Wars and the Western Media

Throughout the Ukraine war, the Western media has been very vocal in calling out any and all instances of Russia hitting civilian installations. Their “coverage” during the ongoing Gaza war, on the other hand, ignores all such instances.

 

Don’t get me wrong. I totally get why Israel has gone in with guns blazing – the anger and fury is totally understandable. (Is it the best course of action, has Israel gone way overboard are different questions). Rather, my point here is about the hypocrisy of the Western media.

 

A small strip of land is being pounded continuously. Water, electricity and essentials are cut off, civilians are also the victims on a large scale, hospitals have been hit. But God forbid if a Western publication should shout out the words, “war crimes”. The civilians of Gaza have nowhere to run to – Egypt won’t open its border, and why should they? Egypt didn’t create this problem. When those refugees were pouring out of Syria into Europe, the Western media was happy to blame it all on Assad. But in Gaza, they couldn’t be bothered to even talk about the state or fate of those trapped in there.

 

For Ukraine, Western media will keep counting the days for which the war has been going on. How long, they moan. In Gaza, they couldn’t care less.

 

There’s a lot of coverage on the number of Israelis taken hostage, but strangely, the Western media doesn’t talk of the around 500 Americans caught there. Technically, they’re not hostages, just that they’re not allowed to leave. Normally, the American media would be shouting off the rooftops when Americans are in danger. Not here in Gaza. Why, wonders Tyler Cowen. Is the US negotiating behind the scenes and has told the media not to jeopardize things? Or does the mainstream US media want Biden re-elected and so won’t talk of things (like Americans trapped in Gaza) that might hurt Biden politically?

 

When Putin made a reference to nukes during the Ukraine war, the Western media reacted as if nuclear war was imminent, that the Cuban crisis was being re-enacted. But when a junior Israeli minister said “That’s one way” to a journalist’s question on Israel nuking Gaza, well, it was mentioned as a minor story. With no reaction or condemnation or detailed doomsday consequences.

 

Credibility. The West can keep blaming fake news and propaganda from Russia as the reason why credibility of Western institutions is being eroded or under threat. But they are too arrogant to see how their media behaves.

 

I will end on a different note. Wars these days seem unwinnable. America in Iraq and Syria. Saudi Arabia in Yemen. Russia in Ukraine. Israel now in Gaza. No matter how asymmetrical the war, somehow, nobody can win. It just drags on and on. Will China learn or will it attack Taiwan?

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