I just happened upon two stories in the mainstream media that could best be described as bizarre and dishonest.
The first report is of the presence of Russian war planes flying over Crimea. This is news? Russia annexed Crimea a month ago. That means that Crimea is now de facto part of Russia. In the next few days Russia's president Putin is coming for a visit. Why would it surprise anyone that the Russian military is flying aircraft over a part of Russia that the Russian president is to visit this week? If the planes had been flying over Kiev capital of the Ukraine or even over eastern Ukraine, then it would be news. But not this!
The second report is from AFP, the French news service, that breathlessly tells the world that Israeli "settlers" have built an "enclave" in a busy Palestinian commercial area. That sure sounds like news, that is until you read and understand the story. It seems that in Jerusalem, across from the walls of the old city, there is a commercial street that has many businesses owned by Palestinians. There are also Jews there as well. In one office building on the street, a group of Jews bought a few floors of offices that an Israeli company had for sale. (The building is a condominium, so the space is bought and sold rather than rented.) The buyers are going to use the space for a residential school; in other words, some of the students will live in housing on one of the floors that were purchased. The school is a religious one. That's it. There is no more. The so called enclave is a few floors in an office building that a Jewish owned company sold to a religious school, and it is in the heart of the capital of Israel, Jerusalem. And this is news? The idea that Israelis buying a condo in the national capital is described as a "settlement" or and "enclave" is a joke to begin with, but calling this worthy of international coverage is just dishonest.
Within a few hundred miles of the site of this big international news story, the Assad forces in Syria are killing thousands each week. Many more are still being made homeless. There are also tens of thousands of refugees who are literally starving to death because the Assad led butchers will not allow food to get to these starving civilians. Think about the last time you saw a story in the mainstream media about Assad intentionally starving civilians to death. Think about the last time you saw a story in the media about the Assad forces new program of using chemical weapons against the opposition (something that is now becoming rather commonplace). Then think about why it is that the media is covering the opening of a religious school in Israel's capital.
The first report is of the presence of Russian war planes flying over Crimea. This is news? Russia annexed Crimea a month ago. That means that Crimea is now de facto part of Russia. In the next few days Russia's president Putin is coming for a visit. Why would it surprise anyone that the Russian military is flying aircraft over a part of Russia that the Russian president is to visit this week? If the planes had been flying over Kiev capital of the Ukraine or even over eastern Ukraine, then it would be news. But not this!
The second report is from AFP, the French news service, that breathlessly tells the world that Israeli "settlers" have built an "enclave" in a busy Palestinian commercial area. That sure sounds like news, that is until you read and understand the story. It seems that in Jerusalem, across from the walls of the old city, there is a commercial street that has many businesses owned by Palestinians. There are also Jews there as well. In one office building on the street, a group of Jews bought a few floors of offices that an Israeli company had for sale. (The building is a condominium, so the space is bought and sold rather than rented.) The buyers are going to use the space for a residential school; in other words, some of the students will live in housing on one of the floors that were purchased. The school is a religious one. That's it. There is no more. The so called enclave is a few floors in an office building that a Jewish owned company sold to a religious school, and it is in the heart of the capital of Israel, Jerusalem. And this is news? The idea that Israelis buying a condo in the national capital is described as a "settlement" or and "enclave" is a joke to begin with, but calling this worthy of international coverage is just dishonest.
Within a few hundred miles of the site of this big international news story, the Assad forces in Syria are killing thousands each week. Many more are still being made homeless. There are also tens of thousands of refugees who are literally starving to death because the Assad led butchers will not allow food to get to these starving civilians. Think about the last time you saw a story in the mainstream media about Assad intentionally starving civilians to death. Think about the last time you saw a story in the media about the Assad forces new program of using chemical weapons against the opposition (something that is now becoming rather commonplace). Then think about why it is that the media is covering the opening of a religious school in Israel's capital.
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