We keep hearing that Putin must put a leash on his terrorist-dogs, who occupied Ukraine.
Yet no US leader or news source mentioned the US-NATO support of Kiev let alone the nature of its regime. Calls for Russia to quit helping the rebels in Donetsk and Lugansk are a bit disingenuous.
Did Andrew Jackson retrieve Davey Crocket from the Alamo? He, like Alexander Borodai, was a volunteer. We do not read articles about Americans volunteering to fight for the IDF. They are good people exercising their liberty to fight for democracy therefore it would be absurd to ask the President of the United States to revoke their agency. This is the broad view from afar. This view takes into account an attempt to understand the point of view of others, namely Russians trying to help fellow ethnic Russians under assault from a US-NATO supported Kiev regime. It is a point of view that can move around in time to reflect on how situations and conflicts came about.
We all know the point of view of tragedy when we read about the mourners of the flight. The lack of coverage of civilian tragedy in Donetsk or Odessa in US media is not part of the texture that is intentionally presented to the people. The surface we see is our enemy that is pursued every day. Pieces from the past, such as how the current conflict started, do not matter. The gist of Anne Applebaum’s rapid response story, is compounded by chatter on radio. A week later we hear that the crash scene was “violated” and not handled professionally while no one hears about the body that fell through a roof into someone kitchen. Oh, yes, some of the rebels initially on the scene of the crash were drunk. Counter that image with the polished caskets and Hearses filing past solemn mourners in Sydney and Amsterdam and then this patchwork quilt become opaque. There is no movement back in time to reflect on causes, circumstance and pull back as we wait for the next accusatory article or televised interview that pushes for answers that the interviewee cannot give: Does Putin have a soul?
Is the EU on a path toward revival of colonialism?
The current bandwagon to jump on is sanctions. Hearing the PM of the UK talk about big countries bullying little countries is laughable. It seems that only the EU and US countries have the ability of self-governance and they are so enlightened that they must tell others what to do.

From the way we are treated, it is obvious, that our government and mainstream media does not trust us and have a low opinion of people’s intelligence.

Did anyone read that Russia was using the Sochi Olympic Games for propaganda?

The NBC hosts were criticized for not mention Gulags or Russia’s Communist past during the opening ceremonies. Critics pointed that some journalists didn’t even have running water in their hotel rooms. How dare those Russians have a Grand Prix in 2014 or the World Cup in 2018? It may snow in the Yekaterinburg venue during a soccer match.

Is this information meant to harm Russia?

The summer of 2013 featured the Ghouta chemical weapons attack in Syria. Russia was blamed for supporting the murderous regime. The United States was very close to launching a “limited strike” against Syria. The launch was averted and President Vladimir Putin helped to negotiate a deal to have all chemical weapons from Syria brought safely to Italy. We later learned that the chemical attack was not perpetrated by Assad’s regime.

“The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), authored by former UN weapons inspector Richard Lloyd, and Professor Theodore Postol, further exposed how the US-UK-France chemical weapons case against the Assad regime in Syria last August – was a total and complete fraud,” [ http://21stcenturywire.com/2014/01/20/mit-study-further-destroys-washingtons-syria-chemical-weapons-claim/ ]

The Russians’ refusal to accuse the Assad Regime of the attacks was called “support for the regime and propaganda”. Putin’s effort did not matter for the mainstream media, and he was demonized for his support for Assad, just as he continues to be denigrated and demonized now. Again, the mainstream media or any officials never made a fair comment on the positive role of the Russian president in resolving this extremely escalated situation.

What are the results of such attitude?

One-sided and undifferentiated blaming of Russians, using unproven information, naturally undermines the trust of American viewers and readers in their own country’s mainstream media, divides people into two opposing camps, and ultimately does a very bad service for the truth.

The truth is always in-between. The Russian president is not “an angel”, but he is not “the man-eating devil” either. He is not jumping with joy for the deaths of innocent passengers of the shut-down airplane and then “for propaganda” prays on camera in a church for their souls.

From the way we are treated, it is obvious, that our government and mainstream media does not trust us and have a low opinion of people’s intelligence.

       After the downing of the Malaysian flight MH17, on July 17th 2014, the accusations of Russian support for the Donetsk and Lugansk rebels has been repeated by credible sources like William Pomeranz of the Wilson Institute on C-SPAN and by the orotund Mark Levine among many others.                                                                                                                                                          [US –Russian relations. C-SPAN July 21st 2014. William Pomeranz http://www.c-span.org/video/?320552-2/washington-journal-usrussia-relations ]

As early as Friday July 18^th, one day after the plane went down, on radio stations across the nation Levine said: “we know who did it.” Anne Applebaum at the Washington Post had “enough facts” laid down together the next day, on July 18 to suggest in her opening sentence that everyone cease discussion and accept Russia’s role as sole instigator of the conflict in the Ukraine.                                                                                                                                                         [ The Malaysia Airlines crash is the end of Russia’s fairy tale. July 18, 2014. Anne Applebaum http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/anne-applebaum-the-end-of-the-russian-fairy-tale/2014/07/18/3e42715a-0eab-11e4-b8e5-d0de80767fc2_story.html ]

According to such experts – a social media post featuring rebels “discussing their role in shooting down the airline” and their cover-up, deleting the post – is the evidence of guilt and Putin’s direct involvement. This tragedy is an opportunity to malign Russia’s president. This year a short piece on MSNBC highlighted a photo of President Ronald Reagan during a visit to the Soviet Union: circled in the background was a young Putin. The intended idea of this piece was that Putin has been a thirsty jackal, who hovered around the fountains of power for decades.

The mind numb comes not from being shown the evidence, but in being told in no uncertain terms, and by suggestion that Russia is just bad. There is some debate about the “show” versus “tell” dilemma. Good writers do both. When a writer tells, there is clarity of the intended message. To hear a writer proclaim the thesis with conviction is good. It can be read later, how the thesis is supported. That is entertainment, MH17 is a tragedy.

On the day of the tragedy our government told us where the plane went down and imposed a conclusion – the location proves that the Russian separatists did it from the ground. Official statements claim to have intelligence, that Russia backs the separatists. We should be happy, that our government has such a great and quick Intelligence sources, and just believe them on bare words, because they don’t trust us – this country’s citizens – to know the exact details and facts about how and from where this Intelligence was gathered.

Our government does not trust us, people who elected it. Why? Why they think that all we deserve as “proof and evidence” – is just a statement – “because we say so”?