Having Fun on Russia Today 333


Any organisation which embraces Jim Murphy, Nadine Dorries, Roger Scruton and Patrick Minford is going to have some fruitcake right wing opinions and be more worthy of ridicule than political debate. So I really couldn’t maintain a straight face when discussing the Henry Jackson Society on Russia Today.


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333 thoughts on “Having Fun on Russia Today

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  • John Goss

    Very witty.

    It is rather surprising that with one of the most popular blogs on the planet, which does allow and often promotes non-mainstream stories, and even breaks big stories, like the Fox, Gould and Werritty news, Atlantic Bridge and others, it is surprising you have not been targeted by this extreme right-wing thinktank – The Henry Jackson Society. Next year perhaps. 🙂

  • Habbabkuk

    It might turn out that the “worthy of ridicule” Henry Jackson Society will outlive this most popular on the planet blog.

    • bevin

      The Henry Jackson Society is, as Craig pointed out to RT viewers, though British, a creation of the CIA, of which, doubtless, the British government greatly approves.
      If, therefore it outlives this blog, which nobody subsidises and which offers all comers an equal chance to voice and explain their opinions, it will be a very bad sign for humanity.
      Today I came across the word- employed in relation to a NATO friendly Norwegian ‘diplomat’ – ‘ventriloquisling.
      It would be an apt description of the Henry Jackson Society’s purposes.

      • Republicofscotland

        Not necessarily, there are theories and reverse theories, some claim the disease was described in the days of Hippocrates.

        However the first well documented ( in Europe at least) case of the disease, occured in Naples in 1495, among French troops.

        https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_syphilis#Origin

        I’m sure several readers, will equate the HJS and Jim Murphy, to the rather sensitive topic at hand, afterall, to some, both, will be seen as infectious, but not in a bad way. The majority however will steer well clear. ?

    • Kief

      I understand the Black Plague, AIDS and breast cancer all came from the Colonists haplogroup.

      America is the locus of all persistent disease.

  • Tony_0pmoc

    Brilliant Interview – but I thought you far too Diplomatic especially to the BBC…

    and your image hasn’t been tarnished at all

    Well done

    Tony

  • Sharp Ears

    Well done Craig. It needed saying.

    I am always surprised when I turn over another stone to find a membership of the HJS,

    (Green suits you)

  • Republicofscotland

    This admission, lays bare the indolent attitudes rife in the American media. The sophistry, that eminates from the likes of the Henry Jackson society, and the mainstream Western media, as a whole, in now inherent in my opinion.

    Their aim, to try and influence the vox populi, in affairs in the Middle East or Russian overseas activities, and in reality if challenged, their positions would been see as a house of cards.

    Thankfully more and more people through social media, are realising the sheer incredulity of information realeased by the likes of the Henry Jackson society, and certainly anything Jim Murphy has to say, must be taken with a large pinch of salt, so too speak.

    https://www.currentaffairs.org/2016/11/why-journalists-love-twitter

    Will Donald Trump see eye, to eye with the Henry Jackson society? Both appear to me, to be immersed in the alt-right, whilst portraying themselves in a completely different light.

    • Kief

      “Their aim, to try and influence the vox populi..”

      Their aim is to keep ad revenue flowing for their employer so they can keep their jobs, and all these ancillary issues can be summed up in that simple manner.

      They have to fight tooth and nail to develop sources. Many of those sources have no more integrity than they

      It’s a vested interest just like a lobbyist hawking his wares.

  • Habbabkuk

    Just an afterthought, Craig, on your interview – in the form of a suggestion: should you be interviewed again by RT on a similar theme, how about asking the interviewer whether there’s a Russian equivalent to your blog?

    • Republicofscotland

      Habb.

      Indeed, a interesting question, one of which I will answer, I presume you will allow me to do so.

      No I doubt Russian authorities would allow such wide and open criticism of Russian, domestic/foreign affairs by a former Russian diplomat.

      Russia, from what I’ve read is quick to clampdown on such matters, including demonstrations against the state, yet racist and often violent behaviour (mainly against black people) is widely tolerated.

      Still the above is of no relevance to the concerted output of Russophobia, by the Western media, is it?

      You many divert and hand wring all you want, it doesn’t change the original point.

      • Habbabkuk

        It is not, but it is of relevance to another part of Craig’s comments in the interview.

