If there is anyone in the West who is still asking "with propaganda flying from both sides of the Russo-Ukrainian War, how do I know who is the bad guy?", the question has been answered. All you have to do is look at what side China has taken, and make sure you're on the opposite side.
You Shall Know Them by Their Friends
Let me lead off with a question for the Western media. Can we dispense with the pretense of Chinese "neutrality," the laughable notion that they are somehow "torn" or "trying to walk a line (Lau)," and acknowledge they have been an open supporter of (Li; White & Hille), accessory to (Wong & Barnes), principle beneficiary of (Wang) and likely mastermind behind (Areddy), Russia's invasion of Ukraine? They're not even really making any efforts to hide it.
Predictable Little Liars
At the beginning of the war, Vladimir Putin tried to establish a narrative surrounding it. The narrative was that he was "removing Nazis (Bloomberg Staff, The Print Staff)," and that cities would not be targeted. The irony of trying to "De-Nazify" a country with a Jewish president (Williams), by using tactics not even the Nazis resorted to, such as littering a "Humanitarian Corridor" with land mines (Kesslen), apparently escaped him.
The self-anointed 'Central Nation,' who are culturally incapable of witnessing an act of evil without supporting it, echoed this line, not only denying that it was an invasion (Cheng), but repeatedly insisting only military facilities were targeted (Huaxia).
One of my personal favorite examples was a Chinese... well, "acquaintance," (I won't call this creature a friend) who was attending university in Kharkiv and STILL, even as the bombs dropped around us both, took to WeChat to deny bombs were dropping around him. The post was quietly deleted later and he changed his location listing from Kharkiv to Kyiv. It might have something to do with the fact that he lived in Saltyvka, a district where not an apartment building is left standing after 14 consecutive days (and counting) of continuous bombing, despite the absence of any legitimate military targets.
Excuse the typo. Should be "jets" instead of "gets," and "and" instead of "amd." Typing on a tiny screen with Russian bombs dropping all over the place isn't easy.
Well, Russia quickly learned that their "surgical de-nazification strike with no danger to civilians" line wasn't working and they needed another. The WHO unwittingly provided it for them: US bio-weapons labs in Ukraine (ABC Staff).
Ukraine, like almost any country on the planet whose medical universities actually function, has biological research labs. These labs store viruses because (complex medical jargon ahead but bear with me here) people who plan to cure diseases, such as doctors, have to practice doing so, and to do that they have access to the shit that causes the diseases they seek to cure.
Complex stuff, right?
Well, Ukraine is not the most technologically or economically advanced country on Earth, so such facilities needed some outside assistance to keep them running. Ukraine got that funding from the US, the EU, and the WHO (WION Staff). As such, the WHO is aware of the locations of these labs, and as the Russian Army's rather wild and indiscriminate shelling, which has included mass bombardment of nuclear reactors so far (Borger & Henley; Martin-Pavitt), got precariously close to a few of these labs, the Chinese-Owned World Health Organization (in a rare display of actual vigilance likely brought on by the urgency of regaining face after their bungling of the Covid crisis) warned Ukraine that it would be wise to shut the labs down to prevent accidental release of fuck-only-knows-what (Sharma).
And THAT was when Russia had their "a-HA!" moment.
Between Our Quests, We Sequin Vests, and Impersonate Joe Goebbels!
See, Russian State Media has been ranting about "US 'death-labs' in Ukraine for years. Their latest series of such claims was hatched in 2018, by Ohio Native Tim Kirby who works for the Russian Government now (Field).Tim Kirby has been employed for years in Moscow as one of Russia's counterparts to China's "White-monkeys:" an American who failed at everything back home and who now makes their money by getting paid handsomely by a foreign power to tell what a "failed State" America is (Cullison). Around 2018, he issued a CNN-style "I heard it from a 'reliable source (wink) whose name I can't disclose" proclamation, which was echoed by the highest echelons of Russia's government, about a network of alleged US bio-weapon facilities in Ukraine.
“Someone I’ve known for a few years has come forward,” Kirby told the almost 60,000 viewers who’ve watched the video so far, “to put together a picture of a network of bioweapons laboratories in Ukraine, that is very large and very Washington-supported that could be quite dangerous for us all.”
