© Agence France-Presse/Pablo Martínez Monsivas
In the multilayered double standards of its international coverage, the New York Times demonstrates how propaganda works: Outrage is the only appropriate response when an adversary breaks a rule but a shrug is okay when it's "our side." Plus, there must be perfect evidence to accuse "our side" of an offense but anything goes when it's an adversary.
Recent Times' articles illustrate how this hypocrisy works. Take, for example, international law, especially prohibitions against aggression. When the topic is Ukraine and the alleged violator is Russia, no extreme is too extreme in denouncing Russia's President Vladimir Putin. But the concern about international law simply disappears when discussing Syria and the desirability of U.S. President Barack Obama overthrowing the government there.
In Ukraine, despite the murky circumstances surrounding last February's coup d'etat ousting the elected president and unleashing war in the ethnic Russian east, the Times refuses to see any merit in the Russian side of the argument. It's all about the sacred principle of non-intervention; the mitigating circumstances don't matter.
However, when it comes to demanding Obama dispatch the U.S. military to take out Syria's government, the Times forgets international law; it's all about the mitigating circumstances that justify the U.S. bombing of Syrian government troops and paving the way for a rebel victory.
Comment: For another excellent deconstruction of the print media's propaganda and spin see: