The war that eclipsed the other one

By Georgi Gotev | @GeorgiGotev

It’s incredible how quickly the war in Ukraine disappeared from news feeds since the terrorist group Hamas attacked Israel early in the morning on 7 October. Even for all-news TV channels that used to churn out news items on Ukraine almost 24/7, it seems the Ukraine war has suddenly ceased to exist.

There’s no business like show business. 

On that fatal Saturday, the interlocutors who had been invited to TV studios to comment on Ukraine because of their expertise on this part of the world instead had to provide insight into the Middle East, a science by itself that they didn’t necessarily master.

But if you are a seasoned professional in this digital world, this is not a problem. And the show must go on.

A colleague working for a TV station once said privately that she sometimes manages to look like an expert only because she googles a topic 10 minutes before appearing on camera.

In the case of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, it was easier.

On “our” side of the world –  some call us the ‘golden billion’ – we watch news TV stations such as BBC, CNN, France24, LCI, Euronews, Al Jazeera. We have our preferences, but generally, we trust these media to be professional.

When it came to Ukraine, these stations provided uniform coverage. There was little doubt about who is the villain and the victim.

Commissioner Thierry Breton supported the need to find a financing model for investment in the EU telecom sector and advocated for more control and security in its infrastructure in view of the sector’s growing geopolitical significance and competition with the US and China.

The European Union wants to reduce waste by encouraging recycling and reuse in its new packaging law, but the pressure is on to get the right definition and criteria for what constitutes “high-quality” recycling.

Some were on their honeymoon, others were studying abroad, many were building new lives in foreign countries. But when Israel called up its reservists and declared war this week, the response was swift and overwhelming.

The World Food Programme on Wednesday called the recent Afghanistan earthquakes a ‘disaster on top of a disaster,’ urging the international community to provide humanitarian aid to the war-torn nation.

The European Commission has called on member states to adopt policies aimed at lengthening the life expectancies of citizens, but it did not make any concrete proposals and shied away from tackling controversial topics such as an increase in retirement ages.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg urged Turkey on Wednesday (11 October) to abide by its own deal and let Sweden join the Western military alliance as soon as possible, after more than a year of delay.

European passengers were forced to wait longer to reach their destination in 2022 compared to 2021, as a post-COVID rebound in air traffic, restrictions prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and an acute lack of airspace capacity combined to cause delays.

With a spike in disinformation on the Israel-Hamas conflict challenging social media platforms and EU institutions tasked with enforcing new content moderation standards, some politicians are considering moving to different platforms.

Minors are especially vulnerable to manipulation by terrorist organisations and more action is needed to respond quickly to this growing threat, according to a document by the Spanish EU Council Presidency, dated 10 October and seen by Euractiv.

Look out for…

• Commissioner Nicolas Schmit meets Mr Michael Ludwig, Mayor of Vienna Friday.
• Mr Josep Borrell co-chairs the 12th EU-China Strategic Dialogue with Mr Wang Yi, Minister for Foreign Affairs of China in China Friday.
• Eurogroup meets in Luxembourg Monday.
• Environment Council meets in Luxembourg Monday.

Views are the author’s

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic/Alice Taylor]