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Open thread – for comments of general Biased BBC interest:
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6065166.stm
Bloody PDA keeps adding spaces when I paste links in!
Lets hope this one works.
I give up, I just typed the address manually and it still has a space before the story number of 6065166!
Sorry!!
“A totally useless piece of information designed to cast doubt about the mission in Afghanistan.”
Surely one of the main complaints against BBC and other broadcasters is that they treat Afghanistan and Iraq as a single homogenous mass of murderous mayhem rather than reflecting the fact that some areas aren’t actually too bad?
From today’s torture story:
The Israeli figure conceals a stark difference in attitude within the country, split along religious lines.
A majority of Jewish respondents in Israel, 53%, favour allowing governments to use some degree of torture to obtain information from those in custody, while 39% want clear rules against it.
But Muslims in Israel, who represent 16% of the total number polled, are overwhelmingly against any use of torture.
See, conclusive proof from Al-Beeb, Jews = bad, Muslims = good.
I wonder if the survey was run on similar lines to the recent Lancet offering.
On the BBC commissioned torture poll, the online report states
But countries that face political violence are more likely to accept the idea that some degree of torture is permissible because of the extreme threat posed by terrorists.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/6063386.stm
In radio news bulletins last night the examples given were the US, Israel & India & were contrasted with a lower acceptance by the UK. Why the US & India were thought to face political violence was not explained.
Excepting Israel, those examples were misleading & are not repeated in the online report.
Strange.
But Muslims in Israel, who represent 16% of the total number polled, are overwhelmingly against any use of torture.
I suspect they’d be in favour of a straightforward lynching:
Lynch mob’s brutal attack
Friday, 13 October, 2000, 00:18 GMT
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/969778.stm
In video footage that will remain etched on memories for a long time to come, Israeli TV broadcast the lynching of Israeli soldiers by a furious Palestinian mob in the West Bank town of Ramallah. The film, shot by an Italian television crew, showed dozens of enraged Palestinians storming the police station where the soldiers were being held after they had been captured by Palestinian police. Gruesome scenes were visible through an open window as the mob savagely beat and stabbed two or possibly three of the soldiers to death. Then a body was thrown from an upstairs window. The frenzied crowd clapped and cheered as more blows were rained down on the lifeless figure by the crowd outside ……. Their deaths were captured on film with the same power as the last moments of the short life of Muhammad al-Durrah, shot by Israeli troops 12 days ago as his father vainly tried to shield him with his own body.
Barker_John
What troubles me about all of this is quite straight forward. It’s the same logic that was applied to the lebanese ambulance “hoax” claims and the same logic that says Israel killed mostly hizbollah fighters in the last war in Lebanon (despite the fact most of the casualties were women and children). The same logic that says that the gaza beach incident was all made up. All the evidence to the contrary is ignored and the sources who provide it (HRW, Amnesty, etc.) are shamelessly dismissed as “anti-semites”, as it typically goes with you lot. You’re more than happy to use the suffering of the Holocaust victims and their bereved friends and family to delegitimise anyone elses point of view. It’s pathetic, bottom of the barrel stuff.
What you call “the truth” is in reality an intepretation of events provided by one (in the case of the ambulance hoax claims) or a few people who are openely unobjective. They actually are biased, and so are you. In this sense it is no wonder that everyone else seems biased to you.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/6063386.stm
“The dominant view around the world is that terrorism does not warrant bending the rules against torture,” said Steven Kull, director of the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA), whose organisation helped conduct the survey.
http://www.pipa.org/
A view of some of Mr. Kull’s other utterances may join up the dots.
You’re more than happy to use the suffering of the Holocaust victims and their bereved friends and family to delegitimise anyone elses point of view. It’s pathetic, bottom of the barrel stuff.
Hey? Who? What? Who mentioned the Holocaust? Who cited the suffering of the Holocaust ‘to delegitimise anyone else’point of view’?
I must comment after readng all the various and sundry anons; can we not just ignore those who will not bother to pick even a random name?
In case we didn’t know who the real enemy is…
“When a dangerous Muslim extremist wins his battle to stay in the UK, a gunman shoots him down outside court and denounces Islam in the name of Christ, as the spy drama continues.
