Statements from U.S. and other Western officials, as well as pervasive accounts in the news media, have created a stunningly misleading image of Ukraine. There has been a concerted effort to portray the country not only as a victim of brutal Russian aggression, but as a plucky and noble bulwark of freedom and democracy. The conventional narrative would have us believe that Ukraine is an Eastern European version of Denmark.

The promoters of that narrative contend that the ongoing war is not just a quarrel between Russia and Ukraine over Kiev’s ambitions to join NATO and Moscow’s territorial claims in Crimea and the Donbas. No, they insist—the war is part of a global struggle between democracy and authoritarianism, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is a leader worthy of nothing less than Winston Churchill’s legacy. President Biden, in his March 26 remarks on the war, said the conflict was “a battle between democracy and autocracy, between liberty and repression, between a rules-based order and one governed by brute force.”

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/whitewashing-ukraines-corruption/

In a rare glimpse of internal dissent, Ukrainian President Zelensky announces he has sacked two generals as they were "traitors"

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-60949706

Sallie Tisdale. Talk dirty to ma: an intimate philosophy of sex. - New York, Anchor Books, 2014. - 340 p.

The author is an award-winning essayist. 

“Perversity, like obscenity, is a relative condition; we define it for ourselves… What about the secret things most of us most of us do now and then, or wish we could do, but never speak about? Like algolagnia, otherwise painful sensations that turn into sexual pleasure, like the getting and giving of hickeys, scratches, love bites, and pinches. Like spanking, whipping, slapping. What about begging, please, talk dirty to me, dear?” [Tisdale, 2014: 104, 108 - 109]

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has told the BBC that he is convinced Ukraine can win its war with Russia.

He could not say how long the conflict would last, but insisted that Ukraine's defeat was not inevitable.

Mr Blinken praised the "extraordinary resilience" of the Ukrainian people.

"If it's the intention of Moscow to try somehow to topple the government and install its own puppet regime, 45 million Ukrainians are going to reject that one way or the other," he said.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60626921

British foreign minister mocked by Russia after geography gaffe

Liz Truss said that the UK’s “Baltic allies” were located on the Black Sea, despite them being over 1,000km apart

It was not the only geographic discovery by Liz Truss.

MOSCOW, February 10. British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss refused to recognize Russia’s sovereignty over the Voronezh and Rostov Regions at talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday.

Mr Macron, who also spoke with US President Joe Biden on Sunday, cautioned against expecting Moscow to take unilateral measures to de-escalate the situation and said Russia had the right to raise its own concerns.

"This must be done while respecting Russia and understanding the contemporary traumas of this great people and great nation."

By Amy Yee 31st January 2022 Subjected to repeated disinformation campaigns, the tiny Baltic country of Estonia sees media literacy education as part of its digital-first culture and national security. For two days riots raged in Estonia's capital Tallinn. Protestors clashed with police and looters rampaged after the violence was sparked by controversy about a decision to move a military statue erected during Soviet rule. The flames of outrage among Estonia's Russian-speaking minority were fanned by false news spreading online and in Russian news reports. The disinformation campaign then escalated into what is considered the first cyber-attack against an entire country. The attack, which was linked to Russia, shut down websites of Estonia's government, banks and media outlets.

Adding a positive epithet to denote a military bloc does not make the bloc "defensive", but shows a case of "camouflanguage". The head of the German navy has resigned over controversial comments he made over Ukraine. Kay-Achim Schönbach said the idea that Russia wanted to invade Ukraine was nonsense.