when it receives loans from the European Investment Bank?” asks EU Referendum. The post goes on to say that according to its own website the EIB is “an autonomous body set up to finance capital investment furthering European integration by promoting EU policies”
“How can the BBC be impartial
Bookmark the permalink.
wingnut321 / wingnut321 user, pass if you want to view that tnr.com article that rachel has linked to.
archduke: but Humphrys couldn’t bring himself to describe the two soldiers as “kidnapped” or “held hostage” – he said that they had been “captured” implying some justification for the unprovoked act by the Lebanese.
Cockney “As you correctly say, Britain has the same extradition arrangement with Azerbaijan as well as many others including Russia, Albania, EU etc – you don’t tend to learn this is media reports.”
News24 have just interviewed David Heath, Lib Dem MP. He objected to the general terms of extradition from the UK (we could have UK citizens dragged off to the US “on the orders of a sheriff from Alabama”).
Needless to say he wasn’t asked by the BBC interviewer what he felt about the same about orders coming from EU countries (which would be a clash with the Lib Dems Euro-federalist stance) or Albania rather than Alabama.
There they go again. This BBC ‘news’ video
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
opens with footage of an Israel tank with the typical fake dramatic intrepidBBCreporteronthefrontlines bullsh*t commentary:
Lebanon.
Thursday morning.
Staring down the barrel of an Israeli gun.
I swear I’m not making this up.
Then they go on, as others on this thread have noted, to omit any mention of the deaths of the Israeli soldiers and the barrage of Katyusha rockets fired along the entire border – only mentioning the attack on Nahariya right at the end – while making much of the casualties on the Lebanese side.
They were trying to spin it as a ‘disproportionate’ response exclusively to the ‘capture’ of the Israeli soldiers.
This was Hizbullah TV with a BBC label stuck on it as a thin disguise.
It’s a bloody disgrace.
And John Reith pops in here with some inane comment in the middle of a discussion on BBC war correspondents ’embedded’ or rather in bed with the terrorists.
Will,
That’s pretty poor. As I understand it a UK judge has to rule that the proposed extraditee has committed a crime under UK law and there’s still the usual human rights safeguards if there’s a chance that our interpretation of inappropriate punishment will be violated, so it’s not like people are just being dragged off the streets.
I’m uncomfortable that currently the agreement isn’t reciprocal but whose fault is that? Not the Americans.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5175160.stm
“Israel is imposing an air and sea blockade on Lebanon as part of a major offensive over two soldiers captured by the militant group Hezbollah.”
wrong. wrong. wrong.
its because Hizbollah have launched rocket attacks yesterday and this morning all along the northern border of israel, killing 1 civillian and wounding many more.
the 2 soldiers being kidnapped part of the reason.
The *real* reason is that the Israelis want Hizbollah dismantled.
http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa
quote:
Cabinet Communique (July 12): Israel views the sovereign Lebanese Government as responsible for the action that originated on its soil and for the return of the abducted soldiers to Israel. Israel demands that the Lebanese Government implement UN Security Council Resolution #1559
resolution 1559 calls for the disarmament of Hizbollah.
continuing on with the HizBullshit Beeb report:
“Overnight air raids on targets across southern Lebanon left 27 people dead.”
27 “people”? terrorists? civilians?
“Hezbollah guerrillas responded by firing volleys of rockets at the northern Israeli coastal town of Nahariya, killing one Israeli woman.”
no mention of the initial rocket attack that happened yesterday – it was in response to THAT that the israelis invaded.
why need Hizbollah TV when you have the BBC doing their bidding?
tossers.
HizBullshit
Patent that one, Archduke!
according to the IDF , the “27 people” mentioned by Al Beeb , were Hizbollah terrorists, killed in targetted strikes.
secondly, the 2 soldiers kidnapped are actually Druze, not Jewish. (which knocks the “israeli apartheid state” thing on the head , yet again…)
and thirdly – i was wrong in saying “rocket attacks”. the barrage against northern israel was a combination of rockets AND mortar shells.
and this just in – the IDF have warned civillians in south Beirut to leave their homes.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1150885985413&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
From Omar in Baghdad (published yesterday)
The Middle East; where to?
“I’ve been closely following the developments between Israel and Lebanon. As you know, anything that goes on between any two parties in the Middle East will eventually have direct or indirect effects on the rest of the region’s countries.