Bishop David Newman, an advisor on religious matters to the PM, condemns the attack on television, but later secretly meets with the assassin, Steven Paynton. It soon becomes clear that Newman is behind the killing.
An explosion in a café kills more Muslims and a Christian group called The Sons of Phineas claim they are behind the attacks. Adam and the team trace the group to Paynton but they need to assess the scale of the threat, so Adam goes undercover as a wealthy Christian extremist offering to sponsor Paynton’s future attacks. It is clear that Paynton has more planned and Adam has to find out when and where in time to stop them.
Unknown to Paynton, his group has also attracted the attention of Mossad (the Israeli secret service), who believe that he has an anti-Semitic agenda as well as an anti-Muslim one.
Under pressure from Adam, Paynton breaks and not only names Newman but also reveals that an attack on a Manchester mosque is imminent. Adam is about to bring Paynton in when Mossad hitmen storm the building to kill Paynton, with Adam’s Christian extremist next in their sights. However, the post-traumatic stress that has been plaguing Adam since Fiona’s death suddenly comes to the surface and Adam is paralysed just when he is needed most • can the rest of the team reach him in time?”
The billing for an upcoming episode of the espionage drama Spooks to be broadcast on 30 October.
More on Mr Kull.
http://www.cdi.org/adm/1116/Kull.html
No wonder the BBC hang on his every word.
Banned in Bitain
In total agreement with you, however I think you’ll find that the sundry Anons are, in fact, one who also masquerades as ‘hateviolence’
Don’t bother responding Anon until you can win a debate on this blog.
Funny how HRW finally agreed with the IDF then and said that it was almost certainly a Palestinian explosive store…..but the correction never made it to the BBC for some reason. In the same way that now that the latest Lancet farce has been strongly criticised by left and right (including that widely accepted site of the left which is always quoted by Galloway et al, namely the IBC)
But you’d be hard pushed to find anything on the front pages saying this where the original claims stayed for days until the lie was accepted. Saw some moron in the Mail letters page the other day claiming 650,000 Iraqis killed by the coalition. Even the Lancet report doesn’t say that!
The truth is that many claims are pushed until they are accepted as ‘fact’ “because the BBC said so” and if these claims are then found to be fake we never see the BBC pushing the correction with the same fevour…. THIS is the problem and despite many of us telling you and your various Anons this you ignore it. Who is biased now?
Time and time again people on this site provide links and info to back up their points. Funny how the various Anons et al fail to do so. The only thing they ever do is take a small part, rip it to shreds and claim that this proves BBBC is biased and wrong. Nope!
Billyquiz:
And I have already pointed out what a toad Leithead is. Previously he has written a long article saying that the Taliban are on the run according to the commanding General who has a better idea of the war situation than some Beeboid and then undermined the whole positive focus by adding a statement that some soldiers think the opposite. Again funny how these soldiers know more than the commanding General and are always anonymous but hey, anything to stop the idea that we might actually be doing some good out there!
http://drinkingfromhome.blogspot.com/2006/10/ch-charsss-kendenny.html
I notice the
http://drinkingfromhome.blogspot.com/2006/10/ch-charsss-kendenny.html
I notice that the BBC dont appear to covering this one. What if it were a tory? I think we know the answer to that one. Lib Dem embarrassment? Move along move along, nothing to see here.
jeremy vine.
comparing vietnam with iraq.
we now have an archive report on the Tet Offensive playing.
ho hum…
no change there so.
Cripes! Backbench Lib Dem MP with drink problem is rumoured to have had a drink. Better clear the schedules then …..
“The billing for an upcoming episode of the espionage drama Spooks to be broadcast on 30 October.
Steve E.”
those Mossad guys seem to just breeze in and out of the UK without anyone in Spooks noticing.
JR
Well the BBC never has a problem clearing the schedules for a Tory bad boy!
Vietnam – attacked by adherents of a murderous dogma who were seen off by the US Army (as confirmed by General Giap himself), said US Army then stabbed in the back by a treacherous, mandacious MSM (Cronkite et al).
