Look who146;s painting Kiev orange

It will be talked about on the margins, but Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will not discuss it. World st...

It will be talked about on the margins, but Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will not discuss it. World statesmen do not discuss the media. But if the media is central to the story, surely the leaders deny themselves a comprehensive grasp of all that is happening by avoiding discussion of the media8217;s role.

Ukraine is being played out on the streets of Kiev. But if the daily demos dwindle by dusk, BBC and CNN keep the momentum going round the clock, through the night, mornings, evenings, afternoons. The demonstrations are against the November 21 vote which, with some alleged hokey-pokey, went in favour of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich. The demonstrators have been demanding that the pro-West Viktor Yushchenko, who is committed to taking Ukraine into NATO and the European Union, be declared the winner. They allege that widespread rigging has tilted the scales in favour of the pro-Moscow Yanukovich.

Even before the poll, US congressmen turned up in Kiev to monitor the march of democracy. Well before their arrival, the western electronic media had positioned itself strategically on Independence Square. Indeed, it was at the heart of all the manufactured spontaenity of the so-called 8220;Orange8221; revolution. The TV cameras are omnipresent. Spokesman for organisation for security and cooperation in Europe OSCE calls the vote 8220;suspicious8221;. Where? On TV of course. Then Ukraine8217;s armed forces begin to crack up, under the full glare of TV. Olexandr Skibinetsky, a key figure in Ukraine8217;s security service, volunteers his famous soundbite to western TV: 8220;The doubts of the demonstrators are well founded8221;.

Mercifully, it is the western print media which provides us with valuable clues. From Time magazine we learn that pro-Yushchenko organisers have been trained, among others, by the same dissidents who helped coordinate 8220;successful electoral revolutions in Serbia and Georgia, rallied volunteers with rock music, puppet shows and free food8221;. Who are these professional 8220;dissenters8221; manufacturing 8220;electoral8221; revolutions in Serbia, Georgia and now Ukraine? Well, student movements have been the driving force in all three instances. They have had the financial support of 8220;pro-democracy8221; forces 8212; including philanthropists like George Soros, who have the ability to mobilise the support of the western TV networks as well.

Slobodan Milosevic, Eduard Shevarnadze and Yanukovich have all been disastrous rulers. It is also understandable that in the post-Soviet Union scramble for influence in the Balkans, Central Asia and Caucasus, major strategic games are being played out by a triumphalist West and a retreating Russia. And the intensity of the contest cannot be placed only at the door of Washington8217;s neo-cons. The scramble began with Clinton8217;s administration. Remember Moscow, being left out of the Kosovo spoils, switched troops from Bosnia in a panic to take control of the Pristina airport?

It was during the Clinton years that the Kosovo operations were used as a cover to set up Bond Steel, the largest US base since Vietnam. A gigantic naval base is being consolidated in Uskander, in Bulgaria, on the Black Sea, home of the once great Soviet Black Sea fleet. So major western and Russian stakes are involved and all countries, including India, must deftly guard their interest: 8220;Sheikh bhi khush rahe; shaitan bhi naraaz na ho!8221; Pope and the evil must be kept equally humoured. The endgame is yet some paces away.

In these circumstances, if the western TV networks throw their full weight behind 8220;sheikh8221; or 8220;shaitan8221;, as the case may be, far reaching consequences follow. The Soviet system 8212; like any authoritatarian system 8212; left behind a discredited media. Increasingly, the world8217;s young are turning to western telecasts, particularly if they are packaged with pop concerts. These TV networks therefore have the power to amplify 8220;revolutions8221; which are already being nudged forward by foreign operatives on the ground.

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Not just Moscow, even India is a helpless bystanders. But at least Manmohan Singh has been sensitised to the need of an Indian International Network as part of Public Service Broadcasting which is professional and autonomous. This network is essential not in opposition to western channels, but as part of the concert of democracies. Western TV networks giving us 15-minute bulletins on Ukraine could legitimately argue that they were providing comprehensive coverage of a global crisis if they were not so brazenly an instrument of the 8220;Orange8221; revolution.

November has been the worst month for US casualties in Iraq: 151 dead. Two state department officials have been killed. Heaven knows how many thousands of innocent Iraqis have died. The 8220;Orange8221; revolution is wonderful but let us have a comprehensive, balanced coverage of all the mayhem let loose upon this world. Will the media8217;s quest for the perfect election in Ukraine be on show in Iraq next month?