“I feel I owe the EU my professional life”

 

 

Craig at Is the BBC BIased? (seems to be ever-increasingly so) is writing up the EU’s spendthrift proclivities:

The Great European Disaster Movie Part II

…noting that the film was in part funded by the EU…such a fact having been denied by the BBC…which of course raises many questions as Craig lays out in further posts.

But the EU’s desire to fund a bit of propaganda doesn’t stop there….a mere £70,000 is but a drop in the ocean…the few millions that the EU sends the BBC’s way makes hardly a dent in its budget.

The EU has set aside nearly  €1.5 billion to fund creative projects across Europe over 7 years:

Creative Europe programme

European culture, cinema, television, music, literature, performing arts, heritage and related areas will benefit from increased support under the European Commission’s new Creative Europe programme, which was approved by the European Parliament today. With a budget of €1.46 billion1 over the next seven years – 9% more than current levels – the programme will provide a boost for the cultural and creative sectors, which are a major source of jobs and growth. Creative Europe will provide funding for at least 250 000 artists and cultural professionals, 2 000 cinemas, 800 films and 4 500 book translations. It will also launch a new financial guarantee facility enabling small cultural and creative businesses to access up to €750 million in bank loans.

Why spend so much money?  Is it purely to encourage the growth of the Arts and creative industries?  Or is there some over-arching reason, a political reason?….

Culture Programme 2007-2013: general and specific objectives

General objective

To enhance the cultural area shared by Europeans, based on a common cultural heritage through the development of cultural cooperation between creators, cultural players and cultural institutions taking part in the programme, with a view to encouraging the emergence of European citizenship.

….with a view to encouraging the emergence of European citizenship.‘?….in other words this is a massive project to further the Grand EU political project….to make us love each other and the EU.

Who are to be the EU cultural stormtroopers?

Creative Europe: who benefits?

Creative Europe will support:

250 000 artists and cultural professionals and their work, allowing them to reach new audiences beyond their home countries;

The European cultural and creative sectors represent up to 4.5% of EU GDP and employ more than 8 million people. Creative Europe will help them to contribute even more to the European economy by seizing the opportunities created by globalisation and the digital shift.

 

So at least 250,000 artists and creative types (not to mention the 8 million who indirectly benefit) will be the grateful recipients of the EU largesse…and everytime they do an interview, or go to a party or just talk to friends they will tell of how the EU really helped them out….how great the EU is….and of course how many will include a bit of EU praise in their work?

Think not?  Here’s Armando Iannucci lavishing praise on the BBC.…why?  Because he tells us:

“I feel I owe it my professional life”

Which is why he makes endless speeches ‘defending’ the BBC and attacking the government review of the BBC Charter.

The same mindset is being created, bought, by the EU.  250,000 EU ambassadors, all paid for and willing to serve the cause in however a small way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘Is That It Paul Mason?’ ‘Really?’

 

 

Paul Mason left the BBC for pastures new…perhaps the BBC finally saw the light about his trotskyist tendencies or whatever they maybe…..this is amusing…Mason, and his utopian dream, is slam-dunked, very gently by BBC Trustee (and Migration Advisory Committee member…strangely the BBC’s Fraser Steel is on the board of Immigration Service UK Ltd….funny what these BBC types get into) Diane Coyle:

PostCapitalism dreams big – but its theories tend towards the vague

As a woolly centrist rather than a techno-Marxist, the future seems far more contingent than Paul Mason’s vision suggests.

Should the Syriza government in Greece ever throw off the shackles of Troika imperialism and achieve its anti-austerity revolution, Paul Mason will surely be one of the first supporters it will honour. One of the admirable characteristics of Channel 4’s economics editor is his passionate engagement with his subject. He seethes with indignation about the injustice he has seen.

His book is equally passionate, and meant as a manifesto for a new world of post-­capitalism. It’s a mixture of interesting reflection on how digital technologies are creating the opportunity for various forms of economic organisation and extremely irritating rhetoric: irritating because, from the first page of the introduction, it divides the world into goodies and baddies – sorry, radicals and neoliberals.

After the rhetoric and grand theorising of the earlier parts of the book, you close it asking: is that it? Socially responsible solar panels will overturn neoliberalism? Still, those who think neoliberalism is a coherent concept, and believe history progresses in clear stages, will delight in the hope offered by PostCapitalism and its argument suggesting that there is something inexorable about progressing beyond market capitalism.

To me, as a woolly centrist rather than a techno-Marxist, the future seems far more contingent. The digital technologies will certainly bring about deep social and economic changes but I suspect we are far more likely to see capitalism reinvent itself in messy, incremental ways, as it has before.

Paul Mason has read all the books, learnt all the clever things to say about Marx and Capitalism, he can spin out an eye=catching theoretical narrative but when it comes to producing a coherent, structured and intelligent analysis for the real world he falls apart.

What did the BBC ever see in him?  What was it that induced them to make him the economics editor on one of their supposedly prestigious programmes, Newsnight?

Perhaps they all think like Mason and believe it to be normal.  Gawd help us.

