A DISAPPOINTING NETFLIX SERIES - Turning Point -the bomb and the cold war.
I've just watched the final episode of this overall excellent documentary. I have previously written about how unbiased it is.
Not any more.
The final episode of the 9 part series deals with Russia and Ukraine
It sure tells us what a harsh and nasty piece of work Putin is. And does give some explanation of his point of view. Well, we knew that anyway.
The episode largely covers the history of Ukraine from 2000 to now. Yes, we knew that Ukrainians valued their culture and sovereignty. Yes, we knew that they have been fighting valiantly against the Russian invasion.
And yes, we knew that Russia wanted Ukraine to be in its "sphere of influence" , and that Russia's wholesale invasion of Ukraine is illegal, and was a mistake.
BUT. The whole episode is pretty much a glorification of Ukraine and its saintly leader Zelensky. The speakers involved come mainly from USA Republican political heavies, and Ukrainian media. We see how barbaric are the Russian soldiers.
WHAT WE DON't SEE:
Any mention of the 8 years' war Ukraine government against the Donbass region up until 2022. Any mention of the Minsk agreement of 2015 that would give that area autonomy within Ukraine. Any mention of genuine separatists there.
Any mention of repression and of barbaric actions by Ukrainians against the Russian-only-speaking population.
Any mention (other than a brief denial) of CIA involvement in Ukrainian politics. Any mention of Nazi sections in Ukraine, and Nazi involvement in the military. The Russian takeover of Crimea is depicted as a military invasion, though it was done by a referendum with a resounding pro-Russia result.
It's as though historical events in Ukraine just did not exist - except where events happen that can be blamed on Putin.
There's no mention of the the U.S. military bases almost surrounding Russia, and with nuclear weapons ready to aim at Russian cities. No wonder Russia is nervous about NATO. Any Russian leader would not want Ukraine to complete the arc of NATO military bases to the South of Russia.
Early in this Netflix series, we were told that the USA was preoccupied with threatening Russia. Now we're expected to believe that the whole Ukraine thing is Russia's fault - that the USA had no part at all in provoking this invasion.
In fact there is a legal case for a "Special Military Intervention" on behalf of autonomy for the beleaguered territory of the Donbass. Putin's mistake in the onslaught on Ukraine can be seen as his falling into a trap set by the USA, for a proxy war - aimed at weakening Russia and enriching USA's military-nuclear-industrial- media-complex at the expense of Ukrainian lives.
"Turning Point - the bomb and the cold war" ends with a lot of pious statements about how bad nuclear bombs are, and they should never be used.
But it's a pity that they had to falsify history to get this message safely across. It was permissible to criticise America in the early episodes - apparently that was OK. But to be acceptable - the old anti-Russia bias must prevail in 2024.
I'll be reviewing the entire series later.