The 4th Media » BBC, Other Media’s Naked War Propaganda about the FICTITIOUS ‘Russian Aggression’

Russian aggression and the BBC’s drums of nuclear war

The drums of war are beating on the BBC and other mass media, writes Oliver Tickell – naked propaganda about fictitious ‘Russian aggression’ intended to soften us up for a war that could wipe out life on Earth.

We must refuse to fall for the endlessly repeated lies, and tell our politicians that our highest priority of all is peace.

“Russian aggression”is the BBC’s meme of the day. I lost count of how many times the phrase popped up in the first 15 minutes of Radio 4’s World at One programme, devoted entirely to the ‘Russian problem – but the theme was drummed in relentlessly.

The idea is that Russia presents a huge a growing threat to world peace and stability. Russian bombers are threatening the ‘English’ Channel (albeit strictly from international airspace). Russia is an expansionist power attacking sovereign nations, Ukraine in particular. And watch it – we’re next!

Commentators wheeled into the studio were unanimous in their views. NATO must stand up to the threat. Presient Vladimir Putin is a dangerous monster who refuses to abide by the rules of the international order. NATO countries must increase their defence spending to counter the Russian menace.

Not a single moderating voice was included in the discussion. No one to ask Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of NATO, if alliance aircraft ever fly close to Russia’s borders (they do). No one to point out that the real Ukrainian narrative in is not that of Russia’s ‘annexation’ of Crimea – but of NATO’s US-led annexation of Ukraine itself.

No one to argue that Russia’s assimilation of Crimea was effected with hardly a shot being fired, backed by overwhelming support in a referendum which reflected the popular will – and if you’re in any doubt, just compare it to Israel’s ongoing and endlessly justified annexation of Palestine.

Complete story at - The 4th Media » BBC, Other Media’s Naked War Propaganda about the FICTITIOUS ‘Russian Aggression’

Russia’s “Trans Driving Ban” Doesn’t Really Target LGBT Community. It Actually Targets the Mentally Ill - The Daily Beast

So, lets recap...

The BBC prints a story that's doubleplusgood because it's anti-Putin or anti-Russia AND it fits the current narrative of the Ministries of Truth in both Washington DC and London. Except it's not really true, aka as an untruth, aka as a lie.

It gets promoted as major news on many important news sites, where it's promoted to the high heavens. Then the TRUE story comes out, and so do the crickets.

And to top it all, because of the insane promotion of this story because it meets all the important doubleplusgoodthink criteria, even though it's actually crude propaganda, real people end up getting hurt as a result. But small people must get hurt because lies and propaganda about Putin and Russia is the only thing that matters these days. Screw the small people. 

Talka


An overhyped government decree had much different problems than the ones originally reported, but Western media coverage has led to an anti-LGBT backlash within Russia
“Russian Government Bars Transgender People From Obtaining Drivers Licenses!”

Such were the headlines on prominent gay blogs, most linking to a BBC story to the same effect.

Trouble is, it isn’t true. And the media reporting, say activists, has made things worse.

“On 6 January the Russian government issued a decree that approved a list of medical conditions and diagnoses leading to full or partial limitation of the right to drive a vehicle,” emailed Anastasia Smirnova, former Project Manager of the Russian LGBT Network and now Programmes & Policy Officer at ILGA-Europe. (ILGA, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Intersex Association, is a worldwide federation of LGBT organizations from 110 countries. Smirnova is also a participant in The Daily Beast’s recent Quorum: Global LGBT Voices program.)

However, Smirnova found, “Trans* people have not been purposefully targeted by the decree.”

In fact, the decree – Decree #1604, issued December 29, 2014 – included a list of diagnoses that may become grounds for revocation of a driving license. And that decree simply included a laundry list of diagnoses from the new ICD-10, the World Health Organization’s revised classification list for mental and physical diseases and disorders. The disorders included:

F00-F09: Mental disorders due to known physiological conditions

F20-29: Schizophrenia, schizotypal, delusional, and other non-mood psychotic disorders

F30-39: Mood [affective] disorders

F40-48: Anxiety, dissociative, stress-related, somatoform and other nonpsychotic mental disorders

F60-69: Disorders of adult personality and behavior

F70-79: Intellectual disabilities

Complete story at - Russia’s “Trans Driving Ban” Doesn’t Really Target LGBT Community. It Actually Targets the Mentally Ill - The Daily Beast

Russian news: Brain Drain From Russia? The BBC Gets It Wrong. (As Usual) - Russia Insider

The BBC reports that Russia is suffering from a wave of emigration among middle-class professionals in a story dated 2 October under the heading “Russia brain drain after Putin crackdown”. The facts tell a different story.

As a skeptic of what the BBC writes about Russia and since human resources is one of my areas of expertise, I decided to check the facts. And it turned out just as I had expected. It is the BBC’s editorial team not Russia that seems to be suffering from a brain drain, nay, a hemorrhage. The facts just do not back up the story and rather prove that the opposite is true.

Although the once venerable BBC likens the – supposed – wave of emigration to the mass exodus that followed the 1917 October Revolution and the tragic years of the 1990s that followed the Soviet Union’s fall, the fact is that very few are now leaving. In fact the shocking truth is that actually more people are moving to Russia than leaving it.

The BBC refers the supposed problem back to Vladimir Putin's re-election as president in March 2012, which they allege led to a “crackdown on the liberal opposition and independent media.” So, let’s look back at the figures starting from 2012. (Source Russian Statistics Agency, Rosstat).

It turns out that in year 2012, 417,681 people moved to Russia and 122,751 emigrated from Russia, the net influx being almost 300,000 people. You can hardly call that a “wave of emigration”.

Complete story at - Russian news: Brain Drain From Russia? The BBC Gets It Wrong. (As Usual) - Russia Insider

The Vineyard of the Saker: On a lighter note: the BBC propaganda is still the best

Actually, there is some very serious stuff taking place - infighting in the Novorussian leadership is getting worse and worse but I need time to write up something more or less coherent. So that is for later today or tomorrow.

In the meantime, here are a few short ones:

The BBC is the best!

I saw the following to on the BBC's website yesterday:



"This was ferocious work, involving more precise firepower than the rebels could possibly muster. It's possible Russian helicopters were involved". This is priceless. Apparently, nobody in the UK (or in the Ukraine) ever bothered to explain to this civilian that all it takes is a recon group with an artillery spotter and a single MLRS strike to achieve exactly what he saw. Also, apparently nobody explained to that presstitute that this combo is exactly how the NAF managed to beat the crap of the JRF. But the best part is the "possible Russian helicopter", especially the typical modern use of the word "possible" which in modern zombified parlance is always understood as equivalent to "probable". I wish that somebody would tell the BBC that a Russian helicopter attack would do far *less* damage than a MLRS strike, but that is not the point. The point is that if the presstitute accepts that a helicopter strike is possible, why not a Russian bomber strike or even cruise missile strike? Why not accept that the Russians, who apparently have a Romulan-style "cloaking device" on their *19* maneuver battalions in Novorussia (official figure from Kiev!), also could use space-based death ray powered by a "dilithium crystals converter". This is just as "possible" as the use of Russian attack helicopters, even though neither are probable.

I also notice the doubleplusgoodthinking use of "Luhansk" rather then the crimethink "Lugansk". How totally lame...

Complete story at - The Vineyard of the Saker: On a lighter note: the BBC propaganda is still the best