GWB could be right: history could be repeating itself.
dave t
bah humbug. The last Tory ‘tired and emotional’ story anyone went big on was Nick Scott in 1996. Ten years ago. And that was newsworthy ‘cos: a) he’d recently had his collar felt for leaving the scene of an accident after running down a toddler in a pushchair whilst under the affluence of inkahol. And b) ‘cos he was discovered face down in a puddle at his own party conference.
Anon…
“All the evidence to the contrary is ignored and the sources who provide it (HRW, Amnesty, etc.) are shamelessly dismissed as “anti-semites”, as it typically goes with you lot.”
What evidence, Anon? All I remember is being told by the victims, be they Palestinians or Lebanese, that the attacks were carried out by the IDF. All the ballistic and forensic evidence points to a cover-up. Judging by the very skilful way that the terr…, sorry militants, manipulate the media for their own ends on a day-by-day basis, I’m very inclined to believe that there’s been a cover-up.
If you can show me that this evidence is false, then I’d be happy to accept Amnesty’s side of the story. I dislike the occasional right-wing rants on here as much as I do anonymous wind-up merchants. I like to deal in facts. The fact that these facts seem to back up the opinions of many on this site is a problem that you’ll just have to get used to.
dave_t
“Funny how HRW finally agreed with the IDF then and said that it was almost certainly a Palestinian explosive store”
As usual you’re wrong. Go and read what HRW actually have to say. You’re probably referring to the quote from Mark Garlasco where he said he agreed with the IDF that it was probably unexploded Israeli ordnance. HRW have in no way exonerated the IDF, and still demand an independent investigation, which wont happen.
Therefore if the BBC were to publish a story claiming as you just have that the probably cause was a “palestenian explosive store”, it would be totally misleading and more importantly, false.
Re : monikers, I’ll see if I can think one up, after all a silly title doesn’t make me any less “real” does it ?
Re : monikers, I’ll see if I can think one up, after all a silly title doesn’t make me any less “real” does it ?
how about [deleted]
Edited By Siteowner
Anon, might I suggest one of the following:
Isaac Hunt
R Swipe
Shy Ted
Juan Kerr
Funny how you all get bored when someone posts a load of shite then gets caught out for it.
archduke
“comparing vietnam with iraq.
we now have an archive report on the Tet Offensive playing.”
Aye, ‘cos it’s not like GB hasn’t just been asked about it and said the comparisons “could be right” or anything eh? ho hum indeed.
Anon
Who mentioned the Holocaust? Who cited the suffering of the Holocaust ‘to delegitimise anyone else’point of view’?
Pete
Don’t pretend that “anti-semite” doesn’t have holocaust conotations. It’s why the term is so offensive.
Anon:
Funny how you all get bored when someone posts a load of shite
hmmm………..
Anon –
Hah! You’re off your head. Of course ‘anti-semite’ doesn’t have Holocaust connotations. PLenty of lefties are anti-semitic, but I don’t see many denying the Holocaust. So let’s understand your logic here. You accuse someone of being anti-islamic simply because they are Jewish, you are in turn accused of being anti-semitic (because of a remark which is anti-semitic) which, to you, is citing the Holocaust to delegitimise your view.
Sheesh, that’s a strange world you live in Anon. I mean it this time, I won’t bother with you anymore. I do like a bit of a ding dong with a leftie but you’ve revealed your true colours.
Anon writes:
“It’s why the term is so offensive.”
I sympathise with young people whose education in history began and ended with Left-wing teachers banging on about WWII and little else, but you might find that anti-semitism goes back a bit further than the Third Reich.
And it sure as hell didn’t end with it.
The Tet offensive was a military disaster for the VC.
The US failed to take the attack into those countries supplying the VC.
The media spun the VC defeat as a victory.
“The more things change, the more they stay the same”
Anon:
Don’t pretend that “anti-semite” doesn’t have holocaust conotations. It’s why the term is so offensive.
You really do need a new name now. Talk about blowing away your own credibility.
“but you might find that anti-semitism goes back a bit further than the Third Reich”
We all agree that the ideology of the nazis is the most extreme example of anti-semitism. The next step would be to label me a “nazi”.
“Of course ‘anti-semite’ doesn’t have Holocaust connotations.”