 

 

 

 

 

Stories That Go AWOL

 

Remember when they found that fragment of the Koran in a Birmingham library and the BBC was straight in there reporting it as if this was the discovery of the century….well it turns out it may be even better than that, a really dramatic story that would rock the foundations of Islam (as the BBC puts it when ‘revealing’ something controversial about Christianity)…rather than just being an everyday copy of the Koran it may in fact be a piece of scripture that predates Muhammed…you know, the guy who claimed to have received the Koran from God….was he telling porkies?

Maybe, some historians suggest, this fragment indicates Muhammed just copied what already existed…not that that is really a completely new idea…..the Koran you may already think of as being a Dan Brown like plagiarism, a half invented creation combining bits of Christian, Jewish and pagan faiths mixed in with some Arab customs and some inventions that suited Muhammed’s own narrative and life.

The ‘Birmingham Koran’ fragment that could shake Islam after carbon-dating suggests it is OLDER than the Prophet Muhammad

Fragments of the world’s oldest Koran, found in Birmingham last month, may predate the Prophet Muhammad and could even rewrite the early history of Islam, according to scholars.

The pages, thought to be between 1,448 and 1,371 years old, were discovered bound within the pages of another Koran from the late seventh century at the library of the University of Birmingham.

Written in ink in an early form of Arabic script on parchment made from animal skin, the pages contain parts of the Suras, or chapters, 18 to 20, which may have been written by someone who actually knew the Prophet Muhammad – founder of the Islamic faith.

Several historians have said that the parchment might even predate Muhammad.

Historian Tom Holland, told the Times: ‘It destabilises, to put it mildly, the idea that we can know anything with certainty about how the Koran emerged – and that in turn has implications for the history of Muhammad and the Companions.’

Keith Small, from the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Library, added: ‘This gives more ground to what have been peripheral views of the Koran’s genesis, like that Muhammad and his early followers used a text that was already in existence and shaped it to fit their own political and theological agenda, rather than Muhammad receiving a revelation from heaven.

Wonder why the BBC isn’t so keen to mention the latest thoughts about this ‘incredible’ find.

What else isn’t making the headlines on the BBC?

Oh yes. Police officer Darren Goforth.  Shot in the back by a black man whilst filling his patrol car with fuel.

The BBC have only just reported this and yet the officer was shot on Friday.  Have you heard anything about this from the BBC?  And yet had it been the other way around, the police officer shooting the black man regardless of circumstances and justification, the BBC would have been devoting plenty of airtime and web pages to that.

The Guardian reports the arrest of the suspect on Saturday….The BBC only reports it today..Monday.  And I cannot see a report of the shooting itself….why the complete lack of interest in a white police officer getting murdered?

Here’s what the BBC now tells us:

A Texas man is being held without bail after police say he shot and killed a sheriff’s deputy as the officer refuelled his patrol car.

Police believe Shannon Miles targeted Darren Goforth at a petrol station near Houston because Goforth was in uniform.

 

Oh yes and this…

Houston officials did not disclose a motive, but took issue with recent protests against police officers.

“This rhetoric has gotten out of control,” Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman said on Saturday.

“We’ve heard black lives matter, all lives matter. Well, cops’ lives matter too,” he said. “Why don’t we drop the qualifier, and say ‘Lives Matter’ and take that to the bank?”

 

 

“This rhetoric has gotten out of control,”….yep, certainly has…and much of the rhetoric against the police and ‘white America’ has come from the BBC itself…when it decides to report on a killing.  The BBC has been trying its best to whip up anti-white feeling amongst its black audience and those whites who like a bit of self-abasement.

Once again the BBC has contributed to an extremely irresponsible and dangerous narrative…the other being the Jihadi narrative of Western foreign policy and illegal wars against Muslims….acting as recruiting sergeants for the Jihadis in effect….and now stirring up discontent and anger within black communities….and you can guarantee this transfers over here in the same way more so than it is here already.

Irnocially the highly political ‘Black Lives Matter’ campaign group who exploit every black death for their own ends say this:

The Black Lives Matter movement responded to Mr Hickman and Ms Anderson, saying the group promotes peace.

“It is unfortunate that Sheriff Hickman has chosen to politicise this tragedy and to attribute the officer’s death to a movement that seeks to end violence,” Deray Mckesson, one of the group’s leaders, said on Twitter.

 

‘Promotes peace’…my backside!

 

 

 

Burke And Hair-Brained Ideas

 

Burke and Hare used to murder people to peddle their corpses to medical schools in Edinburgh.

The BBC’s favourite Burke, Jason Burke, their go-to expert on Islamic terrorism, merely disinters dodgy old conspiracy theories, as we looked at in the last post, and flogs them to a credulous BBC.

One comment he made in his latest imaginings is this:

Media in the US reported a network of Isis “sleeper cells” in the “homeland”, and “sleeper agents” in Europe, exactly as they had with al-Qaida in 2002. These claims were, at best, a gross misrepresentation of how either organisation operates and how individuals are radicalised.

So Islamic State sleeper cells or agents in the US are mythical?

The Washington Post disagrees…as does the FBI:

The Islamic State’s suspected inroads into America

U.S. authorities have charged more than 60 men and women around the country with alleged Islamic State activities. Men outnumber women in those cases by about 5 to 1. The average age of the individuals — some have been charged, others have been convicted — is 25. One is a minor. The FBI says that, in a handful of cases, it has disrupted plots targeting U.S. military or law enforcement personnel.

