Media review: CNN: The possibility of the Israeli army placing weapons in Al-Shifa Hospital is high

Media review: CNN: The possibility of the Israeli army placing weapons in Al-Shifa Hospital is high

    Saturday, November 25, 2023   No comments

After accidentally revealing that the tunnels under the hospital were built by Israel, CNN is raising doubt about the weapons the Israeli military claimed was found in the healthcare facility.

The American network "CNN" reported that the number of weapons that appeared in a video clip of the occupation "army", which he published on November 15, in which he said that he found them in Al-Shifa Hospital and that they belonged to the Hamas movement, differs from similar scenes that were filmed. By the media crews, which indicates, according to the American network, that the Israeli “army” may have transferred the weapons, or placed them there, before the media crews arrived.

CNN said that it compared the footage published by the Israeli army with the scenes captured by Fox News, which was granted access to Al-Shifa Hospital in the following hours.

The network added that the wristwatch on the wrist of the Israeli army spokesman, who led the photography tour at Al-Shifa Hospital, showed that the time was 1:18 p.m. The Fox News correspondent, who was later admitted to the hospital, said in his report that it was midnight.

"CNN" explained that the "Fox News" scenes showed a bag located behind the MRI machine inside the hospital, and two AK-47 rifles appeared on top of it, while the "Army" scenes showed the presence of one rifle of this model. CNN said that it is not clear where the second weapon came from, and why it did not appear in the Israeli army video.

The network reported that it had contacted the Israeli army to obtain clarifications regarding the apparent contradiction, but had not received a response.

CNN said that there is no evidence yet of the existence of a network of tunnels under Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, and that there is no indication that Israeli forces have uncovered a multi-level tunnel with underground rooms.

Israeli media confirmed that the massive Israeli propaganda after the Israeli occupation “army” stormed Al-Shifa Hospital was a disappointment to the Israeli settlers, who thought that “Israel” would eliminate “Hamas” during its operation.

The Israeli media said that the leadership of Hamas remains cohesive even after the storming of Al-Shifa Hospital, and that its fighters are continuing to fire rockets towards the settlements on the Gaza Strip and towards Tel Aviv.

The media also pointed out that "the army reached recovery, but the goal was not achieved, and we have not yet captured Sinwar or Deif. Yesterday, the army announced that it had eliminated a Hamas official whom no Israeli knew."

The Arab affairs analyst for the Israeli Channel 13, Tzivi Yehezkeli, said that it is clear that there is nothing of real value in Al-Shifa Hospital.

Media review: On CNN, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, 'Israel built the tunnels under Gaza hospital'

Media review: On CNN, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, 'Israel built the tunnels under Gaza hospital'

    Tuesday, November 21, 2023   No comments

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, just like that, dismantled the Israeli narrative that Hamas built the tunnel systems under hospitals and is using it as command-and-control centers--justifying Israel troops attack on hospitals and other protected places in international law. 

Ehud Barak revealed confirmed in an interview with CNN’s Amanpour, who was clearly surprised by the disclosure and tried to give him a chance to take what he said back… he disclosed that the tunnel complex beneath Al-Shifa Hospital was constructed by Israel when Gaza was under Israeli occupation decades ago.

Conflating news and propaganda is becoming a problem of credibility for both politicians and media outlets. First, it was the lie about “40 babies beheaded by Hamas.” Then Israel's claim that Hamas targeted and killed party goers on Oct. 7, only to learn later that Hamas did not know about the concert and that some Israelis were killed by Israeli troops who deployed a protocol that is mean to kill Israelis if they were in the process of being taken hostage. All in all, mainstream media are struggling to rebuild public trust.

In an Open Letter, 100s of American journalists criticize coverage of the war on Gaza and the killing of journalists

In an Open Letter, 100s of American journalists criticize coverage of the war on Gaza and the killing of journalists

    Friday, November 10, 2023   No comments

More than 750 journalists signed an open letter condemning Israel's killing of journalists in Gaza, and criticizing Western media's coverage of the war, according to the Washington Post on Friday.

The American newspaper said that more than 750 journalists from dozens of news organizations signed an open letter condemning Israel's killing of journalists in Gaza, and criticizing Western media coverage of the war.

The letter stated that newsrooms (Western media) are responsible for the inhumane rhetoric that served the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

The letter includes “signatories from Reuters and the Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, and Washington Post” and reflects “the divisions and frustrations within newsrooms.”

The newspaper noted that signing the letter to some journalists was a bold and even dangerous step, adding that journalists in media organizations had been expelled because they adopted public political positions that might expose them to accusations of bias, according to the newspaper, without specifying these means.

The Washington Post pointed out that many writers, artists, researchers and academics criticized the media coverage of the Israeli war on Gaza.

The letter's authors said it was a call to recommit to justice and not abandon it.

In turn, Abdullah Fayyad, a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2022 and a former member of the Boston Globe editorial board, who signed the letter, said, “I hope that after this letter, the culture of fear around this issue will be reversed, and that decision-makers, reporters, and editors will be made to think twice about language.” that they use."

“This is about demanding that journalists do their job: hold power accountable,” said Sohana Hussain, a labor reporter for the Los Angeles Times.

The letter stresses that journalists should use words such as “apartheid,” “ethnic cleansing,” and “genocide” to describe Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, terms that the petition’s signatories explain are used by international human rights organizations.

It also focuses on journalists who were killed by Israeli forces, and their number reached 39 media workers.

A journalist is killed daily

The Washington Post confirmed yesterday that one journalist is killed in Gaza every day, and described this as a terrifying rate.

