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Disinfo: Historically, the West has always been barbaric and similar to ISIS

Summary

From a philosophical and historical point of view, the West has never progressed beyond barbarity and human prehistoric times which included the periods of slavery, feudalism and capitalism. In contrast to the West, the Soviet Union started the real history of humanity and communism can be considered a genuine form of civilisation. Historically, the West is like the Cilician pirate state in the past or in the present, the terrorist organisation ISIS.

Disproof

Although the West's history (and indeed, this is applicable to any other region of the world) does indeed include skeletons in its closet, to draw a similarity between it and ISIS is an outrageous, extreme and ungrounded accusation aimed to discredit the West. See similar cases here, including claims that the West is a terrorist structure, the West is fascist, and that the US and EU countries support Russophobic, neofascist, terrorist political parties and movements in the post-Soviet space. ISIS is a Salafi jihadist militant group and former unrecognised proto-state that follows a fundamentalist, Salafi doctrine of Sunni Islam. In 2015-2017, ISIS claimed responsibility for a number of terrorist attacks outside Iraq in Syria, including in Tunisia, Turkey, Belgium, France, Germany, Russia and other countries. ISIL has been classified a terrorist organisation by the United Nations, the European Union and its member states, the United States, Russia, India, Turkey and many other countries. The goals and values of the EU (respect for human rights and freedoms, representative democracy, the rule of law, equal rights for all citizens before the law, etc.) and political systems of the EU member states are a million miles away from ISIS ideology. The EU is based on a strong commitment to promoting and protecting human rights, democracy and the rule of law worldwide. The Treaty of Lisbon stipulates that the EU "shall develop a special relationship with neighbouring countries, aiming to establish an area of prosperity and good neighbourliness, founded on the values of the Union and characterised by close and peaceful relations based on cooperation." Read more about EU's promotion and protection of human rights and democracy here. The period of relative peace experienced by Europe in the period following World War II — often associated above all with the creation of the EU and its predecessors — is known as Pax Europaea. Furthermore, in 2012, the EU was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for advancing the causes of peace, reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe.

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Together with Russia (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 151
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 02/05/2019
  • Outlet language(s) Russian
  • Keywords: West, Historical revisionism, USSR, Conspiracy theory, Terrorism, Daesh
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President of Georgia does not willingly express opinions on the separatist regions

The new president of Georgia does not willingly express opinions on issues such as separatism prevailing in a large area of the country; the existence of problems like Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and the need to restore the territorial integrity of the country.

May 01, 2019
Disproof

Quite opposite to the claim made in the article, Georgian President Salome Zourabishvili recently stated that Russia's decade long military occupation of South Ossetia and Abkhazia has failed to break the national will to maintain sovereignty and achieve European Union and NATO accession. "It's a victory for Georgia and not for Russia." “In recent years, we have gone through similar tragedies. We are now experiencing what it means for our country’s territories to be occupied – what it means to have our country’s territorial integrity violated,” Zurabishvili said in her meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. Russia was an “occupying power”, and the biggest concern was “that it’s unpredictable”, she said. See here for other disinformation cases about Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Kyiv admitted that Russia is protecting the residents of Donbas

Ukraine recognised that Russia is protecting the residents of Donbas. The country’s leadership said that Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to ease the procedure for obtaining Russian passports for residents of Donbas in order to be able to protect the citizens of his country.

May 01, 2019
Disproof

The news in the Russian media appeared against the backdrop of a decree by Russian President Vladimir Putin dated May 1 about the simplified granting of Russian citizenship to residents of the occupied territories of Ukraine - those who lived in Crimea before annexation, but left the peninsula after the Russian seizure, as well as those who now live in areas controlled by militants, so called "LNR" and "DNR". Claims that Ukraine admitted Russia is protecting residents are not true. Ukraine did not make such statements. On the contrary, after the signing of the Russian decree in Kyiv said that Putin had taken such measures in order to destabilise the situation in Donbas, legalize the "LNR" and "DNR" militants, and protect them from the Ukrainian court after the end of the war and the de-occupation of the Ukrainian territories. The Ukrainian government emphasises that people who are citizens of Ukraine and take part in illegal military formations of Donbas are collaborators. The Kremlin will issue passports primarily to its mercenaries. Russia took this step to legalise its aggression against Ukraine under the pretext that the Kremlin allegedly “protects its citizens” in the territories of the groups.

Crimea joined the Russian Federation after a referendum carried out in accordance with the rules of international law

In March 2014 Crimea joined the Russian Federation after a referendum carried out in accordance with the rules of international law.

May 01, 2019
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative on the annexation of Crimea stating that the inhabitants of the Ukrainian peninsula chose to join Russia through a legal referendum. The so-called referendum held on the 16th of March 2014 has not been recognized by any international body. On the 27th of February 2014, when it was announced, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution which stated that the referendum in Crimea was not valid and could not serve as a basis for any change in the status of the peninsula. A year later even Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted that the plan to annex Crimea was ordered weeks before the so-called referendum. Five years later Federica Mogherini, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, issued a statement on behalf of EU confirming the EU’s commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, stressing that EU does NOT recognize this referendum and continues to condemn this violation of international law.