[Jpost] Experts accused Russia of funding pro-Palestinian protests and using the pro-Palestinian cause to promote its own agenda.
Last week, the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital in Ukraine was targeted by a Russian missile attack. The children’s hospital, which is Ukraine’s largest, sustained significant damage, and two people were killed. The attack was just one element of a deadly Russian strike that killed at least 38 and injured more than 100.
Despite the devastating nature of the hospital attack, the international public reaction was relatively muted. Social media campaigns against Russian aggression in Ukraine, such as #StandWithUkraine and #StopRussianAggression, have seen widespread engagement, but no specific campaign was created to address the children’s hospital attack.
This muted response stands in stark contrast to online activism regarding the Israel-Hamas war. In May, an AI-generated image of tents arranged to spell “All Eyes on Rafah" went viral, with over 44 million shares on Instagram and nearly 28 million on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. The post was inspired by the Israeli military’s action in the southern Gazan city of Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians were then sheltering.
Throughout the past 10 months of war between Israel and Gaza, 10.7 million posts have been made on Instagram with the hashtag #FreePalestine. In comparison, only 1.9 million posts were made with the hashtag #StandWithUkraine during the two years of war in Ukraine.
Ukrainian media expert and political analyst Alexey Kovzhun explained that contrast by noting that the public has gotten used to images of Ukrainian suffering.
“Ukraine is gradually being perceived by our allies similarly to Syria,” he told The Media Line. “People are getting used to it: ‘Ukraine was shelled by rockets. Another Russian atrocity, nothing special.’”
He said that the decreasing public outrage over Russian war crimes is a predictable phenomenon.
“It’s human nature. As we know, the death of one person is a tragedy, but the death of a million is a statistic,” he said.
RUSSIA'S ALLEGED CONNECTIONS TO HAMAS
Kovzhun also accused Russia of funding and training Hamas members and funding pro-Palestinian protests.
“When we see such a coordinated chorus, flags of the same size, and professionally printed posters, we understand that this is a simulation of an organic, natural protest. And I am deeply convinced that behind these European, American, and ostensibly pro-Palestinian demonstrations are Russian funds,” he said.
According to political scientist Leonid Goldenberg, the different narratives regarding Gaza and Ukraine can be traced back to the Cold War. Leftists understand Ukraine and Israel both to be “proxies of American hegemony,” he told The Media Line.
The Russian narrative paints the West as hypocritical for allowing Israel to bomb Gaza but sanctioning Russia for merely “saving its own people,” he said, noting that discourse of this sort “fits well into the left’s anticolonial agenda.”
“Dislike for Israel in this narrative has existed for many years,” Goldenberg continued. “The Western audience learned about Ukraine only recently, unlike the well-known Israeli-Palestinian conflict. When the war in Israel occurred, Russia, along with its allies—primarily China, Iran, and Qatar—began using already established anti-Israel narratives.”
Russian journalist and historian Maxim Kuzakhmetov also described a double standard between responses to the war in Ukraine and the war in Gaza. He condemned the international indifference toward the hostages still held in Gaza and criticized the structure of the UN, which allows Russia a permanent seat on the Security Council.
In context: After the fall of the Soviet Union, which had been actively involved in the UN’s establishment, Russia took over the Soviet Union’s role in the organization.
“It was an utterly insane decision to transfer all the powers of the Soviet Union to Russia,” Kuzakhmetov told The Media Line. “It’s absurd. All 15 former Soviet republics should have had to join the UN anew, but Russia became the successor state, and this legacy, this sad history, continues to this day.”
Because of Russia’s veto power, the UN has little influence, he explained.
“Russia is an obvious terrorist state that befriends Iran, Hamas, the Taliban, and North Korea,” Kuzakhmetov said. “In contrast, the helpless Western world is still trying to negotiate with someone while Ukrainians are paying the price.”
Kovzhun also criticized the UN for its decision to meet with the Taliban even after Taliban representatives demanded that no Afghan women be allowed to participate in the meeting.
Goldenberg said that some UN organizations have been implicated in financing terrorism and that the organization is often biased in its assessment of humanitarian crises.
He expressed concern about maintaining the UN’s legitimacy.
"When the majority of countries in the UN are neither democratic nor liberal but have the same voting rights as everyone else, how can we protect the integrity of democracy and liberalism?” he asked.
