{"id":4632,"date":"2018-09-11T09:56:15","date_gmt":"2018-09-11T07:56:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.actvism.org\/?p=4632"},"modified":"2020-11-06T17:48:49","modified_gmt":"2020-11-06T16:48:49","slug":"tagesschau-irak-zain-raza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.actvism.org\/en\/politics\/tagesschau-irak-zain-raza\/","title":{"rendered":"Ignorance or Concealment? The false reporting by Germany\u2019s leading News Service Tagesschau on Iraq & North Korea"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Ignorance or Concealment? The false reporting by Germany\u2019s leading News Service Tagesschau on Iraq & North Korea<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Author: Zain Raz, Senior Editor of acTVism Munich<\/p>\n

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On the 9th of September 2018 the most watched daily news segment in Germany the Tagesschau <\/a>failed to mention the role of the American government in countries such as Iraq & North Korea.<\/p>\n

To be precise, regarding Iraq there was no mention of the 2003 U.S. invasion. This invasion created the conditions on which ISIS flourished that we now know had devastating spill over effects on the entire region culminating in the refugee crisis that peaked in 2015. This war was not only against popular opinion worldwide but also violated the U.N. Charter and international humanitarian law. Instead the Tagesschau summarized everything as \u201cafter years of conflict<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

Secondly in terms of North Korea, the Tagesschau voiced criticism towards the DPRK government for not denuclearizing sufficiently.<\/a> Although I agree on this point, it is nevertheless quite hypocritical to obfuscate the United States\u2019 \u201cnuclear umbrella\u201d on the Korean peninsula that employs submarines and bombers with nuclear payloads. The 28,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea, which also pose a threat to North Korea & China, were also left out, with no mention of the annual joint military exercises that are conducted there as a public show of muscle.<\/p>\n

A bit of background: The U.S. government dropped more bombs on North Korea in the 1950s (635,000 tons conventional bombs and napalm 32,557 tons) than during the entire Pacific campaign against the Japanese during World War II. Twenty percent of the population was wiped out and any chances of democracy taking hold with it. Although this is not meant to serve as a justification for the DPRK governments\u2019 behaviour, it sheds light on the rationality behind the development of its nuclear arsenal.<\/p>\n

All in all, in my opinion, a great disservice to the public (who by the way finance the show outside of conventional taxes via a monthly broadcasting fee known as the Rundfunkbeitrag<\/a>) is being perpetrated by not mentioning these facts alongside those that were highlighted in the segment aired on Tagesschau on the 9th of September 2018. It assumes or pretends that our governments are somehow intrinsically morally grounded, constructive and neutral agents and have no role to play whatsoever in the situation in which these countries find themselves in today.<\/p>\n

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Note: All opinions expressed are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of acTVsm Munich.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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ABOUT ZAIN RAZA<\/h2>\n

\"Zain<\/a>Zain Raza<\/strong> is the founder and senior editor of acTVism Munich. He is a journalist, activist and cultural promoter in Munich. As an activist he co-organized a number of demonstrations in Munich which included \u201cMarch Against Monsanto<\/a>\u201d, and as a cultural promoter he brought hundreds of people together with his event \u201cPakistani on the Menu<\/a>\u201d that presented food, arts and music from many different cultures. As a writer and journalist, Raza\u2019s research on political and economic issues was featured on the Tribune Express<\/a> which he left in 2013 to found acTVism Munich. Since the founding, Raza has directly overseen and directed the production of over\u00a0 300 videos<\/a> that include interviews and events with experts such as Edward Snowden, Noam Chomsky, Yanis Varoufakis, Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill, J\u00fcrgen Todenh\u00f6fer, Gerald H\u00fcther, Katja Kipping, Medea Benjamin, Hans-Christian Str\u00f6bele, Richard D.Wolff, Sarah Harrison, William Binney, Ray McGovern, Thomas Drake, Dr. Jill Stein, Abby Martin, Annie Machon and many others. To find out more about Zain\u2019s background, click here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Folgen Sie Zain Raza auf:<\/strong><\/p>\n