The Iraq experience shows that people both in the United States the UK as well as other Western countries always have to be skeptical about statements made by their leaders when they blame other countries for committing crimes or invoke the supposed danger those countries pose. There often is a hidden agenda behind accusations of wrongdoing made against different countries whether it's Russia, Iraq, Syria or Iran.
Just as there was an agenda behind the propaganda about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, so too there's an agenda today behind the statements and charges being made about Russia. The agenda with Russia is the same as it was with Iraq: the U.S. wants to get rid of the existing government and replace it with a leadership that is more obedient to the United States.
For a number of years now U.S. leaders have been blaming Vladimir Putin and Russia for acting inappropriately, they say, in a number of arenas, whether it's the war in Syria, relations with Iran or in Ukraine. The Russians have also been blamed --- and perhaps with some degree of merit, for interfering in the 2016 US election ---- although it is rarely noted that Americans did the exactly the same thing to Russia in 1996 in order to help Boris Yeltsin retain power and also aided in the 2014 coup in Ukraine which unseated a democratically-elected government.
Now comes the poisoning incident in Britain allegedly carried out by Russia and ordered by Vladimir Putin.
Prof. James Petras, writing recently in Global Research, said the "UK poison plot was concocted to heighten economic tensions and prepare the Western public for heightened military confrontations" with Russia.
"The Western regimes recognize that Russia is a threat to their global dominance". They believe they can topple Russia via economic warfare including sanctions," said Petras, who has written widely on foreign-policy issues.
The U.S. and its NATO allies in recent years have also been stepping up their military activities in Eastern Europe which has alarmed Russian leaders.
The increased NATO activity, together with the drumbeat of criticism directed at Russia, all serve to undermine any chance for a new detente between the U.S., its allies and Russia.
Commenting on the UK poisoning incident, veteran journalist John Pilger said, "this is so dangerous, with Russia being effectively pushed into a corner with these accusations, it's part of a propaganda campaign. I can tell you that, I'm a journalist who has spent almost all my career working in the mainstream (media) in Britain."
"This is a propaganda campaign promoted specifically in the media and in the government," Pilger said in an interview with RT, which was reprinted in the UK's Press-Gazette.
It is crucial that the media and the public in the United States and in Western countries show skepticism about claims being made by their governments particularly with respect to foreign policy and the actions of other countries. Frequently leaders lie and make up facts, covering up the truth so they can justify some plan like an intervention or a war, which will be costly in lives and treasure.
There were lies told in the lead-up to the war with Iraq and the result was disastrous. The media failed to ask the tough questions. Reporters too easily accepted the government narrative.
The media today and people in general have to demand that the British and U.S governments provide more information about just how the UK poisoning incident took place. Government leaders cannot be allowed to just keep spinning a storyline without providing real facts, and in the process worsen relations with a nuclear-armed country and heighten the chance for a catastrophic war.
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