Kiev’s propaganda war over eastern Ukraine leaves no real motive to let the Russian humanitarian aid in, former US-Russia presidential commission adviser told RT. Similarly, US government and media are failing in their coverage of the humanitarian crisis.
The reason for poor coverage of the humanitarian catastrophe in
eastern Ukraine is that it does not fit Washington’s one-sided
narrative, giving the media an excuse not to pay proper attention
to the crisis, said former advisor to the US-Russia Bilateral
Presidential Commission at the State Department and Contributing
Editor to the American Conservative magazine, James W. Carden.
RT:There is a small part of the convoy that
has been cleared to cross the border yet Ukrainian side still
refuses to say when it actually will be allowed to cross. Why do
you believe they are stalling yet again?
James W. Carden: Both sides are not only engaged [in]
what amounts to a civil war, but they are engaged in a propaganda
war as well. So the Ukrainians don’t really have much of a motive
to allow the Russian humanitarian convoy in. And so we saw that
last Friday when news reports came across the wire saying that
the Ukrainians had destroyed a Russian military convoy. That
turned out to be false, but the reason why they did that was to
sort of deflect attention away from the Russian convoy. The short
answer is that it is just part of an ongoing propaganda war.
RT:The Red Cross says the situation in
Ukraine is dire. Why hasn’t it drawn more international attention
to it?
JC: I can speak to what the coverage has been
like here. Basically American news media can only handle only one
or two big stories at the time. So you had the death of a
Hollywood actor last week, then you have the ongoing trouble in
Ferguson, Missouri. And that pretty much crowds out everything
else unfortunately. And that is a shame. If the White House and
the State Department were actually talking about the ongoing
humanitarian catastrophe in the east, the media would be obliged
to cover it. But, unfortunately that hasn’t been the case.
RT:In your recent article you say that
humanitarian crisis is being largely overlooked by Washington.
Why did you say that?
JC: Because it has been. In today’s Washington
Post, for instance, you would search in vain for any stories
regarding the number of civilian casualties, or the horrible
refugee crisis that has been taken place now for months. What are
their motives? It seems to me that reporting on this would sort
of derail the Washington narrative, which is that there is one
good guy and one bad guy in this situation. The bad guy of course
is Russia and the good guy of course is Poroshenko and his Prime
Minister Mr. Yatsenyuk. So any sort of reporting on the death
toll, which is now greater than the death toll in Gaza, would
absolutely derail this, would go off script in a sense.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.