The newspaper said that the latest petition comes after a series of petitions signed by media professionals, academics and artists calling for an end to the war and not to obscure what is happening in Gaza.

She also mentioned that another petition signed by hundreds of Jewish writers called for stopping the war and saving civilian lives, and added, "We are horrified when we see the battle against anti-Semitism used as an excuse to commit war crimes with declared genocidal intent."

Colonial media practices: The blatant double standards will mark the fall of the "free world" discourse on previously-universalized values

Colonial media practices: The blatant double standards will mark the fall of the "free world" discourse on previously-universalized values

    Wednesday, July 26, 2023   No comments

Western governments have used the pillars of their modern civilization to shame and intimidate other communities to submit their systems of dominance. Human rights, free press, free speech, individual rights were all used as universal values that legitimized western interventionism. It worked because many thinkers and leaders in the Global south communities actually bought into this discourse. However, with new technologies that enabled impoverished communities to build their own institutions, and enjoy a degree of autonomy, the Western discourse revealed its superficial commitment to freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Sanctions and bans became a favorite instrument in the hands of Western states to punish speech they did not like. Suddenly freedom of speech became limited; they just needed to find the context for banning it. That is now creating a problem for the so-called free world.

Foreign Policy: The US obsession with sanctions will be the cause of its downfall

In an article published in Foreign Policy, Christopher Sabatini, a senior Latin America researcher at Chatham House, addressed the failure of US sanctions imposed by Washington on countries around the world.

This issue was covered by several American newspapers, especially after the success of Russia, China and Iran in bypassing these sanctions.

"Sanctions have become, in the past two decades, the foreign policy tool of Western governments, led by the United States," he said.

The Foreign Policy article stated, according to a database maintained by Columbia University, that "six countries, namely Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Syria and Venezuela, were subject to comprehensive US sanctions, which means that the majority of commercial and financial transactions with entities and individuals in those countries are prohibited by US law."

However, according to the article, "17 other countries are subject to various sanctions, while seven other countries are subject to export controls," according to the Princeton University database.

"This already long list does not even include targeted sanctions imposed on individuals and companies in countries such as El Salvador, Guatemala, and Paraguay, or sanctions imposed on regions such as Hong Kong, the Balkans, Crimea, and Donetsk and Lugansk in Ukraine," the Foreign Policy article noted.

The article stated, "By 2021, the United States had imposed sanctions on more than 9,000 individuals, companies, and sectors of the economies of the targeted countries. In 2021, President Joe Biden's first year in office, his administration added 765 new names to sanctions, worldwide, including 173 human rights-related decisions."

Taken together, countries subject to some form of US sanctions account for just over a fifth of global GDP, and China accounts for 80% of that group.

The article concluded, "As in Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela, sanctions do not lead to the desired quick result of regime change, but instead strengthen alliances among the regimes targeted by sanctions over time."

And he believed that "US policy makers must understand that sanctions do not work in some cases, and that they undermine US interests, in many cases."

Banning Yemeni media in the context of US sanctions... flagrant double standards

“Measures aimed at punishing autocrats are eroding the Western system that they were supposed to maintain,” said Christopher Sabatini, a senior Latin America researcher at Chatham House, in an article in Foreign Policy yesterday, titled “America’s love for sanctions will be the cause of its downfall.”

In the past two decades, sanctions have become the foreign policy tool of choice for Western governments, particularly the United States. In addition, any serious disagreement of any government in the world with Washington's policies towards a certain issue puts it in the black lists that Washington is keen to revise and update on an almost weekly basis.

While some consider economic sanctions to be the most prominent weapon in the list of new US tools of war, media sanctions, bans and access restrictions are among the harshest types of punishment. Not only because it attempts to erase the point of view of the punished from existence, but also because it infringes on freedom of opinion and expression, which is supposed to be safeguarded in all human rights legislation and decisions, especially those approved by the United Nations and approved by "Western democracies".

According to Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

For Western "democracies", this issue historically acquires a very sensitive dimension, as "freedom of expression" is considered a pivotal issue that is almost tantamount to "the sacred", because it is linked to the liberal state's identity, its social contract and its political system.

However, the title of "freedom of expression" in the West has collided in recent years, and increasingly, with major problems that have emerged in terms of double standards in the actual application of these principles, which have raised levels of doubt about the credibility of the democratic basis of Western political systems to record levels.

The last repercussions of this duplicity were the closure of the American "YouTube" platform, of several channels affiliated with the Sana'a government and the Yemeni army forces, including the Yemeni war media channels, the "Ansar Allah" band, the artistic and documentary production unit, and others.

colonial media practices

Daniel Yagic, a researcher in media issues and university professor, confirms, in an interview with Al-Mayadeen Net, that research on politically biased Western media sanctions should not be isolated from a long historical context of media colonial practices.

Yagic recalled the Western media coverage of the military operations carried out by the United States and European countries in the "southern countries".

He pointed to the media justification for "occupation, targeting, killing, kidnapping and repeated arrest operations, which were carried out by Western military forces, in Iraq, Syria, Mali, Libya, Yemen and even Lebanon, under pretexts related to the security of the United States and Europe, and in the face of what the West calls terrorism."

However, he commented by saying that the West "has never defined clear rules for who is qualified as a terrorist," which has become a liquid concept attached to whom the West wants to demonize because of its failure to comply with its political agendas.

