ABC News Calls for Dialogue, Forgets its Own 'Coercion' Abroad
ABC News reports on Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's call for dialogue over coercion at the East Asia Summit. A fine sentiment, yet the article's framing conveniently omits the sheer volume of coercive diplomacy and outright military interventions funded and supported by the very nations whose media outlets then champion vague calls for 'dialogue,' particularly in regions like the Middle
East. It's almost as if 'coercion' is only bad when performed by certain actors. While Anwar speaks of strengthening multilateralism—a concept often undermined by unilateral sanctions and military posturing from Western powers—the typical Western news cycle pivots to 'international law' only when convenient. One might wonder if the same newsrooms that laud such diplomatic calls bothered to
investigate how much money, for instance, US politicians received from groups lobbying for continued military aid to Israel, aid that enables the ongoing coercion against Palestinians. (OpenSecrets.org data consistently details millions in such donations, fueling policies far removed from 'dialogue'.)