Corporate Media Offers Anemic Coverage of NATO Aggression in Ukraine

In this episode of By Any Means Necessary, hosts Sean Blackmon and Jacquie Luqman are joined by Richard Becker, National Organizer for the ANSWER Coalition to discuss how the history of Ukraine and the Soviet Union and the western-backed color revolution in 2014 factor into the ongoing crisis over Ukraine, the oil and gas interests that were behind the 2014 coup and which are benefited by the cancellation of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and the rise on oil prices, the corporate media’s casting of Russia’s invasion as a sudden and unprovoked event rather than acknowledging the complicity of the US and NATO in goading Russia into invasion with its drive to push NATO membership to states on Russia’s border, and the crucial task of the anti-imperialist movement to oppose any NATO war or new sanctions against Russia.

In the second segment, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Miguel Garcia, host and creator of the Sports as a Weapon podcast to discuss the extension of the Ukraine crisis on the ice in a game between the Washington Capitals and player Alexander Ovechkin and the New York Rangers player Artemi Panarin, who supports Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, the ongoing lockout of Major League Baseball players and the threat of owners to begin canceling regular season unless players and owners reach a new collective bargaining agreement this week, and the attempts by owners to manipulate public opinion among baseball fans against players fighting for fair working conditions.

In the third segment, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Salifu Mack, an editor at Hood Communist and a member of the Lowcountry Action Committee and the Black Alliance for Peace to discuss efforts to provide an inclusive and revolutionary celebration of Black history through African Liberation Month, as opposed to the co-opted Black History Month, how the liberal and identarian character of Black History Month erases important liberation figures and the political character of Black memory and history, and why a focus on African liberation is so important in the era of mass incarceration, police terror, imperialist war, and more.

Later in the show, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Margaret Kimberley, editor and senior columnist at Black Agenda Report and author of the book "Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents" to discuss the platform given to Kiev-based freelance journalist Terrell Starr by mainstream media to spread ridiculous propaganda and provide cover for the right-wing takeover of Ukraine, the paternalistic coverage of Ukrainians by the mainstream media as helpless and in need of a western savior, and Joe Biden’s decision to nominate Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court and what it highlights about representational politics.