Yagic adds that the West "always uses a language of justification for Western actions, and always presents its actions in a humanitarian context, while the same logic is not used when dealing with other parties, such as the Russian military operation in Ukraine, or armed resistance against America's allies in the world, most notably, of course, the resistance movements against "Israel" and its proxies, in Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen, Iraq and Syria."

The fall of the "free world" discourse: the blatant double standards

On World Press Freedom Day, May 3, the US President issued a statement titled "Journalism Is Not a Crime," in which he affirmed that journalism is "essential to a free society."

In it, he declared honoring "all journalists, reporters, and media workers who bravely pursue the truth," and said he renewed his pledge to "hold accountable" all those who seek to "silence these voices essential to transparent and trustworthy governance."

The US President was not satisfied with that, but continued that "a free press is the pillar of democracy because it allows our government and society to self-criticize and correct itself," stressing that "the First Amendment to our Constitution does not allow Congress to pass any law that limits freedom of expression or freedom of the press."

Of course, this talk is considered discredited, by many observers, regarding the status of media freedoms in the world, and the relationship of the United States to the extent to which the press enjoys strength, protection, and independence.

US government requests to ban and block accounts

Early this year, the new CEO of Twitter (newly X), Elon Musk, announced that the US administration itself "demanded the company to suspend hundreds of thousands of Twitter accounts, including press accounts and others belonging to Canadian and Chinese officials."

And the US administration has already blocked the “TikTok” application, owned by a Chinese company, in more than 30 states, since last June, under the pretext that its use may involve leaking sensitive information related to US citizens to foreign governments.

This, of course, is happening in the opposite direction continuously and without any fuss, as hundreds of millions of users use American applications.

US military and security practices against journalists and the press

The United States, through its judicial institutions or even its military forces, has previously practiced violent practices against journalists, against the background of their journalistic work, most notably the famous journalist Julian Assange, who revealed the American targeting of a group of journalists in Iraq in July 2007, with an air raid on the National Press Club in Baghdad, and he was tried under the pretext of espionage, through a law dating back to the First World War.

It also prosecuted others because of their work in revealing information to the press, most notably Edward Snowden, the informatics expert contracting with the US National Security Agency, and Chelsea Manning, the former contractor with the Pentagon in Iraq, who leaked information about crimes committed by US forces, and they were prosecuted and prosecuted for that.

The American judicial institutions also ignored the crimes of its close ally, the Israeli occupation, documented in Palestine against the press and journalists, which, since 2001, have claimed the lives of at least 20 journalists at the hands of Israeli forces, 18 of whom are Palestinians, and 2 of them are European foreign correspondents, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The Khashoggi case exposes Biden

In parallel, Washington presented itself on several occasions as a sponsor of freedom of expression in the world, as current President Joe Biden relied in his election campaign against his predecessor Donald Trump on the issue of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, and the former president's insistence on good relations with Saudi Arabia, whose Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was accused of being involved in the assassination of the famous opposition journalist.

Biden presented himself as a president who could not accept normal relations with the Saudi regime, which is known for suppressing media freedoms in his country, and is the main suspect of responsibility for the killing of the Saudi journalist in Turkey.>

In the 2019 debate, he said, "In fact, we will make them (Saudi Arabia) pay the price for what they did (the killing of Khashoggi), and we will, in fact, make them pariahs."

However, Biden returned to opening a new page with Saudi Arabia, under the title "The Supreme American Interest", and visited Saudi Arabia last year, which made many American parties accuse him of using the discourse of freedoms for a misleading purpose, aimed at mobilizing popular support only.

The US administration continues to block the Russian media, and the West follows suit

Immediately after the launch of the Russian military operation in Ukraine in February 2022, the US administration blocked websites and accounts linked to the Russian media.

It also cracked down on accounts that are not officially linked to the Russian media, and that adopt the Russian point of view regarding the battle, its causes and facts, and it continues to do so in a large and increasing manner to this day.

This shocked some international circles, which clearly witnessed one of the fiercest repressive campaigns against freedom of expression in modern history, prompting many American researchers and writers themselves to declare the end of the era of "United States leadership in the free world." And that what Washington is prosecuting the world on the basis of restricting freedoms and censoring political discourse, it is committing it publicly and flagrantly.

The fierce censorship and ban campaign against Russia came after a similar campaign against Iranian media and websites and accounts linked to resistance movements in Arab countries over the past decade, which included blocking channels from using satellite broadcasting, blocking their broadcasts from the Internet, and closing their offices in Western countries.

It seems, by following Western criticism of government censorship, that the Western public is becoming more aware, day after day, of the seriousness of the danger that threatens it by suppressing its right to access information, and seeing different angles of approach to facts and events.

Especially since this suppression of views related to foreign policy has recently and blatantly entered American domestic politics, after Donald Trump's account was banned based on government recommendations, which prompted him to launch his own platform.

What is the size of the Yemeni media threat to Riyadh and Washington?

The US administration is entering the harbingers of the last year of Biden's term, ahead of presidential elections that are still unclear to this day. The accumulated problems of the Biden administration at the level of foreign policies raise great concern among them, which is not hidden by the statements of its officials and the results of the poll centers.

The most prominent of these problems is the crisis of the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Ukraine crisis, which has turned into a drain on potentials and bets, and crises related to the tense relationship with China, and its internal and external repercussions.

Likewise, the Yemeni crisis, with its political and humanitarian parts, comes to add to the record of American failure in foreign policies, which is naturally expected to invest in the campaign against Biden internally, and increase pressure on him, in terms of the aggression’s failure to achieve its goals in Yemen, despite the massive American support at the level of weapons, ammunition, information, and political cover.

