Western Media's Despicable
Justification of Terrorism
If the downing of a Russian airliner in Sinai was in
fact an act of terrorism, Western media's veritable
gloating over the murder of tourists is another mark on
their long record of shame
By David Macilwain
November 08, 2015 "Information
Clearing House" - "RI"
- Sometimes we can almost laugh at the twisting of truth
in the Western media, as commentators come up with weird
analyses to make sense of their own preposterous
stories. So it was recently, when their fantastic
creation of the 'moderate rebel fighter' was exposed to
Vladimir Putin's incisive 'common sense' at Valdai.
But such light-hearted moments quickly
give way to the more rational sentiments of frustration,
vexation and incredulity, and an enduring cynicism about
everything that is said and done by those across 'the
credibility crevasse' that now separates the West from
'the East'; how can we ever succeed in getting 'common
sense' back into the current Western narrative around
the Syrian conflict?
Following Russia's intervention in
Syria there was a wave of optimism on her side of the
crevasse that some sense might prevail in the Western
corridors of power - a hope that even if Russia's
request for cooperation in fighting terrorism was
dismissed, those powers and their local agents would at
least stop actively fuelling the conflict with arms and
propaganda. Some hope.
This week frustration with the Western
media narrative has turned much darker - the despicable
reaction of many media commentators to the tragic deaths
of 224 innocent people in the Russian plane crash in
Sinai has now turned that frustration to intense anger.
Far from this being an occasion to take a step back and
ask 'what are we doing that has led to this?' -
following on from widespread suspicion that this crash
was no accident, those commentators have already framed
it as a response to Russia's actions in Syria
and Ukraine - even a justified response.
Interviewing Australia's Foreign
Minister Julie Bishop on Monday, the ABC's long serving
and widely respected radio presenter Fran Kelly posed
her question like this:
“Of course the Australian
government - as you've said - extends its sympathies to
countries which have lost citizens here and the families
of those citizens, but I must ask you minister does it
strike you as ironic that Russia wants to wait until a
full investigation is conducted into the causes of this
plane crash, before making any further comment, given
how hostile President Putin was to a full investigation
into flight MH17?”
Although Bishop preferred not to
speculate until more was known about the cause of the
crash, she prefaced with this comment:
“yes I'm
sure the irony won't be lost on people, but now is not
the time for me to make such a comment.. (..considering
the grieving relatives and friends..)”
For those of us who understand the
depths of deceit over the downing of MH17, and the
lengthy and compromised Dutch inquiry into the causes of
that crash, Kelly's casual dismissal of Vladimir Putin's
conduct is highly offensive. Although we all
know that Russia's investigation into the Ukrainian
crash was stymied by the refusal of the US to release
its satellite data, and Kiev's refusal to release air
transport control records for the flight, Kelly and
other commentators ignore this. They continue to claim
that Russia vetoed moves at the UN to set up a criminal
investigation because this would reveal Russia's guilt
over the atrocity. Because of them, Australians now
believe that Vladimir Putin has 'denied justice to the
victims of MH17'.
It is disturbing to realise that the
thinking of Western commentators, and of the public who
believe them, have been so poisoned by Imperial
propaganda that they feel free to express the most
despicable of sentiments about officially approved
enemies, and are able to do so without condemnation.
Such is the implicit suggestion that somehow the downing
of the Russian plane over Sinai, and killing of 224
Russian citizens is atonement for 'Russia's
shooting down of MH17'. Such views may only have been
expressed openly on Twitter - as reportedly happened in
Holland - and in the Newscorp press, but they seep from
every news outlet, social gathering and Parliamentary
session, reflecting Australia's growing Russophobia and
public demonisation of Vladimir Putin.
As seems to happen frequently
nowadays, new developments around this subject demand
inclusion. And anger turned to disgust, as news reports
today that a terrorist bomb may have been responsible
for the downing of the Russian plane completely excluded
any reference to Russian opinion or intelligence on
the matter.
But it wasn't just that - the framing
of these reports, which were from the UK and US
agencies, was that 'the international ramifications
will be enormous' if ISIS was responsible. So says
Sir Nigel Inkster, former director for operations and
intelligence at MI6, interviewed in London by the ABC:
Nigel Inkster: “Well, I think
there are two things -
Firstly the Egyptian economy is
heavily dependent on tourism, so anything that eroded
internation comfidence in Egypt as a tourism destination
is going to have significant implications.
Now obviously, the other
question is: was this an act of revenge, could this have
been an act of revenge for Russia's engagement in Syria
on the side of President Assad?”
Something was horribly missing from
this news - any mention of how the relatives and friends
of the victims of the Russian plane crash might be
feeling now, knowing that their loved ones had been
unwilling martyrs in the fight to save Syria from
Western-backed terrorism.