William Bowles – Essays
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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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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
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How the BBC hollows out the news By William Bowles
A major problem anybody confronts when trying to sort fact from fiction in the news—aside from any confusion that occurs in trying to figure out if anything the mainstream media ‘reports’ is ‘news’ or merely opinion posing as fact—is the sheer volume and consistency of the coverage, which ultimately depends on specific words and phrases… Continue reading
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The US-Iran ‘crisis’ – it’s the oil stupid By William Bowles
Anybody who doesn’t think control of energy sources is at the root of USUK actions in Iraq and elsewhere is suffering a serious (but hopefully treatable) delusional disease of denial. Even the most cursory exploration of the 20th century reveals the centrality of oil to pretty well every event of any significance, and in no… Continue reading
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The Iran ‘crisis’ – the bullshit continues By William Bowles
A story in the London Independent (14/1/06) is typical of the kind of propaganda war being waged by the UK and the US over Iran’s alleged programme to acquire nuclear weapons. In fact, the story is a model piece, worthy of dissection for the various messages it carries to a public which has been deliberately… Continue reading
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Prime (Time) Evil By William Bowles
Iran’s relations with its erstwhile partners in Europe seem to be hurtling downhill like a snowball out of control.– Bridget Kendall, BBC diplomatic correspondent, 27 October 2005 No prizes awarded for what inspired this classic piece of state propaganda but it speaks reams about the relationship between the state and the corporate media. After all,… Continue reading
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Ahmed Chalabi – Petroleum’s Point Man By William Bowles
Convicted fraudster, bagman, carpetbagger, (dis)informant, playboy, opportunist, failed mercenary army leader, go-between creature of imperialism, of one thing we can be sure, Ahmed Chalabi is a survivor by virtue of (almost) always being on the ‘right’ side. Continue reading
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An old year’s tale By William Bowles
29 December 2005 It’s true: the 20th century is yesterday’s story and unfortunately, most of us are still living in it. Especially, the left. As to the ruling elite, they don’t care what century it is, as long as they rule in it. But it is the problem for most of us on the left,… Continue reading
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Propaganda Review – Part II Das Kulture By William Bowles
I and a host of observers are fond of quoting the first of the self-conscious propagandists of our age, Goebbels, Hitler’s minister of propaganda, but the fact is the reality we live in now is far more insidious and dangerous than the world according to Goebbels, his was a world of black and white, a… Continue reading
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Propaganda Review – from the ‘war against the ‘anti-Christ’ to the ‘war on terror’ By William Bowles
Reclaiming the public space that has been appropriated by the corporate class must figure highly on our agenda, for without it, we are at the mercy of Schiller‘s “concentrated accumulation of the productive equipment, the technological expertise, the marketing apparatus, the financial resources, and the managerial know-how” wielded by capitalism. Continue reading
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The Worm Ouroborus By William Bowles
It’s depressing to think on how many otherwise right-thinking people have bought into the ‘Peak Oil’ nonsense. We read for example, that of the over 60 known reserves in Iraq, only 17 have actually been exploited and it’s been calculated that the reserves far outstrip the currently exploited fields. Continue reading
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On the road to Damascus By William Bowles
Oil in the next war will occupy the place of coal in the present war, or at least a parallel place to coal. The only big potential supply that we can get under British control is the Persian and Mesopotamian supply .… Control over these oil supplies becomes a first class British war aim –… Continue reading
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BBC Newsspeak – ‘Credible sources’ By William Bowles
By now it must surely be obvious to pretty well everyone that the BBC’s messing with reality is rife, the twists and turns are tortuous and on-going as anyone following the British State’s Broadcasting Company’s coverage of the White Phosphorus will know. The Cat’s Dream Website pretty well blew it apart, so much so that… Continue reading
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Book Review: Selling the biggest lie of them all – Capitalism By William Bowles
For the better part of the 20th century the mass media has done an excellent job of selling the biggest lie of all, that we in the West live in democratic societies ruled by a political class that allegedly represents us and our interests, and the country where this lie has been sold to the… Continue reading
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The BBC’s Big White (Phosphorus) Lie By William Bowles
Finally, the ‘white phosphorus’ obscenity made it into the BBC’s main news, at least for a couple of days before being relegated into the Beeb’s dustbin of ‘allegations’ which of course, at least according the BBC, is where the story belongs. Of course, ‘making it into the news’ is a bit of a misnomer as… Continue reading
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Is Paris burning or Watt? By William Bowles
The importation of cheap, colonial labour whether from Puerto Rico to New York in the 1940s, from the Caribbean to London in the 1950s or those from Bangla Desh and Pakistan in the 1960s, all reflect the stark reality of a divided world, that sooner or later, given the fundamentally racist nature of capitalist society… Continue reading
The New Dark Age 