DISINFORMATION

PRAJWAL SONU—In the latest episode of India’s Global Impulse, I spoke to Mark Sleboda, a US Navy veteran and an International Relations and Security Analyst based in Moscow.

We discussed the reasons behind the support of the Russian people for the war in Ukraine, Russia’s volunteer-based contract soldiers, the measures taken by the Ukrainian government to outlaw the Russian language, banning of parties in Eastern Ukraine. Additionally we discussed Ukraine’s forced conscription measures and the country’s demographic decline, the history behind it and the effects for the future.

CARA MARIANNA—Settlers appear to enjoy playing at being soldiers. In another common bullying tactic, settlers dress as soldiers and order shepherds off of their land. But just as commonly settlers remain dressed in civilian clothing as they bully shepherds. When these illegal incidents are later reported, the same settlers don military uniforms and, in a sadistic cat-and-mouse game, mockingly “investigate” their own crimes. The villagers, who recognize their victimizers, are powerless to do anything and have no legal recourse.

MARTIN C FREDERICKS IV—It’s true that a year and two days ago Hamas fighters killed Israelis in an attack. It’s equally true that even at the low end of death estimates, and using the inaccurate figure of 1,200 Israelis killed by Hamas on that day, in the past year Israel has visited 35 October 7ths upon the people of Palestine. Factor in estimates of people trapped under the rubble and otherwise missing, and it’s more like 167 October 7ths. Finally, it’s true that Israel has been murdering Palestinians for 76 years now…Meanwhile, much of what we’ve been fed since Oct. 7, 2023 by the governments of Israel and the USA has been untrue.

CHRIS HEDGES—Woke ideology is pervasive in liberal institutions, especially universities, but does it further and hamper the liberal values and inclusiveness it purports to advocate? It seeks to transform society through what Christian Parenti calls the moralizing micropolitics of politicized etiquette. It is fixated on the politics of language and symbols, the sins of cultural appropriation and misnaming and calls for centering historically oppressed groups. It advocates identity politics, prioritizing race, gender, indigeneity, sexual orientation, physical disability, mental health diagnoses, immigration status and socioeconomic status over political content. Woke discourse, Parenti writes, “is imbued with a therapeutic mentality expressed in safety-obsessed incantations about harm, trauma, healing, care and doing the work. Personal struggles take precedent over political struggles.