Tobias Ernst: Western Journalists, please come to Kiev and do your own research and report independently.

I am deeply worried about the strong impact that Kremlin political technologists have gained on public opinion in Western Europe. Technologies the Kremlin uses include manipulating not only articles that appear in Western press, but also manipulating the opinion in the cloud of commentators in web forums, on Facebook on blogs, manipulating the opinion among influential left-wing activists and politicians in Europe. The Kremlin is trying to repeat the Chechenian / Ossetian scenario in Ukraine. In order for this to work, the Kremlin needs to depict Ukraine as a disorderly, right-wing extremist country in the eyes of the West.

Having lived and worked in Ukraine for 8 years I can say that this is absolutely not the case, Ukrainians are one of the most peace-loving, friendly and maybe even most expressly European (in terms of mentality) nations I have every met. It is Janukowych and his Kremlin-funded death squads who have trespassed the law and used violence first to conscicously escalate the situation and depict Ukraine as an extremist country in the eyes of the West – at the price of blood, at the price of the lives of innocent people, demonstrators or even passers-by. It has been like this every single time from November 30 until January 19.

I subscribe to every single word from Andreas Umland’s petition. Western Journalists, please come to Kiev and do your own research and report independently.

My friends, please sign this petition!

Tobias Ernst

http://chn.ge/1fFdpoC