BBC Vomit 640

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I was trying to come up with a witty and apposite acronym for BBC to describe what I have just seen on TV, but all I could manage was Beyond Belief Cunts.

Watching BBC World News here in Accra, I have just seen forty minutes of intense and non-stop Israeli propaganda. A live press conference by Netanyahu and Ehud Barak followed by a long, long interview with Mark Regev in which the most searching BBC question could fairly be paraphrased as “How can you be certain that those dastardly Palestinians will not break the ceasefire and start firing rockets again?”

No attempt whatsoever to give a Palestinian a chance to put over their viewpoint. Now fifty minutes of solid coverage around the ceasefire without a single Palestinian view or pro-Palestinian or pro-peace view. And in that entire fifty minutes not one mention of Palestinian dead.

Beyond Belief Cunts. Actually, it’s not a bad effort.

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640 thoughts on “BBC Vomit”

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  • Mary

    The same parliamentary lobby for Israel exists in Australia. Moammar Mashni and Sonia Karkar have done sterling work to counter this by founding Australians for Palestine. Sadly, Moammar is now moving on.

    Influence and intimidation in war of words

    THE shouting had gone on long enough. ”The problem is, the microphone is shoved in front of the face of some person who is going to yell in either in broken English or Arabic,” despaired Moammar Mashni. ”When was the last time you saw an articulate, educated Palestinian – who there are millions of – before the cameras?”

    No issue sparks more anger and argument in international politics than the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Even in far-off Australia, thousands of kilometres from the fighting, few foreign affairs questions excite such community passion, condemnation and debate – shown once again after the latest flare-up surrounding the killing of a Hamas leader in Gaza by an Israeli missile strike. Protesters took to the streets, letters poured into newspapers, local online forums buzzed with strong opinions.

    Long before the latest outbreak of violence, Mashni worried the mainstream debate in Australia had been too one-sided, dominated by supporters of Israel, the plight of Palestinians poorly understood.

    Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Anthony Pratt at an Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce event. Photo: Craig Abraham

    ”The stereotypical picture of a Palestinian is that they have got to be a man, a Muslim, have a beard and he’s got to be screaming at the television camera in Arabic. Now there are plenty of people who are not like that. I’m not like that.”

    Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/influence-and-intimidation-in-war-of-words-20121123-29yr0.html#ixzz2DF7Uld7m

    A valedictory from Sonia.
    {http://www.australiansforpalestine.net/72060}

  • Mark Golding - Children of Conflict

    Mike,

    Agreed and therefore I believe lasting peace will be difficult to secure. It is time for Obama to muster some spunk and counter the capitulating efforts of the Israeli lobby.

    We have witnessed a fakeout of the Palestinian cause in favor of the continuing subversion of the Syrian government by a terrorist western army lead by arch terrorist Mouaz al-Khatib a member of the Muslim brotherhood controlled by the Saudi regime.

  • Anon

    Maybe someone at the BBC reading Craig’s blog?

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20466027

    Gaza baby ‘only knew how to smile’

    The death of civilians on either side in the Israel-Gaza conflict is tragic – especially when children are among the casualties. The BBC correspondent in Gaza, Jon Donnison, witnessed just such a tragedy at close quarters.

    My friend and colleague Jehad Mashhrawi is usually the last to leave our Gaza bureau. Hard-working but softly spoken, he often stays late, beavering away on a laptop that is rarely out of arm’s reach.

    He has a cool head – unflappable, when others like me are flapping around him. He is a video editor and just one of our local BBC Arabic Service staff who make the office tick.

    But on the Wednesday before last – only an hour or so after Gaza’s latest war erupted with Israel’s killing of Hamas military commander Ahmed al-Jabari – Jehad burst out of the editing suite screaming.

    He sprinted down the stairs, his head in his hands, his face ripped with anguish.

    He had just had a call from a friend to tell him the Israeli military had bombed his house and that his 11-month-old baby boy Omar was dead.

