Image: The Washington Post building. (Photo credit: Daniel X. O’Neil)
There once was a time when the U.S. news media investigated U.S.
imperial adventures overseas, such as Washington-sponsored coups.
Journalists also asked tough questions to officials implicated in
corruption even if those queries were inconvenient to the desired
propaganda themes. But those days are long gone, as the Washington Post
demonstrated again this week.
On Wednesday, the Post’s editorial board had a chance to press
Ukraine’s Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk about the U.S. government’s
role in the Feb. 22, 2014 coup that elevated him to his current post –
after he was handpicked by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for
European Affairs Victoria Nuland, who declared “Yats is the guy” in a
pre-coup intercepted phone call.
Wouldn’t it have been interesting to ask Yatsenyuk about his pre-coup
contacts with Nuland and U.S. Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt and what their
role was in fomenting the “regime change” that ousted elected President
Viktor Yanukovych and hurtled Ukraine into a civil war? Sure, Yatsenyuk
might have ducked the questions, but isn’t that the role that
journalists are supposed to play, at least ask? [See
Consortiumnews.com’s “What Neocons Want from Ukraine Crisis.”]
Or why not question Yatsenyuk about the presence of neo-Nazis and
other right-wing extremists who