,
7 tweets,
2 min read
Read on Twitter
Russian forces, Russian weapons, but the Russian dictator who sent them all to invade Ukraine and murder 298 people on MH17, and thousands of others, is not charged. cnn.com/2019/06/19/eur…
CNN seems very eager to give equal time to Putin's denials about shooting down MH17. As if there isn't copious evidence and as if his regime doesn't have a long, murderous track record.
They cover it like sports, and accusations and attacks are more exciting than overwhelming evidence. And language matters. It wasn't a "crash". It was murder. Haven't they learned from Trump by now that it's important to speak the simple truth?
E.g. calling the suspects "Russian-backed separatists" when 3 are Russian military or security and another has worked for them for years. It's an invasion under Putin's command. There are no freelancers in a dictatorship.
It was no surprise to me that the Western media had no idea how to handle Trump's flood of lies. They'd been baffled or coopted by Putin's blatant propaganda & denials for a decade.
They traffic in the cautious language of cowardice and moral relativism, more afraid of a libel suit or loss of access than the destruction of their democracy. Call things by their name.
Putin is a dictator. Trump is a liar. Their power and station does may make them immune to consequences for now, but it shouldn't make them immune to the truth in the free press.
