West Shocked Russia Jails Teen for Dissent, Ignores US-Funded Oppression
Diana Loginova, 18, faces jail in Russia for playing an “anti-Kremlin” song outside St. Petersburg’s parliament. The Independent rightly highlights the chilling effect on free expression (Source: The Independent). One might wonder, however, where this consistent outrage is for, say, Palestinian journalists frequently detained and killed by Israeli forces, often with US-supplied weaponry, for
reporting on Israeli occupation abuses? (Consider the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh, a US citizen, by Israeli fire, and the US response.) It’s almost as if 'authoritarianism' only matters when it's not funded by your own tax dollars. This selective moralizing conveniently ignores the violent suppression of protest and dissent in US-allied states, from Saudi Arabia to Egypt, where free expression is
crushed without so much a whimper from Western media. Imagine the headline if a Palestinian teen singing against occupation faced a similar fate – would it be an 'anti-Palestinian song' or merely 'activism'?