Gingrich And Breitbart Remind Us Why You Should Never Take News Narrative At Face Value

Indoctrination Is Not Information

This much is clear about the media narratives on the escalating war in the Ukraine: they're wrong. Former Speaker of the House and Fox News favorite Newt Gingrich has proven that in spades.

Newt's latest thesis is that Germany is going to passively allow Russia to take Ukraine so it can buy Russian NatGas and sell cars to China.

“In the case of the Germans, China is their biggest export market now,” he continued. “I mean, they sell more BMWs and Mercedes and Volkswagons in China, and Russia is the source of their inexpensive energy. So, the two great dictatorships both have huge pieces of the German economy. And the Germans are not going to risk that over something … like Ukrainian independence, which the Germans don’t care about…“In the case of the Germans, China is their biggest export market now,” he continued. “I mean, they sell more BMWs and Mercedes and Volkswagons in China, and Russia is the source of their inexpensive energy. So, the two great dictatorships both have huge pieces of the German economy. And the Germans are not going to risk that over something … like Ukrainian independence, which the Germans don’t care about.…”

Unfortunately for Newt Gingrich, the facts put Germany in a far different position. On Sunday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholtz broke with decades of German policy and agreed to send military hardware to Ukraine.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz, facing his first international crisis as Germany’s leader, signed off on providing Ukraine with 500 Stinger surface-to-air missiles and 1,000 anti-tank weapons from German stockpiles. His decision sets aside traditional German restraint on arms exports to war zones, a policy rooted in the country’s legacy of World War II aggression.

Additionally, Germany is willing to eject Russian banks from the international SWIFT banking system.

Germany’s finance minister said Friday that his country is open to cutting Russia off from the SWIFT interbank payment system, the crackdown on financial transactions that some have described as the “nuclear option” of sanctions.

To illustrate the pace at which events are moving in Ukraine, Germany's position is a complete reversal from just a few days ago.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz suggested Thursday evening that he's against including the SWIFT international payments system in new EU sanctions against Russia, insisting this option should be kept for later.

Arriving at a hastily-arranged summit of EU leaders in Brussels, Scholz said it was important to react to Russia's war on Ukraine by imposing "necessary further sanctions." Yet when asked whether those sanctions should involve banning Russia from using SWIFT, he indicated that he was against such a step.

"In terms of unity and determination, it is very important that we decide on the measures that have now been prepared over the last few weeks, and reserve everything else for a situation where it is necessary to do other things as well," Scholz said, while avoiding mention of SWIFT by name. He did not elaborate on what kind of situation might make it necessary to take further steps.

Germany appears to care a great deal about Ukraine, and is willing to endure a measure of economic pain because of Ukraine.

Which merely highlights yet again the sorry state of the news media, including much of the alternative media (Gingrich's remarks are courtesy of Breitbart). Painting narrative becomes much more important than assembling and analyzing the actual facts of a news event.

Even Alex Berenson can't resist ad hominem indulgence.

Regardless of the news story: Ukraine, COVID-19, the Freedom Convoy, or the parlous state of the global economy, beware the news narrative, regardless of source. Get the facts--all the facts--and form your own opinions.

Always remember, the role of the media is to inform, not indoctrinate.