All posts tagged: Russia

What Russia has uncovered about the biolabs in Ukraine — so far

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By Monica Chen Since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine War, Russia has been outspoken about the presence of biolabs in Ukraine that are funded by the U.S. government. Here’s what they’ve said so far: Shortly after the Russia military went into Ukraine in February 2022, the Russian Mission to the United Nations was raising alarms about the presence of biological laboratories in the country — that they were being used to conduct experiments on Ukrainian citizens with the approval of the Ukrainian government. This was in violation of the 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. The presence of these biolabs was also confirmed by the Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland to Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., in March 2022: In April 2022, Russia announced it had uncovered horrifying acts by the U.S. government in Ukraine, including experiments on psychiatric patients in the Kharkov region: Throughout the spring of 2022, Russia announced new findings on the biological laboratories in Ukraine and pushed for meetings at the U.N. on these labs. Russia in particular highlighted the role of …

Blog post: The media’s sick game with Putin, Russia, and American workers

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By Monica Chen  In Western media’s gaslighting, exploitative coverage of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the worst coverage so far has been the battles in Mariupol.  Mariupol is a port city in the Donetsk region, which has fought for independence from Ukraine since 2014. It is a pro-Russian city. Mariupol in reality is a city that is under siege from Ukraine. The destruction in the city is well-documented. In this OSCE report in 2015, shelling from Ukrainian forces resulted in 30 civilians dead and 150 injured. Western media has got it backwards.  Here is the most recent example of Western media’s semi-delusional coverage of Mariupol and the Russia-Ukraine conflict in general: The picture that CNN paints is that Russia decided against storming the steel plant because of, well, a loss of guts.  But in Russian media outlet TASS, the country was celebrating securing Mariupol with the exception of the one steel plant.  Mariupol had been won. This is what Russian President Vladimir Putin said:  “In this case, we need to think about – I mean, we always …

Blog post: Reactions to the Russia-Ukraine conflict so far. The good, the bad, the completely unhinged

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By Monica Chen  World leaders, celebrities and even social media figures have revealed where they truly stand on some fundamental attitudes during the Russia-Ukraine conflict. One of the best moments has been from Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Prime Minister. On March 13, a day after Iran launched missiles toward the American consulate in Iraq, it was not our President Joe Biden who provided assurances and clarity on what was going on, but Netanyahu.  Here was Netanyahu warning the American public about a new nuclear deal with Iran and the possibility of Iran developing intercontinental missiles that could strike this country. Netanyahu in that moment showed what responsible leadership when it comes to military power could look like on the world stage. It was also normal leadership, the kind that used to take place more predictably during the Aughts. When another country attacks our country abroad, it shouldn’t be the Israeli Prime Minister to tell us what happened. The media used to at least ask the basic questions. But it’s 2022, and the media helped the Biden …

First take: Putin calls everyone’s bluffs

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By Monica Chen  On Monday, President Vladimir Putin of Russia announced that his government would formally recognize the independence of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Russia would also send troops into the region for “peacekeeping.” This came after nearly a week of the Biden administration’s steady drumbeat of a “Russian invasion” in the media despite the scheduled date of invasion, Feb. 16, having come and gone without any sign of trouble. The Biden administration also said he would hold a meeting with Putin soon, supposedly to show off President Joe Biden’s diplomatic skills and talk Putin down from any further invasions. On Monday afternoon, Putin put his foot down: Enough.  Putin’s speech sent shockwaves through the Biden administration, its allies in Europe and elsewhere, and the media that had become used to the public and even political leaders swallowing the warmongering narrative without any pushback.  It was a stunning move.  Everyone expected Putin to keep playing along. He refused. “Show your cards,” his actions said. “You’ve got nothing.”  And he is right.  Let’s look around this …

What’s going on with Ukraine and Russia? A brief explainer. 

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By Monica Chen  Russia is vocally denying that it had anything to do with the recent cyberattack on the Ukrainian government.  But the conflict in the Donbass, the Southeastern part of Ukraine, has going on for years now. More than 13,000 people have been killed. What is it? Why has it not been resolved? Where is it headed?  Russian officials are frustrated with the narrative in the global media. The Russian deputy representative to the United Nations also pointedly corrected the U.S. Under Secretary of State this past week:  But anyone in the world would be alarmed at the build-up of Russian forces at the Ukrainian border, numbering more than 100,000 troops as of the past week, according to The Wall Street Journal. What’s going on? Imagine if two regions in Mexico with significant ties to America declared they were seceding from Mexico and pleaded to America for assistance, saying the Mexican government had become intolerably Fascist. Imagine America sending assistance to those regions, but then they turn around and sign agreements with the Mexican government …