Open thread – for comments of general Biased BBC interest:


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574 Responses to Open thread – for comments of general Biased BBC interest:

  1. Biodegradable says:

    If it is true it’ll be blamed on the Jooos:

    BBC reporter Alan Johnston has been killed by an al-Qaeda affilated Palestinian organization, according to an internet statement obtained by Ynetnews.

    The statement was signed by the Palestinian Jihad and Tawheed Brigades, an organization named after an Iraqi al-Qaeda group.

    Responding to the statement, the BBC said it is “aware of these reports — but we have no independent verification of them. We are deeply concerned about what we are hearing — but we stress, at this stage, it is rumour with no independent verification.”

    In the message, the group said the British and Palestinian governments were responsible for Johnston’s killing, and vowed to release a video of the execution.

    “The whole world knows of our just cause in demanding the release of our prisoners, who are waiting under the fire of the occupation,” the statement began. “Our demand was that all of those who are responsible for the journalist… release our prisoners who are being held in the prisons of the occupation,” it continued.

    “The whole world made so much noise about this foreign journalist, while it took no action over our thousands of prisoners,” the declaration said.

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  2. Biodegradable says:

    The BBC studiously ignored Holocaust Memorial Day in the UK this year, so I don’t suppose they’ll bother reporting Israel’s Holocaust Day commemoration.

    http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1176152794686&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

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  3. archduke says:

    “Biodegradable | 15.04.07 – 5:47 pm”

    Al Q in Gaza??? i know its been hinted at before, but afaik this is the first solid confirmation of this.
    lets be honest here – the Hamas/Hez/Fatah lot arent into the head chopping business, and usually release their prisoners after a deal is made.

    this certainly takes the situation in Gaza to an entirely new level – and its right on Israels doorstep.

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  4. Biodegradable says:

    http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?threadID=5911&&edition=2&ttl=20070415180954

    Added: Friday, 13 April, 2007, 20:55 GMT 21:55 UK
    Alan Johnston´s disappearance is a deadly blow to the poor Palistinians, his fairness in telling the entire world about the suffering of the Palistinian people MUST be respected by the kidnappers, I´m pleading to the kidnappers to respect Alan and set him FREE now! Alan have Palistine in his HEART, his job in Palistine is also a JIHAD for the sake of TRUTH. Why Alan?

    Amin Abdul Muthalib Ali, Helsinki Finland

    Recommended by 4 people

    Added: Friday, 13 April, 2007, 20:52 GMT 21:52 UK
    Alan Johnston has been a compassionate and honest supporter of the Palestinian people, reporting fairly and objectively, bringing their plight to the attention of the world. He has been a supporter of peace in the Middle East. His continued captivity does not serve any purpose, and further isolates good Muslim people from the rest of the world. Please, let him return to his loved ones. And give him the opportunity to continue to serve the Palestinian people. Justice demands this.

    Lydia Selwood, Broadway, VA

    Recommended by 2 people

    http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?sortBy=2&threadID=5911&edition=2&ttl=20070415180954&#paginator

    Added: Monday, 26 March, 2007, 22:25 GMT 23:25 UK
    I may not agree with some of his reports, but considering that Alan Johnston is reported as a friend of the Palestinians and that his reports often favour the Palestinian side of the story, it’s quite appalling that it is Palestinian militants who have kidnapped him. He himself has done absolutely nothing wrong and I can only hope that he is returned unharmed.

    [Martin1983], London, United Kingdom

    Recommended by 99 people

    Added: Friday, 30 March, 2007, 01:19 GMT 02:19 UK
    Alan I hope you come home quickly and safely. And when you do I hope you make it clear that all journalists in the Palestinian Territories are under an implicit threat from terrorists. The reporting there is by necessity anti-Israel and untrustworthy.

    Adam, Toronto

    Recommended by 92 people

    Added: Thursday, 29 March, 2007, 24:04 GMT 01:04 UK
    Alan, my Mum & Dad were kidnapped by 45 PLO militiamen in 1974 & interrogated for 18 hours non-stop. Mum knows how you must feel. They accused them of being Israeli spies after mistaking her shopping list, written in Pitman Shorthand, as Hebrew code. The geniuses holding you have illustrated exactly why both Hamas & the PLO can’t be trusted. You can’t legislate for stupid people who can’t comprehend just how dumb they are. The ONLY winning strategy for the Palestinian’s is to let you go ASAP.

    Richy Dee, London, United Kingdom

    Recommended by 87 people

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  5. archduke says:

    37 per cent of Israel’s youth feel that another Holocaust is possible…

    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3387930,00.html

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  6. Biodegradable says:

    Al Q in Gaza??? i know its been hinted at before, but afaik this is the first solid confirmation of this.
    archduke | 15.04.07 – 6:17 pm

    Israeli intelligence has been warning for a long time that AQ was present in Gaza.

