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→ 31 May 12 at 3 am
→ 31 May 12 at 3 am
‘US backed off Libya-style regime change in Syria’ (by RussiaToday)
‘The Syrian regime has come under fire from a new UN report claiming both the government and opposition are committing gross human rights violations. It claims Damascus is responsible for the largest share of the violence, while rebels are accused of kidnapping civilians and torturing captured soldiers. Meanwhile, Amnesty International has slammed the UN Security Council as ‘increasingly unfit for purpose’ and too slow to act on Syria. The world body dispatched an observer mission to the country, where it’s estimated around ten thousand people have been killed since March last year.
Author William Engdahl says however that Syria must be left alone to determine its own future.’
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→ 30 May 12 at 8 am
→ 30 May 12 at 8 am
‘When it is time to justify the invasion of a country that is of no threat to Allied forces, mass media deception kicks into high gear to sway public opinion. Only a few years after the “Watch-out-Saddam-is-gonna-nuke-us-all-with-weapons-of-mass-destruction” fabrication, mass media is now being flooded with horrible stories from Syria to incite people in Western countries to think “I hope we go in there and clean up this mess”. However, as it is often the case in war propaganda, lies, fabrications and deceit are used to justify military action.
A recent example of this is the BBC using a horrifying picture from 2003 in Iraq to illustrate an alleged massacre that happened in Houla, Syria. When a “reputed” news source such as BBC gets caught using fake pictures to demonize a country, one can wonder what other fabricated BS appears in the news and goes unnoticed. Here’s an article on BBC’s “mistake”.
Oops, BBC: Iraq photo to illustrate Houla massacre?
With the shock of the Houla tragedy ringing across the world, the BBC has released a story with a harrowing picture of rows and rows of children’s bodies awaiting burial… But isn’t that post-Saddam Iraq?
Photographer Marco di Lauro who took the shot grabbed by the BBC says he nearly “fell off his chair” after finding the picture on the network’s website with a caption reading: “Photo from Activist. This image – which cannot be independently verified – is believed to show bodies of children in Houla awaiting funeral.”
The picture was actually taken on March 27, 2003; it depicts an Iraqi boy jumping over dozens of white body bags containing skeletons found in a desert south of Baghdad. The image, which is published on Marco di Lauro’s website, is part of his story Iraq, the Aftermath of Saddam.
Marco di Lauro takes photographs for Getty Images picture agency, his works have been published across Europe and the US. But the indication that the BBC picked his image from the internet, not from official stock worries him somewhat.
“What I am really astonished by is that a news organization like the BBC doesn’t check the sources and it’s willing to publish any picture sent it by anyone: activist, citizen journalist or whatever. That’s all,” the photographer told The Daily Telegraph.
“Someone is using someone else’s picture for propaganda on purpose,” he added.
A BBC spokesman says the picture, illustrating Sunday night’s story “Syria Massacre in Houla Condemned as Outrage Grows,” was taken down “immediately” when the source was identified.
“We were aware of this image being widely circulated on the internet in the early hours of this morning following the most recent atrocities in Syria. We used it with a clear disclaimer saying it could not be independently verified,” he added.
These words about information “which cannot be independently verified” have become a trademark of media coverage of the 14-month conflict in Syria. Before UN special envoy Kofi Annan brought his peace plan to the troubled Arab country, the Syrian government had remained reluctant to open borders to most international journalists.
But even now the bulk of information comes from people calling themselves opposition activists – via amateur videos uploaded to YouTube or eyewitness reports.
But sometimes it looks that the mantra “cannot be independently verified” serves as a disclaimer to publish information which wouldn’t stand a chance of ever being verified.
- Source: RT’
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→ 29 May 12 at 6 am
→ 29 May 12 at 6 am
Donny Gluckstein is a lecturer in history at Stevenson College, Edinburgh. He is the author of several books on Marxist history. He spoke to NLP’s Alex Doherty about his new book: A People’s History of the Second World War.
In your book you write that “the world-shattering” events of the 1939 to 1945 period did not constitute a single combat against the Axis powers, but amounted to two distinct wars.”
What were the two wars? What is the distinction between them?
The period of WWII saw a struggle between imperial powers for world dominance. On the one side of this conflict were the Allies, traditional powers, including Britain and France with their vast empires. Britain ruled 25% of the globe, France 10%. They were joined by the USSR (which under Stalinism was an imperialist power in its own right – 50% of the population being non-Russian), and the USA (which was about to embark on a grab for superpower status).
Ranged against them were the Axis powers who were newcomers to the imperial game. (Italy’s unification was completed in 1870, Germany’s in 1871, and Japan emerged from isolation through the Meiji Restoration in 1867). These were the imperial have-nots who battled the Allies for their place in the sun.
But this was only one side of WWII. The Axis adopted aggressive fascist policies both internally, and in a mobile war of conquest, imposed these on vast tracts of Europe and Asia. This meant that ordinary people under the Axis heel fought during WWII not for the imperial dominance of the Allies, but against fascism and for democracy and freedom. This was a very different type of war to the imperialist struggle to for world dominance, it was a people’s war.
This type of warfare had erupted even before 1939 (examples being the workers’ uprising in Vienna, 1934, and the Spanish civil war), and could be directed as against the Allies (for example in India and Indonesia) as well as the Axis.
However, generally the two wars existed in parallel during the 1939-1945 period and it could be difficult to distinguish between the motivations of an Allied government and its generals, and the soldier fighting the Nazis in the field or the resistance movement in occupied territories. My book focuses on those moments when the distinction between the two wars became visible.
"See yourself in others, all beings tremble before violence. All fear death. All love life. See yourself in others. Then whom can you hurt? What harm can you do? He who seeks happiness, by hurting those who seek happiness, will never find happiness. For your brother is like you. He wants to be happy. Never harm him. You too will find happiness. In this life. And after you leave this life."
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→ 25 May 12 at 12 am
→ 25 May 12 at 12 am
IDF cowards arrest little Palestinian boys because they can’t stand up to Palestinian men by pinky_again on Flickr.
