Having misrepresented US aid commitments to Pakistan (as noted previously), the Beeb found it convenient to do so again.
This report says that the aid effort has been ‘stepped up’, immediately following this with the statement that ‘In Balakot, close to the epicentre in Pakistan, US helicopters have been used for the first time to ferry supplies.’ This is a report dated today- I’m pretty confident it wasn’t around yesterday. What a decent news organisation might have pointed out here is some salient points from the following:
‘RAWALPINDI, PAKISTAN AND NEW DELHI – US military helicopters arrived Monday from neighboring Afghanistan, assigned to help out in the relief effort of a key US ally devastated by the Oct. 8 earthquake. But on arrival in Pakistan, severe thunderstorms and hail kept the choppers all but grounded Tuesday, a source of frustration here.
“Thunderstorms are preventing us from doing our job,” says Staff Sgt. Lance Albert, a member of a five-man chopper crew of the Oregon National Guard, aboard a Chinook helicopter.’
When put alongside the BBC’s eyewitness account (also reported as part of the main story intro) that “I have seen people eating grass…. People are dying of starvation.” , it can be seen that the slant of article suggests that the US response is somehow implicated in that situation. Very unfair, in context– dangerously so, given US-muslim relations.
Ben Brown’s piece on the Six O’Clock News was good this evening though – he was out and about with the US helicopters as they delivered aid and airlifted the sick and injured to medical help. I’m sure that most Pakistanis and others appreciate all the help they’re getting at the moment.
On a related note, seeing the extent and depth of the human misery emerging in the earthquake affected region just highlights how shameful the small number of “Screw ’em” morons (among the commenters) around here are – it’s a real pity that such comments reflect badly, quite undeservedly, on Biased BBC as a whole.
Watching Newnight yesterday I noticed that the reporter mentioned helicopters but failed to inform the viewer of their nationality. I thought that was odd at the time, if they had been Pakistani AF/Army it would be factual and quite normal to report thus. So as I expected, America is on the scene once more providing support and Aid, how unusual.
By my calculations that means the UN should be expected Nov 25th, best buy some shares in 5 star hotels pronto.
It is interesting that the “world community” expects the US military to be Johnny-on-the-spot every time there is a disaster somewhere, yet left-wing organizations like the Beeb cheer and gloat whenever one of our overseas bases is closed down.
I wonder how they expect our military to deploy quickly in places like rural Pakistan without overseas bases?
As usual the leftwingers always seem to want mutually exclusive outcomes at the same time 🙂
Anyways, good on the US helicopters for distributing aid where others can’t, but I don’t expect it will win us any brownie points with either the “world community” or Muslims.
Susan
The BBC can only work its deceit on the ignorant. Those that are in need as with the Asian Tsunami and this present natural disaster in Pakistan will see and know the truth, as does most of the UK.
The diseased minds of the Left also know the truth, but the only way the EU can consume UK is to undermine our historic links with America. 80% of Brits despise the EU and still love our “quaint” cousins across the pond.
Despite McDonalds and Buffy the Vapid slapper!
Excuse me, Andrew… I’m one of those people you call “morons”. I’m not going into details here because I neither have the nerve nor the time – just one thing: As long as Pakistan won’t accept Israel’s offer for assistance the whole disaster can’t be all that bad. If they can still be anti-semitic under the given circumstances I beg to differ when you say it’s me who’s a moron. I guess you should address the leaders of Pakistan that way.
It’s good to see the Pakistani Government still finds time to be racist. They also refused to give Krishnan Guru Murphy (sorry if I’ve spelt that wrong) a visa because he was born in India.
Good to see they’ve got their priorities right.
>I wonder how they expect our military to deploy quickly in places like rural Pakistan without overseas bases?< Based on proximity the seriously upgraded Indian Ocean island of Diago Garcia, a British facility; but also a major US logistic staging post seems likely. That and US reach from its unsurpassed ability to project military capability via their carrier groups.
Grimer,
Krishnan Guru Murphy is from a long, proud Irish-Indian line.
Cheers.
The leaders of Pakistan may well be morons for a variety of reasons, and/or perhaps they’re familiar with realpolitik. It is right for Israel to offer help, it is probably also right, under the present circumstances, for the Pakistani government to politely decline that assistance, unfortunate though that is.
