On August 31st Russia commemorated the 75th anniversary of the arrival of the first Arctic lend-lease convoy to northern port of Arkhangelsk -- in all 3,000 sailors and 100 ships were lost in the convoys

If people forget history they are more likely to believe the lies they are told today. With this in mind it is likely true that the current propaganda war is much greater than we care to recognise. There is probably no better example of this than when we look at the very recent omission by much of the U.K. mainstream media of the reason for the commemoration of WWII British Arctic Convoy Veterans in Russia. Described by Churchill at the time as “the worst journey in the world” during which some 3,000 servicemen lost their lives to keep our allies Russia supplied in the fight against Nazi Germany in the battle for Leningrad.

I got to thinking about this while watching a report of the commemorations being held in the Russian naval port of Arkhangelsk [Archangel] on Russian national TV’s Channel 1, shown at prime time a report by the way which was factual, respectful and certainly not propagandised. My point in writing this is that given the current level of hostile rhetoric and downright lies presented in the UK media when an actual factual opportunity arises to show Russia and the UK together in a positive light it is not surprisingly – passed over.

Information about the commemoration appeared on the Gov UK website on 26th August as did a report of the said event on Russia Behind the Headlines website. The Telegraph reported it on 29th August one of the few mainstream western media to report the event with a positive angle. Meanwhile the Guardian on the same day managed to put an all together ominous spin in an op ed piece, saying:

That past deserves honour. But it does not justify the actions or the policies of Mr Putin’s regime today.”

While doing this it fails completely to present the opinions of the veterans themselves, for that you will have to go to that Kremlin organ of propaganda RT.

Why might that be? It maybe that the story of our war veterans visiting a commemoration in Arkhangelsk and one in Murmansk to be attended by Princess Anne is not so news worthy, if factual, or possibly it doesn’t fit the generally accepted narrative about Bad Russia being written in Washington and endlessly touted by the Guardian. What it does though is draw our attention to the terrible standards of media news in the U.K., a media that finds it more suitable to publish any piece of scare mongering opinion about Russia, or trash Putin in some case of complete fabrication aka. Russian submarines or Luke Harding’s Panama Papers revelations, while a commemoration of U.K. and Russian veterans’ heroism is in essence ignored.

It may well be that the story is somewhat at odds with the image many of our corporate news outlets like to portray of Russia as a lawless, expansionist and criminal country, thereby furbishing the needs of US propaganda requirements by pandering to the demands of their handlers. None of this could be farther from the truth.

While doing all this we are fed hearty helpings of miss-information such as the guff in the Murdochian Times:

The Kremlin is spreading disinformation through a newly opened British bureau for its Sputnik international news service, and is infiltrating elite universities by placing language and cultural centres on campuses.”

Not mentioning that most news papers, including the Guardian and the BBC, have bureaus in Moscow and have had so for years. Does the US ambassador who utters these words not realise how idiotic he appears?

What this story does show is that in reality all of this anti-Russian promo-propaganda could not be in reality further from the truth. In fact Russia remembering those that were prepared to lay down their lives to defeat Nazi ideology is in stark contrast to the outrageous disregard for their bravery and commitment when we read what some commentators in the U.K. media produce for publication today. By this I am thinking of the apologists of the Nazi Coup in Ukraine, and there are many, who by constantly blaming Russia are prepared to bury facts and promote pure lies to back a Ukrainian regime which honours Banderite fascists. As people who have been following the events in Ukraine will know many true stories have had to be buried in order to propagate the lies emanating from Washington through such mouth pieces as the Guardian.