OPEN THREAD

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Enjoying the BBC’s  world class coverage of Ghadaffi’s fall? Here’s a new Open Thread for you to start the week – let’s see how quickly we can get to the 100 comments mark!

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143 Responses to OPEN THREAD

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  1. RGH says:
    August 23, 2011 at 6:54 pm

    “With Lockerbie sanctions suspended, his transformation from Arabist revolutionary into an African elder statesman looks likely.”

    BBC 1999

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/434698.stm

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    • David Preiser (USA) says:
      August 23, 2011 at 8:28 pm

      Caption below the photo of Ghaddaif with Arafat:


      The US bombed Libya in 1986 in retaliation for his support for “terrorist” groups.

      But now that The Obamessiah is bombing him, it’s for liberal humanitarian reasons or some such BS, right, BBC?

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  2. George R says:
    August 23, 2011 at 7:12 pm

    Is Sky News’ Alex Crawford the new INBBC John Simpson?

    Although we can see the adrenalin-charged effort of the TV reporters in Tripoli, most of the reporters inevitably get caught up in the enthusiasm of the ‘rebels’.

    A typical ‘interview’:

    TV interviewer to gun-totting ‘rebel’: ‘How do you feel’?

    Gun-totting ‘rebel’:’I happy now. I more happy when I kill Gaddafi.’

    War as entertainment.

    Watch the next TV episode of ‘Tripoli’: the all-action entertainment fiasco.

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  3. George R says:
    August 23, 2011 at 7:24 pm

    Near the truth?:

    BBC-NUJ reporting Africa?

    ‘Taking the Flak’



    Where is John Simpson?

    Waiting for a Tripoli victory parade?

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  4. Grant says:
    August 23, 2011 at 7:55 pm

    Compare and contrast the BBC’s coverage of the overthrow of Mubarak with the overthrow  of Gaddafi. 
      

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  5. RGH says:
    August 23, 2011 at 8:46 pm

    Recently there has been a lot of Chavez on the BBC. 

    The coverage of his medical treatment and his good relations with Fidel have been covered in a way that Pravda might have covered Brehznev.

    Will the report this (as Al Jazeera has):

    “Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday he will only recognize a Libyan government led by his friend and ally Muammar Gaddafi and accused the United States of inciting the country’s civil war.
    Chavez accused Western powers of riding roughshod over international laws by supporting opposition fighters in their revolt against Gaddafi.
    “This is kicking, spitting … on the most basic elements of international law,” he said. “Where are the international rights? This is like the caveman era.”
    Venezuela’s socialist leader spoke after fighters overran Gaddafi’s compound in Tripoli in what appeared to be the end of his 42-year rule.
    “We only recognize one government, the one led by Muammar Gaddafi,” Chavez said to applause as he presided over a cabinet meeting broadcast live on state TV.
    During six months of civil war more than 30 countries, including the United States and major European Union countries, have moved to recognize the rebel National Transitional Council as the governing authority in Libya.
    The 57-year-old former soldier one again accused Western powers of fueling the conflict to steal Libya’s oil.
    “They arranged this war,” Chavez said, referring to the United States. “They provided the arms, the mercenaries. They better not attempt to apply the Libyan formula to Venezuela or we’ll have to show them our power.”
    Both Chavez and Gaddafi are military men who cast themselves as anti-imperialist revolutionaries and forged a friendship during half a dozen encounters in the past decade.
    They have enjoyed a long-standing alliance based on left-wing economic ideas, antagonistic relations with the United  States, and their countries’ membership in OPEC.”

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    • David Preiser (USA) says:
      August 23, 2011 at 9:21 pm

      They’ll report that right after they get around to telling you that Chavez has been pulling all Venezuela’s gold reserves out of foreign banks.  They’ve reported that he has nationalized his own country’s gold-mining industry, but are censoring the news that he’s taking all the gold back home.

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      • Span Ows says:
        August 23, 2011 at 9:39 pm

        Even Owsblog reported that 😉 !

        “bringing home the 211 tonnes of gold reserves, worth $12.3 billion, held overseas, is a different story altogether” and “bullion traders are preparing for one of the largest transfers of physical gold in recent history“…another BUT, more importantly:
        CTV News quotes a precious metals strategist at investment bank UBS: “There is a growing preference among many different communities in the gold market to have their physical gold at home.”