I don’t know for sure what made Hizbollah do what they did this morning but I can make some guesses starting from the fact that Iran, Syria, Hamas and Hizbollah collectively form one big axis of evil in the Middle East with connected interests and shared goals so the abduction of the two Israeli soldiers looks like an act planned to serve the interests of the members of the axis without the least regard to the harm it can bring upon Lebanon.
For example, the foreign ministers of the 5 UNSC countries and Germany were meeting today to discuss how to respond to Iran’s position regarding the nuclear issue, so this could be an attempt to distract the international community and especially Israel and America from the Iranian nuclear threat. And if that’s the case, then their plan has just failed. But this will also mean they (the axis) will try other measures and will cause more trouble to distract the international community from focusing on the Iranian nuclear threat.
Meanwhile, Hizbollah itself is under continuous pressure from other parties inside Lebanon regarding the disarmament of the party’s militia; therefore maybe Nesrallah thought that putting Lebanon in such an embarrassing de facto situation would relieve some of that pressure and give him an upper hand in the negotiations.
Another possibility is that the operation was conducted in the hope that it could lower the Israeli pressure on Hizbollah’s allies in Hamas and slow the ongoing military operation in Gaza.
Actually it could be all of the above reasons because they all serve the common interest of the axis members and are all three possibilities fall in the category of putting the international community, America and Israel in a position where they have to fight (militarily or politically) on more than one front.
It’s still early to speculate how this situation is going to unfold but nothing indicates the presence of possibility for a peaceful resolution and the question is how much force the Israelis are willing to use and how far they’re going to send their military, and most important, whether other parties are going to be involved and I personally think Iran and Syria are not going to stand idle in this conflict. That’s because there’s no way that Iran didn’t know about what Hizbollah was planning for (while the Lebanese government was apparently clueless!) and I think Iran knows that Israel would respond with force. That’s if operation wasn’t entirely an Iranian plan in the first place.
I think Tehran wants to buy time here, they know it will be almost impossible to avoid a confrontation, actually they are looking forward to it but they want to decide when and where and they want to be prepared well enough for it (can they?!). So they want to fight to the last Lebanese, Iraqi and Syrian before their turn comes.
From an Iraqi perspective I believe that a powerful strike to Hizbollah will be in Iraq’s national interest. Hizbollah is Iran’s and Syria’s partner in feeding instability in Iraq as there were evidence that this terror group has a role in equipping and training insurgents in Iraq and Hizbollah had more than once openly showed support for the “resistance” in Iraq and sponsored the meetings of Baathist and radical Islamist militants who are responsible for most of the violence in Iraq.
Iran, Syria, Hamas and Hizbollah have made it clear that their mission is to fight back the American plans in the Middle East, to me that is equal to saying that their mission is to stop Iraq from becoming a stable democratic country to prevent democracy from spreading to the rest of the region.
Those extremists do not understand the language of compromise and they do not believe in negotiating even if they declare the opposite.
They want a war and I think they’re going to get one.”
http://iraqthemodel.blogspot.com/
some background information on one of the israeli soldiers killed yesterday
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3274701,00.html
something you’ll never find on AL Beeb (who seem to specialise in Hamas funerals)
OT: A question about the license fee.
My mother passed away before Christmas. Her license fee was refunded. I’ve been living at home for the last few months fixing it up. I didn’t bother informing them.. I have Sky and obviously a rather prominent dish.
This morning I recieved an urgent reminder reuqiring me to get a license. I’m a longtime lurker here, so my question isn’t born entirely out of being a tightarse. Do I crack and pay up?
HizBullshit
Patent that one, Archduke!
Bryan | 13.07.06 – 12:05 pm
I prefer Hizbollocks, or possibly HisBollox ;-Þ
Steve E.
Very interesting. Here’s another Arab perspective we don’t hear much about from the BBC:
Arab blogs that fight for reform
(Via Elder of Ziyon via Media Backspin.)
The BBC’s selective background info make it appear that Israel has always been the agressor. Note the reference to Sabra/Shatilla (1982).