    Most fathers will tell you their children are beautiful.
    Omar

    Omar was a picture-book baby.

    Standing in what is left of his burnt-out home this week, Jehad showed me a photo on his mobile phone.

    It was of a cheeky, chunky, round-faced little boy in denim dungarees, chuckling in a pushchair, dark-eyed with a fringe of fine brown hair pushed across his brow.

    “He only knew how to smile,” Jehad told me, as we both struggled to hold back the tears.

    “He could say just two words – Baba and Mama,” his father went on.

    Also on Jehad’s phone is another photo. A hideous tiny corpse. Omar’s smiling face virtually burnt off, that fine hair appearing to be melted on to his scalp.

    Jehad’s sister-in-law Heba was also killed.

    “We still haven’t found her head,” Jehad said.

    And his brother is critically ill in hospital with massive burns. His chances are not good.

    More at link http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20466027

  • mike

    If there was a box marked ‘None Of The Above’ on a ballot paper then I’d know who to vote for…
    Yes, Mark, I think another Syrian “regime massacre” is just around the corner. Ian Pannell will doubtless tell us all about it.

  • Mary

    Coming to this country. Drone surveillance or perhaps it is already here. BBC News have just shown some flooded countryside in Wiltshire with a caption showing ‘Drone footage’. The ownership and the agency in control of the drone was not stated.

  • A Node

    @ Mary 25 Nov, 2012 – 4:33 pm
    It says here that they obtained the footage from a ‘viewer’

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20488362

    They will aclimatise us to drones in such ways, until we forget there was ever a time when you could be sure you weren’t being spied on from the air.

  • A Node

    ….and here’s a story about the BBC collaborating with Southampton University to design its own drone.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/researchanddevelopment/2012/04/collab-soton-uav.shtml

    They say:

    “This is an experiment that BBC R&D have been working on over the last few months, to equip an “unmanned aerial vehicle” (or UAV for short), built by University of Southampton, with BBC broadcast cameras. BBC R&D has developed new kit to enable us to film from the air, with improved shot stability and accuracy. We have also built the capability to stream HD footage directly from the aircraft to a BBC computer in real time.”

    … but in case we’re worried about a B.ig B.rother C.onspiracy, they then point out:

    “This type of aerial filming technology is not new. Creatively the BBC has been using remote controlled aircraft and other systems to capture material for some time now – for example, the small buggies used by the Natural History Unit to sneak up on lions in the savannah.”

    So filming wildlife on the Savannah or British citizens going about their daily lives, it’s all the same to the BBC.

  • Mary

    Anyone else heard this geriatric’s mad plan?

    http://www.thenewstribe.com/2012/11/23/new-idea-of-halting-militancy-uks-lord-gilbert-advises-govt-to-drop-neutron-bomb-on-pak-afghan-border/

    He was of course a defence (offence) minister in Callaghan’s government and a defence (offence) procurement minister in Bliar’s.

    {http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gilbert,_Baron_Gilbert}

    How can anyone approaching the age of 86 and presumably preparing to meet their maker have such thoughts?

    His register of interests in the Lords

    Biography

    Electoral history
    Contested Ludlow 1966 general election and Dudley 1968 by-election. MP (Labour) for Dudley 1970-74, for Dudley East 1974-97

    Parliamentary career
    Financial Secretary to the Treasury 1974-75; Minister for Transport 1975-76; Minister of State for Defence 1976-79; Member Intelligence and Security Committee 1994-97

    Lords career
    Minister of State for Defence Procurement, Ministry of Defence 1997-99

    Political interests
    Defence, foreign affairs, economic policy, conservation, transport, Amnesty International

    Raised to the peerage as Baron Gilbert, of Dudley in the County of West Midlands 1997

