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Another State Department Hoax?
Paul Craig Roberts
Paul Craig Roberts,
27
July, 2014
I
have an email that purports to be from the State Department Press
Office. It is dated today, Sunday, July 27, 2014 at 8:45 AM EDT
It
reads:
State
Department Press Corps:
Sharing
with you the attached document with DNI images — evidence of Russia
firing into Ukraine.
Regards,
State
Department Press Office
There
is a 1.1MB file attached with pictures and a few words saying that
the pictures indicate Russian firing into Ukraine territory.
As
one with news and government experience, I am confident that
information as important as this purports to be would not be released
in this way. For several days reporters have been asking State
Department press office spokeswoman Marie Harf for evidence to back
her claims that Russian military is attacking Ukrainian forces. Harf
has told the reporters that she cannot provide evidence. In other
words, Harf’s evidence is like John Kerry’s evidence that he
could never provide that Assad had used chemical weapons.
Suddenly
the evidence appears in an email and is spread via social media. This
is not credible. Such evidence if it actually exists would be
released in a Washington press conference by top government officials
with experts present to explain the meaning of the photos to the
journalists and to answer questions. No real journalists, if any are
left, are going to believe that such hot information would be
released in an email. Moreover, the photos are meaningless to the
uninitiated, and there is no way to judge their authenticity.
Additionally,
it is not credible that such important information would be released
at a news dead time–8:45 AM EDT on a Sunday morning when the West
Coast is still asleep.
What
are we to make of this?
One
explanation is that kids, unaware of the seriousness of the matter,
concocted a hoax for fun.
Another
explanation is that unable to substantiate any of its charges against
the Russian government, the State Department decided to use social
media to spread disinformation in behalf of its propaganda assault on
Russia.
As
of 5:45PM EDT Sunday, no State Department official of which I am
aware has verified that this is a State Department news release.
Indeed, email on Sunday morning is such an unprofessional way to
release important news that I do not believe even the incompetent
Marie Harf could be responsible.
The
import of the “news release” is to use social media to build the
image of a dangerous Russia among an unsophisticated public
independently of having to convince reporters. Once this image is
created, Washington can use it to build public support for its
purposes, such as more military spending or sending US troops to
Ukraine.
In
my opinion, it is reckless for Washington to convince Russia that
Washington is going to continue to lie in order to discredit Russia
in world opinion and to continue to dismiss out of hand Russia’s
protests. Washington is conveying to Russia that Washington has
launched a very aggressive propaganda campaign against Russia, a
campaign that could easily push the world to war.
In
my day, if Washington had such information as the email purports to
be, Washington would have used the information to defuse the
situation. The Russian ambassador would have been called in and asked
to explain. The ambassador would understand that he needed to tell
the Kremlin to back off or the information would be released in a
news conference.
Today,
with the Obama regime seeking confrontation with Russia, the regime
would have released the information in a press conference with all
the important bureau chiefs present. For journalists of my vintage,
releasing it in an indiscriminate email targeted to social media
would have completely discredited the information.
Dr.
Paul Craig Roberts was
Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate
editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business
Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had
many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a
worldwide following. Roberts' latest books are The
Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the
West and How
America Was Lost.
US Releases Satellite Images
Allegedly Proving Russian
Shelling Of East Ukraine
27
July, 2014
A
week after Russia revealed
photos of
Ukraine deploying Buk missiles in the east as well as radar proof of
Ukraine warplanes in the vicinity of MH-17, the US has yet to present
any of the incontrovertible evidence supposedly in its possession
that proves it was the separatists who shot down the plane, a
narrative which has already propagated through western media.
Instead, several hours ago the US. Office of the Director of National
Intelligence released satellite images taken by the private civilian
company Digital Globe (and thus not government sourced), which US
officials say offer proof that Russian forces have been shelling
eastern Ukraine in a campaign to assist rebel groups fighting
Ukraine’s government in Kiev.
The grainy photographs, taken between Wednesday and Saturday, are labeled as indicating fire from multiple rocket launchers inside Russia and targets they have struck inside Ukraine. The Pentagon and State Department first accused Russian artillery of firing directly into Ukraine on Thursday. The charges were repeated Friday, although no evidence was offered.
The high-altitude images released Sunday “provide evidence that Russian forces have fired across the border at Ukrainian military forces, and that Russia-backed separatists have used heavy artillery, provided by Russia, in attacks on Ukrainian forces from inside Ukraine,” according to labels on the pictures by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
The most recent photograph, taken Saturday, shows what is described as “blast marks” from rocket launcher fire on the Russian side of the border, and “impact craters” inside Ukraine.
A photograph labeled as taken Wednesday shows a row of vehicles described as “self-propelled artillery only found in Russian military units, on the Russian side of the border, oriented in the direction of a Ukrainian military unit within Ukraine.” On the other side of the border, “the pattern of crater impacts near the Ukrainian military unit indicates strikes from artillery fired from self-propelled or towed artillery, vice multiple rocket launchers,” it said.
One image dated July 25/26 shows what DNI claims is “ground scarring” on the Russian side of the border from artillery aimed at Ukrainian military units in Ukraine, as well as the resultant ground craters on the Ukrainian side of the border:
A slide from a day earlier is said to show self-propelled artillery on the Russian side of the border oriented toward Ukraine, with impact areas near Ukrainian military units:
Another
of the DigitalGlobe photos released by the Obama administration:
Curiously,
the US State Department is urging those seeking objective data on
this unfolding development to follow the US ambassador to Ukraine,
Geoffrey Pyatt, the same person who was intercepted in plotting
thedownfall
of the former Ukraine government in a leaked recorder conversation
with US assistant secretary of state, Victoria Nuland,
of "Fuck
the EU"
fame:
And
from Pyatt:
Nonetheless,
one does have to wonder: why would the ODNI, which shares
intelligence with the NSA, have to resort to private-sector satellite
imagery as proof? If there is anyone who
has definitive evidence of anything happening in the world at any
given moment and as seen from space, it would be the NSA.
