9th Feb 2023

Roger Waters addressed the U.N. Security Council

By Michelle Nichols, Reuters

Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters on Wednesday addressed the U.N. Security Council at Russia's invitation, condemning Moscow's invasion of its neighbor as illegal - though adding he believed it was provoked - and calling for a ceasefire.

"He is lucky to be in New York, in a free country, speak his mind, say whatever he likes, including about the Russian aggression and how wrong that is. If he had been in Russia, with what he said, he might have been in custody by now," Albania's U.N. Ambassador Ferit Hoxha told the 15-member Security Council.

Soon after Moscow's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, Russia introduced tough new laws on spreading "misinformation" about the war or discrediting the Russian army. Russia's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy rejected Hoxha's remarks on Wednesday, saying his country respects freedom of speech.

Moscow calls its actions in Ukraine a "special military operation" designed to demilitarize and "denazify" the country. Ukraine and its Western allies say the invasion was an unprovoked act of aggression aimed at seizing territory.

Russia called the Security Council meeting on Wednesday to discuss the delivery of weapons to Ukraine and asked Waters to brief. Waters argued against the Western supply of weapons to Kyiv in a letter that he published on his website in September.

The deputy U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Richard Mills, acknowledged Waters' "impressive credentials as a recording artist," but said his qualifications to speak on arms control or European security issues were "less evident."

While Waters condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine as illegal, he also said it "was not unprovoked" and he also condemned "the provocateurs in the strongest possible terms." He did not give specifics.

"The only sensible course of action today is to call for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine," Waters said

Ukraine's U.N. Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya invoked Pink Floyd's hit song "Another Brick in the Wall," telling the Security Council: "How sad for his former fans to see him accepting the role of just a brick in the wall - the wall of Russian disinformation and propaganda."

Roger Waters says Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine was ‘not unprovoked’

By Brian Niemietz, NewYorkDailyNews

Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters addressed the United Nations Security Council Wednesday, where he called for an end to the war in Ukraine without seeming to take a side.

According to Rolling Stone, Waters said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine nearly a year ago wasn’t legal, but it was “not unprovoked.”

“So I also condemn the provocateurs in the strongest possible terms,” he said. “There, that’s out of the way.”

The 79-year-old musician’s remarks, which came at the behest of Russian officials, reportedly condemned military profiteers. He claimed to speak for “many who do not share in the profits of the war industry.”

The “Shine on You Crazy Diamond” singer called reports of Russian war crimes “Western propaganda” in an October interview with Rolling Stone.

Waters also claimed his name is on a “kill list” supported by the Ukrainian government, calling the Eastern European nation’s conflict with Russia an “unnecessary” war for which NATO shares responsibility.

“Russia should not have been encouraged to invade the Ukraine after they tried for 20 years to avoid it by suggesting diplomatic measures to Western governments,” he claimed.

The outspoken four-time Grammy nominee’s politics came under fire Monday when former Pink Floyd bandmate David Gilmour and his wife Polly Samson savaged Waters on Twitter.

“Sadly you are antisemitic to your rotten core,” Samson tweeted. “Also a Putin apologist and a lying, thieving, hypocritical, tax-avoiding, lip-synching, misogynistic, sick-with-envy, megalomaniac. Enough of your nonsense.”

Gilmour added “Every word demonstrably true.”

Waters took issue with those comments on his Twitter feed, calling the accusations “incendiary and wildly inaccurate” in a post claiming he is “taking advice as to his positions.”

Waters sued Gilmour and bandmate Nick Mason in 1986 to stop them from using the name Pink Floyd after his departure. He told the BBC in 2013 “I was wrong” for filing the claim, which was settled privately.

Gilmour and Mason teamed up in April to record“ Hey Hey Rise Up” in support of Ukraine’s war efforts. It was their first recording since 1994.

Roger Waters Does Impression of Diplomat, Speaks with Dead Mom in Bizarre UN Appearance

By Wren Graves

The post Roger Waters Does Impression of Diplomat, Speaks with Dead Mom in Bizarre UN Appearance appeared first on Consequence.

Roger Waters spoke before the UN Security Council on February 8th at the invitation of the Russian Federation, where he put on a funny voice for his impression of a diplomat, enacted a lengthy conversation with his dead mother, and claimed to represent the concerns of four billion people in the “voiceless majority” whom, he suggested, held Presidents Biden, Putin, and Zelenskyy equally responsible for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Appearing over a video conference, the former Pink Floyd frontman began by laying out his goal, which was “to express what I believe to be the feelings of countless of our brothers and sisters all over the world, both here in New York and across the seas. I shall invite them into these hallowed halls to have their say.”