Here’s a breakdown of the cases.

Arrests by state

A quarter of the individuals arrested hail from Minnesota, whose large ethnic Somali community has struggled to blunt extremist ideologies.

12New York

Mufid A. Elfgeehr

Arrested: May 31, 2014
Age at arrest: 30
Rochester, N.Y.
Source

Charges: Three counts of attempting to provide material support and resources to the Islamic State and one count of attempted murder of current and former members of the United States military

Disposition: Pending

Nihad Rosic

Arrested: Feb. 5, 2015
Age at arrest: 26
Utica, N.Y.
Source

Charges: Conspiracy and providing material support to terrorists

Disposition: Pending

Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboev

Arrested: Feb. 25, 2015
Age at arrest: 24
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Source

Charges: Attempt and conspiracy to provide material support to the Islamic State

Disposition: Pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material suppport to the Islamic State.

Akhror Saidakhmetov

Arrested: Feb. 25, 2015
Age at arrest: 19
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Source

Charges: Attempt and conspiracy to provide material support to the Islamic State

Disposition: Pending

Abror Habibov

Arrested: Feb. 25, 2015
Age at arrest: 30
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Source

Charges: Attempt and conspiracy to provide material support to the Islamic State

Disposition: Pending

Dilkhayot Kasimov

Arrested: Feb. 25, 2015
Age at arrest: 26
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Source

Charge: Attempt and conspiracy to provide material support

Disposition: Pending

Noelle Velentzas

Arrested: April 2, 2015
Age at arrest: 28
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Source

Charge: Conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction against persons or property in the United States

Disposition: Pending

Asia Siddiqui

Arrested: April 2, 2015
Age at arrest: 31
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Source

Charge: Conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction against persons or property in the United States

Disposition: Pending

Akmal Zakirov

Arrested: June 11, 2015
Age at arrest: 29
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Source

Charge: Attempt and conspiracy to provide material support to the Islamic State

Disposition: Pending

Munther Omar Saleh

Arrested: June 13, 2015
Age at arrest: 20
Queens, N.Y.

Charge: Conspiracy to provide material support to the Islamic State

Disposition: Pending

Fareed Mumuni

Arrested: June 17, 2015
Age at arrest: 21
Staten Island, N.Y.
Source

Charges: Felon in possesion of firearms; conspiracy and attemping to provide material support to the Islamic State

Disposition: Pending

Arafat M. Nagi

Arrested: July 29, 2015
Age at arrest: 42
Lackawanna, N.Y.
Source

Charges: Attempting to provide material support

Disposition: Pending

10Minnesota

Abdiwali Nur

Charged: Nov. 24, 2014
Age when charged: 20
Minneapolis
Source

Charges: Conspiracy to provide material support to the Islamic State and providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization

Disposition: Charged in absentia; thought to be in Syria

Abdullahi Yusuf

Charged: Nov. 24, 2014
Age when charged: 18
Minneapolis
Source

Charge: Conspiracy to provide material support to the Islamic State

Disposition: Pleaded guilty and faces a maximum of 15 years in prison. He awaits sentencing

Yusra Ismail

Arrested: Dec. 2, 2014
Age at arrest: 20
St. Paul, Minn.
Source

Charge: Stealing a passport in order to travel to Syria

Disposition: Charged in absentia; thought to be in Syria

Hamza Naj Ahmed

Arrested: Feb. 19, 2015
Age at arrest: 19
Minneapolis
Source

Charges: Conspiracy to provide material support to the Islamic State; attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State; making a false statement in a terrorism investigation

Disposition: Pending

Zacharia Yusuf Abdurahman

Arrested: April 19, 2015
Age at arrest: 19
Minneapolis
Source

Charges: Conspiracy and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State

Disposition: Pending

Adnan Farah

Arrested: April 19, 2015
Age at arrest: 19
Minneapolis
Source

Charges: Conspiracy and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State

Disposition: Pending

Hanad Mustafe Musse

Arrested: April 19, 2015
Age at arrest: 19
Minneapolis
Source

Charges: Conspiracy and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State

Disposition: Pending

Guled Ali Omar

Arrested: April 19, 2015
Age at arrest: 20
Minneapolis
Source

Charges: Conspiracy and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State

Disposition: Pending

Abdirahman Yasin Daud

Arrested: April 19, 2015
Age at arrest: 21
Minneapolis
Source

Charges: Conspiracy and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State

Disposition: Pending

Mohamed Abdihamid Farah

Arrested: April 19, 2015
Age at arrest: 21
Minneapolis
Source

Charges: Conspiracy and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State

Disposition: Pending

6California

Nicholas Teausant

Arrested: March 16, 2014
Age at arrest: 20
Acampo, Calif.
Source

Charge: Attempting to provide material support or resources to a terrorist organization

Disposition: Pending

Adam Dandach

Arrested: July 3, 2014
Age at arrest: 20
Orange, Calif.
Source

Charges: Attempting to provide material support and resources to a terrorist organization; two counts of making a false statement on a passport application that was obtained in order to facilitate international terrorism; one count of obstruction

Disposition: Pleaded guilty to providing material support to the Islamic State and making false statements; he faces up to 25 years in prison

