World at the mercy of geopolitics and fake news

Anti-Semitism is broad brush most in the West would apply to any attempt that humanises victims of Israeli aggression

We live in very disturbing times. Rights-based approaches have given way to bloc politics. Anything that the West (major NATO members, G-7) does is kosher while anything that sounds out of Beijing or Moscow is evil and motivated.

The situation begs a few questions: what is geopolitical hypocrisy doing to the world peace? Is the West promoting reconciliation among Islamic countries or conflict by indirectly driving divisions among them by touting a version of Islam that retains basic tenets but is coloured by western values?

Let us look at this from four angles:

First, importing cheap gas and oil from Russia for decades was kosher but a visit by former PM Imran Khan that coincided with the Russian military action in Ukraine became undesirable. Russian oil and gas exports to G-7 countries are sanctioned but they are importing the same Russian energy via companies based in Dubai, for instance. And the western governments know it. France and a few other countries are still importing the Russian oil and gas for own consumption and supplies to Germany and the UK. This only underlines the paradox that the western nations are living in tough economic times, precipitated by their own reactions to the Russo-Ukraine conflict.

Second, the same nations paradoxically have indirectly condoned the genocide of over 33,000 Palestinians — including 14,000 children — by Israelis. Does it really help to stay silent on Israel’s brazen brutalities and at the same time offer some aid crumbs to the displaced hapless Gazans?

No surprise that Yanis Vorufuakus, former Greek finance minister, publicly called out Germany’s apologetic behaviour towards Israel: “For how long will Germany allow the genocide of Jews under Hitler as a justification for the killing of thousands of innocent, unarmed people in Gaza?” For how long would Germany reel from the guilt that Hitler perpetrated almost a century ago, and commit “unflinching, unquestioned support” to Israel, Vorufaukis appeared to be asking in a TikTok video.

A friend in Geneva was swiftly fired from job in November 2023 after he publically condemned the Israeli invasion of southern Gaza.

And this brings us to the third angle i.e. treatment in the western media of themes such as Islamophobia, terrorism and a view on both on China and Russia. Paint them black and negative, seems to be the collective approach, influenced by governmental policies on these subjects.

The prevalent tendency in most of the Western media has been to glorify Ukrainian resistance to the Russian invasion while delegitimise the Palestinian struggle against Israeli actions including invasion of their territories, dispossession of native Palestinian lands and ethnic cleansing; and at the same time justify these Israeli actions as defence against “terrorism”.

Majority of Western governments and media do not ask as to how nearly two million people were cramped into the tiny Gaza Strip or what justification Israel had to blockade what is known as “open-air prison” for 16 years, and then carry out relentless bombardment of Palestinians. This immorality hardly gets questioned in most of Western media.

In one of its editorials, The New Humanitarian summed this up: “We are preconditioned not to see Palestinian humanity because colonialism, white supremacy, and Islamophobia are still the dominant lens through which states, institutions, people, and media in the West view the world (although geopolitical interests are, of course, also at play).”

Fourth, the West’s contradictory ‘good cop bad cop approach’ has been at play for several years now. All those Islamic countries (the UAE, Turkiye, Jordan, Kuwait inter alia) who played ball with the US-led West are the good cops, while Sudan, Iran, Malaysia (under Mahathir Mohammad) and Pakistan are bad cops.

Anti-Semitism is the broad brush most in the West would apply to any attempt that humanises victims of Israeli aggression. Explaining the context for Hamas actions is often equated with support for terrorism perpetrated by Muslims, making Islam synonymous with terrorism.

In a world largely influenced by geopolitical considerations and bloc politics, and driven by commercial interests, is it really possible to rethink ethical and professional journalism that would reflect the world in the true spirit of what, where, why, when and how?

Can media networks such as Sky, Fox News, CNN, ABC, The Economist, The New York Times and The Washington Post tread their own path, independent of what the Western leadership (read NATO, G-7) peddles on issues such as Israel, terrorism? Official narratives often shape opinions of anchors and writers working for these channels.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 14^th, 2024.

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