    If it is true that Johnston is dead I predict another victory for the forces of evil because the BBC and the politically correct left will blame Israel – the terrorists have already written the script for them:

    “The whole world knows of our just cause in demanding the release of our prisoners, who are waiting under the fire of the occupation,” the statement began. “Our demand was that all of those who are responsible for the journalist… release our prisoners who are being held in the prisons of the occupation,” it continued.

    “The whole world made so much noise about this foreign journalist, while it took no action over our thousands of prisoners,” the declaration said.

    The BBC is already doing its work promulgating the meme:

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6557779.stm

    In a statement faxed to news agencies, the group contrasts the attention given to Alan Johnston’s captivity with that given to Palestinians held in prison.

    The Times has hinted at something like this happening, and with the connection to Al Qaeda:

    Johnston kidnappers demand release of bomber

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  7. archduke says:

    interesting links there biod. thanks.

    debka are saying that , if confirmed, this would be the first killing of a hostage by Al Q in Gaza.
    http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=4067

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  8. archduke says:

    http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=25133_Palestinians_Murder_BBC_Reporter#comments

    “Prediction: if Johnston was indeed murdered by his kidnappers, rather than reconsider their support for a murderous death cult society, British journalists will find a way to blame it on Israel.”

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  9. pounce says:

    The BBC and half a story.
    Planning for a new nuclear age
    India’s nuclear journey
    Driving up along the coast from India’s financial mega-city, Mumbai, we started by edging through jammed rush-hour traffic and emerged onto a half-built motorway, flanked by high-rise suburban apartments and shopping malls, all massive developments demanding more and more electricity. Then turning off the main road we were in rural India, on a narrow, pot-holed road with bullock carts and bicycles, and finally we reached the Tarapur Nuclear Complex. At the gate was a sun-bleached plaque heralding the friendship between India and the United States and stamped with the logo of General Electric. Back in the sixties, GE built two reactors here, both still working, the control room lovingly preserved with dials flickering like the dashboard of a vintage car. We drove a short way to two brand new reactors that are built, designed and fuelled entirely by India.But shortly after Tarapur opened in 1969, things went wrong. It was the height of the Cold War and America thought India was too close to the Soviet Union, so it sent warships to the Bay of Bengal to warn it off.
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/6550029.stm

    So from reading the above did the US send in the USS Enterprise and her task force in which to attack India for developing nuclear power or was it something else?

    Here is something from the very BBC from 4 years ago;
    Bangladesh war secrets revealed
    Secret British official papers from 30 years ago shed new light on the bloody confrontation between India and Pakistan in 1971.
    The papers show that the US administration believed that India was about to dismember Pakistan. The papers include secret transcripts of a summit meeting between the US and British leaders in December that year. US President Richard Nixon and UK Prime Minister Edward Heath met in Bermuda as India and Pakistan fought their third war since gaining independence. The papers relating to that war which resulted in the creation of Bangladesh, were released on Wednesday at the Public Record Office in London.
    …………………………………..
    Threatening posture
    Nixon told the British that Mrs Gandhi was being steered by the Soviets, in response to the building of ties between Pakistan and China. And Mr Kissinger said Nixon had secretly contacted the Soviet leadership to seek an assurance it would restrain India from breaking up West Pakistan. But it was only after the American Seventh Fleet took up a threatening posture offshore that the promise was forthcoming.
    The outcome, as the world knows, was the creation of Bangladesh, ruled by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and the temporary eclipse of military government in West Pakistan.
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2619317.stm

    So the reason why the 7th fleet went in was not an example of how America will not allow anybody else to develop nuclear power (A not so subliminal attempt at a correlation with Iran by the BBC) But rather after the swift disintegration of the Pakistani army at the hands of the Indian army in 1971 in what used to be called East Pakistan. The yanks were concerned India (buoyed by such success) would remove West Pakistan as well.

    The BBC and half a story.

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  10. Biodegradable says:

    “Prediction: if Johnston was indeed murdered by his kidnappers, rather than reconsider their support for a murderous death cult society, British journalists will find a way to blame it on Israel.”
    archduke | 15.04.07 – 6:48 pm

    What I said and http://www.haloscan.com/comments/patrickcrozier/3451009318172767397/?dt=1176677034#337605

    😉

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  11. Biodegradable says:

    Beheadings turned into black comedy

    ONE of Britain’s best known authors has been shortlisted for a national writing prize for a story that takes a blackly comic approach to the execution of hostages in Iraq.

    Weddings and Beheadings by Hanif Kureishi — writer of My Beautiful Laundrette and The Buddha of Suburbia — tells the story of a jobbing cameraman in Baghdad who films executions to earn a living and jokes about it as a way to cope.

    The author had the idea for the work, shortlisted for the National Short Story Prize, after seeing grainy video footage on the television news of the scenes leading up to beheadings. This led to him imagining the life of the man behind the camera.

    “The idea started with a joke,” said Kureishi, 52. “I thought, what if you were a cameraman, having to do these kind of jobs and you had a business card that said ‘Weddings and Beheadings’? I thought it was hilarious and told my children about it, but they just stared at me blankly.”

    Sounds ike his kids have more sense than him.

    The BBC is due to broadcast the story this week on Radio 4.