Of course it does. “Anti-semite” has a range of conotations, from indivdual haterd to institutionalised, violent persecution, the most obvious example of which is clearly the Holocaust. Most definitions mention the Holocaust near the top. If saying the anti-semitism and the holocaust are linked is a stretch too far for you then you are either just determined to argue the toss, or really dumb.
The Holocaust is constantly used to remind us all of the threat of rising anti-semitism. You all know fine well that calling someone an anti-semite conjures up images of nazi death camps.
Anon still one more time you are able to change the subject
“You’re more than happy to use the suffering of the Holocaust victims and their bereved friends and family to delegitimise anyone elses point of view.”
The people here delegitimise your point of view with facts and evidence from credible sources, now where is your evidence, where are your sources, where is your back up, if you’re just going to comment without proof then you can’t expect people to just believe what you say.
You can go on and on talking about the influence the Holocoust has had on everyone’s point of view, but the main point here is that you have not backed up your prior arguments and most of those who have argued with you have.
Diana
I’m happy for people to challenge my point of view with evidence. Before all this began my last post was to dismiss the claims made by dave_t regarding the gaza beach incident. An insight perhaps into the leftie mindset is that labels like “racism” for example usually conjure up the strongest examples of such ideolgy, e.g. the KKK or other white supremicists. As for me, when I hear “anti-semitism” I think of the worst case of it – the Holocaust. I suppose (perhaps incorrectly) that most lefties are the same which why anything that can be construed as racism is offensive.
A UN Human Rights Council Envoy Jean Ziegler has called for an International Criminal Court investigation into alleged Israeli war crimes in Lebanon.
http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2006/10/un-envoy-urges-icc-probe-of-possible.php
Ziegler testified before the Banking Committee of the US Senate in a hearing on the assets of Holocaust victims, in support of the claims of the World Jewish Congress. His book, “The Swiss, the Gold and the Dead: How Swiss Bankers Helped Finance the Nazi War Machine” was published by Harcourt Brace in the US in 1998 and was then extremely well-received by America’s Jewish community.
Not an anti-semite therefore • despite attempts to smear him by pro-Israel lobbyists.
The BBC seem not to have reported this yet. Does that mean they are biased in favour of Israel? That’s what most B-BBC commenters would be saying if the story was critical of Arabs.
A whiff of hypocrisy around this blog, eh?
I notice that all the BBC reports on the death sentence placed upon Mirza Tahir Hussain ignore the fact that he was found not guilty by a civil court and then guilty by a Sharia religious court. It is Islam that has passed the death sentence upon him.
Another anonymous, great!!
No hypocrisy here Anonymous, there is nothing wrong with having an investigation over “alleged” charges. You failed to mention that in your own article it also says:
“Another group of four UN human rights envoys reported Tuesday that Israel and Hezbollah [CFR backgrounder] BOTH violated international humanitarian law [JURIST report] during the Middle East conflict. Their report to the Human Rights Council claims that Israel [JURIST news archive] failed to adequately protect civilians and failed to use means which would inflict the least amount of damage. The report blamed Hezbollah for using almost 4,000 Katyusha rockets which were fired at civilian areas in northern Israel, resulting in the deaths of approximately 40 civilians.”
http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2006/10/un-envoy-urges-icc-probe-of-possible.php
My problem with the BBC among other things is this:
“Cuba has fallen foul of international bodies, including the UN’s top human rights forum, over alleged rights abuses. ”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/country_profiles/1203299.stm
The BBC uses the word “ALLEGED” when it has been proven that IT IS TRUE that the Cuban regime violates the human rights of cuban citizens and prisioners, this is not just ignorant but made with malice, to suggest that these truthful, proven charges against the communist dictatorship are just “mere accusations.” I could pin point instances in this article where the BBC fails to portray reality, such as blaming the US embargo, when in reality it is Castro internal embargo, his absolute control of the country and the failed economic system what has caused Cuba to go from one of the best economies in Latin America in 1959 to the worst poverty and misery.