-(WION)
Pretty sure that becomes grounds for revocation of citizenship when said government is hostile, Tim; just sayin' might be hard for you to get home after Russia finishes losing the war.
Of course this is not new. The Russian Federation and the USSR before them have a long and well-documented history of screaming about "US Bio-weapons" to take attention off of their own program (Leitenberg, available on pdf here). So when the "we're out to remove Nazis" narrative fell through, Russia switched to "we're invading to remove bio-weapons facilities" and presented this claim to the UN Security Council (United Nations). After all, the "we're invading a country to remove weapons of mass destruction" excuse has been successfully used by UNSC members in the past.
Of course, Russia seems to have forgotten that in previous instances, this excuse was used in tandem with believable evidence from international agencies, not just "trust me bro" statements by the invading party based on tabloid reporters' headline-boosting claims. Even Al-Jazeera, a network not even remotely friendly to the US, laughed at this claim (Al-Jazeera staff).
Despite a glorious dearth of any credible evidence, and despite the UN Security Council's eye-rolling at this lack of evidence (and their willingness to call Russia out for it), the claim was quickly echoed by Zhao Lijian, the spokescreature for China's Ministry of Desperate Bullshit Foreign Ministry. When someone made the mistake of putting Zhao near enough to a microphone that its barking could be heard, it claimed “This Russian military operation has uncovered the secret of the US labs in Ukraine, and this is not something that can be dealt with in a perfunctory manner... It is not something they can muddle through by saying that China’s statement and Russia’s finding are disinformation, and are absurd and ridiculous.” (WION staff).
China was quick to capitalize on the opportunity for a juvenile jab at the US, with the added benefit of taking some heat off of itself for the release of the Wuhan virus, by copying the US's earlier concerns about the Wuhan lab, verbatim (Xinhua Staff). In fact, considering they were the first since the start of the war to bring it up, and considering the benefits they reap from such a claim being bandied about, it is quite likely that rather than simply echoing Russia's line, it was China who put the bug in Russia's ear to switch to this line.
But I'm not here to speculate on whose idea it was. Merely pointing out that China and Russia have made it obvious they are working together on this tale. And of course, conspiracy theorists in the US, always on the lookout for imagined proof of some phantom "New World Order" in which all the squabbling governments of the world are somehow in collusion with each other (a claim that dies a quick death after watching ANY gathering of international dignitaries try to agree on even the simplest things) were quick to jump on board (Ling). Because if there is one thing the Russophilic Far-Right and the Sinophilic Far-Left in America can agree on, it's a fanatical urge to jump in bed with anyone who blames America for all the world's problems.
If Your Enemy Wants Something Done, You've Got to Do It Yourself
Now, it should be noted that the US didn't exactly do itself an favors in HOW it rebutted this nonsense, at least in public. The US Embassy issued a statement denying it, and Western media sources immediately began referring to the theory as "debunked" because of this statement (McCarthy). This routine of "another country said it happened but our government has denied it so it must be false" sounds like something I'd expect to hear from state-owned media abroad, so it was less-than-inspiring when even after being vindicated by the UNSC (which includes a lot of countries far from friendly to the US), the US put forth such a trite and lame defense in front of its own media.
Victoria Nuland's muddy and ambiguous testimony, wherein she answered the question "does the US have bioweapons in Ukraine" with "the US has biological research facilities in Ukraine," didn't help either (C-Span Staff). With the world still reeling from a virus released from a Wuhan lab (with rather strong evidence that Anthony Fauci was funneling US funds to it behind Congress's back), the average listener likely didn't catch the distinction between "bio-weapons labs" and "bio-labs."
However, despite the current US regime's cringeworthy knack for incriminating itself after being acquitted, the theory still doesn't wash, and here's why.
Doesn't Pass the Sniff Test
I'm not going to blow smoke up anyone's ass by trying to say the Oh-so-virtuous US would never do something as insidious as biological weapons research. Uncle Sam has been pretty open about the fact that he has every form of weapon he can ever conceive of an enemy having. Nor am I going to try and claim the Ukrainian government is so innocent they'd never consent to such a thing. I'm also not going to try to say the US government doesn't have loosely monitored rogues within its ranks who would fund shady research in foreign labs because, well...