    But Alex Linklater, associate editor of Prospect magazine, founder of the prize, said the BBC may alter this plan, particularly while the whereabouts of Alan Johnston, its abducted Gaza correspondent, are still unknown.

    Art imitating life, as long as it’s somebody else’s life…

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  12. Anonymous says:

    Palestinians Murder BBC Reporter?

    “The enemy understands that the more it abuses a coward, the more the coward will give them–financially, diplomatically, even militarily. So they do not ever reward appeasement but keep demanding more in tribute, including blood.

    When will the remnants of Europe understand that you can never satisfy the blood lust of barbarians–even with sacrificial lambs. You only increase their appetite.

    Our generation is now learning the spirit of the phrase–it is better to die free than live in slavery”.

    http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=25133_Palestinians_Murder_BBC_Reporter#comments

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  13. Fred says:

    .
    The Beeb’s cultural cringe

    “It is shocking to hear BBC reporters, who have a duty of impartiality, using religious phrases as their own from faiths they do not in fact share. Is it to become the fashion for non-Muslim reporters (many of whom may be atheists), to say ‘The Prophet, Peace be upon him’? The BBC should be clear to its listeners about this. If there is to be a mouthing of religious phrases in an effort at cultural ingratiation this should be a declared policy, and you should inform your listeners about it.
    http://www.melaniephillips.com/diary/?p=1490

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  14. tw111 says:

    I hope Johnston’s not dead, but if he is, the Beeb will steadfastly insist on it being Israel’s fault.
    After all, they just issued their unqualified support for the Palestinians and their methods.

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  15. Anonymous says:

    You can just imagine what is being said in moonbatland tonight – Foxnews guys get out but the BBC guy gets murdered.

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  16. pounce says:

    The BBC and Not The Nine O/Clock News;

    Mass rally against Pakistan mosque
    Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of Karachi to show their opposition to a radical mosque which has begun an anti-vice campaign in the capital, Islamabad.

    The mass protest in Karachi was organised by the Mutahida Qami Movement, a political party based in the city that strongly supports Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s president.
    http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/6F687535-A61D-441D-AC8C-E5B25000F1BF.htm

    Strange how hot on the heels of the hundreds of thousands of protesters in Iraq aqainst the US, the BBC isn’t reporting how tens of thousands of people are protesting against radical Islam. Even stranger is how an Islamic news site. Al Jazeera reports with less of a bias than the BBC.

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  17. archduke says:

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6557679.stm

    “Iran’s Supreme Court has acquitted a group of men charged over a series of gruesome killings in 2002, according to lawyers for the victims’ families.

    The vigilantes were not guilty because their victims were involved in un-Islamic activities, the court found.”

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  18. Jon says:

    Why do the BBC say that Al Tawhid Al Jihad is a little known group. Hardly “little known”.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6557779.stm

    “The Tawhid and Jihad group has claimed responsibility for numerous suicide bomb attacks in Iraq since Saddam Hussein’s regime was toppled.
    It has also been behind the kidnapping and beheading of foreign civilians linked to the US, including Briton Kenneth Bigley.”
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3677658.stm

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  19. Biodegradable says:

    Jon:
    Why do the BBC say that Al Tawhid Al Jihad is a little known group. Hardly “little known”.

    Because they don’t want to admit that “Palestinian” terrorism is the same as Iraqi terrorism, is the same as the terrorism that killed nearly 200 people in Madrid, is the same that brought down the twin towers of the WTC, is the same sickness that blew up a bus and tube trains in London. Because they don’t want us to realise what they don’t don’t want to accept, which is that we are at war with an enemy that wants us dead, and no amount of appeasement will change that.

    That’s why.

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  20. Biodegradable says:

    The BBC:
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3677658.stm

    Tawhid and Jihad justify the beheading of foreign hostages with the Koranic verses that are hotly contested by many Muslim scholars.

    Apologists for The Religion of Peace™ at any cost!

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  21. Bryan says:

    Biodegradable,

    So the BBC can’t search its own website to find that Tawhid and Jihad is not “little known” but actually notoriously well known to the BBC itself and others?

    What really makes my stomach turn is the prospect of the BBC continuing to spin the line that Tawid and Jihad are somehow not linked to Palestinian terror – even in the event that Johnston has indeed been murdered by the group.

    Though there were reports a while back of an unwillingness by Hamas to cooperate with al Qaeda, to which Tawid and Jihad are linked, it’s interesting to note that Tawid and Jihad and Hamas are both Sunni.

    Is the BBC playing this one down because it doesn’t want to antagonise the terror group in the hope that Johnston is alive? Or will it still continue to do so if the terrorists have indeed murdered him – just as it remained an apologist for Islamic terror even after Frank Gardner was shot?

    If it takes the latter course, then there really is no hope for the BBC.

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  22. Dr. Irene Lancaster FRSA says:

    This is what award-winning defector from the NUJ, Times journalist, Ruth Gledhill, has to say about the NUJ vote:

    http://irenelancaster.typepad.com/my_weblog

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