Here is another article which shows the BBC bias against cubans and in favor of the regime:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/5236164.stm
The BBC here also fail to mention that JORGE CASTELLANOS NUNEZ is a cuban living in Cuba, therefore, if he speaks against the communist government or against Castro he will be sent to jail and charged with “counter-revolutionary activities” and will probably receive a 15-20 year sentence. Also, since the regime is the owner of all the means of production, the regime is the only employer, so JORGE CASTELLANOS NUNEZ will be kicked out of work and won’t have any way to support his family if he speaks the truth. It is ridiculous to count as “valid” or representative of the cubans’ feelings in the Island, the answer obtained from someone who lives in an undemocratic society and who is subject to constant pressures becomes the communist-government/Castro is the one who determines the outcome of his life.
BTW the Human Rights Commission has found the Cuban government guilty of violating human rights ever since it was established. And Cuba did sign the declaration of Human Rights at the UN, but the regime fails to abide by what it signed.
The next step would be to label me a “nazi”. : anon
Don’t worry No-one would say you are a patriotic nationalist. As for the more murderous socialist part….
Please could commenters lay off the Nazi allusions. This conversation is not very edifying.
On the subject of tax cuts, how much could a government get for selling off the BBC? Or Channel Four? Abolition of the licence fee would help the poorest households disproportionately – it would hand back £3billion instantly.
Maybe we could distribute the proceeds to universities as an endowment? And the BBC would have to fight for audience share by means of programme excellence and a trustworthy news service.
Just a thought.
well , if they privatised it , with the government retaining a non-controlling stake, say 20%, the govt would also be paid a dividend every year.
The BBC and no story;
The latest breaking story news from the BBC is about how the Veil wearing teaching assistant has lost her tribunal hearing.
And how do the BBC finish that short missive;
“Ms Azmi had said she had a “brilliant relationship” with the children, and the veil had not caused any problems.”
http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/1350/kirkleesqz8.jpg
So it appears that while the tribunal found for the school (and Kirklees council) the BBC still try and present the image of Islamophobia.
Pounce, you still haven’t grasped the difference between them endorsing a viewpoint and reporting a viewpoint.
Update on my last.
Veil row assistant ‘victimised’
A Muslim classroom assistant who was suspended by a West Yorkshire school after insisting on wearing a veil in lessons has partially won a tribunal.
http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/5329/bbcvictimspotkk3.jpg
Partially BBC? So on that note did the Germans partially win WW2?
Are the Americans partially winning in Iraq?
So tell me BBC since when did this case suddenly become a WAR?
Once again the BBC defending the indefensible.
Pounce, you still haven’t grasped the difference between them endorsing a viewpoint and reporting a viewpoint.
Do you really think so.
CAIR to explain this headline;
Veil row assistant ‘victimised’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bradford/6066726.stm
Tell me, anybody linking into that story would they presume the girl was in the wrong. Or was she a victim of Kirklees council?
On that note are the BBC here endorsing a viewpoint or reporting one?
Different Anon writes:
“Pounce, you still haven’t grasped the difference between them endorsing a viewpoint and reporting a viewpoint.”
Nor have you, the difference between reporting a viewpoint neutrally and reporting it in a way that promotes the left-liberal agenda.
None so blind…
Not reported by the BBC:
” Veiled Teacher Plot Thickens
The Mirror reported that the father of the teacher suspended for refusing to remove her veil, works for a radical Islamic school. The school is called The Institute of Islamic Education and is in Dewsbury. Ofsted reported that there was an “over emphasis” on religion and that the teachers had limited understanding of the pupils’ needs. Adding that “Methods, such as memorisation of text, are better suited to the madrassah (Islamic) curriculum.”
Before you ask why she isn’t teaching at that school, it is boys only.
According to the Ofsted report, the school’s head (Chair of Shura) is a certain Mr Shabbir Daji. Now, I wonder if this is the same Shabbir Daji quoted by The Telegraph as a secretary and trustee of the Tablighi Jamaat movement. In that article (dated August 2006) Mr Daji was also quoted as a spokesman for the Merkazi Mosque in Dewsbury.
Remember that Tablighi Jamaat is an organisation called by the French as “an antechamber of fundamentalism”. It is also planning to build a 70,000 seater mosque right next door the Olympic village in London.”
http://littlebulldogs.blogspot.com/2006/10/veiled-teacher-plot-thickens.html
Any chance of a Panorama investigation?