        En clair :

        – in the West, the MSM (including the BBC) trot out the official narrative (so it is alleged). But there is ample opportunity for alternative:dissenting views to be expressed in the non-MSM (withing the confines of the law);

        – in Russia, the MSM (including RT) trot out the official narrrative but a blog like Craig’s would not be tolerated.

        See the difference?

  • Macky

    THE HJS were so keen not to disclose their funding that they were forced to quit funding two Westminster lobby groups;

    http://spinwatch.org/index.php/issues/politics/item/5706-henry-jackson-society-forced-to-quit-westminster-role-after-spinwatch-complaint

    Even funnier is that a key member, Marko Attila Hoare, has fallen out with the leadership, and has revealed how they conspired to discredit Chomsky with the deliberate tactic of smearing him as a Genocide Denier, and the role was designated to Hoare together with non other than a certain Oliver Kamm ! 😀

    http://mondoweiss.net/2016/02/chomsky-and-his-critics/

  • fwl

    Exactly right that we should channel hop and whilst so doing take into account spin and bias. In that way be learn some facts ,/ some lies and get an idea of the gist of where another group or country is coming from and aiming at.

    CE says Henry Jackson Society is funded with CIA money washed through right wing foundations. I wad thinking about whilst reading Dark Money by Jane Mayer on the Koch twins. She mentions another foundation (not Koch) which functioned in part in such a way. The Kochs are anti-state and all state expenditure. So is it better for rich individuals (ignoring for the moment their use of tax efficient vehicles) to fund the world of ideas and think tanks or the state. The really worrying things about the foundations is that (unlike RT) they are under the radar and manage (according to Mayer) to filter their agenda (a) through intellectuals (b) through think tanks and then (c) out into so called grassroots (or astroturf) movements hiding the connection to the movement. And this whole libertarian rich man’s dream of (1) low or no taxes (2) small or no government and (3) none or less regulation is in reality, as Mayer quotes Isaiah Berlin “total liberty for wolves is death to the lambs”.

    So are the libertarian billionaires ‘mapped’?

    In any event how is Trump going to reconcile his public QE infrastructure plans with the ideology of Mike Pence and co? Will he do a U turn or will it in fact be welcomed – bound to be welcomed by those who pick up the state cheques.

    • Kief

      All good questions and it’s rather nice to hear someone admit they have no idea what Trump really is.

      The theory being propounded is that he is using Lincolnian Team of Rivals to assuage any disappointed supporters. Give a little. Take a little. Nearly everything is speculative at this point.

      • bevin

        A better comparison is with Jackson, another rough outsider, in political terms, who came to Washington accompanied by a following of deplorables from the less polite areas of US society. A racist too though with a record of ruthless dealings.
        My guess is that Trump’s Cabinet won’t matter very much and that the guy from Breibart will play Amos Kendall’s role in putting together a ‘kitchen cabinet’ in which the real power will reside.
        It will be interesting to see who turns up in Washington on Inauguration Day. There might just be a crowd of the sort most of DC only sees in Beverly Hills Hillbilly re-runs and movies starring Jennifer Lawrence like Winters Bone and the Hunger Games. They could tear the city up the way Jackson’s supporters trashed the White House, without meaning to.

        • lysias

          I guess that to avoid confusion I ought to point out that your comment is about President Andrew Jackson, not Senator Henry Jackson, the Senator from Boeing after whom the society is named.

      • fwl

        Yes there are going to be some jitters in the run up to inauguration.
        BTW cool tweed jacket CW has on for RT interview.

      • Shatnersrug

        I know what trump is – he’s exactly like my boss. Which is why he doesn’t bother me. It’s the people around him and influence him that scare the shit out of me.

    • Salford Lad

      The main supplier of funding for NGO’s and Hybrid warfare, so called Colour Revolutions, is the NED (NationIol Endowment for Democracy).
      This is a hive-off from the CIA to distance it from subversive activities. Chairman is Carl Gershmann.
      Their fingerprints can be found all over Ukraine,Syria,Libya and South America. Yearly budget is $ 100 million.

  • giyane

    Patrick Minford, as well as having had a pretty sister, was a complete Thatcherite fruit-cake. Most of what he taught is now taken as economic Gospel, and that particular book also is well out of order in having been changed to claim that Jesus is the son of God. The paraquatic money-changers are desperately hoping that post-Brexit inflation will let them prescribe a rise in interest rates.

    We’re fed up with commonsense, let’s see if dafter than daft works.