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  6. Peter Parker says:
    August 23, 2011 at 9:16 pm

    On the topic of bias in drama:

    I caught the last part of “The Hour” BBC drama just now (you know, the one with McNaulty from “The Wire” – the show that was supposed to be the BBC’s answer to Madmen – haha).

    From what I could gather it seemed to have a pretty left wing angle on the Suez Crisis and the establishment cover-up at the time. And of course Israel got an unfavourable mention as one of the culprits behind everything.

    One thing made me chuckle: The lead character – a lefty journalist – ends with a homily to camera, something along the lines of “If we can’t have an open debate about the issues affecting the people – then we don’t have a democracy”.

    Wonder what he’d make of today’s BBC – where, in the words of Michael Buerk, to discuss the detrimental effects of mass-immigration, multiculturalism, Islamic appeasment, black gang culture ala Starkey etc. “risks being branded racists and pushed into the loathesome corner with paedophiles and climate change deniers”.

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  7. james1070 says:
    August 23, 2011 at 9:19 pm

    LOL, did anyone catch the last episode of The HOUR. Shock Horror the top boy at the BBC turns out to be a KGB agent. It would be more shocking if they discoved he had voted Tory.

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  8. David Preiser (USA) says:
    August 23, 2011 at 9:59 pm

    Sometimes the BBC approves of the position that government spending of borrowed money and not reducing taxes is a bad idea and does not boost the economy towards recovery……when it’s used to criticize the Conservative-led Coalition.


    Forbes: British coalition is making a ‘huge mistake’ 

    Just from the headline, you’d think this was going to be another bitch session about swingeing cuts.  But no, Forbes is actually saying the US needs to stop spending like a drunken sailor and needs to reform all kinds of things like investment banking, getting rid of The Obamessiah’s draconian new business regulations, and – shock, horror, heresy! – reform Obamacare.  Oh, dear.

    The actual “huge mistake” by the Coalition Government?  They haven’t lowered taxes enough.  LOL.  Still, any excuse to get in an attack at the nasty Tories, eh?

    Where’s Ed Balls now, BBC?

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  9. London Calling says:
    August 23, 2011 at 10:07 pm

    August Riots? Not apparently due to criminals theiving, no, its apparently now a “generation” that has turned to violence. (Or perhaps 0.001% of it). Effn arts graduates that can’t add up!

    “Panorama
    The full story of the August riots. What has led a generation to violence?”

    The bBC, Quality Journalism – not.

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    • RGH says:
      August 24, 2011 at 7:38 am

      The concept of a ‘generation turning to violence’ is a slur on the hundreds of thousands of young people who put up with violence and disruption in their schools, who approve whole-heartedly with the sentencing handed out by courts in the wake of the riots.

      The ‘generation’ is not some unified cohort.

      Why does the BBC imagine it is?

      Patronising and silly.

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  10. pounce_uk says:
    August 23, 2011 at 11:27 pm

    I see the bBC cannot accept the fact that a member of the Scottish Palestinian society has been found guilty of racist behaviour towards a jew.  Read how the bBC reports this story in its typical biased opinionated manner  in which to make the victim the guilty party and the guilty party the victim.  
    St Andrews student guilty of Israel flag racism  
    A student at St Andrews University has been found guilty of a racist breach of the peace after he insulted the flag of Israel.Paul Donnachie, 19, put his hands down his trousers then rubbed them on a flag belonging to Jewish student Chanan Reitblat. Donnachie also accused Mr Reitblat of being a terrorist during the incident at the halls of residence in March.  
    Wow, reading the bBC version of events you get the impression that Donnachie has been hard done by.  
    And here is what actually transpired as not told by the bBC:  

