Ron Forthofer

Since October 7th, the ongoing horrific violence in Palestine and Israel has received incredible amounts of media coverage. Both Israelis and Palestinians are experiencing terrible pain and suffering. Unsurprisingly, the mainstream media’s reporting provided little context for the deadly Hamas attack and its war crimes. Note that the provision of the context is not a … Continue reading “More Violence Leads to Even More Violence”

In the US, we proudly point to the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights that was adopted in 1791: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, … Continue reading “Suppression of Contrarian Voices”

Many people were surprised and outraged when US President Biden recently fist bumped Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. After all, as a candidate, Biden pledged to make the Saudi kingdom a pariah since the Crown Prince had been directly linked to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. In contrast, consider the relative lack of … Continue reading “US Hypocrisy and Israeli Crimes”

Israel is greatly concerned about the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) effort that seeks: 1) to end international support for Israel’s oppression of Palestinians; and 2) to pressure Israel to comply with international law. Israel claims that this campaign is a threat to its legitimacy. Unsurprisingly, Israel doesn’t want to acknowledge that it is … Continue reading “The US Corporate Press Aids Israel’s Push To Curtail Free Speech”

We need to constantly remind ourselves about the US media. During the Cold War, there was the saying that the difference between the New York Times and the Soviet Pravda was that Pravda readers knew they were being lied to. Unfortunately, current coverage by the US media about the movement of Russian troops demonstrates the … Continue reading “Failure of US Media on Ukraine”

The Taliban’s lightning fast takeover of Afghanistan was amazingly achieved with relatively little killing and bloodshed. Since the rout of the government, an entity essentially installed by the US, the Taliban has been assuring the Afghan people that its governance style will be more moderate than under its previous rule. Many people in Afghanistan are … Continue reading “Afghanistan and the US Corporate Media”

President Trump has stated his intent to withdraw US troops from Syria on several occasions since March 2018. Each time politicians from both the Democratic and Republican parties, supported by the corporate-controlled media, have, based on US imperial interests, vehemently challenged the withdrawal proposal. These folks also based their opposition to withdrawal on their supposed … Continue reading “US and Its Criminal Effort in Syria”

There are dangerous provocations along Russia’s western border that have received little or incredibly one-sided coverage by the U.S. media. Thus the US public is not aware of the possibility of a major conflict between two nuclear-armed powers occurring due to an accident or misinterpretation. The genesis of this current situation goes back in ancient … Continue reading “The Political Establishment’s Hubris on Russia”