Donbass

UK insurers refuse to pay Nord Stream because blasts were ‘government’ backed

The legal team representing high-powered insurers Lloyd’s and Arch says that since the Nord Stream explosions were “more likely than not to have been inflicted by… a government,” they have no responsibility to pay for damages to the pipelines. To succeed with that defense, the companies will presumably be compelled to prove, in court, who carried out those attacks.  British […]

Ukraine grain scandal and the myth of the wonder weapons

Including Zelensky’s UNGA pantomime Zelensky watches his own speech at the UNGA. The grain dispute between Poland and Ukraine is gathering fury. Poland and other neighbouring countries have extended the grain embargo on Ukraine despite the EU not extending the block. After Zelensky insinuated at the UNGA that Poland was playing into Russia’s hands after maintaining curbs on Ukrainian grain […]

Seymour Hersh: ZELENSKY’S ‘BAD MOMENT’

The Ukrainian leader resorts to lies and threats at the tail end of a failing counteroffensive Next Tuesday will be the anniversary of the Biden administration’s destruction of three of the four pipelines of Nord Stream 1 and 2. There is more I have to say about it, but it will have to wait. Why? Because the war between Russia and Ukraine, […]

Killing The Story – Bakhmut, Nick Cohen, Kakhovka, Nord Stream and Piers Morgan

The late writer, broadcaster and wit Clive James formulated what he called the ‘Barry Manilow Law’: ‘Everyone you know thinks Barry Manilow is absolutely terrible. But everyone you don’t know thinks he’s great.’ (James, cited Martin Amis, ‘Inside Story,’ Vintage, 2020, e-book, p.74) A Media Lens version of this might read: ‘Everyone you know thinks BBC News is absolutely terrible. […]

Stepan Bandera: A devastating portrait of the figurehead of Ukrainian fascism

A review of the book by Grezgorz Rossoliński-Liebe: Stepan Bandera: The Life and Afterlife of a Ukrainian Nationalist: Fascism, Genocide, and Cult. (Stuttgart: Ibidem Verlag, 2014. Unless otherwise indicated, all references are to this book). Little known outside of Western Ukraine during his lifetime, Stepan Bandera is now a celebrated figure in modern capitalist Ukraine with streets, statues and museums […]

Under Fire from Ukraine: The People of the DPR Share Their Stories

First published in October 2019, independent journalist Eva Bartlett reported from Donetsk giving vital context to the current conflict in Ukraine: On September 2, I left the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don via minibus heading northwest to the border of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and on into Donetsk. For my first few days there, I rented an inexpensive apartment […]