I don't follow why western news keeps spinning this as a shifting focus. It's literally what the official goals were stated back on March 5th. I'm not aware of any change in position since then.
this post was submitted on 03 Apr 2022
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fun fact: the Kremlin website is blocked in my country.
Blocked here in South Korea too
Gotta make sure that the citizens only consume state approved propaganda. That's what freedom and democracy is all about.
By this logic Russia has heaps of freedom and democracy.
The situation between the west and Russia isn't as different as most people in the west would like to believe unfortunately. In fact, I'd argue that western methods of manipulating public opinion are more effective because they're more subtle. As Chomsky put it, "the smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum."
I agree, real journalism is under threat around the world.
The pulling back so far seems to have left a trail of horror for civilians. As the gravity of how bad this looks for Russia sets in, I think the retreat will accelerate astonishingly.
Everyone with some common sense knew this was going to happen the moment the Ukrainians started handing out weapons to civilians. Even if these civilians were not actual combatants, the Russian soldiers would have to always treat them as potential ones as a matter of self preservation.
Note I am not at all trying to justifying killing of civilians or excusing the Russian side here, but simply stating the facts of how such things happen in insurgency situations.