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Written by Mark Ehrman
Since the surprise admission by Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland of the existence of biological laboratories in Ukraine, during questioning by Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida) during a Senate hearing on March 8th, the official narrative that the existence of such labs was merely a ‘conspiracy theory’ has been destroyed.
In the wake of this unanticipated disclosure by Nuland, several days elapsed before a new narrative could be constructed to replace the old, with various government actors frantically attempting to change the subject or revert to shrill denials of this information – despite the fact that this information has been posted on the official website of the US Embassy in Ukraine for some time, under the title of ‘Biological Threat Reduction Program’. Many of the links to the documentation on this website are now, strangely enough, dead (but still available on archive.org).
Mass media propaganda sources such as CNN and NPR opted for a policy of silence and erasure, with no mention of Nuland’s admission found during extensive searches of both sites.
In the end, the new propaganda narrative seems to be the one formulated on the spot by a stunned Marco Rubio when he interrupted Nuland’s testimony, and threw her this lifeline: ‘…If there is a biological or chemical weapon incident or attack inside of Ukraine, is there any doubt in your mind that 100 percent, it would be the Russians that would be behind it?’. To which an obviously relieved Nuland replied, ‘There is no doubt in my mind, Senator. And it is classic Russian technique to blame on the other guy what they’re planning to do themselves.’
White House press secretary Jen Psaki later tweeted on Wednesday, after Nuland’s testimony: ‘“We took note of Russia’s false claims about alleged U.S. biological weapons labs and chemical weapons development in Ukraine. We’ve also seen Chinese officials echo these conspiracy theories,” Psaki wrote. “This is preposterous. It’s the kind of disinformation operation we’ve seen repeatedly from the Russians over the years in Ukraine and in other countries, which have been debunked, and an example of the types of false pretexts we have been warning the Russians would invent.”
In response to Nuland’s admissions of the existence of Ukrainian biolabs, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova told reporters during a press conference that Nuland’s remarks “do not leave Washington the opportunity to remain silent at this time.” Later in the press conference Zakharova stated, regarding biological warfare materials: “We have your biological material that was developed primarily for military purposes. As it turns out, it was all happening in Ukraine. What were you doing there?”
Regarding to White House press secretary Psaki’s remark of ‘Chinese officials echoing these conspiracy theories’, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian cited unnamed reports suggesting that “a large quantity of dangerous viruses are stored in these facilities” and said “Russia has found during its military operations that the U.S. uses these facilities to conduct bio-military plans.”
“According to data released by the U.S., it has 26 bio-labs and other related facilities in Ukraine, over which the U.S. Department of Defense has absolute control,” Zhao said. “All dangerous pathogens in Ukraine must be stored in these labs and all research activities are led by the U.S. side. Without U.S. approval, no information shall be released to the public.”
This information has been freely available online for years, thanks to the diligent and professional reporting of Bulgarian war correspondent Dilyana Gaytandzhieva, at https://dilyana.bg, who has documented the existence of the numerous biolabs encircling Russia, in Ukraine, Georgia, Latvia, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, and many other nations.
MintPressNews has also featured a lengthy, in-depth interview with Gaytandzhieva in the past week, along with a joint interview of Gaytandzhieva and Scott Ritter, the former UN arms inspector.
Glenn Greenwald, America’s premier dissident journalist (now living in Brazil), dissects Nuland’s comments and the American propaganda machinery in his article ‘Victoria Nuland: Ukraine Has “Biological Research Facilities,” Worried Russia May Seize Them’.
Even the Youtube channel of Russell Brand, the English comedian turned geo-political analyst, is an excellent source for balanced analyses of the current situation, though he is careful not to cross the line and invoke the wrath of the YouTube censors and lose his channel (as has RT, RT America, Sputnik, and other channels who failed to hew the propaganda line).
While the corporate mainstream media in the West serves only as a means of broadcasting propaganda, the free press remains alive and thriving thanks to independent voices like those listed in the article.
