Brian4Liberty
07-18-2014, 07:31 AM
All Quiet on the Eastern Front
Was the Ukrainian Air War being ignored?
July 18, 2014
by Brian4Liberty
(RPF) - The tragedy of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 has once again turned the spotlight on problems in the Ukraine, but the conflict itself is old news. Or perhaps it would have been more accurate to have called the ongoing civil war in Ukraine a non-news event.
With the terrible loss of a civilian aircraft, the battles being waged in eastern Ukraine can no longer be ignored. News reports now openly talk about Ukrainian government military aircraft being shot down in the past, but the use of air-power against the residents of Eastern Ukraine has been sparsely reported by the western media, if at all.
As with Libya before the Benghazi incident, is this another case of a western supported regime change going sour, with a similar hesitation to report the bad news or admit to the dangerous conditions? Would it call into question the position of the Obama Administration and the supposed success in Ukraine?
Events can be spun many ways. Often it is the media which decides whether a story should be reported, and whether it should be characterized as good or bad, success or failure. And when it comes to the Ukraine, as is usually the case in conflicts, there are two very different possible narratives.
On the one hand, the ongoing government offensive is simply a military action against the “separatists“, “rebels”, “insurgents” or “terrorists”.
On the other hand, the residents of eastern Ukraine see this as a military attack on civilians by a government that no longer represents them.
In the words of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/07/01/urkaine-crisis-idINKBN0F63EG20140701), the goal of the Ukrainian government is to “to free our land from dirt and parasites (http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/07/01/urkaine-crisis-idINKBN0F63EG20140701)”. One can imagine how the story could be spun if the west was not supporting this new regime, especially considering how many people have been forced to flee their homes, possibly to never return. Luckily for President Poroshenko, we only demonize our enemies.
So the story of the Ukraine civil war had been demoted to back page news, if it made the news at all. Perhaps not taking a side is the best option, especially from an unbiased, objective reporting perspective. But there is one possible side effect of ignoring this conflict. Did downplaying a war zone, with active air warfare occurring, lead to complacency for commercial airlines?
Almost immediately after the tragedy, it was reported that the FAA had already issued an advisory to commercial aircraft to avoid the area where Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was lost. But it turns out, that wasn’t exactly true. The original FAA Notice to Airman (NOTAM) only restricted the airspace "over the Crimean region of Ukraine and adjacent areas of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov (http://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId=16655)". It did not address the danger of the active air war over eastern Ukraine. A new FAA advisory (http://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId=16655) was issued July 17th, after the loss of MH17.
As with every tragedy, there will be accusations, finger pointing, calls for justice and calls for change. Perhaps one prudent change will be for the airline industry to take very seriously active conflict zones with aircraft being shot down, whether it is being reported on non-stop, or not at all.
Was the Ukrainian Air War being ignored?
July 18, 2014
by Brian4Liberty
(RPF) - The tragedy of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 has once again turned the spotlight on problems in the Ukraine, but the conflict itself is old news. Or perhaps it would have been more accurate to have called the ongoing civil war in Ukraine a non-news event.
With the terrible loss of a civilian aircraft, the battles being waged in eastern Ukraine can no longer be ignored. News reports now openly talk about Ukrainian government military aircraft being shot down in the past, but the use of air-power against the residents of Eastern Ukraine has been sparsely reported by the western media, if at all.
As with Libya before the Benghazi incident, is this another case of a western supported regime change going sour, with a similar hesitation to report the bad news or admit to the dangerous conditions? Would it call into question the position of the Obama Administration and the supposed success in Ukraine?
Events can be spun many ways. Often it is the media which decides whether a story should be reported, and whether it should be characterized as good or bad, success or failure. And when it comes to the Ukraine, as is usually the case in conflicts, there are two very different possible narratives.
On the one hand, the ongoing government offensive is simply a military action against the “separatists“, “rebels”, “insurgents” or “terrorists”.
On the other hand, the residents of eastern Ukraine see this as a military attack on civilians by a government that no longer represents them.
In the words of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/07/01/urkaine-crisis-idINKBN0F63EG20140701), the goal of the Ukrainian government is to “to free our land from dirt and parasites (http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/07/01/urkaine-crisis-idINKBN0F63EG20140701)”. One can imagine how the story could be spun if the west was not supporting this new regime, especially considering how many people have been forced to flee their homes, possibly to never return. Luckily for President Poroshenko, we only demonize our enemies.
So the story of the Ukraine civil war had been demoted to back page news, if it made the news at all. Perhaps not taking a side is the best option, especially from an unbiased, objective reporting perspective. But there is one possible side effect of ignoring this conflict. Did downplaying a war zone, with active air warfare occurring, lead to complacency for commercial airlines?
Almost immediately after the tragedy, it was reported that the FAA had already issued an advisory to commercial aircraft to avoid the area where Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was lost. But it turns out, that wasn’t exactly true. The original FAA Notice to Airman (NOTAM) only restricted the airspace "over the Crimean region of Ukraine and adjacent areas of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov (http://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId=16655)". It did not address the danger of the active air war over eastern Ukraine. A new FAA advisory (http://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId=16655) was issued July 17th, after the loss of MH17.
As with every tragedy, there will be accusations, finger pointing, calls for justice and calls for change. Perhaps one prudent change will be for the airline industry to take very seriously active conflict zones with aircraft being shot down, whether it is being reported on non-stop, or not at all.