    • Why be Ordinary

      “is” not “was”

      “Professor Patrick Minford, one of the ‘Economists for Brexit’, argues that leaving the
      European Union (EU) will raise the UK’s welfare by 4% as a result of increased trade.
      His policy recommendation is that following a vote for Brexit, the UK should strike no
      new trade deals but instead unilaterally abolish all its import tariffs.
       Under this policy (‘Britain Alone’), he describes his model as predicting the
      ‘elimination’ of UK manufacturing and a big increase in wage inequality. These
      outcomes may be hard to sell to UK citizens as a desirable political option.”

      http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/brexit06.pdf

      • Kief

        Heh. Trump will find that hidden treasure as soon as he considers bleeping NAFTA.

        It’s like the tradesters put Bouncing Betties and other plastique surprises in the IED path just to be sure they remain intact.

  • bevin

    It is generally thought that Russian media, much of it controlled by oligarchs, is actually very hostile to Putin and his party. And extremely open to the promotion of ‘western’ views on subjects ranging from the economy to foreign policy.
    One of the problems we suffer from is that there is a deliberate campaign to elide the current Russian government with the Soviet union, which was subjected, for most of its long history, to a withering propaganda onslaught from western capitalism, in which lies and misrepresentations constituted such a large part that, as a culture, we are still hobbled by the ingestion, over several generations, of the intellectual poison which we manufactured and disseminated.
    This was shockingly apparent during the recent US Election campaign in which the ludicrous charges that Russia’s government was leaking DNC e-mails was lapped up eagerly by large numbers of intellectuals and embroidered, repeated and improved upon by the media. In fact they are still at it. As Kirby’s outbursts and the European Parliament’s resolutions demonstrate.
    The truth is that it is far more likely that western governments would hack and publicise Russian political emails than the reverse; that the US government openly intervenes in Russian elections and it is the western media, not that of Russia, which daily mimics the worst aspects of the old Soviet newspapers, and refuses to give a hearing to critics of the governments which it supports.
    And of these things there are few more clear proofs than the virtual shunning of Craig and other mildly dissenting critics of the Establishment by the BBC and the newspapers.

    • Habbabkuk

      “It is generally thought that Russian media, much of it controlled by oligarchs, is actually very hostile to Putin and his party. And extremely open to the promotion of ‘western’ views on subjects ranging from the economy to foreign policy.”
      ___________________________

      We disagree on most things, Bevs, but I will grant that you have a good sense of humour.

  • RobG

    There was the recent palava about closing Russia Today’s UK bank account, and thus closing down the operation in the UK…

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/17/russia-todays-uk-bank-accounts-frozen-says-editor

    …warning to tow the line given, RT’s UK bank accounts were allowed to stay open.

    And now after the recent Wikileaks releases*, which definitely threw the US presidential election, the MSM are quite laughingly warning us about ‘fake news’ (which is a preamble to total censorship).

    The neo-con/fascist agenda has now become so blatant and mad that I can barely be bothered to comment on it anymore.

    * if I commented explicitly on the latest Wikileaks releases on this board I would probably be moderated. That’s where we’re now at.

  • Loony

    The entire media comprises nothing more than lying, dissembling idiots desperate to promote a narrative so inane and so mendacious that only a complete fool would pay the slightest attention.

    Most people know this which is why the media so assiduously ignores most people. But oh look here comes someone they cannot ignore so readily. Witness Donald Trump advising Jeff Zucker (President of CNN) that “I hate your network, everyone at CNN is a liar, and you should be ashamed…”

    It is understood that President Trump shared similar sentiments with the senior management of most major US media outlets. Telling a gathered group of the most hip and right on movers and shakers “We-re in a room of liars, the deceitful and dishonest media…”

    If Trump does nothing else but call out these lying bastards then his Presidency will have been a triumph for truth.

  • fwl

    So Donald Trump is reported on Fox News as appointing Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary.

    Republicans appreciate education and billionaires don’t like it when their Ivy League professors make them feel guilty.

    The DeVos family are interesting. They are said to have invested hundreds of millions into all the new right wing think tanks. Is this the same Betsy who married into the DeVos dynasty? Betsy Prince, daughter of a billionaire and brother of ………………………….(take a breath)….. Erik Prince yes the founder of Blackwater. I bet Betsy can give an insightful address at morning assembly.

    • Loony

      I would not worry too much about Ivy League professors – yet another set of people who have been more or less completely hollowed out and turned into raving idiots.

