I’d take this reporting on the Ukraine situation with a grain of salt. A very big grain of salt.
CNN seem to have a standard “template” for these reports that all use the phrase “Citing multiple sources familiar with the matter,” and reading between the lines, the story has no substance “nothing to announce” the State Department says. “Fake News” as Donald Trump would say.
I’ll highlight and comment on all the standard BS warning signs in the article portion below;
US Embassy in Ukraine requests departure of nonessential staff, report says
Watch: Police release footage of unlawful arrest that led to Auckland man…French adventurer dies rowing across the Atlantic
The US Embassy in Kyiv has requested that the State Department authorise the departure of all nonessential personnel and their families, reports say. [What reports? No names or sources cited]
Citing multiple sources familiar with the matter, [again, no specifics or verifications] CNN says that the departures could start soon, with an announcement coming in just days. Bloomberg published a similar report.
A State Department spokesperson told CNN that there is “nothing to announce at this time,” [So, now we have a department cited that says “nothing to see here”] adding that rigorous contingency planning is conducted as always in the event the security situation deteriorates. [Same source says the security situation has NOT deteriorated as yet]
A source close to the Ukrainian government says that Kyiv has been informed and that evacuations of diplomatic families could begin next week, the network reports.
The same source said that President Volodymyr Zelensky told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that such a step would be an “overreaction”.[“Would be” if it happened, but it hasn’t].
Some 180 Americans are employed by the embassy— a figure that does not include family members.
Mr Blinken was in Kyiv this week where he addressed embassy staff and confirmed $200m in security aid to Ukraine in light of the more than 127,000 Russian troops deployed in the region.
The massing of Russian forces has dramatically raised the fear that an invasion or incursion may be increasingly likely…[There goes the obligatory fear statement. “may be” and equally may not be.]
The article from my MSN feed rambles on but you get the idea. MSM stoking the fire as the war drums start beating. Covid is winding down (though you wouldn’t know it from the NZ media) and the next phase is about to commence. Sorry guys, we may have won the Covid battle (still some mopping up to do) but the Usual Suspects are only just getting warmed up. No resting on our laurels unfortunately. Martin
