As a media analyst, you know you’re in for a treat when publishers surreptitiously change a headline after it’s already been posted.
Curiosity is – obviously – instantly aroused.
Articles you may not have taken a second glance at will get more in-depth reading as you try to figure out what eluded the censors this time around.
In the case that I write today, the question is even more curious when the offending journalist and the censor are the same person.
The Atlantic published its May cover story this week, by two neocon warhorses – Ann Applebaum and editor Jeffrey Goldberg.
It should be noted that the cover artwork itself was designed by Bono. The Bonon.
The article was originally titled “The Case of Ukraine’s Full Liberation.”
Within hours this had been slyly revised to “Zelensky’s Plan to Defeat Russia – and Retake Crimea”
I might never have noticed, if it weren’t for the fact that I opened the article in my browser, and then when I came back to read the article a few hours later (and there, I confess to having a somewhat autistic habit of always refreshing the browser of an article before reading it) and lo and behold, the screen instantly became completely different!
At this point, I returned to the Atlantic’s homepage, where they hadn’t updated the new title yet – at which point I immediately screenshotted for posterity! 😂
I suppose the original was considered, in retrospect, to be too honest about the secret – but real – agenda of the war lobby to prolong the new ForeverWar.
They know, of course, that “full liberation” would involve Russia returning Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea to Ukraine – and that would never be accepted by Russia in any eventual ceasefire negotiation.
That’s why the US MIC wants to cement this as Ukraine’s red line – thus guaranteeing another bellicose cow that they can then milk for the next two decades.
And – to invent a phrase – from the lips of the American MIC to the ear of the Atlantic. These people are the journalistic equivalent (I hesitate to use the word) of Lindsey Graham. They’ve never encountered a war they didn’t like – and the more expensive, wasteful and destructive the better.
I have news for them. Far from two decades of new jolt of war money, in 2024 everything ends for them.
If you want to read the article for yourself, here is the link.
Savor the opening words, in all their breathless, exaggerated, hyperbolic – but fundamentally misleading – sobriety:
The future of the democratic world will be determined by the ability of the Ukrainian army to break the impasse and drive Russia from its territory.
“The future of the democratic world”! 😂
I have a more honest title for our two dreadful and warmongering hacks — Ukraine: The Neocons’ Last Stand”.