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A Tragedy Becomes An Attack on Civilians
Belgorod is proving to be a textbook example of how Russia uses tragedies. It’s an extremely good example of propaganda. Mind you, some Ukrainian bloggers on Telegram smell a Russian fake, and some said it from the moment the explosion hit. Why? Russia has a history of hitting its own civilians to advance state goals.
So let’s recap.
Anti-aircraft Pantsir shot down an incoming missile. From photos that appeared online we can presume it was a Tochka-U, both nations operate these systems. Unfortunately, gravity works, and this is not a video game. So the warhead fell, and exploded, on civilian housing.
To their credit, this was the early story. It was not going to enter the land of the bizarre, or propaganda. Now it has.
In the wake of the Belgorod events, Senator (Andrey) Klishas has already started talking about “a direct act of aggression on the part of Ukraine.” If there is no “crushing military response, then the attacks on our territory and the death of our citizens will continue,” the senator is convinced.
Is he definitely not talking about a nuclear response?