Text taken from the Telegram channel of China80s
[ColonelCassad] The personnel results of the plenum turned out to be completely different from what was expected. Even in the first days, I had a thought that something loud would be thrown into the information space in order to distract the public from the controversial results of the plenum.
(It's like after the congress, everyone discussed not the fundamentally important decisions in the area of reform of party and state bodies, but the rather formal re-election of Xi Jinping for a third term as Chairman of the PRC.)
So. On the one hand, nothing of the sort happened. On the other hand, the final documents of the plenum recorded something much more important.
Namely: for the first time, Xi Jinping himself named an "inner circle" of only three people with whom he shared responsibility for the final decisions.
Previously, another trend was observed: the glorification of the "party core" (Xi Jinping) by obscuring all those close to him. It is no coincidence that Xi Jinping is the first leader in the history of the PRC who has never had a "successor" figure around him (even Mao Zedong always had one).
And then suddenly, “In November 2023, the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee decided to form a working group to prepare documents for the 3rd Plenum of the 20th CPC Central Committee, which I headed. Comrades Wang Huning, Cai Qi and Ding Xuexiang acted as deputy heads of the group…”
The composition of this peculiar “small council” (greetings to J. Martin!) is logical in its own way:
Wang Huning (formally the number 4 person in the party hierarchy) is the chief intellectual and ideologist of the CPC, the “mentor of the three emperors”, we wrote a lot about him before the congress, so we will not repeat ourselves. This is the person who is responsible for the meanings in the current Communist Party.
Cai Qi (formally person No. 5) is a unique leader in the history of the CPC, being both the first on the list of secretaries of the Secretariat and the head of the Office of the Central Committee of the CPC. In other words, the "gray cardinal" who has taken charge of the issues of coordinating work within the Central Committee.
Ding Xuexiang (formally person No. 6) is the youngest member of the Politburo Standing Committee, and therefore the only one who can be considered, with a stretch, the "successor" of Xi Jinping. By primary position: First Vice Premier of the State Council of the PRC.
And here's what's interesting. There is a Vice Premier in this "inner circle" who was engaged in determining socio-economic policy for the coming years. But there is no Premier himself.
Although it was about this Premier (Li Qiang) that they said that his main advantage was the complete personal trust in him on the part of Xi Jinping.
Perhaps Li Qiang, unlike the triumvirate of Wang-Cai-Ding, is not as skilled in writing conceptual documents. Or he managed to disappoint his boss. But the very fact that the number 2 person in the party hierarchy, as well as two other high-ranking party members, Xi Jinping did not name among his co-authors, can say a lot.
First of all, it means that at the top of the CPC there are now no "feudal fiefdoms" in which their curator would have full powers. Xi Jinping himself took on the most important area of work, but was forced to share responsibility with his closest associates. (This is an argument in favor of the same thesis about the difficulties that Xi faced).
Secondly, it is among the "chosen ones" that we need to look for those who play a particularly significant role in Chinese politics.
In terms of age, only Ding Xuexiang (born in 1962) has prospects. Wang Huning and Cai Qi are the same age, born in 1955 — almost the same age as Xi Jinping. In the old days, according to the rule "67 — yes, 68 — no", they would have been sent into retirement at the next congress (already in 2027).
Now the old conventions have been discarded, so Cai Qi can continue to run the secretariat and the chancery (although he can also rise a couple of lines in the conditional party hierarchy, heading the NPC Standing Committee). But Ding Xuexiang's current position, it turns out, clearly does not correspond to his true weight. Therefore, we should expect his promotion following the results of the next congress.
#4
More bad news for China? Gosh, it's like there is such a great market for this stuff that it just gets created, like mushrooms after rain. Serpentza much?
How's that Three Gorges Dam doing? Remember when it was due to collapse Any Day Now? Like, 2-3 years ago?
#2
There was nothing Olympic in the play, except the size of that dude. And since they were all in in inclusion I saw they had a young boy up there, I guess France and the Olympic committee support man boy love these days!
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/27/2024 13:47 Comments ||
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#3
...seductively...
I do not think that word means what you think it means...
#5
Off the "no ALA people read Rantburg anyway" pile...
Librarian Xan had a plan
That was cryptic, elliptic, and ran,
In bland binding, [rude nudes]
"Expose kids to trans dudes."
After parents took years
To decode it, poor dears...
