Skip to main content

Was bombing of Mariupol theater staged by Ukrainian Azov extremists to trigger NATO intervention?

Testimony by evacuated Mariupol residents and warnings of a false flag attack undermine the Ukrainian government’s claims about a Russian bombing of a local theater sheltering civilians.
 
by Max Blumenthal 

Part 1

Western media have reported that Russia’s military deliberately attacked the Donetsk Academic Regional Drama theater in Mariupol, Ukraine, claiming that it was filled with civilians and marked with signs reading “children” on its grounds.

The supposed bombing took place just as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed to US Congress for a no fly zone, fueling the chorus for direct military confrontation with Russia and apparently inspiring President Joseph Biden to brand Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, as a “war criminal.”

A closer look reveals that local residents in Mariupol had warned three days before the March 16 incident that the theater would be the site of a false flag attack launched by the openly neo-Nazi Azov Battalion, which controlled the building and the territory around it.

Civilians that escaped the city through humanitarian corridors have testified that they were held by Azov as human shields in area, and that Azov fighters detonated parts of the theater as they retreated. Despite claims of a massive Russian airstrike that reduced the building to ashes, all civilians appear to have escaped with their lives.

Video of the attack on the theater remains unavailable at the time of publication; only photographs of the damaged structure can be viewed. The Russian Ministry of Defense has denied conducting an airstrike on the theater, asserting that the site had no military value and that no sorties were flown in the area on March 16.

While the Russian military operation in Ukraine has triggered a humanitarian crisis in Mariupol, it is clear that Russia gained nothing by targeting the theater, and virtually guaranteed itself another public relations blow by targeting a building filled with civilians – including ethnic Russians.

Azov, on the other hand, stood to benefit from a dramatic and grisly attack blamed on Russia. In full retreat all around Mariupol and facing the possibility of brutal treatment at the hands of a Russian military hellbent on “de-Nazification,” its fighters’ only hope seemed to lie in triggering direct NATO intervention.

The same sense of desperation informed Zelensky’s carefully scripted address to Congress, in which he invoked Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech and played a heavily produced video depicting civilian suffering to make the case for a no fly zone.

By instigating Western public outrage over grisly Russian war crimes, Ukraine’s government is clearly aiming to generate enough pressure to overcome the Biden administration’s reluctance to directly confront Russia’s military.

But Kiev’s most emotionally potent allegation so far – that Russia deliberately bombed innocent children cowering inside a theater – has been undercut by testimonies from Mariupol residents and a widely viewed Telegram message explicitly foreshadowing a false flag attack on the building.

Source, links:


[2][3][4][5][6][7]

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Netanyahu Is Getting His War Between The U.S. & Iran!

The Jimmy Dore Show   Little progress is being made in negotiations between the United States and Iran over the latter’s nuclear program, and that may be by design. The U.S. is demanding a complete dismantling of Iran’s nuclear enrichment program, which is a non-starter for the Iranians. Meanwhile, the U.S. appears to have reneged on a promise to get a ceasefire and humanitarian aid into Gaza in exchange for the release of the last American hostage, so Hamas — and by extension Iran — feel the U.S. cannot be trusted in negotiations. Jimmy Dore and Americans’ Comedian Kurt Metzger discuss how Israel appears to be orchestrating a U.S. attack on Iran that few Americans have any interest in.    Related: Trump makes key move to beat Biden in their race to start a war with Iran

Trump in SHOCK: Putin & China FLIP His Grave Mistake into STUNNING Victory

Danny Haiphong   Putin & China just gave Trump a rude BRICS awakening, and this bombshell will change everything for generations to come. Geopolitical analyst Ben Norton details the truth about Trump's biggest failure against the rising power of BRICS led by Russia and China, and why the US's role as super power is now in serious question.     Related: Trump's tariffs: A unique opportunity for BRICS and the Global South to fully escape from dollar tyranny

Trump's attempt to divide Russia & China is failing, badly

Geopolitical Economy Report   Donald Trump claimed he would "un-unite" Russia and China, but the US divide-and-conquer strategy is failing. In a meeting in Moscow celebrating the 80th anniversary of their nations' victory in World War Two, Presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin reaffirmed that "China-Russia relations have reached the highest level in history" and will "jointly resist any attempts to interfere with and disrupt the traditional friendship and deep mutual trust between China and Russia". Ben Norton explains.     Related:   Why China supports Russia