Mohamad Saeed Kodaimati

Arrested: April 22, 2015
Age at arrest: 24
San Diego
Source

Charges: Two counts of making false statements involving international terrorism

Disposition: Pending

Muhanad Badawi

Arrested: May 21, 2015
Age at arrest: 24
Anaheim, Calif.
Source

Charge: Conspiracy to provide material support to the Islamic State

Disposition: Pending

Nader Elhuzayel

Arrested: May 22, 2015
Age at arrest: 24
Anaheim, Calif.
Source

Charge: Conspiracy to provide material support to the Islamic State

Disposition: Pending

Muhanad Badawi

Arrested: May 22, 2015
Age at arrest: 24
Anaheim, Calif.
Source

Charge: Conspiracy to provide material support to the Islamic State

Disposition: Pending

5Illinois

Mohammed Hamzah Khan

Arrested: Oct. 3, 2014
Age at arrest: 19
Bolingbrook, Ill.
Source

Charge: Attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization

Disposition: Pending

Mediha Salkicevic

Arrested: Feb. 5, 2015
Age at arrest: 34
Schiller Park, Ill.
Source

Charges: Conspiracy and providing material support to terrorists

Disposition: Pending

Jasminka Ramic

Arrested: Feb. 5, 2015
Age at arrest: 42
Rockford, Ill.
Source

Charges: Conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists

Disposition: Pending

Hasan Rasheed Edmonds

Arrested: March 25, 2015
Age at arrest: 22
Aurora, Ill.
Source

Charge: Conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists

Disposition: Pending

Jonas Marcel Edmonds

Arrested: March 25, 2015
Age at arrest: 29
Aurora, Ill.
Source

Charge: Conspiracy to provide material support

Disposition: Pending

4North Carolina

Donald Ray Morgan

Arrested: Aug. 2, 2014
Age at arrest: 44
Rowan County, N.C.
Source

Charges: Attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and possession of firearm by a felon

Disposition: Pleaded guilty to both charges and was sentenced in May 2015 to more than 20 years in prison.

Akba Jihad Jordan

Arrested: March 19, 2015
Age at arrest: 21
Raleigh, N.C.
Source

Charge: Conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists

Disposition: Pleaded guilty to conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists

Avin Marsalis Brown

Arrested: March 19, 2015
Age at arrest: 21
Raleigh, N.C.
Source

Charge: Conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists

Disposition: Pleaded guilty to conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists

Justin Nolan Sullivan

Arrested: June 19, 2015
Age at arrest: 19
Burke County, N.C.

Charge: Attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State

Disposition: Pending

4New Jersey

Tairod Nathan Webster Pugh

Arrested: Jan. 16, 2015
Age at arrest: 47
Neptune, N.J.
Source

Charge: Attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State

Disposition: Pending

Samuel Rahamin Topaz

Arrested: June 17, 2015
Age at arrest: 21
Fort Lee, N.J.
Source

Charge: Conspiracy to provide material support to the Islamic State

Disposition: Pending

Alaa Saadeh

Arrested: June 29, 2015
Age at arrest: 23
Hudson County, N.J.
Source

Charge: Conspiracy to provide material support to the Islamic State

Disposition: Pending

Nader Saadeh

Arrested: Aug. 10, 2015
Age at arrest: 29
Bergen County, N.J.
Source

Charges: Conspiracy and attempting to provide material support

Disposition: Pending

3Texas

Michael Todd Wolfe

Arrested: June 17, 2014
Age at arrest: 23
Austin
Source

Charge: Attempting to provide material support to terrorists

Disposition: Pleaded guilty to attempting to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State. He was sentenced to 82 months in prison.

Bilal Abood

Arrested: May 14, 2015
Age at arrest: 37
Mesquite, Tex.
Source

Charge: Making a false statement to the FBI after pledging allegiance to self-proclaimed leader of the Islamic State

Disposition: Pending

Asher Abid Khan

Arrested: May 26, 2015
Age at arrest: 20
Spring, Tex.
Source

Charge: Conspiracy to provide material support to the Islamic State and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State

Disposition: Pending

3Virginia

Heather Elizabeth Coffman

Arrested: Nov. 14, 2014
Age at arrest: 29
Richmond
Source

Charge: Making a false statement to FBI about supporting the Islamic State

Disposition: Pleaded guilty to making false statements in an international terrorism investigation and was sentenced in May 2015 to 54 months in prison

Ali Shukri Amin

Arrested: Feb. 27, 2015
Age at arrest: 17
Woodbridge, Va.
Source

Charge: Conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist organization

Disposition: Pleaded guilty to conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists. Sentenced to 136 months in prison to be followed by a lifetime of supervised release and monitoring of his Internet activities.