Most Pakistanis want to raise their families, educate their kids and live their lives as best they can, just like most people everywhere, the point being that it is absolutely heartless to say “screw ’em” in the face of the current natural disaster.
Far better for the West to lead by example, and, if we wish to consider realpolitik, hope that those with closed minds might learn something more from that example than they would from the “screw ’em” approach.
On a personal level, you can say and think what you like, but if you want to say it here, please be careful not to says things that might discredit the rest of us – we have a serious purpose holding the BBC to account, which isn’t helped by ill-considered or intemperate comments.
Joerg
First, no-one here was polite enough to congratulate you on getting rid of Gerhard Schroeder. It was a close run thing in the end but hey, job done! Second, It was explained by a few of us in that previous post that callousness doesn’t come into it. The words are plain but what can you do if others wilfully ignore them? We could, of course, sit in front of the news reports and our computers with glum faces. This makes exactly no difference to the condition of those affected by the earthquake but would mark us down as ‘nice people’. It’s long been a liberal device; we’re better than you because we’re ‘nice people’, our hearts are in the right place. I happen to be different – unless someone intends to travel there are start digging I’m not interested in hearing how nice they are and regret that this ‘let’s be nice to each other’ disease apears to be spreading.
Nick (South Africa)
That’ll be the Diego Garcia which the left wants closed as a military base and given back to/re-populated with its former inhabitants? Thought so.
Joerg
The TV footage and pictures manifestly demonstrate how huge and awful the disaster is. You’re as big a jerk as the Pakistani govt is in in playing tit for tat in the face of such tragedy. Screw you and all other bigots.
First, no-one here was polite enough to congratulate you on getting rid of Gerhard Schroeder.
I notice that Gertie went out with a final nasty cheap shot at the US and UK — fully consistent with his no-class performance while he had the job.
How awful we Anglo-Saxons are because we both have growing economies, when we could be following the excellent German social model and enjoy shrinking GDP and 12.5 percent unemployment rates!
A no-class act from start to finish, was our Gert. Must have been the worst Chancellor Germany ever had, hands down no contest (not counting the Austrian paper-hanger of course.)
Pete,
The US plans to vacate Diego Garcia by 2015, last I heard.
We no longer need it, now that we have gotten away with our dastardly plan to use it as a base from which to launch the Indian Ocean tsunami that killed thousands of Muslims last Christmas.
Grimer
Absolutely agree on the distorted priorities of the posturing Pakistani halfwits at the embassy. However, the Indians aren’t any better – last year I was refused a vacation visa by the Indian embassy on the grounds of having parents who were once Pakistani nationals post partion. £5k vacation went compltely down the pan. I can honestly that the only time I have ever experienced racism in this country is at the Embassy of my parents birth country !! Bloody screwed up, f*****up Indian and Pakistani twats.
Susan
Eh? You’re upping sticks and vacating the premises, thereby denying leftwhingers something to whinge about? You Americans are kill-joys, I tell ya. It reminds me of when Rumsfeld announced plans to close a large US military base in Germany a couple of years ago. This followed a prolonged bout of US-bashing from the German government and media. As soon as someone with a calculator figured out how big a hole this would leave in the local economy it was all “please stay Yankee, we love you!”
There are some people you just can’t please.
Aisha: Well, at least I refrain from name calling… Not my style. You can donate if you like. I’d rather donate another 50 Dollars to Katrina or Rita Relief because I like the people in the US better.
Pete_London: Thanks for the comments re. Schroeder but I haven’t voted since reunification. Can’t get used to a unified Germany… I hope I’ll be able to move to the US in the very near future. It is good that Schroeder’s gone though!
http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/
Pete,
The US DG lease with the UK expires in 2016 and I’ve read reports that we’re not renewing. Poor John Pilger will just have to find some other cause to pimp for his living.
Susan, you assume that renewal of the lease is on offer! 🙂 Anyway, 2015/16 is some way hence – though I have every faith that such strategic remnants of the British Empire such as Diego Garcia, Ascension etc. will remain strategically useful for the foreseeable future – it’s not as if B52s are going out of fashion any time soon!
True Andrew, it may well be the case that our cousins are giving us the boot, rather than us leaving on our own steam.