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5175160.stm
ISRAEL IN LEBANON
March 1978: Israel invades to stop Palestinian attacks
1982: Full-scale invasion; Israel occupies Beirut; pro-Israel militias massacre Palestinian refugees
May 1983: Israel pulls back, but keeps “security zone”
February 1992: Israeli air strike kills Hezbollah leader
1996: Israel launches “Grapes of Wrath” raids on Hezbollah; 100 civilians die under Israeli shelling of UN base at Qana
May 2000: Israel withdraws troops from Lebanon
January 2004: Prisoners-bodies swap agreed between Hezbollah and Israel
Note: The Hizollah massive attack today is not confined to the border, it is at least 15 km deep south of the border. Considering the size of the country, it is nothing but war.ALl north residents are either in bombshelters, or evacuating far from the area. You wouldn’t knwo that if you relied on the BBC.
some more bias of the day:
NOTE THE TITLE:
In pictures: Israel offensive
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/5175418.stm
FOUND A PATTERN IN THE PICTURES?
“Today” programme on radio4 this morning: a Gordon Brown proposal to confiscate funds from dormant bank accounts and spend it on tackling “deprivation”.
There are several obvious points to challenge about this idea, but instead Montaquinn asks “isn’t it the governments job to tackle deprivation with government money ?”
This question includes a few assumptions – like (1) there is such a thing as deprivation (2) it needs to be tackled and its the government’s job (3) the government has its own money.
Going back to he original proposal – the questions I would ask are:
(1) Why put the money into “deprivation” – why not just put it in the pot and spend it on all kinds of stuff like roads, schools, missiles, and hospitals.
(2) Its a bit technical, but I do not think that unclaimed and dormant bank accounts are just sitting there doing nothing. Its not like having a car in the garage that never gets driven or a pile of tinned food that does not get eaten. The funds only exist on paper, and have already been recycled by the banks.
Maybe someone with more economic expertise could elaborate on this.
Excellent spot, archduke.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5172418.stm
“EU slashes overseas mobile costs”
Oh, isn’t the EU fabbo! They even have a photo of a beautiful young woman, avec phone. And she is smiling! She’s obviously thrilled at the news that the EU is slashing overseas mobiles costs too!
Hold on. This press release, I mean report, tells us that the [grandiosely titled] Commissioner – not the ‘EU’ – plans to introduce stringent regulations on mobile companies to limit profit margins, cap charges, rid the world of all known diseases, etc. All of which is subject to parliamentary approval and the usual fudgery, no doubt.
And it will all happen in the future, possibly – though I am sure these profit-hungry mobile phone companies will slap charges elsewhere to compensate. The article doesn’t tell us this because this is a good news story!
All of this is wonderful but it bears no resemblance to the breathless headline.
I see that European Investment Bank loan to the BBC is already paying dividends. 🙂
Hizbollox have threatened to hit Haifa if the Israelis bomb southern Beirut.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1150885985413&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
7 wounded in Hizbomber rocket attack on Safed
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1150885981850&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
the Safed attack isnt mentioned on the BBC middle east page.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/default.stm
Incidentally, this is a Commission proposal. The Commission is not ‘the EU’.
Furthermore, the Commission [and ‘the EU’] cannot “slash” anything, apart from its own budget, perhaps.
Rachel -> i just caught Sky News at 1 o’clock. they did a pretty good job of showing things from the israeli side. bomb shelters etc.
meanwhile, the BBC reporter was right behind a big Israeli artillery piece, which was firing as he was reporting.
yes bbc – we got the message loud and clear.
(tossers)
Steve E and Biodegradeable
Two really interesting and informative insights from the Arab perspective. Makes a huge contrast with the enhanced Jeremy Bowen on Today this morning. He had no analysis to offer at all. How much are they paying him?
“I see that European Investment Bank loan to the BBC is already paying dividends”
aha! now it makes sense.
and look at this headline, which is also misleading:
“Tory Euro switch delayed to 2009”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5175708.stm
what?!! the Tories are switching to the Euro?
err. no. its about the EPP.
“Two really interesting and informative insights from the Arab perspective.”
18.5% of the ISRAELI population are Arab. Some of them serve in the Israeli army.*
not that you’d ever hear anything about them from Mr Bowen.
hmm… has al-beeb ever asked the question – if the Israeli “apartheid” state is so bad, how come that 18.5% of the population arent fleeing into , i dunno, Saudi Arabia?
might it be because in Israel, the mullahs dont hold sway, and you can believe in anything you want?
is that why those Arabs have stayed in Israel, free from tyranny, and free to be whatever they like?
i suspect it is.
20,000 (!!!) Israeli reservists were called up this morning
http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Security/8860.htm
Life is tough when your a hand-wringing BBC lefty. First they banned the word ‘Dhimmi’ from their heavily censored blogs and (D)HYS, on the grounds it might cause offence (to whom?) but now (apparently) its OK!