Reza Niknejad

Charged: June 10, 2015
Age when charged: 18
Woodbridge, Va.
Source

Charges: Conspiracy to provide material support to the Islamic State, conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and conspiracy to kill or injure persons in a foreign country

Disposition: Charged in absentia; thought to be in Syria

3Missouri

Ramiz Zijad Hodzic

Arrested: Feb. 5, 2015
Age at arrest: 40
St. Louis
Source

Charges: Conspiracy and providing material support to terrorists

Disposition: Pending

Sedina Hodzic

Arrested: Feb. 5, 2015
Age at arrest: 35
St. Louis
Source

Charges: Conspiracy and providing material support to terrorists

Disposition: Pending

Armin Harcevic

Arrested: Feb. 5, 2015
Age at arrest: 37
St. Louis
Source

Charges: Conspiracy and providing material support to terrorists

Disposition: Pending

2Ohio

Christopher Cornell

Arrested: Jan. 14, 2015
Age at arrest: 20
Green Township, Ohio
Source

Charges: Material support and attempted murder of U.S. officials and employees

Disposition: Pending

Robert C. McCollum

Arrested: June 19, 2015
Age at arrest: 38
Sheffield, Ohio
Source

Charge: Attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State, possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and distribution of marijuana

Disposition: Pending

2Florida

Miguel Moran Diaz

Arrested: April 2, 2015
Age at arrest: 45
Miami
Source

Charges: Illegal possession of a firearm as a felon; he admitted being an Islamic State sympathizer, describing himself as a lone wolf for the Islamic State

Disposition: Sentenced to 120 months

Harlem Suarez

Arrested: July 27, 2015
Age at arrest: 23
Key West, Fla.
Source

Charges: Attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction; he has admitted being an Islamic State sympathizer

Disposition: Pending

2Massachusetts

David Wright

Arrested: June 2, 2015
Age at arrest: 25
Everett, Mass.
Source

Charge: Conspiracy to provide material support to the Islamic State and conspiracy to obstruct justice

Disposition: Pending

Alexander Ciccolo

Arrested: July 4, 2015
Age at arrest: 23
Adams, Mass.
Source

Charges: Felon in possession of firearms

Disposition: Pending

2Mississippi

Jaelyn Delshaun Young

Arrested: Aug. 8, 2015
Age at arrest: 20
Starkville, Miss.
Source

Charges: Conspiracy and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State

Disposition: Pending

Muhammad Oda Dakhlalla

Arrested: Aug. 8, 2015
Age at arrest: 22
Starkville, Miss.
Source

Charges: Conspiracy and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State

Disposition: Pending

1Colorado

Shannon Maureen Conley

Arrested: April 8, 2014
Age at arrest: 19
Denver
Source

Charge: Conspiracy to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization

Disposition: Pleaded guilty to conspiracy to support the Islamic State. In 2015, she was sentenced to four years in prison.

1Georgia

Leon Nathan Davis

Arrested: Oct. 1, 2014
Age at arrest: 37
Augusta, Ga.
Source

Charge: Arrested on parole violation after he purchased an airline ticket to Turkey

Disposition: Pleaded guilty to providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. Sentenced to 15 years in July 2015

1Pennsylvania

Keonna Thomas

Arrested: April 3, 2015
Age at arrest: 30
Philadelphia
Source

Charge: Attempting to provide material support

Disposition: Pending

1Wisconsin

Joshua Ray Van Haften

Arrested: April 8, 2015
Age at arrest: 34
Madison, Wis.
Source

Charge: Attempting to provide material support and resources to a terrorist organization

Disposition: Pending

1Kansas

John T. Booker Jr.

Arrested: April 10, 2015
Age at arrest: 20
Topeka, Kan.
Source

Charges: One count of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, one count of attempting to damage property by means of an explosive and one count of attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State

Disposition: Pending

1Rhode Island

Nicholas Rovinski

Arrested: June 11, 2015
Age at arrest: 24
Warwick, R.I.
Source

Charge: Conspiracy to provide material support to the Islamic State

Disposition: Pending

1Arizona

Ahmed Mohammed El Gammal

Arrested: Aug. 24, 2015
Age at arrest: 42
Avondale, Ariz.

Disposition: Pending

ISIS Schmisis

 

The BBC memo about the West’s foreign policy creating the terrorism threat, always a BBC theme but now linked to the immigration crisis in order to create a sense of responsibility and hence an obligation towards the immigrants, has gone viral and is now getting fed into the narrative on many BBC shows. The truth is that it is the BBC’s own anti-war narrative has helped feed the Jihadist cause bolstering the line that the war was illegal and a war against Muslims…Al Qaeda being a mythical threat created by Neo-cons for their own reasons…a narrative picked up by the Muslim world as we can see from this Arab News (The Arab world’s most read English daily) report:

Al-Qaeda threat used once again to justify war

The old cliché that the first casualty of war is truth has never been so blatantly evident as we witness the making of further wars and conflict. Most Western journalists continue to omit the facts in their news reports and push the government line that all insurgents are linked to “Al-Qaeda”. Very few have actually questioned the existence of Al-Qaeda and the illusive Osama Bin Laden. According to Jason Burke who as The Observer’s chief reporter and author of “Al-Qaeda – casting a shadow of terror” writes: “Al-Qaeda in fact does not exist…..Adam Curtis in his powerful documentary “The Power of Nightmares” argues that whenever one looks for this Al-Qaeda organization from the “mountains in Afghanistan to sleeper cells in America – the British and Americans are pursuing a fantasy.” 

Ironically whilst praising Burke and Curtis the Arab News criticises the BBC for stating “analysts say the attacks bear the hallmarks of groups linked to or at least inspired by Al-Qaeda”.