Heads Up Natalie et. al: The Beeb is doing a special series to coincide with Lady T’s 80th birthday.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/witness/may/4/newsid_3452000/3452895.stm
I can’t wait to see what kind of hatchet job they’ll do on her. . .
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,173-1823334,00.html
wait foe Al Beeb to cry Racism
Most Pakistanis want to raise their families, educate their kids and live their lives as best they can, just like most people everywhere,
Pakistan Facts
And right on cue, the Beeb starts in with the Thatcher-bashing:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4335146.stm
“unapologetic class warrior”
Andrew – Golda Meir once said about the Palestinians, “that we may forgive you for killing our children, but we may never forgive you for making us kill yours”.
It is common assumption for many people to believe that most Muslims must think and want the same as themselves. I believe that comes from a genuine humility and desire to be ‘fair’. However it is the same tool used by many militants as a weakness against us – especially those who seek to appease them. It’s fair to say that 99% of Pakistanis would be happy if every Jew and Israel ceased to be. This is why you can’t expect everyone to feel the same about them as you feel you can, and it also doesn’t make them ‘morons’.
There is a war against terrorism, this is one reason that many here post so vociferously against the BBC. I doubt that anybody here is happy about innocents being killed, but it’s hard to know anymore who is innocent.
Margaret Thatcher:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4335146.stm
Another beeb special in their deliberately unflattering choice of photo.
Probably came from a picture agency called “Cheap Shots”.
Thanks, Teddy Bear… well put. I seem to be one of very few Germans who actually think that the State of Israel has a right to exist and therefore I like to stand in the corner of Israel (and it does pee off quite a few of my compatriots but who says provacation is a bad thing?)
You can’t stand up for Israel (or the US for that matter) and be a friend of Muslims. It simply won’t work.
Let’s have some truthful reporting about fundamentalist Pakistan by the BBC. For example: What will happen in case Musharraf gets killed our ousted?
Ok, since we caused the tsunami, that must mean we also control the weather. Gee, shame on us for not stopping those thunderstorms!
Joerg,
I’m glad Schroeder’s gone, too!
The bbc hasn’t reported anywhere that Pakistan and Israel have opened diplomatic channels for the first time ever. So refusal of aid, if that’s what it was should be explained.
Andrew, with all due respect I believe you are wrong. We British have to start practising a more “in your face” rebuttal to all the crap rubbish on the bbc. Being polite, and going along with committees, and reviews has clearly been a giant waste of time. Just look at the embarrasingly ridiculous Biased BBC petition!
Big Mouth, the tasks of rebutting crap rubbish on the BBC and providing aid to the victims of a disaster are not incompatible. On the contrary.
Teddy Bear says (and others say similarly), “it’s hard to know anymore who is innocent.” First off, in the case of the many victims who were schoolchildren it is 100% clear they were innocent. As to the general population,
(a) if you saw someone drowning I am sure it would not be your first reaction to assess whether he was worthy of being saved.
(b) as I have commented on another thread, it is very hard to know the true opinions of people who are oppressed. Speaking out against Islamofascists is relatively safe for us – it is very dangerous for their neighbours.
(c) I also think people should not be judged too harshly for even the most awful opinions when those people are ignorant and are kept ignorant. Let us imagine a woman from the tribal areas of Pakistan. She is illiterate, no TV, no radio, no social intercourse outside the family, repressed within the family. She hears that dreadful things are done to innocent Muslims by wicked Jews and Crusaders and hates them for it. I do not hate her for that.
Meanwhile, back in the real world, the BBC manages to find an enclave of “good” jews.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/05/africa_uganda0s_jewish_community/html/1.stm
Well, fairly “good”, since although they are the right colour, they do sing the Israeli national anthem.
Fact is all Kashmir legally is part of India and India has better resources to deal with such disasters.
Pakistan stole half of Kashmir by force and trickery, now is showing once again (as in Bangladesh 1970) how illegitimate it is as a ‘nation’: Can’t even protect the people it claims to have ‘saved’.
Susan
Your first link (happy 80th birthday, Lady Thatcher!):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/witness/may/4/newsid_3452000/3452895.stm
contains a timeline. Included is “18th Feb 1981: Thatcher gives in to miners” and refers to a relatively obscure event. However, the year-long (1984) miners’ strike, a seminal event in British industrial relations in which Lady T vanquished the Marxist union leadership and was one of the key events in freeing British commerce from union power, receives … no mention, nothing, nada and ziltch.
