine’s sovereign territory since the war began Feb. 24. Kiev keeps asking for more arms-and-cash.
Biden’s upcoming meeting with Bin Salman is his own making, many seeing it as groveling for more oil to help bring down U.S. pump prices. Many people in Biden’s Party find his meeting with Bin Salman nauseating, since Bin Salman, according to the FBI and CIA, ordered the hit on Khashoggi. Biden, like most U.S. president, schedule foreign trips when their domestic audience looks up in arms. Certainly Biden has been given bad press by his base for doing little to combat the June 24 ruling ending the 1973 ruling of Roe v. Wade, guaranteeing women and abortion, without questions, anywhere in the United States. Biden’s base, represented by 32-year-old Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is furious with him about Roe v. Wade. When it comes to Ukraine, Biden’s base could care less, not questioning Biden’s proxy war against the Russian Federation causing hyperinflation.
Losing the Ukraine War badly to Putin, Biden and Blinken can only resort to the propaganda war, accusing the Russian Federation of war crimes. If Ukraine wants to stop the war crimes, it needs to pivot away from the battlefield to the peace table. Biden’s plan to vanquish the Russian military is preposterous, only causing more infrastructure damage, carnage and forced deportations in Ukraine. “Estimates from a variety of sources, including the Russian government, indicate that Russian authorities have interrogated, detained and forcibly deported between 900,000 and 1.5 million Ukrainian citizens, including 26,000 children from their homes to Russian—often to isolated regions of the Far East,” Blinken said. Blinken talks about his sources, the same ones from Kiev that have the Russian army losing to Ukraine. Wild accusations must be backed up with facts, not more war propaganda.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
