Two Distinctly Different Perspectives

I think this is the first time I've been in a region where a conflict has escalated to the brink of war. What this has meant is that I hear two very different sides of the story.

First, you have the western media: CNN, BBC, Euronews. As "neutral" as they pretend to be, are usually pro-Georgian (well, more likely anti-Russian). CNN, for example, is calling it "Georgia Crisis." BBC hasn't really interrupted its normal programming to carry increased coverage of events.

Flip over to the Russian news channel "Vesti" and you see the slogan "War in South Ossetia" flashing all over the screen. Since Thursday, the channel has had 24 hour coverage of the "war." Vladimir Putin's every word and movement is tracked. Georgian actions in South Ossetia have been dubbed "genocide." And, of course, the most intense footage of buildings burning, women and children crying, and, in general, complete and utter destruction can be found on this channel.

I'm sure many of the same comparisons can be made between the Western media and German media when Hitler marched into Czechoslovakia in 1939.