    Register of Interests
    1: Directorships
    Financial Information Technology Ltd (FIT)
    Board Member, SinglePoint (Holdings) Ltd (UK) (data services)
    Daleco Resources Corporation (US)
    Chairman, Singlepoint, Inc (US) (workforce management services)
    Chairman, Singlepoint Data Services Ltd (UK)
    10: Non-financial interests (a)
    Adviser, ABS Limited (manufacturer of hovercraft)
    Board Member, Brighton Biotech (formerly Thioltech Inc) (USA)
    10: Non-financial interests (e)
    Trustee, Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme

  • A Node

    Mary.
    Actually, the technology is getting very common.
    My friend has built a hexicopter, a 6 rotor job, total cost about £800. It incorporates a GPS, gyroscope, accelerometer, and altimeter which in combination take care of all the difficulties of keeping the aircraft stable in flight. It can fly with 1.5 kg payload. A camera with its own directional platform is trivially easy.
    Just fantasising about the sort of mischief one could get up to with one of these makes you realise that it’s only a matter of time before They manufacture an excuse to ban us plebs from having one.

  • Mark Golding - Children of Conflict

    Predictably my antenna is red hot (LOL) on the mention of drones. I pointed out to a close friend recently, an ex constable, who insisted UAV’s have a positive contribution to human society by, for example, reporting the scene of an RTA before ambulance crews arrive, an emergency drone if you will.

    I argued these myopic soaring extensions of human avarice were conceived as remote killing machines to destroy, maim and spy; equipped with asphyxiant they have proved effective in crowd control experiments using animals(1). Drones are a curse and their use I believe must be countered by public pressure or as a last resort sabotaged by their own technology. Despite ethics codes we will always have guided missiles and misguided men.

    “On the ground, UGVs are projected to conduct missions such as non-lethal through lethal crowd control, dismounted offensive operations, and armed reconnaissance and assault operations.”

    The UAV roadmap: http://www.acq.osd.mil/psa/docs/UMSIntegratedRoadmap2009.pdf

  • Mary

    Speaking of misguided men, Marr had Hague on this morning discussing his very ‘full portfolio’, speaking from his Yorkshire home. Hague is as phoney as his ‘library’ in the background. That turned out to be that wallpaper you can get to simulate bookshelves and leather bound books.

    He was evasive and vague on Syria. Tw*t.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20485595 You can see him in the video on this.

  • Phil

    @Mary

    I’ve just watched that hague video. Didn’t listen to a word he said – I couldn’t take my eyes off that wallpaper. He really does have a wallpaper library. Hilarious. And telling. What a dick.

  • Phil

    I keep watching the hague video with the sound down. I have tears of laughter. Do you think the plants are plastic? They look a tad too perfect for this time of year. Please, any more videos of politicians in front of wallpaper libraries much appreciated.

    Anyway, time for me to step away from the computer I think.

  • A Node

    “Anyone else heard this geriatric’s mad plan”

    LONDON: Britain’s House of Lords member Lord Gilbert on Friday stunned peers by suggesting that a neutron bomb could be used to create a “cordon sanitaire” in troubled border regions such as the one between Afghanistan and Pakistan. ……
    [snip]
    …….Cabinet Office spokesman Lord Wallace of Saltaire said the Government did not share Lord Gilbert’s “rumbustious” views on the sensitive issue. “The UK retains a firm commitment to the long-term goal of a world without nuclear weapons,”

    Apparently our reasons for not nuking them do not include respect for the sovereign rights of the 2 countries involved.

  • nevermind

    Phil, swap a video on slow ironing, and one with someone hanging up the washing, for a peek at your concise library of trivia hot shots….

    We should give these kind of pretentious posing/sitting a name, Mary, what do you think, how about ‘Dicklink’ library?

  • Mark Golding - Children of Conflict

    The man is a sham Mary – Phony book-shelves and a phony highlight on the Middle East peace process to obfuscate the conspiracy with America to divide and conquer in Syria, install a fall-guy pigeon to subjugate Hezbollah and intimidate Lebanon before turning the big guns on Iran.