Of course, the fingers of accusation reach the Saudi regime, which is most affected by the content published by these channels and accounts, which is likely to be largely involved in the restrictions, bans and blocking operations that the Yemeni media was subjected to throughout the period of aggression, due to the great embarrassment that was created by the published scenes of its captured and killed soldiers in the qualitative operations of the Yemeni forces, as well as the scenes of the humanitarian crisis caused by its siege and aggression on Yemen.

It can be said that the Western propaganda machine and its media tools were built on being an essential arm of the foreign policy of states, and a main supporter of the Western war machine, wherever it is heavy in the world, and it continues to perform its function.

Victory and defeat, in any war or battle that bears cultural and civilizational connotations, most notably the Yemen war, ultimately belong to the one who writes and narrates history.

The media today is the history book that future generations will inherit in order to understand the foundations of their reality. Experience indicates that the Yemenis, who turned the aggression against them into an opportunity for steadfastness, building, strengthening capabilities and accumulating strength cards, will not find it difficult for them to convey the image of the Yemeni reality, using innovative methods and alternatives, no matter how severe the restrictions imposed by their enemies.

A "weapon loses its effectiveness".. Are we witnessing the end of the era of US sanctions?

The American magazine "Foreign Affairs" published an article that spoke at length about "the end of the era of sanctions, how did the enemies of the United States protect themselves from it?", and discusses the "excessive use of sanctions" by the United States, and explains how this led to the loss of this weapon of its value and effectiveness on the international level, expecting that "the golden days of American sanctions may end soon."

With Washington increasingly reliant on sanctions, a number of countries violating its policies have begun to immunize their economies against these measures, and three events in the past decade have convinced these countries of the need to act against any possible US sanctions.

Iran, Russia and China

Writer Agathe Damaris enumerates the three most prominent stations that proved the importance of having plans to confront Washington's sanctions. In 2012, the United States cut Iran off from the global "Swift" monetary system, in an attempt to isolate the country financially, and the enemies of the United States and its other adversaries noticed this, wondering if their turn would come later.

And in 2014, Western countries imposed sanctions on Russia after it annexed Crimea, prompting Moscow to make economic independence a priority.

In 2017, Washington started a trade war with Beijing, which quickly spread to the technology sector, by restricting the export of US technology related to the manufacture and development of semiconductors to China, which constituted a warning to Washington's opponents of the possibility of blocking their access to important technology technologies.

These three episodes led to the emergence of a new phenomenon, which Foreign Affairs called "resistance to sanctions."

  The authority of the United States to impose sanctions on other countries stems from the primacy of the US dollar on the one hand, and the extent of US control over global financial channels on the other.

It is logical then that the enemies of the United States would seek financial innovations that would reduce the benefits of US sanctions if they occurred, and these countries have increasingly found the solution in currency swap agreements, in alternatives to SWIFT, and in digital currencies.

Bilateral currency swaps and linking central banks

One way countries have made themselves more resistant to sanctions is through bilateral currency swaps, which allow them to bypass the US dollar by linking central banks' deals directly to each other, eliminating the need to use a third currency for trading.

China has enthusiastically embraced this tool, signing currency swap agreements with more than 60 countries, including Argentina, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, totaling nearly $500 billion, with the clear goal: to enable Chinese companies to circumvent American financial channels when they need to.

And in 2020, for the first time, China settled more than half of its trade with Russia in a currency other than the US dollar, making the majority of these trade exchanges immune from US sanctions.

Washington's allies are turning towards alternatives

The article indicated that China's increasing desire to abandon the US dollar is understandable, given the poor state of relations between Washington and Beijing, but the problem has become that US allies are also entering into currency swap deals.

In 2019, India bought S-400 air defense missiles from Russia. The $5 billion deal was supposed to trigger US sanctions, but India and Russia revived a Soviet-era currency swap agreement. India bought the Russian missiles using a mixture of rubles and Indian rupees, avoiding US sanctions that could have been used to stop the sale.

In addition to bartering, some countries have developed parallel payment systems, to avoid relying entirely on the SWIFT system, and to provide an existing alternative in the event of economic sanctions being imposed on them.

Countries such as China also tended to adopt a digital currency directly linked to its central bank, and it can be used inside the country, as well as Chinese companies can be paid by it from buyers from outside the country, which eliminated dependence on the dollar or the “Swift” system.

end of the road?

The magazine believes that at the individual level, currency exchange agreements, alternative payment systems, and digital currencies will not have a definitive effect on the effectiveness of US sanctions, but together these innovations increasingly give countries the ability to conduct transactions through sanctions-resistant and secure channels.

This trend seems irreversible, as there is no reason to believe that relations between Washington and Beijing or Washington and Moscow will improve anytime soon, and the most likely scenario is that things are getting worse day by day, which will push Beijing and Moscow to redouble their efforts to circumvent sanctions and minimize their effects.

Of course, the worsening fragmentation of the global financial system and its transformation into separate islands poses a threat to US diplomacy and national security.

In addition to undermining the effectiveness of sanctions, the emergence of sanction-resistant financial channels will have an impact on the ability of the United States, which will increasingly have a blind spot when it comes to detecting global activities that it deems "illicit." Tracking suspicious financial transactions or those that originate from specific countries is vital to Washington.

All this means that within a decade, unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States may have little effect, and multilateral measures are likely to be the best alternative for it, but formulating these sanctions will be more difficult, as it will require consensus and diplomatic efforts.