Inside Iran's Savak torture museum

The Grayzone   Caution: This report contains depictions of simulated violence that may upset some viewers. Max Blumenthal tours one of the most disturbing museums on the planet. Set in Tehran's former Ebrat Prison run by the anti-sabotage unit of Shah Reza Pahlavi's Savak intelligence services, the museum is filled with shockingly graphic exhibits featuring lifelike mannequins recreating the hideous torture tactics deployed to repress dissidents rebelling against Iran's monarchy. Many mannequins on display represent notorious torturers who either fled or were executed after the Islamic revolution in 1979, while others are modeled after famous prisoners locked away in Ebrat like the current Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamanei.  

"Kidnapped in Int'l Waters": Israel Intercepts Gaza-Bound Aid Ship, Detains Greta Thunberg & Others

Democracy Now!   Eleven peace activists and one journalist on board the Gaza Freedom Flotilla ship, the "Madleen," were detained by Israeli soldiers as their ship carrying vital humanitarian aid for starving Palestinians approached Gaza.    The ship was intercepted by Israeli forces in the middle of the night in international waters. Its supplies were seized and communications jammed. The unarmed activists will likely be transported to Israeli detention or "immediately deported," says Ann Wright, a U.S. military veteran who has participated in four Freedom Flotilla journeys and now serves on the steering committee of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition. She calls on citizens of countries around the world to push for the activists' release and an end to Israel's war on Gaza. 

14,000 babies could die if aid doesn’t enter Gaza in 48 hours, UN warns

Some 14,000 babies could die in Gaza in 48 hours if aid does not reach them in time, the UN’s humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, told the BBC today. Though Israel said it would allow “basic aid” into Gaza, only five trucks entered the enclave yesterday, two carrying shrouds to help bury Palestinians killed in Israel’s bombs. Others were in Gaza, but were being held by occupation forces and had not reached Palestinians. This was the first delivery of aid since 2 March, when Israel completely sealed the enclave. This, Fletcher explained, is a “drop in the ocean” and totally inadequate for a population of over 2.3 million, and for which no aid has been allowed to enter for 80 days.    “Tonnes of food is blocked at the [Gaza] border” by Israel, Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said yesterday. This comes just weeks after the UN agency of Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) warned that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians eat only one mea...

Latest on Los Angeles anti-ICE protests in US

CGTN     Views of downtown Los Angeles where protests against immigration raids entered their third day on Sunday local time.   Protesters clashed with National Guard troops in downtown Los Angeles during the latest wave of demonstrations against statewide immigration enforcement operations that swept across California over the weekend.  

Never, Ever Let Anyone Forget What They Did To Gaza

by Caitlin Johnstone   I will never forget the Gaza holocaust. I will never let anyone else forget about the Gaza holocaust. No matter what happens or how this thing turns out, I will never let anyone my voice touches forget that our rulers did the most evil things imaginable right in front of us and lied to us about it the entire time. I will never stop doing everything I can with my own small platform to help ensure that the perpetrators of this mass atrocity are brought to justice. I will never stop doing everything I can to help bring down the western empire and to help free Palestine from the Zionist entity. I will never forget those shaking children. Those tiny shredded bodies. Those starved, skeletal forms. The explosions followed by screams. The atrocities followed by western media silence.   I will never forget, and I will never forgive. I will never forgive our leaders. I will never forgive the western press. I will never forgive Israel. I will never forgive the main...

They Will Starve You In A Killing Cage Too

by Nate Bear   Starvation is taking hold in Gaza. Twenty-nine people have starved to death in the last few days.  Death by starvation is horrific, the body feeding on itself, first consuming carbohydrates and fats, and then moving on to the protein parts of tissue. Once these are used up, vital organs and tissues start to fail as they aren’t being nourished by essential nutrients. The heart, lungs, muscles, ovaries, testes and brain physically shrink and shrivel. The kidneys start to fail. Eventually the body begins scavenging muscle, including the heart muscle. When this starts to happen, death is hours away, preceded by hallucinations, severe mental disturbances and convulsions. With less stored fat and higher metabolic needs, children die first. Starving parents hold their dying children, at this point nothing but skin and bone, in their arms. Adults can survive anywhere between twenty and forty days without food. Those already weak, chronically ill or immuno-compromised di...