    During a two-day trial, Mr Reitblat, 21, said that the incident occurred on March 12 when two students entered his flat in university halls at 1.30am to see his room-mate. Mr Reitblat said Colchester and Donnachie, whom he knew “vaguely” and who were aware he was Jewish, were “extremely drunk and falling over a lot”. He said Donnachie noticed the flag, and said Israel was a terrorist state and the flag was a terrorist symbol. He then unbuttoned his trousers, put his hands down his pants, pulled off a pubic hair and rubbed it over the flag. Colchester did the same thing, the court heard, then started urinating in Mr Reitblat’s washbasin, causing “collateral damage” to his toothbrush.  
     Mr Reitblat said he went to speak to the halls’ warden because he felt Colchester and Donnachie had “insulted his beliefs” and phoned his parents, who were “left hysterical”.  He said the next day he saw messages on Facebook from Donnachie, including one in which Donnachie complained there was a Zionist in his hall, and posted “f**k the IDF” and “Long Live Gaza”. He later found a letter under his door from Donnachie which said: “I never apologise for my opposition to tyranny, but I do apologise for touching your flag and for my over-familiarity with your private property.” The letter also called what had happened “drunken revelry”, which Mr Reitblat said he felt was “a taunt”.  
    Mr Reitblat, who flew from New York, where he now lives, to give evidence, said he struggled at his exams afterwards, viewed his term at St Andrews as “a flop”, and no longer left safe at the institution. He added that he had difficulty studying after the incident.  

    It appears the actual events contrast with the bBC version and not only point in the direction of acute racism, but also threatening bullying behaviour. Something the bbC tries to disguise by printing a picture of the victim apparently smirking.  

    Now imagine the story if this was a Muslim girl refused entry onto a bus in London.  

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    • Craig says:
      August 24, 2011 at 6:04 am

      Yes, that is a very sanatised version of events. The use of


      “This is a ridiculous conviction. I’m a member of anti-racism campaigns”, Paul Donnachie

      as a block-quote to the right of the article also suggests where the BBC reporter/editor’s sympathy lies here.

      Both the headlines used by the BBC (for this and the earlier report on the story) – St Andrews student guilty of Israel flag racism and Students accused of Israel racism – are strangely worded.

      Anyone skimming the BBC News website and seeing them would probably assume that the racism came from an Israeli source. Surely it would have less ambiguous to have headlined the stories ‘St Andrews students guilty of anti-Israel racism’ and ‘Students accused of anti-Israel racism’?

      It’s as if someone at the BBC wasn’t wanting to make the connection between pro-Palestinian activists and violent racism too explicit here.

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  11. George R says:
    August 24, 2011 at 12:17 am

    “Guardian poll shows public support for robust riot sentences – so the Left despairs”

    (by Janet Daley)

    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/janetdaley/100101922/guardian-poll-shows-public-support-for-robust-riot-sentences-so-the-left-despairs/

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  12. Cassandra King says:
    August 24, 2011 at 4:24 am

    I wonder if the BBC wwill report this insane outburst by the BBCs favoured Australian? Nope! Here we see the increasingly unstable desperation of mentally ill cultists driven over the edge by the inevitable falling apart of their CAGW fraud. Unable yet to look in the mirror of reality they withdraw into a child like state of stunning ignorance lashing out with emotion driven hate. The following IS what CAGW cultism is all about.

    Many thanks to the superb GREENIEWATCH, WITHOUT THIS ONE MAN BAND HOW MUCH WOULD THE BBC BE ABLE TO HIDE FROM US?

    Australia: Conservative leader Accused Of “Climate Change Racism”

    Today’s unhinged climate alarmist moment comes courtesy of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
    Federal Climate Change Minister Greg Combet has accused Opposition Leader Tony Abbott of having a racist climate change policy.

    Mr Abbott has warned that Australian businesses buying carbon permits under an emissions trading scheme could be conned by unscrupulous international traders.

    Because there has been absolutely no fraud in the climate change hoax carbon schemes.
    The Government plans to introduce its carbon tax legislation to Parliament by the end of September and hopes to have it passed by next year.

    Mr Combet described Mr Abbott’s position as “economic xenophobia” in an address to the National Press Club.

    “It sends the signal that it’s somehow dubious to trade with foreigners. It’s typical dog-whistle politics, trashing the commitment that’s existed for many years on both sides of politics to economic liberalisation and open trade,” he said.

    “It is in effect a white carbon policy designed to harvest more votes no matter what the cost.”

    So, even with the idiotic anthropogenic global warming issue, liberals go for their choice attack, raaaaacism. But, then, AGW turned from a scientific issue to a political one about 5 minutes after someone said “hey, I wonder if the output of greenhouse gases by Mankind is affecting the climate?”

    SOURCE

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