Thank you Natalie – you sum it up precisely. We will not make the world a better place by treating others with callous disregard, even if we think they view us negatively.
Big Mouth: “So refusal of aid, if that’s what it was should be explained”
As I said above, it’s right for Israel to offer assistance, and it’s probably also right for Pakistan to politely decline – it is unfortunate, but taking Natalie’s point ‘c’ into consideration, having Israelis on the ground might result in more grief than it saves. Unfortunate, but that’s the reality for now – even if it’s an extreme minority who might react that way.
Big Mouth: “Andrew, with all due respect I believe you are wrong. We British have to start practising a more “in your face” rebuttal to all the crap rubbish on the bbc.”
And I always thought my posts here at Biased BBC were pretty much “in your face… to all the crap rubbish on the BBC”, as you put it.
Big Mouth: “Being polite, and going along with committees, and reviews has clearly been a giant waste of time. Just look at the embarrasingly ridiculous Biased BBC petition!”
The so-called Biased BBC petition wasn’t initiated by or set up with the approval or otherwise of any of the Biased BBC bloggers, so is not something we are accountable for in any way, even if we take a relaxed approach to the use of what might be considered ‘our’ name.
As I hope I have expressed above, the embarrassment for me, if any, is the way this comments facility gets abused as a chat facility for all sorts of things that are nothing to do with the the purpose of this blog, distracting from and indeed sometimes reflecting poorly upon the main blog itself. Having a comments facility or not and how it is managed is a difficult balance to get right.
>(c) I also think people should not be judged too harshly for even the most awful opinions when those people are ignorant and are kept ignorant< You don't have to go tribal Pakistan to see this phenomenon manifest. Thanks to the bilge of the BBC and other parts of the MSM it's rather common in good old Blighty! Especially vis-a-vis the US, GWB, Israel, The Iraq war and the EU.
I can appreciate what you’re saying Andrew.
I think the problem stems from the Biased BBC Blog, bringing lots of like minded people together. Somebody spots something biased in the BBC news section and that sparks a debate that can go way off topic.
Maybe a forum would work better for the site. If there was a “general comment” section, then it would be easier to keep things seperate?
Has anyone noticed that the BBC refers to NW Kashmir as “Pakistan administrated Kashmir”, whereas the West Bank is “Israeli occupied”?
Invasion, settlement by foreign colonisers, ignoring of UN resolutions to leave – sounds familiar? It’s not Israel though, it’s that country which is merely “administering” part of Kashmir – Pakistan. I can’t think why the BBC hasn’t done a “special” on Pakistan’s gentle “administration” of Kashmir.
I couldn’t help but notice the British Govt are sending “helicopters”
now does that mean British Army/ Airforce?
or hiring them? because as i understand it the UK forces currently have a 40% short fall so goodness knows where they will get them from?
Andrew
the answer is to remove asap and without explaination or apology all and any post that has no direct reference to bad behaviour by the BBC. Everyone enjoys the odd joke (esp Ian Barnes) but remarks of late of the “serves `em right” variety in respect of the Pakistan earthquake I find astonishing to say the least.
Any first time visitor to the site would rightly believe that they had stumbled into a den of dangerous psychopaths. This blog does excellent and important work and has its purpose and excellence undermined by a few drooling and undereducated loners.
You are the Editor, Edit.
A veritable plethora of anti Aunty postings quotes and links are to be found on the net today, have the ripples of discontent, finally made a splash?
From EU Referendum and the highly respected Dr North we have
“An expensive bunch of amateurs”
Conservative MP John Whittingdale chairman of the Commons culture, media and sports committee he • a quiet, unassuming man but with an enormous fount of experience of the ways of the BBC, and totally “on-side” when it comes to cutting back this bloated monster. (BBC not Ken Clarke)
http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/
Stephen Pollard’s blog covers
“The BBC’s Financial Scandal”
“In July, Mark Thompson, the Director General of the BBC outlined plans for the relocation of 1800 staff to Manchester.- those who move will get at least £12,000 a head”
http://www.stephenpollard.net/002329.html
USS Neverdock and that very witty cleverjock covers the facts and figures discussed here yesterday with the added bonus of a guardian fisking!
