by Patrick Cockburn, COUNTERPUNCH, Oct. 9, 2018
Two paragraphs of this article by Cockburn should be reflected on:
It is early days yet but the Khashoggi disappearance has released a torrent of negative publicity about Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
This was wholly predictable. It is a curious fact about publicity that
horrendous events – like the Saudi-led war in Yemen that has brought
five million children to the verge of starvation – has failed to make
its way to the top of the international news agenda. The slaughter is
too great and the place too distant and ill-reported for most people to
take on board and react to the horrors underway there.
Something on a smaller scale, like the disappearance of a critic of
the Saudi government while his fiance waits for him in the street, is
much easier to understand and respond to. Often, the all-too-common
disappearance of journalists has the simple objective of silencing them
and intimidating others. “Let them hate us so long as they fear us,” is
the point being crudely made.
We know this strange phenomenon from history. Genocides do not touch people, single murder lead to tears and outcries.
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