But there are a handful of reasons why the "Ukrainian bioweapons network" theory makes zero sense.
1) Why So Many Labs? We're told there are thirty of these labs around the country. A biological weapons program would, by its very nature, be one of the most highly classified programs in existence. As anyone who has ever worked in counterintelligence or undercover law enforcement (or even anyone who has planned a surprise birthday party) can tell you, the more people are involved, the harder it is to keep something hidden. The idea that thirty separate facilities could be involved in a biological weapons program and nobody at any of these facilities has come out to make a fortune by selling the full scoop to Russia and China (and no, the tinfoil hat theories they've put forth don't constitute a "full scoop"), defies any hint of credulity. It would take an entire panel of complete monkeys to conceive of anything that self-defeating, and not even Obama's DOD was idiotic enough to accept something with that much capacity for a catastrophic security breach.
2) Why Ukraine? The US is far from saintly, but one thing they typically are not (elected officials usually notwithstanding) is stupid. Housing something as dangerous as a biological weapons program in a country as underdeveloped and corrupt as Ukraine, bordering a hostile power on almost every side, would not just be inviting disaster, but practically sending it a booty call complete with open-legged nudes and texts reading "I need you now." Not only would the risk of being compromised by a local operative be beyond tolerance, but the constant risk of an accidental release due to outdated facilities or utility outages would hang over the entire facility.
Plus, how stupid would they have to be to run such a program on the doorstep of Russia, in a non-allied country with (we thought) no capacity to resist invasion by the same? To run such a program in Ukraine would be essentially handing it to Russia on a plate.
3) Why Are We Just Now Hearing This? If there was a single shred of evidence anywhere that the US was running such a program in Ukraine, doesn't it seem that Russia, having (ahem) "known about" it (read: 'spent years insisting it was there despite zero evidence) for so long, would have made a move before now? Doesn't it seem like this would have been their narrative surrounding the war right from the beginning? Doesn't it seem odd that this claim wasn't brought up again until after Russia realized they were losing the narrative war?
4) How Did the US Supposedly Hide This? These bio-research labs, which are connected with Ukraine's medical university system, receive funding from not only the US, but the EU and the WHO, and all three subject the labs to routine audits. The EU considers itself a "Strategic Competitor" to the US (Grady), and the WHO has done a piss-poor job of hiding how deep in China's pocket it is (Feldwisch-Drentrup). Ergo, if the US was using these labs to produce bio-weapons, doesn't it seem our self-proclaimed "strategic rival" would have noticed this during an audit of the labs they were partially funding? Does it make any sense that a self-named "systemic rival" of the US would be partially funding a US bio-weapons program?
And considering how desperate the WHO has been to deflect blame from their Chinese masters, doesn't it seem they would have spoken up about something suspicious in these labs before now in order to take the heat off of Xi?
A Convenient Lie
What we're seeing is the "oops! Let's try that again" phase of Russia's propaganda offensive. And this time, China has taken the lead to tell their little-brother "no no, not like that. Like this." Rather than simply echoing Russia's narrative, now China, which has more experience in spreading propaganda in the West, is taking the lead and setting the narrative for Russia. And this time, they've thrown the West a fish-story that they know will actually gain traction on the internet. It's not enough to convince anyone with any sense. Hell, it's really not enough to fully convince even the average American. But it's just credible enough to ignite the imaginations of conspiracy theorists and muddy the water of who is right and who is wrong.
And frankly, Russia's masters in Beijing are fully aware that a little space to run is all the dog needs.