  • Mary

    You are all probably not old enough to remember the Mekon and Dan Dare in the Eagle which my brothers used to read.

    I see that ‘William Hague, the British Foreign Secretary was given the nickname “the Mekon” because of his looks.’

    following

    The Mekon was the ruler of the Treens of northern Venus, although he was ousted from this position at the end of the first story and had no fixed base of operations. He was created by scientific experimentation, engineered for a very high intelligence. As such he had a swollen head containing his massive brain and atrophied body, and moved around on a levitating chair. He typically invented new superweapons in the pursuit of his goal: the domination of the universe for the purpose of scientific research. In some stories he also sought personal revenge on Dan Dare.

    His image
    http://www.frankhampson.co.uk/images/Mekon_medium.jpg
    ‘Hampson’s iconic villain, the Mekon. He’s lived longer in the public imagination than any other character, although his overgrown brain is reminiscent of HG Wells’ ‘First Men in the Moon’.’

    Kudos to Clark, Phil and Nevermind and anyone else who went on the march. I did not make it unfortunately as I came down to find a water leak in the kitchen. Grrr! The connection to the washing machine had started to leak but I managed to tighten it up and mop up. No great damage fortunately unlike the poor souls flooded out round the country at the moment.

  • Ben Franklin -Machine Gun Preacher (unleaded version)

    Just saw ‘Lincoln’, and I must say, it is normally difficult for me to suspend my disbelief, but Daniel Day Lewis had me believing he was Lincoln. Film is the most effective form of propaganda, yet I found myself transfixed, so much so, that I was choked with emotion when his military age son was opposing his father’s opposition to enlistment, after losing his first-born in that same war.

    Pushing for the 13th amendment at the end of his first term was prophetic, in that Appomatox would have curtailed the paper-thin victory, had he waited until his 2nd term of office.

    It solidifies my opinion, that Obama is no Lincoln.

  • Jives

    Ben,

    “It solidifies my opinion, that Obama is no Lincoln.”

    You didn’t really expect that though did you?

    All the evidence shirley suggests otherwise?

  • Ben Franklin -Machine Gun Preacher (unleaded version)

    Surely, it is self-evident who the good guys are. But such notions are the musings of those of healthy heart condition, and don’t translate to the other side. They (the other side) get caught up in the semantics of ‘right versus wrong’ and fall prey to the obtuse-spirituality, which is endemic in Western society. Just as sociopaths can mimic the behavior of ‘normal’ folks, so too, the OS can seem to have pure motives, when in reality, they seek (subconsciously, or consciously) to divert the discussion away from the common sense of spiritual/ethical/ moral behavior which directs the passion to those people external to oneself.( Your children, do not fit that description because they are extensions of you, yourself, btw)

    I know some find my prose to be cryptic and undefinable, but I write honestly and without acrimony, (I’m talking in the most general terms here) but I do flare up, as you know. But I believe, as the LA LAKERS most winning coach says; “Anger is the enemy of instruction” As you know, I can be provoked, but you never see the other side, wherein I either do not respond, or I respond with perspective, overlooking what appears to be a slight, but may not be intended so.

    *****This has been a pubic service announcement fueled by rampant rightwing hypoxia and physician recommended binge drinking******

  • Debbie(aussie)

    O/t Ben, are you the same as the BenF that commentws at balloon juice?

    This whole thing has made me sick to my stomach. am about to go and google the child shot in the mouth- I shouldn’t be suprised anymore, but if not, I would be so cold in side.

  • Heretic

    “BBC pro-Israel bias shocker!”. Has the foul-mouthed one just crawled out from a hole in the ground?

  • Jay

    Ben

    We are our own worst ememy.

    History proved it.

    Stop your internal dialogue.

    Isn’t that Castenadas goal?

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