You're absolutely right to notice that something sounds a bit off! The sentence you heard is slightly awkward due to the placement of “either.” The construction would flow more naturally like this: "My understanding is that either the world doesn’t understand what’s going on there, or it’s being intentionally ignored and silenced." This way, "either" comes before the first option, which is the standard structure for "either/or" sentences. In English, "either" is generally placed just before the first part of the choice it introduces, keeping the sentence balanced and clear. The original sentence isn’t completely ungrammatical, but it's nonstandard and could cause some confusion.

The sentence is almost correct, but it could be smoother and clearer with some small adjustments. Here’s a revised version: "My understanding is that either the world doesn’t understand what’s going on there, or it is intentionally ignoring and silencing it." What was changed and why: 1. Reordering: "Either" is moved to the beginning of the phrase it modifies. This placement clarifies that there are two possible explanations. 2. Verb agreement: "It’s being intentionally ignored and silenced" is rephrased to "it is intentionally ignoring and silencing it." This change removes ambiguity by clarifying who is doing the ignoring. This revision keeps the original meaning but reads a bit more smoothly.

Strike out "either" and the sentence will make sense.

My understanding is that the world doesn’t (either) understand what’s going on there or it’s being intentionally ignored and silenced. "either" is optional in this case My understanding is that the world doesn’t understand what’s going on there or it’s being intentionally ignored and silenced. does not either = ni siquiera