“TV License Supported Despite BBC Turnoff”
http://ussneverdock.blogspot.com/
PS Andrew; your clever little gismo comment counter is the bees knees. Ta
my goodness, the bbc has got its crony’s out this time…
An interesting discussion on the BBC Radio 4 programme “You and Yours” just now. They had someone from “Migration Watch” and another person, I didn’t catch his name but he sounded impeccably liberal.
The person from Migration Watch said that limits should be placed in immigration by Parliament, and that forced marriages should be restricted. His opponent dismissed Migration Watch as “coming across as being xenophobic”. There was no challenge from the presenter over this allegation, not even a mention of it. For the BBC, that any restriction of immigration is xenophobic is axiomatic.
O/T
This is funny…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/newswatch/ukfs/hi/newsid_4330000/newsid_4331300/4331312.stm
“On John Kampfner’s Katrina comments; this seems finally to have blown his mind. Matt Frei, Gavin Hewitt, Ben Brown and the rest of the team reported what they saw.”
Mmmm…and the best…
“They were horrified. They raised questions that needed answering as President Bush later acknowledged.”
They just dont get it do they. Its the fact that they raise questions when it suits their agenda. Why has there not been extensive coverage of the theft of aid to the earthquake sufferers? Al I have seen regarding that issue is one line of text.
Now. Imagine if aid given to the NO residents were stolen by the US army.
I can see the headlines now…
Re: BBC lunchtime news on 13 oct
I found the report re: Chechen terrorists, rather anti russian.
blaming the deaths of the beslan siege on the russians, if the chechens hadnt been so cowardly to take hostage small children, more to the point. no one would have died.
the BBC have clearly made out whom they support? surprisingly we havent heard from that pro chechen supporter vanessa redgrave since Beslan?
funny that
Also Biased BBC related,
when are the BBC going to promote this:
Royal Navy plays to 10.000 in Trafalgar Square
The grand finale of the Royal Navy’s Trafalgar 200 events programme will be staged in the presence of their Royal Highnesses the Duke of Edinburgh and Prince Michael of Kent to an audience of 10,000 in the unique and special setting of Trafalgar Square on 23 October from 6.30pm.
http://www.mercopress.com/Detalle.asp?NUM=6585
Speaking of Migration Watch of another sort:
Fears of avian virus prompted one of the most stupid bbc questions ever.(sorry, I didn’t make a note of where)
The interviewer asked how certain feathered creatures could be stopped from migrating here. I kid you not!
It just proves that some moonbats at the bbc have bird brain syndrome. I rest my case.
Natalie, I think you have some good points. However, the bbc should point out that even the most ‘ignorant’ people on earth know the difference between violence and peace, and good and evil. They are universal standards that have nothing to do with location, education, or arguably, a culture.
If 40% of people claim that they wouldn’t mind the licence fee doubling, why doesn’t the BBC go subscription and charge this 40% double and leave the rest of us alone? They’d get 80% of their current income at least, with no TV tax snoopers to pay any more, and be respected as a brand that people will pay money to volutarily.
Simon,
Excellent idea. Especially as the BBC spends over 10% of its income on collecting the Licence Fee.
Surely the BBC have faith in their own statistics?
Big Mouth,
The interviewer asked how certain feathered creatures could be stopped from migrating here. I kid you not!
It just proves that some moonbats at the bbc have bird brain syndrome. I rest my case.
Well, that doesn’t surprise me! Yesterday someone heard the Beeb trying to link earthquakes to global warming. As if the center of the earth were not made from molten matter thousands of degrees hotter than anything on the surface!
Re: Pakistani earthquake victims. We should help them out because it is our Christian duty (I’m personally not a Christian but it’s my culture and I value it greatly.) I don’t support anyone saying “screw them.” Moreover as someone who has lived through several severe earthquakes myself I can relate to the issue perhaps more than others here.
OTOH, I would be a liar if I didn’t admit that I will be gritting my teeth to the nub when I sign my donation check! I am human after all and the many photos and reports of the Muslim world celebrating and handing out “sweets” when my people were burning to death in the Twin Towers is something that will never leave me.