To
be sure, Russia once again promptly responded:
A Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, charged Sunday that the United States is getting most of its intelligence data on the Russian military from social media and suggested it turn to more “trustworthy” information, the ITAR-TASS news agency reported.
Konashenkov denied recent U.S. statements that Russia, after first decreasing the number of troops it has deployed along the Ukrainian border, has now increased them to at least 15,000. Regular international inspections under the international Open Skies Treaty, he said, “have not registered any violations or undeclared military activity on the part of Russia in the areas adjacent to the Ukrainian border.”
The
bottom line is perhaps best summarized by WaPo: "As the ground
war between Russia-backed separatist forces in eastern Ukraine and
government troops has escalated this past week, charges and
countercharges between Russia and the West have reached fever pitch."
So
while the "evidence" of the downing of MH17 by separatists
will at this point likely not be forthcoming with the event having
taken place over a week ago (at least not from the US State
Department) aside from administration assurances that it is "common
sense" that the rebels fired the missile, expect the
"evidentiary" campaign to refocus back on the
hostilities in east Ukraine, where as has been the case from the
beginning of the conflict in March, it will be merely a continuation
of the "he said,
she said" propaganda war waged on both sides that the whole
world has by now grown accustomed to, and where it is increasingly
becoming clear that just like in the Syria conflict, the underlying
motive is a very simple one: gas.
US releases satellite images
'proving' Russia is firing into
Ukraine
RT,
27
July, 2014
The
US State Department has released satellite images via email which it
says act as “evidence” that Russia is firing rockets at Ukrainian
troops across the border. The images were posted on Twitter by the US
ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt.
The
US State Department has released satellite images via email which it
says act as “evidence”
that Russia is firing rockets at Ukrainian troops across the border.
The images were posted on Twitter by the US ambassador to Ukraine,
Geoffrey Pyatt.
The
four-page emailed document, titled 'Evidence of Russian Shelling into
Ukraine,' contains four satellite images, all dating between July 21
and July 25/26.
Monochrome
satellite images taken by civilians are said to be indicating fire
from multiple rocket launchers “on
the Russian side of the border”
and “artillery strikes
within Ukraine.”
The
slides were prepared by the US Office of the Director of National
Intelligence (DNI), and came supplied with a short description. Thus,
a slide dated July 25/26 shows what US officials claim to be “ground
scarring at a multiple rocket launch site on the Russian side of the
border oriented in the direction of Ukrainian military units within
Ukraine.”
The
slide taken on July 23 is said to show self-propelled artillery
“oriented
in the direction of a Ukrainian military unit within Ukraine.”
It said that “the
pattern of crater impacts near the Ukrainian military unit indicates
strikes from artillery”
fired from self-propelled or towed artillery, vice multiple rocket
launchers “only
found in Russian military units, on the Russian side of the border.”
Taken
on July 21, the last image is said to be illustrating a “wide
area of impacts near the Ukrainian military”
that “indicates
fire from multiple rocket launchers.”
“The
bottom impact crater inset shows impacts within a local village,”
DNI claimed.
The
US State Department made no official statement – to the press or on
its website – linked to the email release, but directed its
followers on Twitter to the microblog account of Geoffrey Pyatt,
ambassador to Kiev, who uploaded “new
images of evidence.”
Pyatt
did share images on his Twitter account, but did not include any
additional information.
Washington also said that more details would be available on the website of its embassy in Ukraine. However, at the moment of publication, there were no updates to be found on the embassy's site or on Pyatt's blog on the same page.
Paul
Craig Roberts, columnist and head of the Institute for Political
Economy, told RT that he doubts the credibility of the photographs
released by the State Department.
“I
can state with complete confidence that information this important
would not be released in this way,”Roberts
said. “If
this was released by the State Department which I doubt, it is so
unprofessional; it would mean that the State Department is trying to
spread propaganda about Russia on social media. Now the way this type
of information would be released would be at a press conference with
a high level of government officials addressing the bureau chiefs of
the major news organizations .”
He
added that experts would explain the meaning of the photographs and
their validity.
“The
US government has been desperate to produce information to back up
its claims. It would not release information in this way,”
he said, adding that anyone can spread information on social media.
Russia
has been repeatedly criticizing the US for accusations made by the
State Department without any sustainable evidence. Washington
directly blamed Moscow for building up troops close to the border, as
well as for the “firing of
Russian heavy weapons from the Russian side of the border at
Ukrainian military personnel.”
On
Sunday, however, Russia’s Defense Ministry said that international
inspectors who have been coming to check the state of Moscow's troops
along the Ukrainian borders have found no violations.
“It
has come to our attention that new allegations by top US officials as
to the alleged amassing of Russian troops along the Ukrainian border
have been voiced,”
the ministry said.
The
ministry listed the international makeup of those inspections, which
include representatives from the US, as well as NATO and
Ukraine.
“No
instances of violations by Russia along the Ukrainian border had been
registered by the inspectors,”
the ministry said. “Frequent
action by the Ukrainian military taking place on the Russian border
has hindered our own ability to perform similar inspections and
flybys along our border,”
it continued.
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