But Burke is back….with a new book to flog but the same old line about the non-existence of a terrorist threat…The New Threat From Islamic Militancy 

The ‘Afternoon Edition’ programme featured an interview with Jason Burke who is from the Guardian side of the world…the man who told us that Al Qaeda didn’t exist and whose conspiracy theory was the basis for the BBC’s atrocious conspiracy theory series ‘The Power of Nightmares’ which, as said, turned out to be a useful recruiting tool for the Jihadis. Here is Burke’s big claim that Curtis based his film upon:

“The terrorist group al-Qaeda in fact does not exist. It was made up in January of 2001 in order to prosecute Osama bin Laden in his absence. In order to prosecute bin Laden there had to be an organization like the Mafia for which he was a part of. Under the law if such an organization exists then the head of the organization can be prosecuted under the law. So in order to bring the prosecution they made up the organization and called it al-Qaeda. But the organization is fiction. It doesn’t exist. It’s all a huge fraud.”

Here is the BBC blurb for ‘The Power of Nightmares’:

In the past our politicians offered us dreams of a better world. Now they promise to protect us from nightmares.  The most frightening of these is the threat of an international terror network. But just as the dreams were not true, neither are these nightmares.  In a new series, the Power of Nightmares explores how the idea that we are threatened by a hidden and organised terrorist network is an illusion.  It is a myth that has spread unquestioned through politics, the security services and the international media. 

Curiously, the organisation that didn’t exist was in the process of murdering Ken Bigley just as the BBC were telling us they didn’t exist….

So controversial is the tone of his series, that trailers for it were not broadcast last weekend because of the killing of Kenneth Bigley. At the BBC, Curtis freely admits, there are “anxieties”. But there is also enthusiasm for the programmes, in part thanks to his reputation.

Glad to know that Curtis’ reputation (as a BBC lovey) was all that it needed to get this programme made…never mind the facts.

But wait…Al Qaeda was ‘invented in 2001’ by the Americans?  No it wasn’t...it was formally established in 1988 and took that name then….

In March 2002, authorities in Bosnia, Sarajevo, will raid the offices of the Benevolence International Foundation (BIF) due to suspected funding of al-Qaeda. The raid will uncover a handwritten list containing the name of twenty wealthy donors sympathetic to al-Qaeda. The list, referred to as “The Golden Chain,” contains both the names of the donors and the names of the recipients (but does not mention amounts given). Seven of the payments are made to Osama bin Laden.  Most accounts will be vague on what year the Golden Chain document was written; some say 1988.  But counterterrorism “tsar” Richard Clarke will say it dates from 1989. Al-Qaeda is formed in late 1988. Bin Laden conducts two meetings to discuss “the establishment of a new military group,” according to notes that are found later. Notes reveal the group is initially called al-Qaeda al-Askariya, which roughly translates to “the military base.” But the name soon shortens to just al-Qaeda, meaning “the base” or “the foundation.”

As the BBC admits:

Al-Qaeda was founded in 1988 by Bin Laden and Mohammed Atef – believed to have been the organisation’s military commander.

And again:

Al-Qaeda’s origins and links

Al-Qaeda, meaning “the base”, was created in 1989 as Soviet forces withdrew from Afghanistan and Osama Bin Laden and his colleagues began looking for new jihads. The organisation grew out of the network of Arab volunteers who had gone to Afghanistan in the 1980s to fight under the banner of Islam against Soviet Communism. Cells across the world The organisation is thought to operate in 40 to 50 countries, not only in the Middle East and Asia but in North America and Europe.

In western Europe there have been known or suspected cells in London, Hamburg, Milan and Madrid. These have been important centres for recruitment, fundraising and planning operations.

I’m guessing this ‘Al Qaeda’ training manual must have come from somewhere not just out of thin air:

Al Qaeda Training Manual

The attached manual was located by the Manchester (England) Metropolitan Police during a search of an Al Qaeda member’s home. The manual was found in a computer file described as “the military series” related to the “Declaration of Jihad.” The manual was translated into English and was introduced earlier this year at the embassy bombing trial in New York. The Department is only providing the following selected text from the manual because it does not want to aid in educating terrorists or encourage further acts of terrorism.

That’s a look at the past nonsense of Jason Burke and Co….what’s he peddling now?  The Guardian reveals…..

 

Same old, same old then from Burke. During his interview today he poured scorn onto Theresa May and said she was making up the threat about Islamic terrorism…in the Guardian he makes the same claim:

Theresa May, the British home secretary, said in November 2014 that “the threat we face is now more dangerous than at any time before or since 9/11”. This was an extraordinary and misleading statement.

But Burke is being economical with the truth.  What did he miss out from that quote that was somewhat essential to understanding how May reached that conclusion?…let’s have a look at what she really said, not what Burke made up:

This summer, JTAC – the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre – raised the threat level for international terrorism from ‘substantial’ to ‘severe’. This means that JTAC believes an attack on the United Kingdom is highly likely. The decision to change the threat level was based primarily on developments in Syria and Iraq, where the terrorist group ISIL controls swathes of territory. ISIL and its western fighters now represent one of the most serious terrorist threats we face. So when the security and intelligence agencies tell us that the threat we face is now more dangerous than at any time before or since 9/11, we should take notice.