Truth is often the first victim to fall in the battlefield: The politics of war, media, and journalism

Truth is often the first victim to fall in the battlefield: The politics of war, media, and journalism

    Thursday, June 22, 2023   No comments

A detailed report by The Intercept, titled "Ukraine Prevents Journalists from Access to Frontlines, Escalates Censorship," has been reported by veteran war correspondents accusing Ukrainian officials of making reporting on the reality of the war, with rare exceptions, now nearly impossible.

The report, written by the Italian writer on international affairs and military issues, Alice Sperry, stated that "the Ukrainian government has intensified its efforts to control the narrative associated with the war now, by tightening access for journalists to the front lines of the conflict."

 Sipri stated that "after the Ukrainian forces regained control of the coastal city of Kherson last November, after 8 months of Russian control, some journalists entered the liberated city within hours, but the journalists' credentials were confiscated by the Ukrainian authorities, under the pretext that they were" They ignored the current restrictions.

 

Katerina Sergatskova, editor-in-chief of the independent Ukrainian newspaper Zaporona Media, said they "tried to impose more control on journalists, and now it's really difficult to report from Kherson, for example."

 

Simafor news agency reported earlier this month that since Russia launched its all-out offensive last year, Ukrainian authorities have threatened, revoked or denied press credentials to journalists working for 6 Ukrainian and foreign news outlets because of their coverage of the events. 

 

Sipri touched on one recent example, where "the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine did not renew the press credentials of a photographer based in Ukraine, who accused the country's security services of subjecting him to interrogations, a lie detector test, and accusations that he was working against the national interest of Ukraine."

 

Government officials were forced to re-accredit photographer Anton Skiba last week after a pressure campaign by colleagues and press freedom advocates, who denounced tighter access for frontline media, but the incident highlighted tensions between Ukrainian authorities and the journalists they cover. escalating conflict in recent months.

 

Veteran war correspondents, for their part, accuse Ukrainian officials of making coverage of the war, with rare exceptions, nearly impossible.

 “The Ukrainian government has made it virtually impossible for journalists to do real frontline reporting,” said Luke Muggleson, a journalist for The New Yorker. on the one hand, and superficially documented by the press on the other.

 

"It's surprising how little of what's happening is being chronicled, and the main reason, though not the only reason, is that the Ukrainian government has made it virtually impossible for journalists to do real reporting," Mugelson told The Intercept.

 

Mugelson explained that the restrictions come from military and political leaders, and interfere with the desire of ordinary soldiers to share their experiences.

 

Some Ukrainian journalists also warned that "the strict censorship practiced by the military distorts the coverage of the war," if a Ukrainian soldier said to a journalist, "I hate this war so much," and the press officer asked him to respond with, "Yes, the war is difficult, but we maintain our morale." 

"This is the narrative that many of the Ukrainian public is getting," Sipri asserted. Late last year, Zelensky signed into law a law giving the government sweeping powers over the media, and the European Union of Journalists described the initial draft of the bill as "befitting the worst authoritarian regimes."

 Earlier this year, a poll indicated that trust in the media among the Ukrainian public currently stands at 57%.

 Several Western reports talked about heavy Ukrainian losses on the front after Kiev launched its counterattack against the Russian forces, and this reflected the statements of the Ukrainian and Western leaders, as well as Moscow's assurances, but the Ukrainian media prevents the transfer of any press materials from the fronts, which was translated into the lack of documentary materials. the results of the attack.

 

Foreign Policy asks: "What drives the Western media to filter out a lot of international news or to neglect it completely?"

Foreign Policy asks: "What drives the Western media to filter out a lot of international news or to neglect it completely?"

    Monday, May 29, 2023   No comments

The American magazine "Foreign Policy" revealed the role of the media in concealing massacres around the world, especially those that are bloody and are more deadly than others.

As an example, the newspaper said that in the year 2013, in the Central African Republic, a massacre took place in which hundreds of civilians were killed, but the surprise is that even in the neighboring regions, the population did not know about it, because the media was purged of its news, and the survivors did not dare to speak about it.

And the newspaper added that so far the press is unable to cover many events in the world, and while the media is preoccupied with the Ukrainian war, the deaths in the conflict in the Central African Republic have not been counted, even the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the bloodiest in the world since World War II, It did not appear on news sites.

The newspaper attributed the reasons to a lack of interest in places that are considered remote, and violence against people who are seen as different from others, as it put it.

Another problem, she said, is that news from places like the Central African Republic and Congo often needs to travel to London or New York before it reaches countries like Nigeria and India.

This means that so much international news is filtered through a Western lens or left out altogether, that the lack of international news outlets in the Global South leaves huge gaps in coverage even when millions of people die in the world's deadliest wars.

Media review: Cracks in Western media coverage of the war in Ukraine created by the narrative of a spring offensive and Bakhmut

Media review: Cracks in Western media coverage of the war in Ukraine created by the narrative of a spring offensive and Bakhmut

    Friday, March 31, 2023   No comments

Ukrainian leaders institance to defend Bakhmut at any cost and the outcome of that battle may create a narrative problem for media, thus far eager to promote the notion that Ukraine will be able to retake all the lost terrirties militarily. 

Western media and officials in Ukraine are promoting the spring offensive as it will adjust the balance of military forces and restore dignity to the Ukrainian army, without any indication of the date of the attack or on which front it will start. There may be actual preparations for this counter-attack, but this does not negate that it may be a last attempt before the great collapse.

The words of Scott Ritter, a retired US Marine Corps intelligence officer whose statements were celebrated by the Russian media that Ukraine faces inevitable defeat, depend on military estimates and indicators that the Western media tries not to address.

