Ukraine and hypocrisy

Two hot topics for the price of one

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Sherlock Holmes

Ukraine and hypocrisy

Post #1

Post by Sherlock Holmes »

Take any mainstream broadsheet newspaper over the past few weeks and Ukraine is the front page, same on the TV news, BBC, CNN and so on, we are swamped in news about the plight of the victims.

This is a fine thing too but not at the expense of other hapless victims surely?

Read this from today's Guardian:

More than 3m Ukrainians will need food assistance, says World Food Programme

But not a peep about Yemen or Afghanistan in the news, so:

What’s happening in Yemen?
Unicef wrote:Yemen remains one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world, with around 21 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, including more than 11 million children.

Since the conflict escalated in March 2015, the country has become a living hell for the country’s children. Less than half of health facilities are functioning, and many that remain operational lack basic equipment. Many health workers have not received a regular salary in several years.
and
Unicef wrote:At least 10,000 children have been killed or maimed since the beginning of the conflict, and thousands more have been recruited into the fighting. An estimated 2 million children are internally displaced. The damage and closure of schools and hospitals has also disrupted access to education and health services. More than two million children are out of school, leaving them even more vulnerable.

Meanwhile, Yemen has been plagued by one of the world’s worst food crises, with nearly 2.3 million children under the age of five suffering from acute malnutrition. Of these, 400,000 are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition and could die if they do not receive urgent treatment.
And Afghanistan:
The country of thirty-eight million people heavily depended on foreign aid before the Taliban came to power in August. Now, experts say it has been devastated by the international response to the hard-line Islamist group’s seizure of power: halting billions of dollars in assistance and enforcing sanctions that have impeded relief work.
and
WFP wrote:KABUL – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is rapidly ramping up humanitarian operations in Afghanistan to assist more than 23 million people facing severe hunger in the country in 2022, as inflation and currency depreciation make it even more difficult to feed themselves. WFP has assisted 15 million people so far in 2021, with 7 million assisted in November alone – up from 4 million in September.
and
“Afghanistan is facing an avalanche of hunger and destitution the likes of which I have never seen in my twenty plus years with the World Food Programme,” said Mary-Ellen McGroarty, WFP Country Director in Afghanistan.

“I’m proud of what we’ve been able to achieve so far, but the needs are enormous, and we have a huge amount to do to stop this crisis from becoming a catastrophe. We urgently need US$ 220 million a month in 2022 to assist 23 million Afghans,” she warned.

According to the latest WFP phone surveys, an estimated 98 percent of Afghans are not consuming enough food – a worrisome 17 percent rise since August. The spiraling economic crisis, conflict and drought has meant the average family can now barely cope.

Families are resorting to desperate measures as the bitter winter sets in; nine in every ten households are now buying less expensive food, eight in ten are eating less, and seven in ten are borrowing food to get by.
Even more sickening is the Saudi demands for US support in the bombing of Yemen, they are also refusing to consider releasing more oil reserves to the US unless the US provides that military assistance.

So are the media hypocritical? are our governments hypocritical?

Sherlock Holmes

Re: Ukraine and hypocrisy

Post #11

Post by Sherlock Holmes »

AgnosticBoy wrote: Wed Mar 09, 2022 8:20 pm
Sherlock Holmes wrote: Wed Mar 09, 2022 7:14 pm The term "genocide" is starting to appear with an increasing frequency, it's almost as powerful a slur to hurl as "pedophile" once thrown forever smeared.

"Russia-Ukraine war latest: strike on children’s hospital ‘ultimate evidence that genocide is happening’ – Zelenskiy"
I didn't know what to think of this story at first because it was reported by the Ukrainians. President Zelensky has exaggerated or lied many times when it comes to the extent of damages. Some of it has been war propaganda and I'm sure the Russians have engaged in the same behavior. In Zelinksky's case, I suppose the motive to exaggerate things would be to guilt trip the West into helping him more.

What I question is if the hospital was even operational given that some places were evacuated. So far I've found reports of people being "injured" but none dead as you would expect from a missile strike.
The Donetsk region's governor said 17 people were wounded in the incident.
Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ru ... 022-03-09/
Odd how no sources that I can find, even name the hospital...all they say is "maternity hospital" or "children's hospital".

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