In what way is that a misleadinhg statement?  She is reporting what the intelligence and security services told her….she isn’t even saying that it is true…just that we should ‘take notice’ of the warning. Burke wants us to believe that there is little to no threat to us in the UK from ISIS and that ‘sleeper cells’ or similar do not exist….

Media in the US reported a network of Isis “sleeper cells” in the “homeland”, and “sleeper agents” in Europe, exactly as they had with al-Qaida in 2002. These claims were, at best, a gross misrepresentation of how either organisation operates and how individuals are radicalised.

Tell that to the relatives of all those killed and injured on 9/11 and 7/7 or who were slaughtered on the beach in Tunisia recently or those who had a very narrow escape on the train in France…never mind Charlie Hebdo and the Jewish supermarket amongst many, many other attacks and attempted attacks. He tells us that there is little to no link to Islam and that really the ‘so-called radicalisation’ (apparently there is no such thing) is just a matter of good chums, old mates going off to war together just like the Pals Battalions in WWI.  Reducing this to a big adventure with your buddies is simplistic and dangerous as it doesn’t tackle the real causes of the non-existent radicalisation….er….as ironically Jason Burke tells us….the importance of recognising the underlying ideology:

The threat posed by al-Qaida was described in apocalyptic terms, and a response of an equally massive scale was seen as necessary. The group’s ideological motivations were ignored, while the individual agency of its leaders was emphasised. If they were killed, the logic went, the problem would disappear. If the importance of the ideas of al-Qaida in the Islamic world was ignored, current analysis misses the resonance of the Isis bid to restore the lost power and glory of Islamic empires.

He denies there is a genuine link to Islam and yet insists we must acknowledge the ideology behind the radicalisation and terrorism.  Let’s start with the BBC admitting that then. Burke says that the threat is barely there…the true threat is the fear created by the mere threat of terrorism and an over-reaction to it:

Terrorism’s greatest effects are thus achieved indirectly, through the reaction it inspires, rather than the actual destruction of life and property. This is why, in that moment when, having read of an attack or the threat of an attack, you experience a sudden pang of fear, you become a victim yourself. The fact that the number of people to have been killed in Britain in terrorist attacks by Islamic militants – 53 (52 during the 7/7 attacks, plus Lee Rigby) – is statistically negligible is irrelevant. To be afraid of terrorism is normal; to be concerned is natural. But it is better to be so in measure and in reason, not in panicked ignorance, and thus win one immediate and important victory.

I guess he’s right…a terrorist state like the Islamic State with its billions of dollars and fanatical supporters around the world pose no threat to anyone, apart from the states of Syria and Iraq….oh but what of Afghanistan as they move in there…or Gaza..or Egypt…Tunisia…Europe…Burma….and the US?  You ony need one man with a small arsenal to create havoc. Nice of the BBC to give these edgy conspiracy theorists like Jason Burke a platform to peddle their schtick…perhaps they should turn it into a film…oh..they already have.

The Blame Game

 

The last post ended with this thought about the BBC’s coverage of the migrant crisis…‘Nothing like massaging the truth to cover up your own part in the tragedy of the refugee crisis.’ and it is clear from recent BBC broadcasts that this is a policy that has moved up a gear as the BBC tries to start blaming British foreign policy for the crisis, the point of which is, not only to move the blame from where it belongs,, on the Left and the BBC in part, but also to suggest that if it is British foreign policy that is to blame then we must be responsible for the immigrants and therefore open the borders….clever huh?

Trouble is no one believes that…oh..accept the usual suspect who is an apologist for Islamist extremists anyway.

‘Any Questions’ first question, and I’m sure it was not carefully chosen at all by the BBC, was ‘Is British foreign policy to blame for the migrant crisis?’

Unfortunately, and a great shock to the BBC I’m sure, the right-on panel, almost to a man, said no, it wasn’t to blame.  The one exception was Peter Oborne…he being that apologist for Islamist extremists.

That not withstanding the BBC then ran its ‘Any Answers’ programme…the theme…

Migrant Crisis

The youngest was only about two years old. As the world reels from the news of a lorry full of migrants found suffocated to death in Austria as they tried to enter Europe, we ask to what extent has UK foreign policy over the last fifteen years exacerbated the refugee crisis in Europe?

British foreign policy has nothing to do with the crisis in Syria…other than the fact that we didn’t interfere and try and stop the war….due in part to the BBC’s covering up evidence of Assad’s use of chemical weapons just before the vote in Parliament.  Syria exploded due to internal protests against the government and the harsh government response…along with Assad’s support for ISIS after releasing them from his prisons, which then went out of his control.  Zilch to do with the UK.

Oh and Tory Priti Patel was somewhat outgunned by the Left on Any Questions by a Labour MP, a Miliband supporter and of course, Billy Bragg.  Not saying the BBC, as usual, has loaded the dice against the ‘right winger’ but they have haven’t they?

Shaking The World’s Conscience…But Not The BBC’s

 

We had a passing look at the BBC’s role in creating the immigrant crisis the other day. One thing we missed out was the fact that the immigration policy we are forced to adhere to by Europe, and cheerleaded by the BBC, is in fact the reason we cannot take in many genuine refugees.  If we are taking in 330,000 immigrants (379,000 net foreign migrants) we have no resources left to support refugees who may be in genuine need….as the Daily Mail points out…..