The Ukrainian army has not been able to achieve a breakthrough in the Russian defenses during the past months, at a time when the continuous Western support did not succeed in changing the rules of the field balance of forces. The situation in Bakhmut embodies the course of the war throughout Ukraine. According to what was announced by the Ukrainian presidential advisor, Sergey Leshchenko, on Thursday, that Kiev no longer controls only a third of the city of Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine, which has been witnessing fierce battles for months. While the Russian forces control 70 percent of the civilian population. With this field reality in Bakhmut, it is clear that the Ukrainian forces are preparing to suffer a resounding defeat after months of attempts to defend the city with the support of Western countries. For this reason, the foreign ministers of NATO countries will hold a new meeting in Brussels between the third and fifth of next April, a meeting in which they will stress the continuation of US support for Ukraine. But what will the alliance do about the retreat of the Ukrainian army?

Away from the details of the decisive battles in Bakhmut, and in general, the reports that the Western media controls are obfuscating them, talking about the emergence of symptoms of the defeat of the Ukrainian army. And indications of developments indicate that Ukraine is not on its way to achieving a complete victory, with the apparent stumbling of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's attempts to recover what his country lost in the war.

Western media and officials in Ukraine are promoting the spring offensive as it will adjust the balance of military forces and restore dignity to the Ukrainian army, without any indication of the date of the attack or on which front it will start. There may be actual preparations for this counter-attack, but this does not negate that it may be a last attempt before the great collapse.

The words of Scott Ritter, a retired US Marine Corps intelligence officer whose statements were celebrated by the Russian media that Ukraine faces inevitable defeat, depend on military estimates and indicators that the Western media tries not to address.

Everything is already there, Ritter adds. The decisive defeat of Ukraine is inevitable. Ukrainian forces can do nothing to prevent Russia from destroying them.”

Regarding the promised spring offensive, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba says that the failure of the offensive planned by the Ukrainian armed forces will strengthen the positions of supporters of a settlement with Russia in the West.

“They (proponents of settling the conflict with Russia through diplomacy) are everywhere – in Washington, in Berlin, in Paris, in London. They will try to do something creative in the spirit of Minsk-3.”

According to Kuleba, if the Ukrainian offensive falters, this will affect the additional supply of American and European weapons. He also noted that there is a narrative in the West that is dangerous for Kiev that the Ukrainian Armed Forces must wage “one decisive battle” that determines the outcome of the entire conflict, otherwise military assistance must be stopped.

On the other hand, a lengthy report published by the New York Times revealed many imbalances among the American volunteers in Ukraine, some of which relate to claiming non-existent military experience, wasting resources, and trying to profit from the war.

The “New York Times” highlighted that the research and interviews it conducted revealed a series of acts of deception, mistakes, and disagreements among volunteer fighters in Ukraine that hindered the volunteer campaign that began after the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the end of February 2022, when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky launched an appeal requesting He asked all friends of Ukraine who wanted to join the fight in its defense to come to the country, stressing that Ukraine would give them weapons to do so.

Comparing Scenes from the Protests in the Garden of Prosperity and the Celebration of Nowruz in "Women-Oppressor" Iran

Comparing Scenes from the Protests in the Garden of Prosperity and the Celebration of Nowruz in "Women-Oppressor" Iran

    Thursday, March 23, 2023   No comments

In this week’s media review report, we would like to highlight the disparity in media coverage of social events when they happen in the West versus when the happen in Muslim-majority countries. We propose this media review because the constant and consistent negative coverage of protests in Muslim-majority countries and radio-silence when violent protests and brutal police handling of protesters in the Garden of Prosperity must be challenged as a matter of equity and as a matter of freeing the human rights discourse from political manipulation.

When protests in Iran were instrumentalized to portray yet another government in yet another Muslim-majority country as authoritarian regime ruling over an Islamic society still in need of the paternal protection of the civilized world, the progressives and liberals in the West jumped on the bandwagon. How could they be wrong if someone from somewhere stated in some social media platform that Iran executed 14,000 protesters? Reflexively, even politicians joined in. The Canada’s prime minister amplified the post and condemned Iran for not respecting the rights of peaceful protests.

Here we are weeks deep into the many “peaceful” protests across Europe, and in France, especially, with scenes of heavily armed police violently clashing with unarmed protesters. Yet, not a single Western government called for an end to the violence and the use of force against peaceful protesters.

This is not about using one case of protesters and counter-protesters’ measures to legitimize police brutality against civilians in any country or in all country. It is about the incessant, constant, consistent, and overwhelming media stream portraying violence happening in a Muslim-majority country as a normal event suggesting that Muslims are of violent nature, and the total blackout and abysmal coverage of protests in the West and the violent handling of protests in the West. It is the overwhelming negative coverage of Muslim-majority countries, the absence of any images or stories that depict positive aspects in Muslim-majority countries, and the lack of coverage of the violence that happens in the West that provide a bigoted narrative, and it is this negative narrative that produce a draft of history that is deeply flawed and cruel to people of the Global South.

Here is a glimpse of the deliberate selective coverage: during the same time when Iranian men and women, yes women, were celebrating the new Persian; the streets of Paris and other major French cities were literally on fire. The police were beating, dragging, and arresting protesters. No word of concern for the use of excessive force was uttered by any Western leaders.

When Iranians protested the death of an Iranian woman, all Western leaders reacted; they introduced resolution of condemnation in world organizations, and they imposed sanctions on Iranian individuals and institutions. The world was told that Iran is no place for women to walk the streets without head coverings, and those who do risk arrest and death at the hand of the police. That is a damning narrative not just for Iran, but for Muslims in general.

