February 2006
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Let’s turn the ‘civil war’ into a media war By William Bowles
I must say that the independent media have done a damn good job in exposing the sham that is the ‘civil war’ in Iraq. However, before we get all righteous, the corporate/state media still need to be called to task over their distorted and misleading coverage, replete with every stereotype; ethnic, religious, ‘tribal’, et al,… Continue reading
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Media Lens: Paved With Good Intentions – Iraq Body Count – Part 2
First, the dramatic absence of examples of mass killing by US-UK forces suggests that the low IBC toll of civilian deaths in comparison with other studies is partly explained by the fact that examples of US-UK killing are simply not being reported by the media or recorded by IBC. Visitors to the site – directed… Continue reading
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Media Lens: Oil For The Killing Machine – The BBC On Iraq
The political analyst Bertram Gross argued that there is no great malice driving the coalition of “the ultra-rich, the corporate overseers, and the brass in the military and civilian order” as it “squelches the rights and liberties of other people both at home and abroad”. It is just that their pursuit of profit inevitably means… Continue reading
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I Glorify in Revolution! So arrest me damn you! By William Bowles
From shouting out “nonsense” at the Labour Party Conference to attending film festivals or wearing a t-shirt that disses Blair, we are all subject to arrest and/or detention under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. And it’s clear that the police have been given orders to use it to intimidate and harass anyone who speaks out… Continue reading
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Media Misinformation Roundup: How the BBC and the Guardian transform torture into bad PR and “history” for the occupiers By William Bowles
19 February 2006 The Western propaganda onslaught is relentless and most goes unnoticed largely because it appears to be ‘objective’ reporting. What is important to note with this alleged news is the insidious nature of the way events are presented to us, cloaked in seemingly innocuous language, yet an entire mindset is embedded in the Continue reading
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Media Lens Cogitation: The Ultimate Propagandist
17 February 2006 — Media Lens In March 2004, alongside our Media Alerts, we began sending out more philosophical pieces called Cogitations. In case you were unaware of these, you can subscribe here free of charge: www.medialens.org/cogitations/ Below is our most recent Cogitation from February 11. Best wishes The Editors Continue reading
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Empire Redux – Climate Catastrophe and Capitalism By William Bowles
Awhile back I made reference to the idea that the two leading imperialist powers, the US and the UK had come to the conclusion that climate catastrophe was unavoidable and that steps needed to be taken for capitalism to survive the catastrophe essentially intact. Continue reading
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The Devil lives in the detail – Demonising Iran By William Bowles
The Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty, to which Iran is a signatory (and Israel is not), and to which the BBC reluctantly concedes Iran is in compliance with, was as Simon Jenkins points out, pretty much set up by the then nuclear ‘club’, with the view to keeping everyone else out. Meanwhile, the US is adding to… Continue reading
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Media Lens: Iran – The Media Fall Into Line
Writing in the Guardian last month, Timothy Garton Ash observed: “Now we face the next big test of the west: after Iraq, Iran.” Garton Ash thus blithely ignored the fact that every last scrap of evidence coming out of Iraq has pointed to only one conclusion – that Iraq’s “big test” was in fact the… Continue reading
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Devious Dealings and Dire Threats – Iran, the EU and the Petro-dollar – Anglo-US brinkmanship By William Bowles
Introduction: I first published the essay reproduced below (Iran: First it was ‘October Surprise’ – now it’s No Surprise) back in June, 2003 and dug it up whilst doing research on this essay on the latest saga involving the most devious ruling classes of modern times, the US and the UK and I think it… Continue reading
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BIBI bangs the war drum By Edward Teague
5 February 2006 — The New Dark Age Likud chairman and prime minister hopeful Binyamin Netanyahu was joined by senior Likud MKs, Gideon Saar, Yuval Seinitz, Dan Naveh, Limor Livnat, Gilad Erdan, Yisrael Katz, Uzi Landau, and Silvan Shalom as well as 2 non MK Likud candidates, Natan Sharansky and Keren Barak on a tour Continue reading
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Whatever happened to what’s-his-name? By William Bowles
‘Scourge of Western civilisation’, ‘leader of the insurgency’, ‘al-Queda in Iraq’, ‘Usama’s right-hand man’, the Scarlet Pimpernel of ‘Islamic fundamentalism’, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. For the past couple of years we have been bombarded with stories of the mythical man’s dastardly deeds, then all of a sudden—he disappeared from the headlines. Continue reading
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Bush-whacked? Not by the media that’s for sure By William Bowles
Now as regular readers maybe aware I often have a go at the Independent for its crass and often just plain inaccurate reportage but in the edition of 31/1/06 it outdoes itself in deception, myopia and dissembling regarding the Bush presidency and its significance for those of us living in the real world. Continue reading
The New Dark Age 