Beginning under the assumption that everyone in the UN Security Council was quite happy with the war and the many profits he said it would produce, he endeavored to remind them of the “dire and often deadly circumstances” of life in Ukraine, a life he then compared to being homeless in New York and suffering under the “neoliberal capitalist ship we call life in the city.” Believing that the war was a triumph of profits over empathy, he implored the United Nations member states to “put ourselves in others shoes.”

“The voiceless majority is concerned that your wars — yes, your wars — that these perpetual wars are not of our choosing,” he said. “The invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation was illegal. I condemn it in the strongest possible terms. Also, the Russian invasion of Ukraine was not unprovoked, so I also condemn the provocateurs in the strongest possible terms.”

In between digressions on capitalism and sweeping pronouncements about the collusions of the global ruling elite, Waters was also sidetracked by the settling of personal scores. “I read in the paper this morning, some anonymous diplomat quoted as saying, ‘Roger Waters to address the security council? Whatever next, Mr. Bean? Ha, ha, ha,'” he said in a posh, gravely voice, explaining, “You know what they’re like. Anyway. For those of you who don’t know, Mr. Bean is an ineffectual character from an English comedy show on television. So it’s a penny to a pound the anonymous diplomat is an Englishman. ‘Ha, ha,'” he laughed in the voice. Without furger segue, he continued, “Anyway, I think it’s time to introduce my mother, Mary Duncan Waters.

“She was a big influence on me,” he added. “She was a school teacher. I say ‘was,’ she’s been dead for 15 years.” After pausing to note that his father died in World War II, he went on a long tangent about a conversation his mother had with him when he was 13, going so far as to recount several lines of dialogue.

“My mum sat me down and said, ‘Now listen, you’re going to be faced with many naughty problems during your life, Roger. And when you are, here’s my advice: Read, read, read. Find out everything you can about whatever it is. Look at it from all sides, all angles, listen to all opinions, especially ones you don’t agree with it. Research it thoroughly, and when you’ve done that, you will have done all the heavy lifting and the next bit is easy.’ Is it? Ok, mum. What’s the easy bit? ‘Oh, the easy bit is, you just do the right thing.’ Phew,” he said.

As if the whole invasion of Ukraine boiled down to Russia, the US, and Ukraine failing to consider each others viewpoints, he said, “So speaking of doing the right thing brings me to human rights.” He then read out a lecture on the importance of respecting said human rights, making sure to get in a few lines about Palestine and adding, “Let that sink in,” apparently under the impression that the assembly were hanging on his every word.

“So, from the four billion or so brothers and sisters in this voiceless majority,” he said, “who together with the millions in the international anti-war movement represent a huge constituency: enough is enough. We demand change. President Biden, President Putin, President Zelenskyy, USA, NATO, Russia, the EU, all of you, please change course now. Agree to a cease fire in Ukraine today.”

Waters didn’t clarify which of the eight billion people on the planet made up his four-billion-member constituency. But in his conclusion, he envisioned the voiceless majority cheering him on for the speech he was currently giving, even going so far as to evoke “John Lennon pumping the air with his fists from the grave. ‘We’ve finally been heard in the corridors of power,'” he imagined the masses saying.

Afterwards Vasily Nebenzya, the Russian member of the UN Security Council, applauded Waters “precise analysis,” and suggested, although Waters hadn’t said so, that Waters and the “international creative intelligentsia” were all in agreement that NATO had incited the violence in Ukraine in order to fight a “proxy war with Russia.”

This is Waters’ latest attempt to both-sides Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Last fall, he called evidence of Russian war crimes “lies, lies, lies, lies,” and insisted that President Biden is the real “war criminal.” His controversial statements have reportedly endangered the sale of Pink Floyd’s catalog, and led his former bandmate David Gilmour and his wife Polly Samson to rip Waters on social media. “Sadly @rogerwaters you are antisemitic to your rotten core,” Samson wrote on social media. “Also a Putin apologist and a lying, thieving, hypocritical, tax-avoiding, lip-synching, misogynistic, sick-with-envy, megalomaniac. Enough of your nonsense.” Gilmore agreed in his own tweet, writing, “Every word demonstrably true.”

Do yourself a favor. Think for yourself. Be your own person. Question everything. Stand for principle. Champion individual liberty and self-ownership where you can. Develop a strong moral code. Be kind to others. Do no harm, unless that harm is warranted. Pretty obvious stuff...but people who hold these things in their hearts seem to be disappearing from the earth at an accelerated rate. Stay safe, my friends. Thanks for being here.

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