"It's a fookbook," they mooed! [To Perve Man]
[YNet] Protest sign 'We are all hostages' is a selfish expression of political motives, exploiting personal and national trauma, implying everyone is a victim of something—anything the protester opposes, in this case, the government. Our monkeys always imitate your. At least, the scum vermin, don't dare protest the fate of poor abused Gazooks, yet.
No, we are not all hostages. There are 115 men, women, children and elderly who were brutally kidnapped from their homes on October 7, and they are the true hostages. Neither the sign-holder nor any other Israeli citizen can understand what it is like to be in Gaza’s tunnels, in a Gazan family's home, fearing rape by a terrorist or living with the existential fear that today might be their last day on Earth Most of them are dead. Hamas' SOP is to store bodies for later exchange.
The argument so far has been that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's handling of the hostage deal is driven by political motives—a legitimate claim, with some logic, given that every public official has a political motive, and the question is whether it aligns with the national interest. That is for the public to decide.
Regarding the current deal, it does not serve the national interest optimally. First, the hostages: Israel does not know which hostages will be released. Will we get all the female soldiers? The elderly? What about the soldiers? Do you think we’re in a reality show like Big Brother versus The Amazing Race? Wait for Sinwar's reality show—who gets left behind.
And if we give up so much in Phase A, what will we give in Phases B and C? Here, too, the script is predictable: we will get hostages in Phase A, but logic and experience tell us we will not reach Phases B and C. Sinwar will drag out the time and the nerves as only he can.
From a security perspective, during the cease-fire, the terror organizations in the north and south will use the time to arm themselves and rebuild their forces. Hamas will regain strength in areas where it has lost it and return to regions from which Israel expelled the terrorists. This will make it harder to reach the remaining hostages—thus, the deal, as currently presented, does not meet the national interest in terms of hostage return or security. The only way to maximize the number of hostages we get back and the state's security interests is through increased military pressure and deterrence.
If Netanyahu were driven by political interests, as supporters of the deal claim, and not by national and security interests, he would accept the deal. After all, this is what the protesters, the street burners and the road blockers are demanding—now, now, now. No matter the outcome or which hostages remain behind. If Netanyahu wants peace from the streets, from Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and from the opposition, he should accept the deal and ignore security considerations and the hostages.
But Netanyahu also knows that the protests are not really about the deal or the hostages. This is just the same long-standing protest—first, the protests calling to indict Netanyahu, then to oust him, then the anti-judicial reform protests and are now the hostage protests. Very well funded protests and ads.
Posted by: Grom the Reflective ||
07/27/2024 02:58 ||
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Link ||
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#1
Amazing how The Main Stream Media, now more like National Socialist-Democrat anti-Semitic mouthpieces. Have flipped the Hamas Terrorist genocidal attack, of murder, torture, rape and hostage taking. Into Israel being the bad person. Because, Israel had decided no more constant "tit-for-tat" attack efforts. But to eliminate a genocidal a well funded and supported terrorist group like Hamas and recover the civilian hostages, or at least their bodies.
QUESTION:What if a Terrorist group, say, seized the CNN, MS-NBC buildings, or say just The View?
Would the other Liberal Media outlets or the Democrat Party vilify CNN, MS-NBC or The View's Owners for rescuing their people and seeking out and eliminating the terrorists to free their people?
We must remember Gaza is not innocent.
* A 100+ miles of tunnels did not get dug overnight and go unreported for years.
* 1000's of Genocidal Terrorists did not get fed, armed, transported and housed out of the clear blue sky.
* 100's of Rocket launch locations were housed in public locations and private homes.
* Plus, HAMAS' well documented history of hiding in Public Hospitals, Refugee camps, attacking food & medical supplies convoys and other civilian locations. All of which also were seen by likely 1000's of Gazans. But never reported due to their support of the Terrorists.
#2
NN2N1, Gaza is not innocent, you are correct. Neither is the consolidated efforts of Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthi's, and the ring leader Iran. In my opinion, Netanyahu's responses were responsibly executed and continue to be measured. I do feel for the people that are suffering, but Hamas is a Cancer that they, the suffering, voted into power. They are getting what they voted for.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/27/2024 10:24 Comments ||
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#3
QUESTION:What if a Terrorist group, say, seized the CNN, MS-NBC buildings, or say just The View?
The View and Joy Reid would be quickly thrown in the ocean.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
07/27/2024 19:10 Comments ||
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#4
"And I made all that bread for those men,"
Clucked Joy Reid to a terrorist friend,
As outside in the street
All the peacock elite
Said, "No ransom for brittle Red Hen!"
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
