Why Does the Russian Invasion of Ukraine Get So Much More Media Coverage Than The Saudi Bombing of Yemen?
Executive Summary
- The western establishment media has covered the Yemen conflict and Ukraine conflicts.
- We cover this discrepancy.
Introduction
The western establishment media has a long history of aligning with the US DOD and serving as their press office. The US has been providing military support for the bombing of Yemen by Saudi Arabia. However, while the casualties have been significant compared to anything that will ever happen in Ukraine, the topic is barely covered. There may have been more media coverage in a few days when Russia invaded Ukraine than in the entire time of the multi-year Saudi/Yemen conflict.
The Casualties and Conditions in Yemen
This is explained in the following quotation.
A new United Nations report has projected that the death toll from Yemen’s war will reach 377,000 by the end of 2021, including those killed as a result of indirect and direct causes.
In a report published on Tuesday, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) estimated that 70 percent of those killed would be children under the age of five.
The conflict has been deadlocked for years, with Yemen teetering at the brink of a famine, and tens of thousands of people killed. The situation in the country has been described by the UN as the world’s worst humanitarian disaster. At least 15.6 million people are living in extreme poverty.
It said some 1.3 million people would die by 2030, and that 70 percent of those deaths would be the result of indirect causes such as loss of livelihoods, rising food prices, and the deterioration of basic services such as health and education. – Al Jazeera
Vox is a mainstream outlet. A video like this that provides any coverage of the Yemen war by a mainstream outlet is extremely rare. However, it is a rigged segment designed to downplay the war. For example, the estimate of deaths of 10,000 provided in the video is a massive underestimate. It also misrepresents the degree of US support for the war. The US is selling weapons to Saudi Arabia, and it is providing in-air refueling to Saudi fighters.
The argument presented that Saudi must bomb Yemen to keep them from being a threat to Saudi Arabia is ridiculous logic. The video is a whitewash of what the US is doing in Yemen. The US also knows that the Saudis are targeting schools and hospitals and does nothing more than advise them not to do it, which the Saudis promptly ignore. The US then states that the attacks on schools and hospitals are “accidental,” which the frequency with which it happens is impossible.
Now this conflict is about to get worse. This is a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. With the US supporting Saudi Arabia and their proxy, which is the Yemeni government, by extension.
Now ask yourself, have you ever heard of the Yemen conflict? Have you heard that Saudi Arabia is bombing Yemen?
Now see how the US is complicit in the Saudi bombing of Yemen.
A series of Saudi-led airstrikes were blamed Friday for killing scores of people in Yemen as civilians, including children, continue to suffer deadly consequences of the U.S.-backed conflict that has lasted for years. – Common Dreams
The US is now sanctioning Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. Furthermore, if the US provided military support to Russia to invade Ukraine, it would be a considerable scandal. However, the US is not only not sanctioning Saudi Arabia but also providing military support to Saudi Arabia. And yet, no mainstream western media outlet finds this subject of interest to report upon.
After over a decade of supporting the war, in 2021, Biden pulled support for the Saudi Arabian bombing. But the US is still providing other support, and Saudi Arabia is now a regional bully in the Middle East through US support.
Update As Of April 2022
It was widely reported that Biden pulled support, but after writing this article, this no longer appears to be true. This is explained in the following quotation.
According to an article on Middle East Eye on March 28: “last August, Saudi Arabia and Russia signed a military cooperation deal viewed as an affront to the US, whose failure to support Riyadh’s war on Yemen is closely related to the kingdom’s decision to balance the scales by engaging Russia” (emphasis added).
This is yet another journalist who has been taken in by Biden’s February 4, 2021 promise to end US support for “offensive operations” in Yemen. Biden has done no such thing. At most, Biden has merely reduced US support for the bloodbath that Yemenis call the “Saudi-American war.”
