Trump and Netanyahu’s war on Tehran has received much media coverage but not much of it tells us what is really happening.
Clearly huge airpower has been unleashed on Tehran and other areas of Iran. The expectation that this would somehow lead to regime change in short order hasnt happened. Meanwhile the US has sort of admitted that it bombed a school in Tehran killing many children.
What is happening in Israel is very little reported presumably because of a media blackout and the UAE is in a similar place.
Meanwhile all kinds of rumours flourish on social media, mostly unsourced and often just wishful thinking.
I’m reading the FT more often, not because I agree with its Editorial line but because it does make some attempt to report and analyse what is happening in so far as this can be done. Even so the fog of war rules.
Arthur Ponsonby was a Liberal who opposed the First World War and investigated the truth, or usually otherwise, of anti-German atrocity stories promoted by its opponents in the war. In 1928 he published a book looking at wartime propaganda. The key points were later summarised and are shown below.
Truth is regarded as the first casualty of war.
Newspaper reporting is rarely worth bothering with, certainly in the mainstream, where narratives are promoted with little or no space for critical and alternative views. These do appear but are exceptions to the general drift of news and opinion.
Approaching all reporting of the current conflict with a critical and analytical perspective is essential.
1.We do not want war.
2.The opposite party alone is guilty of war.
3.The enemy is inherently evil and resembles the devil.
4.We defend a noble cause, not our own interests.(Just war theory)
5.The enemy commits atrocities on purpose; our mishaps are involuntary.
6.The enemy uses forbidden weapons.
7.We suffer small losses, those of the enemy are enormous.
8.Recognized artists and intellectuals back our cause.
9.Our cause is sacred.
10.All who doubt our propaganda are traitors.
Kmflett's Blog 
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