But when there is evidence of Muslim women in Iran and elsewhere in Muslim-majority countries walking the streets, and celebrating holidays in public spaces wearing or not wearing a range of head coverings, such scenes are suppressed, because they provide a counter narrative to the one that has been portraying Muslims as "woman-oppressing" peoples.

Media Review: The New York Times: The Tehran-Riyadh agreement in Beijing is a great loss for Washington's interests

Media Review: The New York Times: The Tehran-Riyadh agreement in Beijing is a great loss for Washington's interests

    Friday, March 10, 2023   No comments

 A report in the American New York Times spoke about the issue of the Iranian-Saudi rapprochement, which came after Chinese mediation, on the basis of which the first meeting between the two parties was held in Beijing today, Friday.

And the American report considered that "the restoration of Iranian-Saudi relations, as a result of Chinese mediation, is a great loss and doubles the interests of the United States."

The New York Times report added, "The announcement by Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore diplomatic relations between them could lead to a major restoration of order in the Middle East."

It also considered that this rapprochement "represents a geopolitical challenge to the United States and a victory for China, which mediated the talks between the two historical rivals."

The newspaper stated, "It was not immediately clear how the breach announced today, Friday, would affect Saudi Arabia's participation in Israeli and American efforts to confront Iran," but it pointed out that "the resumption of diplomatic relations between the two regional powers represents at least a partial melting of the ice of the Cold War." that shaped the Middle East for a long time.

News of the deal, particularly Beijing's role in mediating it, worried foreign policy hawks in Washington, the report confirms, as Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said, "The renewal of Iranian-Saudi relations as a result of Chinese mediation is a loss, loss, and loss for American interests."

He said it showed that Saudi Arabia "lacks confidence in Washington" and that Iran could isolate US allies "to ease its isolation." It also indicated that China "has become the main sponsor of power politics in the Middle East."

The report concludes that this rapprochement in relations is supposed to affect Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon mainly, and these are the files that witnessed a major conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia regarding the political approach towards them.

Several Arab parties, most notably Egypt, the UAE and Qatar, welcomed the Iranian-Saudi rapprochement, stressing that it would contribute to creating a positive climate in the region and contribute to its stability and security.

Is the West losing the propaganda war to China? "Is the [pro-Ukraine group] named Biden Administration?"

Is the West losing the propaganda war to China? "Is the [pro-Ukraine group] named Biden Administration?"

    Wednesday, March 08, 2023   No comments

Researchers who monitor the global media will not miss the fact that Chinese media has been more focused these days on analyzing Western media reports than on pumping their own stories. The war in Ukraine and the pressure on China to take side have increased the Chinese media output of stories that depicts Western media and western governments as inconsistent, and biased. This social media post by a Chines official tells the story; the story of how western governments’ action have made it easy for Chinese media and Chinese officials to do their work and appear cool at the same time.

 "Is the [pro-Ukraine group] named Biden Administration?"

The editorials in China’s global media, GT, tell the rest of the story.

The performance of the US and Western media once again illustrates that their so-called independence and professionalism are selective. It's not just the US and Western media, but almost the entire Western world is very passive in seeking the truth behind the Nord Stream bombing. At a recent related UN meeting, the UK showed "tolerance," holding that more investigations are unnecessary and claiming it was unclear why the Russian Federation is suddenly pursuing the issue with such urgency. Many countries including Germany, one of the biggest victims of this incident, has yet to make a public statement. 

 

The "double standard" of the British media... This is how London's lies were promoted before the invasion of Iraq

The "double standard" of the British media... This is how London's lies were promoted before the invasion of Iraq

    Wednesday, January 18, 2023   No comments

The British "Declassified" website talked about the role of the British media in promoting the lies of the British government before the invasion of Iraq.

The site said that the British media repeated the government's lies and fabrications without scrutiny, and became part of the government's propaganda machine, before the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

He pointed out that the former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, provided the British public with false information twenty years ago about the late Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's possession of weapons of mass destruction, in order to prove the case of the illegal invasion of Iraq.

He added that Blair was not tried yet, but was honored and given the "Rabat" medal, which is the highest honor in the British Kingdom, pointing out that the journalists who repeated his lies were not tried either, but rather climbed the ladder of the profession to its highest levels.

On the other hand, those who dared to expose the lies of the war, such as the Australian journalist Julian Assange, are now in prison.

According to the site, there were serious investigations into false reports about Iraq in the United States, while this was not the case in Britain, where the press and broadcast media became an advanced part of the government propaganda machine.

Likewise, senior British journalists reported uncritical lies about the British government, often adding new fabrications of their own, according to the site.

He added that the Guardian newspaper, for example, "swallowed" the Blair government's bogus claim that Saddam Hussein's agents were looking for uranium in Africa to buy a nuclear bomb.

Under the headline: "Iraq file: African gangs offer a path to uranium - the nuclear suspicion lies with the Congo and South Africa," the newspaper claimed that it had seen secret documents proving contacts between African militias and Baghdad.

The Observer was "more intelligent and creative on the pro-war case," looking for more interesting angles to prove actual or alleged Saddam Hussein's malevolence, such as a 1,560-word interview with a woman claiming to be a former lover of Saddam Hussein, whom she claimed was With Osama bin Laden as a guest in one of Saddam's palaces, and that Saddam was financing Osama.