What about the ‘I’ word and the ‘T’ word????
No Offence
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2006/07/no_offence_1.html
“Recently in our Have Your Say discussions, “dhimmi” has been used in a context which breaches our house rules, specifically that posts should not be abusive, offensive or provocative. Some users have tried to register with names using variations of “dhimmi”, again sometimes in an offensive way. When we spotted this trend, we put the word “dhimmi” on our automated list of blocked words, mostly swearing and racially offensive terms. That meant that any reference to “dhimmi” would mean the posting was automatically deleted.”
Says it all, you can’t have ‘provocative’ thoughts on the BBC? Dhimmis!
archduke:
a correction,
kidnapped soldiers are not Druze as thought initially. One of the killed one is, the other survived. The two kidnapped are Jewish: Ehud Goldwasser, Eldad Regev.
Ironically, some areas under attack today are Arab since many Arabs live in the Galile area, they also have some casualties.
re-hmm… has al-beeb ever asked the question – if the Israeli “apartheid” state is so bad, how come that 18.5% of the population arent fleeing into , i dunno, Saudi Arabia?
READ THE FOLLOWING:
When Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak’s diplomacy raised the prospect, in mid-2000, of some Arab-majority parts of Jerusalem being transferred to the PA, a Palestinian Arab social worker found that “an overwhelming majority” of Jerusalem’s 200,000 Arabs chose to remain under Israeli control. A member of the Palestinian National Council, Fadal Tahabub, specified that 70% preferred Israeli sovereignty. Another politician, Husam Watad, described people as “in a panic” at the prospect of finding themselves under PA rule.
THE REST IS HERE:
http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=4301
good god Ritter. that really is a prime example of dhimmitude.
Stu,
Do you have a Sky subscription? If so, you won’t be able to get away with non-payment. I think Sky are legally obliged to give the TV Licencing people your details.
If it is an old dish, you should be fine, so long as you don’t get caught red handed.
I didn’t have a Licence for over a year (my housemate transferred his to our address when he moved in, so I’m currently covered). Basically, ignore their letters. If they come round, it will be during the day. If you’re at work, then you’ll probably never come face-to-face with one of them. Even if you do answer the door to one of them, say that you’re not willing to answer any questions (not even your name). Close the door in their face and relax.
They have to prove:
1) You have a TV/equipment capable of receiving a TV signal.
2) Who you are
3) That it is your TV/house/flat/abode
4) You don’t have a valid licence
Unless you make it easy for them, the won’t bother.
By the way, anybody seen the ‘technical difficulties’ that (D)HYS is having?
Anything to do with all the ‘most recommended’ posts in the ‘Where Will It End’ debate, being pro-Israel?
bit of curious thing to say – “where will it end”?
and the “israel in lebanon” bit too.
why not a HYS about Hizbollah rockets and Hamas terror attacks – when will *that* end?
http://www.haloscan.com/comments/patrickcrozier/115262595079827255/
dumbcisco | 12.07.06 – 1:26 pm | #
“The BBC interviews an Israeli spokesman on the World at One.”
That’s one side of the issue represented then.
“It then turns to a woman academic in the Lebanon……
The woman simply spewed a lot of Hisbollah propaganda.”
That’s called ‘balance’.
“actually a propagandist for the enemy.”
The ‘enemy’?
The BBC is Charter-bound to be impartial.
To paraphrase Laura Ingraham, the BBC shouldn’t have a dog in this fight.
So Biased-BBC is taking the BBC to task for being unbiased. Amazing.
(sorry for double posting…got the wrong open thread)
“actually a propagandist for the enemy.”
being a propagandist means you arent “impartial”
… the BBC shouldn’t have a dog in this fight.
http://www.haloscan.com/comments/patrickcrozier/115262595079827255/#294307
“being a propagandist means you arent “impartial” ”
archduke | Homepage | 13.07.06 – 3:07 pm | #
No-one said the woman was/ought to be impartial. She was there to balance an Israeli government spokesman.
BioD
No.
BioD
No.
John Reith | 13.07.06 – 3:16 pm
BBC’s reporting tells another story. This blog and its comments are full of examples.
“Arbeit Matt Frei” mate.
impartial Mr Reith?
if so, can you explain this?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/819200.stm
doesnt look like much , does it?
but , yet again, the BBC are lying by omission.
You see, there is one rather important date missing from that timeline.
