Truth Dies In War  

by Hank Silverberg

Call it the fog of war. But it's clear from history that the first casualty of any war is truth. 

Saddam Hussein never did have weapons of mass destruction, but the U.S. government used that theme as a major reason for taking down Hussein in the first Gulf War in 1991. Most of the media fed on that narrative until our troops actually got into Iraq and couldn't find any WMD's.  

(USS Turner Joy is now a museum in Seattle
Courtesy of museumships.us)

In August 1964, an alleged attack of the USS Turner Joy off the coast of Vietnam, supposedly the second attack on the U.S. Navy. That prompted the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in Congress and the first of many deployments of U.S. troops to South Vietnam. The resulting10 year war killed more than 58,000 Americans and over 1.4 million Vietnamese, both military and civilians, and thousands of others in neighboring countries.  We know now that attack never took place.  

The Gulf Of Tonkin Incident: The Lie That Sparked The Vietnam War (allthatsinteresting.com)

These disinformation events all occurred before social media and world-wide access to the internet.  

So as we listen and hear what is coming out of Ukraine right now, we must be cautious. Social media and cyberwarfare make it highly likely that a good deal of fake information will come across your computer or phone screen in the next few months. Some of it will be propaganda from Russia. Some of it will be propaganda from other sources, and some of it will just be fake for some other nefarious reason. 

On top of all that is a crackdown on freedom of speech inside Russia. It is now a crime there to call the events in Ukraine a war. Russia did have a few independent media outlets that were not controlled by the government. Not anymore. They have all been shut down or ceased operations because of the harsh new restrictions. And news agencies from other countries including CNN, Bloomberg, CBS and the BBC, which had been reporting from Moscow, have also stopped doing so in order to keep their staff  from getting arrested and likely imprisoned. 

Russia cracks down on free press and speech as information war escalates (yahoo.com)

Russia, very conscious of the impact of social media, has shut down Twitter and Facebook as well, and it is likely as Russian troops take over parts of Ukraine they will do that same thing there. 

Here in the U.S., right-wing media like Fox, Newsmax and America One, who have never really cared about the truth, are using their operations to attack American policy, all in an attempt to damage  President Biden's political future with little concern about the people of Ukraine or the large impact this war will have on America's future. And they will enlist right-wing members of Congress to help them. 

The conspiracy theorists and agitators like Q-Anon are likely to spread all kinds of disinformation about the war, what started it, and what we can do about it. 

It's going to be hard for most people to find truth through the fog. The two incidents I wrote about above are proof that our government can lie too, and it is important that responsible reporters question what the Biden Administration does about Ukraine. That's question, without commentary. It is a reporter's job  to find our way through the fog and not proliferate false information.

False information can be spread for political reasons, like Putin claiming he was attacking Ukraine to "de-Nazify" it. Or they can just be ridiculous, like one claim I saw about an old woman downing a Russian drone with a bottle of pickles. (Nice if it was true, entertaining of course, but never confirmed and likely fake.) 

Don't spread disinformation. Be cautious. As I tell my students when they do research for their presentations: When in doubt, leave it out! 

The fog of war will get thicker. Try to see through it but don't get lured into it by false prophets. 

Into The Foggy Woods

Here is what we do know. Russia did invade Ukraine, a young Democracy, with a storied and tragic history, where the taste of freedom is only 30 years old. The Russians are killing many civilians, though exact numbers we may never know.   

With the help of weapons from NATO members, including the United States, the Ukrainian military

and civilian volunteers are putting up a good fight. Russia did not get a smooth ride into Ukrainian cities and has resorted to bombing and missile attacks. Ukraine wants a no-fly zone where NATO warplanes would prevent Russian planes from flying over Ukraine. 

That probably will NOT happen, and here's why.

Imagine for a minute, French, German or American planes coming into direct contact with Russian planes over Ukraine, touching off a dogfight. 

Any direct contact between Russian forces and NATO is likely the start of World War Three, and that could involve nuclear weapons. Enough said. 

One thing I do know. We still have our freedom and complaining about vaccine mandates and five dollar gas seems trivial compared to the life-and-death struggles now underway AGAIN in Eastern Europe.  

Biden Popularity        

President Biden's popularity surged following his State of  The Union speech this past Tuesday. It jumped to 47%, up eight points since February, with some of the data indicating a potential for a wider bounce.

The NPR/PBSNewshour/Marist poll also showed bigger support for the President's handing of several issues. 

*He was up 18 points to 52% for his handling of the Ukraine war.

*77% support his economic sanctions against Russia. 

*72% support the allocation of $600 million in military support for Ukraine .

*Biden polled 55% for his handling of the pandemic, up 8% from the last poll in February. 

*45% now think he is doing a good job with the economy. That's up 8%. 

Home of the Marist Poll | Polls, Analysis, Learning, and More

Popularity surges are common after the State of The Union speech. But this upswing is larger than most. The poll was conducted March 1st and 2nd. 

There's no crying in baseball!

But there could be a lot of yelling if the billionaires who own the teams and the millionaires who play the games don't come to some kind of an agreement soon and get the season underway. (Yes, I know not all players are millionaires, but enough of them are to write about it.) 

I was going to write a whole section on the lockout

(The old glove is now
 in the back of my  closet)

and ridiculousness of some of the issues (what the hell is a "Ghost game?" They actually discussed it), but frankly, most baseball fans, including me, are fed up with both the MLB and the Players Union. They had all winter to get a deal done and failed. This lifelong baseball fan has tuned out. Maybe I will tune back in when someone yells, "Play ball!" but a lot of fans won't. It also seems a bit trivial after a pandemic, a grueling election season, and now a war.  But the folks in baseball just don't get it. 

Dumbest Action of The Week!

There were a lot of dumb quotes this week, so  I thought I would pick out the dumbest ACTION. 

It was also dangerous. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) were among a group of senators who talked by video link with Ukraine President Volodykmyr Zelensky on Saturday. To protect Zelensky's location and to keep the Russians from targeting him, the Senators were told not to tweet during the live session.  Well, guess what? Both senators tweeted a picture of the video link while it was still going on, endangering  Zelensky's life. Rubio is Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, but he apparently doesn't have any. Can we trust him or  Daines with any sensitive information? They just don't seem to get it either. 

(Your comments and suggestions are welcome)

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