In turn, the "Sunday Telegraph" newspaper pumped a huge amount of government propaganda, as it published sensational reports that fueled public anxiety on the eve of the war, according to the site.

On January 19, 2003, the newspaper claimed that UN weapons inspectors "discovered evidence that Saddam Hussein is trying to develop an arsenal of nuclear weapons." Indeed, when the weapons inspectors issued their verdict a few days later, they concluded no such thing.

Meanwhile, critics of the war were marginalized or vilified. The site pointed out that Scott Ritter, the United Nations weapons inspector, has repeatedly questioned the allegations of Britain and the United States about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, stressing that the importance of his words were downplayed, while the narratives of the attack were reinforced.

Internet, Space, Politics, and War: How Western government-business collaborations and connections is spurring other countries to develop their own

Internet, Space, Politics, and War: How Western government-business collaborations and connections is spurring other countries to develop their own

    Friday, January 13, 2023   No comments

The US administration has used connections between private businesses in China and the Chinese government as a reason for banning Chinese companies from operating within the country. They argued that data collected by these businesses may end up in the hands of foreign governments. When some European governments joined the US government and put restrictions or bans on China-based businesses, it made this problem a global one. At the same time, it brought to the forefront the relationship between the private sector and governments. The media coverage may suggest that the problem with governmental use of data, information, or technology owned by businesses applies only to businesses operating out of China, implying that Western governments do not use tools from businesses or collaborate with businesses to achieve national political and economic advantages. The Recent and ongoing events around the world, however, are confirming that there is not a divide between private and government entities. All governments end up leaning on companies and businesses operating from their territory to use their resources and assets to protect and further what they see as their national interest. The connections and relations between business-government was revealed clearly during the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

During the pandemic, drug companies received government funds to develop vaccines and anti-viral drugs. And that private-government partnership extended to the control of the production and distribution of drugs according to government priorities, not market forces or public good conditions. For example, EU governments prohibited European vaccine makers from selling their products outside Europe to prioritize the vaccination of Europeans over the rest of the world.

Also, with the start of the war in Ukraine, US-based social media, Internet companies, and media outlets all fell in line with policies and guidelines developed by Western governments to control the narrative about the war, which consisted of filtering out any coverage or information that may appear to be sympathetic to the Russian point of view.

Also, with the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022, the then-richest person on earth and the majority owner of SpaceX, the company behind the Starlink project which deliverers high-speed internet from space, Elon Musk, announced that he will allow the government of Ukraine to use the service. Similarly, when demonstrations broke out in Iran the fall of 2022, Musk told Iranians that he will make Starlink services available to the anti-government protesters.

With China facing similar pressure related to its claim over Taiwan, the ban on Chinese technology companies and the willingness of US-based companies to support US positions on global conflicts, it was not hard for the Chinese leaders to build or strengthen alternative to US- and EU-based companies so that they cannot be used against them the way they have been used against Russia and Iran. We also anticipate Russia and Iran to allocate resources to developing similar structures to address these issues. The recent revelation about the emergence of a Chinese competitor to Starlink and SpaceX bolster this conclusion. The media coverage, blow, should provide more context.

Read story from the source.

 

Iran: Paris must observe the basic principles of international relations, such as respect, non-interference, and respect for the national and religious sanctities of others

Iran: Paris must observe the basic principles of international relations, such as respect, non-interference, and respect for the national and religious sanctities of others

    Sunday, January 08, 2023   No comments

Paris must observe the basic principles of international relations, such as respect, non-interference, and respect for the national and religious sanctities of others

The Iranian embassy in Paris responded to the recent abuse of the French newspaper "Charlie Hebdo". Stressing that this behavior contradicts the standards and controls of international law, and contradicts the principle of freedom of expression, and constitutes a violation of the sanctity of personalities and peoples, launching a campaign to spread lies, disgraceful expressions and hate speech, and is a clear example of the violation of human rights.

The embassy added, in a statement, that this measure indicates the selective and deceitful attitude in using the principle of freedom of expression, which this newspaper, which is proud of its disgraceful behavior and its hostility to religion and religious values, has been using since ancient times to justify its disgraceful behavior and its obscene expressions against peoples, their beliefs and sanctities.

The statement stressed that Charlie Hebdo, which falsely claims to defend women's rights, and by publishing very obscene and disgraceful pictures in its latest issue, as it committed the most heinous abuses against women, revealed its truth based on the use of women as a tool.

In its statement, the Iranian embassy also called on the concerned French authorities to take the necessary measures, as a matter of urgency, to prevent this newspaper from continuing its abuses and to stop spreading lies and hatred resulting from it, as this will definitely lead to bad and destructive results in terms of relations between the two peoples and the two countries.

Last month, the French magazine "Charlie Hebdo" launched an international competition for the best cartoon of the Iranian guide, with the aim of mocking him, saying, "We wanted to support the struggle of Iranians for their freedom by ridiculing this religious leader and returning him to the dustbin of history."

The magazine announced that it had received more than 300 cartoons and published a large group of them. As a result, the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that it had summoned the French ambassador to Tehran, against the background of the publication of “Charlie Hebdo” cartoons insulting to the Iranian leadership.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said: “The Islamic Republic of Iran does not accept insulting its Islamic and religious sanctities and national values in any way, and France has no right to justify insulting the sanctities of other Islamic countries and peoples under the pretext of freedom of expression.”

Kanani referred to “the black record of the French magazine in attacking the Prophet of Islam, the Holy Qur’an, and the religion of Islam,” stressing that “this hateful, insulting, and unjustified act is borne by the French government.”