Ukraine News Coverage Questioned

[intercst]

Reporters are lamenting that we can accept Arabs, blacks and Hispanics fleeing the violence of war, but it’s very upsetting when we see blue-eyed Whites in a civilized country doing the same.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/28/ukraine-c…

“This isn’t a place, with all due respect, like Iraq or Afghanistan, that has seen conflict raging for decades,” Charlie D’Agata, a CBS correspondent in Kyiv, told his colleagues back in the studio. “You know, this is a relatively civilized, relatively European — I have to chose those words carefully, too — city where you wouldn’t expect that or hope that it’s going to happen.”

Kind of like when golfer Phil Mickelson said the quiet part out loud when discussing the Saudi Golf Tour, “Sure the Saudis murdered Kashoggi and are terrible on human rights, but if the money is good enough you have to look at it.”

intercst

[steve203]

“This isn’t a place, with all due respect, like Iraq or Afghanistan,

Well, Saddam didn’t do his PR any good attacking Kuwait, or using poison gas. He looked like a threat. Anyone feel threatened by Ukraine?

Steve

[tjscott0]

Well, Saddam didn’t do his PR any good attacking Kuwait

Our Ambassador gave Saddam the false impression that we had no opinion in regard to his border dispute Kuwait. Was our ambassador inept or incompetent? Or was Saddam just stupid & couldn’t understand the diplomatese language? Or did Saddam believe that if the US was ok with Iran invasion; we would go along with a Kuwait invasion?

He thought he had a special relationship with the US as we covertly gave him intelligence perhaps even munitions in Saddam’s invasion of Iran.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Glaspie
https://www.nytimes.com/1992/01/26/world/us-secretly-gave-ai…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_support_for_Iraq…

[steve203]

Or did Saddam believe that if the US was ok with Iran invasion; we would go along with a Kuwait invasion?

It’s possible Saddam did not understand the USian world view. Iran, like Cuba, had the bad form to unhorse a USian aligned regime. Iran, like Cuba, is on the US’ perpetual poo list, and will be blamed for everything from global armageddon to a rainy day, until the end of time.

He thought he had a special relationship with the US as we covertly gave him intelligence perhaps even munitions in Saddam’s invasion of Iran.

There is no “perhaps” about it. The US supported Saddam in his war with Iran, because, in the US’ view, anything that hurts Iran is good. Weapons, intelligence, anything to hurt Iran. Recall, Saddam started that war, hoping to exploit the confusion, and purge if experienced, US trained, Iranian officers. Many of us have seen that pic of Donald Rumsfeld shaking Saddam’s hand.

funny story. In the late 70s, the Iraqi state chemical company, iirc SODIC, built a new chemical plant near Basra. The pump seal company I worked for won the contract to provide all the seals for that plant. When the war started, Basra was a stone’s through from the front lines. One day, the salesman who called on the engineering firm that worked on that plant, C E Lummis, called me about something else. I said “Hey Frank. SODIC called. The Iranians bombed the daylights out of the plant at Basra. They want you to go over there and draw up a replacement parts list”. Poor Frank. He about lost it.

What Saddam may not have understood, was that, while Iran is perpetually evil, in USian eyes, Kuwaiti oil is “our oil”, and, regardless of Saddam’s complaints about the Kuwaitis slant drilling across the border, is untouchable.

Steve

[captainccs]

The US supported Saddam in his war with Iran, because, in the US’ view, anything that hurts Iran is good.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend… for now.

What Saddam may not have understood, was that, while Iran is perpetually evil, in USian eyes, Kuwaiti oil is “our oil”, and, regardless of Saddam’s complaints about the Kuwaitis slant drilling across the border, is untouchable.

Saddam missed the second part, the enemy of my friend is my enemy.

The Captain