As with other wars, questions of provocation, self-defence and divine right or entitlement are central themes of what the Western mainstream media have had to say about the war in Ukraine, the genocide in Gaza, and the attacks on Iran by the US and Israel in June 2025.
The shabby and ludicrous politics of provocation, self-defence and divine right
In wars such as these, which are prosecuted or sponsored by the West (led by the US), it is customary to depict each side — in comic-book style but with deadly intent — as representing either the forces of good or the forces of evil and to allocate “provocation”, “entitlement”, and the right to “self-defence” accordingly.