The Biden Administration seems to have ended intelligence sharing, target spotting, and logistics support. We can’t be sure, though, as the Administration has been coy in answering Congress’ repeated requests for clarification. We do know that the US continues to provide other forms of assistance to the Saudi coalition which keep the monstrously destructive war going.
The US provides coalition warplanes with servicing and essential spare parts. Bruce Riedel, a former CIA analyst now at the Brookings Institution, is just one of the experts who declares that without US spare parts the Royal Saudi Air Force would be “grounded.”
Biden continues to sell the Saudis and Emiratis massive amounts of arms. In December, Congress approved a $650 million arms sale to Saudi Arabia that Biden had proposed.And how’s this for support? The US has dispatched a squadron of F-22 fighter jets to defend the Emirates. The F-22s were sent following rocket and drone attacks on the UAE by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in January and February.
These days, Biden is desperately pleading with the Saudis to increase oil production. Oil prices have soared since Biden banned US imports of Russian oil, coal, and natural gas on March 8. Rising prices at the pump may translate to the Democrats losing the Senate and House in the November midterms.
Some commentators have suggested that MBS might be willing to increase oil production if the US ramps up its support for the Saudi war in Yemen. Bin Salman could be angling for the US to restore its assistance with intelligence, logistics, and target spotting. Will Biden betray Yemen once again in return for cheaper gas for suburban moms’ SUVs and victory at the polls in November? Only time will tell. – Counterpunch
That is the agreement. The US must support Saudi Arabia to do whatever it likes, in return for lower gas prices. This is why Saudi Arabia is allowed to do whatever it likes. Saudi Arabia a “strategic ally” which means the US looks the other way.
Finding Out the Reality of Yemen From Non Establishment Sources
One of the only reliable sources on US foreign policy is the Jimmy Dore Show. This person is not connected to any part of the media establishment, and this video is from four years ago.
This type of coverage would never be found in the mainstream media.
This is a more recent video. The mainstream media covers the stories they are told to by the US DOD and State Department — Jimmy Dore does not because he is independent. That explains the giant difference in the coverage.
Case Study #1: MSNBC Coverage of Ukraine Conflict
What is interesting is to compare the coverage of the invasion of Ukraine. The media coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been nonstop. Not only has the coverage been exponentially higher, but Putin has been vilified. In contrast, neither Saudi Arabia nor MBS has, even though the Saudi bombing has continued for years.
Joy-Ann Reid is the bottom of the barrel in journalism, and one can usually come to a correct conclusion on any topic by simply taking the exact opposite view from Joy-Ann Reid. Therefore, it is not surprising that Joy-Ann Reid holds to all of the DOD’s talking points in this segment.
The coverage is not only exaggerating the Ukrainian invasion but is providing entirely false information.
Worthy and Unworthy Victims
This video covers the exact issue presented in this article — which is that whatever the DOD and US State Department decide is important, is channeled through to the establishment media. This means setting up “worthy” and “unworthy” treatments.
Conclusion
The establishment media coverage of the Ukraine-Russia conflict is designed to provide views and readers with a one-sided view that will enable the desired conflict to occur. It also has provided a near media blackout on the Yemen bombing. The establishment media appears to cover whatever the US DOD and State Department tell them to cover and show disapproval in direct proportion to what they are told to show, to get public buy-in to whatever foreign policy course the US has chosen. The DOD and US State Department decide what people should be focused on and what they should get angry about. And the DOD and US State Department have decided that the publish should be very angry at Russia and Putin, but should ignore Saudi Arabia and Yemen. This is true even though the scale of violence on the part of the Saudis from the Yemen conflict far exceeds anything that is occurring in Ukraine, or is likely to occur in Ukraine.
MSNBC provided false information on what a good idea the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq were. Let us review the outcomes before listening to them again.
Afghanistan Outcome
This war was explained as necessary by MSNBC for two decades.
Iraq Outcome
These two wars alone are why the entire est media — including MSNBC score a zero when it comes to credibility.