larry johnson, former cia annalist presents some thoughts on the two wars now in progress; ukraine and gaza;  

As I analyze the two wars underway, my practice is to look for similarities and disparities. I want to suggest that the war in Ukraine provides a benchmark for evaluating what is unfolding in Gaza. Let me start with civilian casualties because I believe that is a critical variable that is going to work in favor of Palestinians and against Israel.

The ubiquity of social media around the world makes it very difficult to obfuscate what is taking place on the ground in the two wars. Since the start of the Special Military Operation in Ukraine, Western intelligence has been working with Kiev to push social narratives portraying Russia as a gross violator of human rights. The “massacre” in Bucha last year is a case in point. Ukraine and the West repeatedly have accused Russia of bombing schools and hospitals and showing no regard for civilian casualties. One big problem, however. We have never seen a flood of images and videos like those coming out of Gaza showing the mangled bodies of children, women and elderly. Is anyone prepared to argue that Russia has been purging these images taken on territory controlled by Ukraine? The facts don’t support that position.

If Russia really had caused a massive number of civilian casualties I believe we would have seen those photos and videos all over the internet. We have not. We know that Ukraine and the West accused Russia of bombing a maternity hospital in Mariupol allegedly filled with pregnant women. Subsequent information proved that the expectant mothers had been evacuated from that hospital well before Russia hit it and that members of the Azov battalion had taken shelter there. Since then we have had no further legitimate claims of Russia bombing a hospital filled with civilians...........more..........