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Economy

Tale Of Two Als: Al Jazeera Buys Al Gore's Current TV

AL JAZEERA (Qatar), FORBES, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, CNN (USA)

Worldcrunch

Al Jazeera Media Network has announced that it has acquired Current TV, a U.S. cable channel created seven years ago by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore.

We are excited to announce a new U.S.-based news channel and the acquisition of @current TV. aje.me/S5JWw5 #AJEUS

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) January 3, 2013

The Qatar-based network said that with the acquisition it plans to create Al Jazeera America, a New York-based news channel.

“Al Jazeera, like Current, believes that facts and truth lead to a better understanding of the world around us,” Current TV’s co-founder Joel Hyatt is quoted as saying by the business magazine Forbes.

Current TV, CNN recalls, attracted more media attention than ratings in the U.S., particularly in 2009 when two of its reporters were arrested in North Korea and tried for illegal entry into the country -- requiring former U.S. President Bill Clinton to intervene by traveling to Pyongyang to meet with former leader Kim Jong-il.

Details about the deal have not yet been disclosed, but The Wall Street Journal reveals that figures mentioned in reports vary from a few hundred million dollars to as much as $500 million.

Long limited in its U.S. reach, Al Jazeera hopes the purchase of Current will allow it to reach millions more American homes. Still, after the deal was announced, Time Warner Cable, which runs Current TV in New York and Los Angeles, has pulled the plug on Current TV.

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FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

How Vulnerable Are The Russians In Crimea?

Ukraine has stepped up attacks on the occupied Crimean peninsula, and Russia is doing all within its power to deny how vulnerable it has become.

Photograph of the Russian Black Sea Fleet headquarters with smoke rising above it after a Ukrainian missile strike.

September 22, 2023, Sevastopol, Crimea, Russia: Smoke rises over the Russian Black Sea Fleet headquarters after a Ukrainian missile strike.

TASS/ZUMA
Kyrylo Danylchenko

This article was updated Sept. 26, 2023 at 6:00 p.m.

Russian authorities are making a concerted effort to downplay and even deny the recent missile strikes in Russia-occupied Crimea.

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Media coverage in Russia of these events has been intentionally subdued, with top military spokesperson Igor Konashenkov offering no response to an attack on Russian Black Sea Fleet headquarters in the Crimean city of Sevastopol, or the alleged downing last week of Russian Su-24 aircraft by Ukrainian Air Defense.

The response from this and other strikes on the Crimean peninsula and surrounding waters of the Black Sea has alternated between complete silence and propagating falsehoods. One notable example of the latter was the claim that the Russian headquarters building of the Black Sea fleet that was hit Friday was empty and that the multiple explosions were mere routine training exercises.

Ukraine claimed on Monday that the attack killed Admiral Viktor Sokolov, the commander of Russia's Black Sea Fleet. "After the strike on the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, 34 officers died, including the commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Another 105 occupiers were wounded. The headquarters building cannot be restored," the Ukrainian special forces said via Telegram.

But Sokolov was seen on state television on Tuesday, just one day after Ukraine claimed he'd been killed. The Russian Defense Ministry released footage of the admiral partaking in a video conference with top admirals and chiefs, including Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, though there was no verification of the date of the event.

Moscow has been similarly obtuse following other reports of missiles strikes this month on Crimea. Russian authorities have declared that all missiles have been intercepted by a submarine and a structure called "VDK Minsk", which itself was severely damaged following a Ukrainian airstrike on Sept. 13. The Russians likewise dismissed reports of a fire at the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet, attributing it to a mundane explosion caused by swamp gas.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has refrained from commenting on the military situation in Crimea and elsewhere, continuing to repeat that everything is “proceeding as planned.”

Why is Crimea such a touchy topic? And why is it proving to be so hard to defend?

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