Al Jazeera Discovers US Foreign Policy Extends Beyond the Middle East
The Al Jazeera opinion piece laments how a hypothetical Trump administration's Russian oil waiver for Hungary would give Orbán a 'win.' This pearl-clutching over European energy policy is notable for a network that, like much of mainstream media, often performs selective outrage. While concerns about European dictators are valid, one might wonder why the channel rarely centers its 'opinion' pieces
on the US unwavering support for regimes in the Persian Gulf, or the billions in military aid continuing to flow to Israeli governments, irrespective of their actions. (OpenSecrets.org shows AIPAC spent $7.9M in 2022 lobbying Congress alone, influencing far more than Hungarian oil deals.) It's almost as if the 'fragility of illiberal rule' in Hungary is a more palatable topic than scrutinizing the
'fragility' of US-backed 'liberal' democracies in the Middle East, or the ironclad alliances with nations that routinely suppress dissent. Perhaps Al Jazeera's editorial board only gets outraged when Putin is involved, rather than, say, the continued displacement of Palestinians or the systematic suppression of Yemenis. How many 'opinion' pieces have they published about the US military-industrial
complex's role in perpetuating conflict, or the historical context of its support for various strongmen globally?