Works Cited
ABC Staff. "WHO advised Ukraine to destroy pathogens as China amplifies unsupported Russian claim of US biological activities." Australian Broadcasting Company. 11 Mar, 2022. Web. 14 Mar, 2022. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-11/who-advises-ukraine-to-destroy-pathogens-russia-misinformation/100902958
Al-Jazeera Staff. "UN says not aware of biological weapons programme in Ukraine." 11 Mar, 2022. Web. 4 Mar, 2022. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/11/un-says-not-aware-of-biological-weapons-programme-in-ukraine
Areddy, James T. "Ukraine Presidential Adviser Says Only China Benefits From the War." Wall Street Journal. 10 Mar, 2022/ Web. 12 Mar, 2022. https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/russia-ukraine-latest-news-2022-03-09/card/ukraine-presidential-adviser-says-only-china-benefits-from-the-war-T3PF6WEGhbjTPN86nFfE
Borger, Julia & Henley, Jon. "Zelenskiy says ‘Europe must wake up’ after assault sparks nuclear plant fire." The Guardian. 4 Mar, 2022. Web. 14 Mar, 2022. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/04/ukraine-nuclear-power-plant-fire-zaporizhzhia-russian-shelling
Bloomberg Staff. "Putin Orders 'Special Military Operation." Bloomberg. 24 Feb, 2022. Web. 13 Mar, 2022. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2022-02-24/putin-orders-special-military-operation-for-ukraine-video-l00nw4qc
Though credited to Bloomberg, this is actually a video of Putin's original speech and it is available from several other sources.
- https://www.nbcnews.com/video/president-putin-announces-russian-military-operations-in-eastern-ukraine-133914181980 ,
- https://news.sky.com/video/vladimir-putin-announces-special-military-operation-in-ukraine-12550049
C-Span Staff. "Senator Rubio Questions Undersecretary Nuland Over Biolabs in Ukraine." C-Span. 8 Mar, 2022. Web. 14 Mar, 2022. https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5005520/senator-rubio-questions-undersecretary-nuland-biolabs-ukraine
Cheng, Evelyn. "China refuses to call Russian attack on Ukraine an ‘invasion,’ deflects blame to U.S.." CNBC. 25 Feb, 2022. Web. 13 Mar, 2022. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/24/china-refuses-to-call-attack-on-ukraine-an-invasion-blames-us.html
Cullison, Alan. "The American Who Tells Russia How Bad Things Are in America." Wall Street Jorunal. 18 Apr, 2013. Web. 14 Mar, 2022. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323611604578398493366755234
Feldwisch-Drentrup, Hinnerk. "How WHO Became China’s Coronavirus Accomplice." Foreign Policy. 2 Apr, 2020. Web. 14 Mar, 2022. https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/04/02/china-coronavirus-who-health-soft-power/
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Grady, John. "French President Macron Calls For European ‘Strategic Autonomy’." USNI News. US Naval Institute. 8 Feb, 2021. Web. 14 Mar, 2022. https://news.usni.org/2021/02/08/french-president-macron-calls-for-european-strategic-autonomy
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Kesslen, Ben. "Russians booby-trap ‘safe corridor’ in Ukraine with landmines: report." 7 Mar, 2022. Web. 13 Mar, 2022. New York Post. 7 Mar, 2022. Web. 13 Mar, 2022. https://nypost.com/2022/03/07/russians-plant-landmines-in-ukraine-safe-corridor-report/
Lau, Stuart. "Putin puts China in a bind." Politico. 24 Feb, 2022. Web. 12 Mar, 2022. https://www.politico.eu/article/russia-vladimir-putin-puts-china-xi-jinping-in-a-bind-ukraine/
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Li Yuan. "Why the Chinese Internet Is Cheering Russia’s Invasion." 27 Feb, 2022. Web. 12 Mar, 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/27/business/china-russia-ukraine-invasion.html
Ling, Justin. "How U.S. Bioweapons in Ukraine Became Russia’s New Big Lie." Foreign Policy. 10 Mar, 2022. Web. 14 Mar, 2022. https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/03/10/bioweapons-ukraine-russia-disinformation/
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Williams, Martin. "Ukraine invasion: How Russia justifies 'de-nazification' of a nation led by a Jewish president." https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/homenews/19960097.ukraine-invasion-russia-justifies-de-nazification-nation-led-jewish-president/
WION Staff. "China fuels Russian claim of US-backed biowarfare labs in Ukraine, calls for investigation." World Is One News. 11 Mar, 2022. Web. 14 Mar, 2022.. https://www.wionews.com/world/china-fuels-russian-claim-of-us-backed-biowarfare-labs-in-ukraine-calls-for-investigation-461432
Wong, Edward & Barnes, Julian. "China Asked Russia to Delay Ukraine War Until After Olympics, U.S. Officials Say." New York Times. 2 Mar, 2022. Web. 12 Mar, 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/02/us/politics/russia-ukraine-china.html
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