It turns out Corbynism isn’t dead as a mainstream philosophy. Days after the clapped-out crank used an appearance on pro-Hezbollah TV channel al-Mayadeen to call for the West to stop arming Ukraine, Amnesty International has come out in favour of victim-blaming the country too. Today the human rights organisation has accused Ukrainian forces of putting “civilians in harm’s way by establishing bases and operating weapons systems in populated residential areas.” The Kremlin thanks Amnesty for their freelancing…

Such tactics violate international humanitarian law and endanger civilians, as they turn civilian objects into military targets 👇https://t.co/EysZtcqqci

— Amnesty International (@amnesty) August 4, 2022

Unsurprisingly the report has been slammed almost universally, not least the Ukrainian government. Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the President’s Office, has accused Amnesty International of “participating in the Russian disinformation and propaganda campaign” to discredit Ukraine’s military. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says he was outraged by the “unfair” report.

Ukrainian MP Inna Sovsun proffered the suggestion that “Yes, Ukrainian military is in populated areas. Because #Russia is attacking populated areas. Not fields, not forests, but cities. Therefore, the #Ukrainian army must be in villages and cities to protect people there.”

Terrorism and national security analyst Kyle Orton pithily observed how it’s incredibly “Inconsiderate of #Ukraine to have its cities in #Russia’s warzone.” Ukraine’s US ambassador presents a blunt metaphor: 

Appalling victim blaming. Ukrainians are in harms way because russians invaded us & kill us. To blame 🇺🇦 for defending itself is the same as to blame mother for putting her children in harms way ‘cause she choose to defend herself from a violent rapist who broke into her house

— Oksana Markarova (@OMarkarova) August 4, 2022

It doesn’t take a particularly excellent memory to remember another time when Amnesty carried out Putin’s propaganda operation on his behalf. In 2021 they were forced to apologise to Alexei Navalny after removing his status as a “prisoner of conscience” over some previous comments he made that they perceived could “amount to incitement to discrimination, violence or hostility.” At the time they said the decision to do so was made internally and “was not influenced by the Russian state”…