This is a brief sad and angry response to President Obama's report on the downing of an

Malayasian air liner over Eastern Ukraine.  The commentaries were perhaps the worst moment in the administration

 Although we are used to both big lies and statistical

untruths in both commercial advertising and pollitical propaganda, there  is also the use of

omission, simply deleting crucial information to support a position.  One attorney summed this

up best when he advised a client thusly"  "remember, there is the truth and there is our

position."

Here is my view of the truth and Obama's position

First,  Obama stated "we have no time for propaganda.  No time for games." At the end of his

prepared statement, he issued this propagandist barrage

"The United States of America is going to continue to stand for the basic principle that people have the right to live as they choose, that nations have the right to determine their own destiny, and that when terrible events like this occur, the international community stands on the side of justice and on the side of truth."

The truth of course is very different.  The Soviet Union was dismembered by its former leaders at the end of 1991 who initially established a "commonwealth of Independent States"  Tens of millions of Soviet citizens, ethnic Russians particularly now became foreigners in these new Republics.  Bounderies drawn up in  the Soviet Union, which made sense, now became the center of all sorts of conflicts. 

 And then there is the question of  "violence"  as Obama defines it.  Below I have cut and pasted another comment from Obama's press conference

"I made clear to President Putin that our preferred path is to resolve this diplomatically, but that means that he and the Russian government have to make a strategic decision. Are they going to continue to support violent separatists whose intent is to undermine the government of Ukraine, or are they prepared to work with the government of Ukraine to arrive at a cease-fire and a peace that takes into account the interests of all Ukrainians?"

 In truth, the government of  Ukraine, the present government in Kiev,was established by terroristic violence, in which neo Nazi gangs played a significant role, overthrowing the elected government which Russia supported.  The U.S. and the NATO states supported that bloody coup.

Finally, Obama turned his "anti-propaganda" statement inside out with the following remarks cut and pasted below

"So now's, I think, a somber and appropriate time for all of us to step back and take a hard look at what has happened. Violence and conflict inevitably lead to unforeseen consequences. Russia, these separatists, and Ukraine all have the capacity to put an end to the fighting. Meanwhile, the United States is going to continue to lead efforts within the world community to de-escalate the situation, to stand up for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and to support the people of Ukraine as they courageously work to strengthen their democracy and make their own decisions about how they should move forward."

In truth  U.S. NATO policy largely created and escalated the crisis.  If Obama is serious, he should begin by demanding that the Neo Nazi groups which currently hold four positions in the Kiev  government be both ousted and outlawed.  That government represents "democracy" as much as the government of South Vietnam did half a century ago. 

 If Obama wants Russia's cooperation he might seriously offer the removal of all NATO forces and military installations from the territories of former Soviet Republics.  And he might begin to recognize the human rights issues involved regarding millions of ethnic Russians and others who are dismissed as "violent separatists." 

Obama has nothing to gain politically from this crisis, as Ronald Reagan did three decades ago in the Korean Airliner crisis. 

 The press is already reporting that the Republican response is to blame him for everything while it(meaning U.S. media generally) is blaming Puting for everything

    "Getting tough with the Russians"(a slogan of the U.S. press  in 1946) is going back to the failed policies of the past in a completely different but very dangerous context.  Demanding that Russia stop aiding the anti-Kiev forces in  Eastern Ukraine with arms and fighters is like the warnings given to the Soviets and the Chinese to stop arming and aiding forces fighting against U.S. backed governments through the world. 

Rather than "getting tough with the Russians" it is time for us  on the left to get tough with the Obama administration on this issue, to save it and the U.S. from itself. 

If we are committed to fighting the ultra-right in the coming elections, then we must demand that Obama recognize the real issues involved here and withdraw his support for a Kiev government which really resembles the ultra right in the U.S. and neo Nazi groups that are extreme even by their standards.   Obama's statement today and  the deepening crisis is good news for the Republican right who are licking their chops in hopes of taking control of the Senate and burying his administration in Washington while  he postures for the government in Kieve

The Obama administration has disappointed many of us by its failure to live up to its early promises on many domestic questions.  Now it is important for us to repudiate these neo cold war threats.  Karl Marx said famously that history repeats itself.  The first time as tragedy, the second as farce. 

 There was much truth in that statement as it applied to the early days of the present Ukraine crisis, in which Putin was substituted for Stalin as cold warriors substituted Stalin for Hitler right after WWII. 

But today, given the dangers involved in this escalation, tragedy may very well repeat itself as greater tragedy, if the conflict in Ukraine escalates into a much larger war, one that could involve the U.S. NATO bloc against Russia, with both sides possessing nuclear overkill capacity. This is something that we should be talking about and writing about if there is to be a just resolution to this crisis.

Finally, I would advise President Obama, who continues to talk like Harry Truman on Eastern Europe today, to remember the words of  Henry A, Wallace, the man who Democratic party bosses replaced with Harry Truman in  the Vice Presidency in 1944, and whom Harry Truman fired as Secretary of Commerce when he spoke against Truman's anti-Soviet policies in 1946.  Wallace said in a speech at Madison Square Garden after noting Soviet and Russian history and losses in the war, "the tougher we get, the tougher the Russians will get ."  The world has changed but it is unlikely that that has changed and U.S./NATO  conflict with Russia over Ukraine can only lead to disaster.