A date which every Israeli knows about.
And it was something that the Lebanese army were involved in.
archduke
No mention of 1948. You’re right. There should be. And it’s Chamoun.
Thanks for the heads-up Grimer. Unfotunately — in this instance –I do have a Sky subscription. At least I was able to hold out for a few months.
well done JR.
its the little things, like that , added up, that gives one an overwhelming whiff of BBC bias.
i dont expect for one minute that the BBC should go all pro-Israeli, but it seems to me , that in the drive to “not be offensive”, the more unsavoury aspects of Hamas and Hezbollah are underplayed , if not completely ignored.
case in point – when was the last time you saw the BBC website or its news output showing Fatah or Hamas giving the Hitler salute?
have a look at the photos here:
http://onlyinisrael.blogspot.com/2006/06/define-moderate.html
“Former Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd is watching proceedings with a smile on his lips, which suggests that he might be unaware of the rhyming slang he’s often associated with.”
What is Douglas Hurd doing? Watching the Jonathan Ross show? No, he is watching England build a decent total against Pakistan. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/england/5175550.stm at 15:21)
This is not funny but very very childish.
sorry, OT to the usual BBC stuff, but since things are kicking off bigtime in the Middle East…
http://www.mererhetoric.com/
“What is going on in Lebanon is not a terrorist attack or an air strike. It is an actual war, like the Six Day War and the Yom Kippur War.”
By the way, anybody seen the ‘technical difficulties’ that (D)HYS is having?
Anything to do with all the ‘most recommended’ posts in the ‘Where Will It End’ debate, being pro-Israel?
Grimer
The (D)HYS front page poses the question
Israel in Lebanon – where will it end?
& choose to highlight the following contributions
None of the parties involved is acting in a way to get their desired result
Andrea Winternitz, San Francisco, USA
I blame both Israel and Arabs in these incidents
Mert Ozgen, Istanbul, Turkey
Impartial BBC, I suppose. Find balance between a sovereign state & “militias”.
As Grimer points out this even handedness doesn’t extend to the recommended comments, where the 1st 12 (with as many as 420 recommendations) all appear to oppose terrorists.
After the balance of the Mike’s Bar bombers programme, another surprising stance from the BBC
Horizon
9:00pm – 9:50pm
BBC2
Put simply, scientists appear to have got the threat to human health posed by low-level radiation all wrong. For instance, despite press horror stories, the after-effects of Chernobyl have been unexpectedly mild. Instead of the 9,000 deaths predicted, there have been 56.
There as many, including BBC’s friends, who still go for 9000, or more.
They have edited out the offensive part of the Douglas Hurd comment. I hope someone gets their butt kicked for it, but it did show the inate bias within the BBC.
BBC 2 radio news informs me that Israel has killed “50 people” in Lebanon.
hmmm.. no indication as to whether they were Hezbollah terrorists or not.
Ehud Olmert’s own words
http://www.solomonia.com/blog/archives/008703.shtml
“What exactly is the criterion by which one measures the proportion of more than a thousand missiles shot at innocent civilians against the measures that were taken by the State of Israel in the last few days? Can one measure the anxiety, the fear, the shocks, the lack of security of tens of thousands of people living day-in and day-out for almost a year under the constant threat of missiles shot at them?
When was the last time that the European Union condemned this shooting and suggested measures, effective measures to stop it?”
read it all.
Archduke,
Hopefully every border with i-slam will have one soon.
http://money.cnn.com/2006/07/12/news/companies/northrop.reut/index.htm
Oh dear, I fear ‘technical problems’ could soon bring down (D)HYS’s Israel thread as the most recommended postings aren’t conforming to al-Beeb’s world view:
http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?sortBy=2&threadID=2593&edition=1&ttl=20060713172052&#paginator
http://hurryupharry.bloghouse.net/archives/2006/07/13/supportforfascists_watch.php
“harrys place” on hezbollah’s fetish for fascistic hitler salutes.
he also links to some videos.
something you’ll never , ever, see in any report by Jeremy Bowen.
why ever not?
I would like to pose that question to Mr Reith. It is a serious question – are those Hitler salutes made up Israeli propaganda? Or do they really happen?
And if so, why? Can the BBC just ask the question to Hamas/Hezbollah?
A fine examination of the Guardian ethos of facing both ways in one article.
It should be required reading for BBC hacks, just to make sure they get it right.
http://www.engageonline.org.uk/blog/article.php?id=507