While ministers lay down the welcome mat to a net 330,000 arrivals, they refuse to co-operate with a plan to distribute Syrian families around the EU – arguing, with absolute justification, that we take far too many migrants as it is.

Such is the sickening consequence of losing control of our borders. Because we admit so many economic migrants, we are driven to sacrifice our noble tradition of offering a haven to genuine refugees.

Curiously the BBC found a way to mention the Mail’s comment but at the same time to avoid that clearly stated conclusion that mass immigration means we must end the policy of asylum.  Mishal Husain on the Today programme, when looking at what the papers said opened (08:39) with the Daily Mail’s comment title….’The Mail describes this well as a nightmare to shake the conscience of the free world’.   John Humphrys then said, note change in tone, now more upbeat, that ‘the Daily Mail suggests we should take in a ‘fair quota’ of refugees on the strict condition that the UK regains the right to limit migration from within the European Union’.  That of course doesn’t make the explicit link between the mass migration and the inability to take in refugees that the Mail makes…there is no causal link between the two statements by Humphrys….avoiding the difficult conclusion that the mass immigration supported by the BBC is having a huge and negative effect on our repsonse to refugees.

Nothing like massaging the truth to cover up your own part in the tragedy of the refugee crisis.

Bring Back Colonialism

 

The traffickers are seeking to cash in on the thousands of middle-class families who are willing to risk their life savings on the promise of a ‘safe’ passage

 

 

A couple of facts that the BBC doesn’t trumpet in its tidal wave of ‘sympathetic’ coverage about migrants, in fact it seems to hide that truth under a flurry of untruths about ‘refugees’ whilst shroudwaving about the perilous journeys migrants are ‘forced’ to make.

We keep being told that the UK isn’t doing anything to help Syrian refugees and that we should allow in many more, number not stated of course. But the UK policy is that it is better for the refugees to be helped in the countries they have initially fled to such as Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt and Turkey so that they can easily return home when the conflict ends.  To this end the Government has sent £900 million to support these refugees.

The UN has a target of £8.5 billion…and has apparently reached 41% of that‘UN donation drive for 2015 has so far only raised 41 percent of the target figures, forcing the World Food Programme to trim its assistance to Syrian refugees in both Lebanon and Jordan.’

 

The other point is that the BBC keeps telling us that these refugees are ‘forced’ to flee by making dangerous and nightmarish journeys to reach the safety of Europe.  Again this is playing with the truth.  They are certainly refugees but most of them haven’t come directly from Syria, they are coming from refugee camps in the surrounding countries, they have now become economic migrants not asylum seekers.

The Daily Mail published this report about the traffickers in Turkey who advertise for Syrians to go to Europe as the picture at the top of the post shows.  The journeys are entirely unnecessary if the refugees are looking for a safe place…Turkey is a safe place.

The migrants themselves admit this, though they invent a drastic and dramatic ‘choice’ between taking a dangerous journey to Europe or going back into Syria when in fact they could stay in the refugee camp….

‘After escaping a devastating war, frustrated Syrian refugees in aid-starved neighbouring states say they must now choose between joining an exodus to Europe or “returning home to die”. 

A lack of jobs and humanitarian assistance means that many are now giving up on their host nations.

“What do they expect us to do, to die in silence?” said Mohammed al-Hariri, who lives in Jordan’s vast Zaatari desert refugee camp.

“Syrians now have two choices: either to return and die in their country or to emigrate,” he said.

The only sensible answer is to help the refugees on the ground and to do everything possible to end the war in Syria and then help the Syrians return to their own country and rebuild it.  The BBC seems to prefer to abandon Syria and to its fate and empty it of people….and of course it isn’t just Syrian refugees, on top of that the BBC thinks the compassionate and humanitarian response to all problems in the world is to, not sort the problems out, but to turn away without taking any responsibility to find a solution other than to emopty the country of people…coz that’ll of course solves the problem…no people in a country and they can’t be persecuted…job done…let’s hope the Chinese are happy.

One solution to one problem might be to reoccupy Gaza and the West Bank, take them out of the hands of the criminal terrorists of Fatah and Hamas and start to build a Palestinian State economically, politically and socially.   If the will was there it could be done as with Germany and Japan.  The BBC et al keep telling us that the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians is the root cause of all the world’s problems…so step in…Hamas and Fatah are the root cause of the conflict there…crush them and free the Palestinians from the ruthless grip that is destroying their futures.

Perhaps a bit of UN badged neo-colonialism is the answer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lord And Lady Moat

 

 

Curious how fast the BBC latched onto the story about Tory ‘Lord Moat’, Douglas Hogg.  This is the same BBC that stubbornly resisted the tidal wave of censure for Jeremy Corbyn due to his close links to those very dubious friends and honoured citizens.  It was only when the coverage from those other sources became embarrassingly widespread and relentless that the BBC realised it couldn’t sit this out and decided to investigate Corbyn’s curious comrades.

Funny how the BBC is always so reluctant to expose such people…Lutfur Rahman being another one that the BBC held back on for a long time.

Wonder what the link is?  Both hard left Labour, both with dodgy links to Islamist extremists.  Yes, I wonder.