      Check out the hatred of these professors for their colleague Jordan Peterson – a man who refuses to pretend that the emperor is wearing clothes.

      • fwl

        She ain’t no Ivy League professor. She is one of the key known funders and players in the invisible battle.”I have decided however to stop taking offense at the suggestion that we are buying influence. Now I simply concede the point. They are right. We do expect somethings in return. We expect to foster a conservative governing philosophy consisting of limited government and respect for traditional American virtues…..People like us must surely be stopped.”

        Betsy DeVos Trump’s pick for Education Secretary in 1997.

        Get them young.

  • Anon1

    Nice easy interview, Craig.

    “Russia Today will give you a slightly pro-Russian slant on the news in the same way the BBC will give you a heavily pro-British government slant on the news.”

    Wrong way round, fella. There is NO criticism of the Putin regime on Russia Today.

    • craig Post author

      That is plainly untrue as I have myself criticised Putin quite sharply on Russia Today. They still invite me back.

      • Habbabkuk

        Craig

        Could you please link to the interview(s) in question so that we can make our own evaluation? Thanks.

        • RobG

          Habba, why do you ask Craig to give a link, when you never, ever do?

          I won’t go into the reasons why the likes of Habba never, ever give links (because I’ll probably be moderated again), but I will go into the reasons why a board like this is tightly controlled.

          It’s called fear.

          And you think you live in the ‘free world’…

        • Ba'al Zevul

          Without such a link, I am entirely sure he did exactly what he said. Though I would be less sure that the interview was broadcast in Russia itself, as that is not the function of RT. There’s plenty of room for dissent from the Putin line on Russia’s international propaganda outlet, as long as it doesn’t get the upper hand – indeed, it’s necessary for the illusion of impartiality. The BBC’s no better.

          • RobG

            The likes of Habba don’t give links because by doing so it makes it much easier to trace their real IP address (ie, some idea of who these bots really are).

            I could go into one here, but won’t waste my time to the Moderators.

            Remember, we’re now in the ‘post-truth’ era (ie, fascist lunatic asylum).

  • michael norton

    Ukraine names woman, 23, anti-corruption head
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38075466
    A 23-year-old lawyer has been given the task of leading Ukraine’s anti-corruption drive, the second major appointment of a young woman in weeks.

    Anna Kalynchuk’s promotion has provoked consternation among some Ukrainians who say she is unqualified and too young.

    She will direct Ukraine’s department of “lustration”, which aims to purge officials tainted by corruption.

    Corruption was a key complaint of protesters who forced President Viktor Yanukovych from power in February 2014.

    I expect now The Donald is to be the next president of America, nobody will any longer give a shit about Georgia / Crimea / Ukraine.

    • michael norton

      Of Course America never did give a shit about Georgia / Crimea / Ukraine or Syria

      not one shit

      but they are obsessed by Russia.

      • Trowbridge H. Ford

        Quite a contradiction!

        While it is true that the USA has been obsessed about Russia at least since WWII, it supported Georgia in trying to cut off Akahzia and South Ossetia from Russia, supported the overthrow in Ukraine to take NATO right to its border, and opposed self-determination in the Crimea to essentially cut it off from the Black Sea.

        • michael norton

          What I mean, as you almost certainly know,
          is that the administration in the U.S.A. does not care one shit for the people in Syria / Georgia / Crimea / Ukraine

    • Alan

      She was, allegedly, chosen on merit. What’s wrong with that? If only a few more people were chosen on merit; for example, leaders of the Labour Party. This would have protected us from unscrupulous people such as Blair and Brown.

    • John Goss

      The other one was Arsen Avakov’s bit of stuff. I know how that sounds but what can I say about someone who flaunts her bits all over the place. Perhaps she has got talent in other spheres – two languages I understand.

      Funny the BBC would do this gossipy stuff and not cover the extreme crisis on the streets of Kiev from current protestors. You could not get it off our screens when Yanukovich was in power. And that was the main BBC 6 o’clock news not the foreign affairs BBC news. Ukraine is in dire straits. It has spent the IMF’s latest loan, nobody knows what on other than a programme of austerity for the people. The fascists, Azov and Tymoshenko’s lot, are taking to the streets again because the promised land of milk and honey has not materialised. A civil war has cost thousands of lives and most young men have either tried to keep their heads low or emigrated. There is nobody left to do the work and no work for them to do anyway unless they care to kill more of their fellow Ukrainians. Another nice mess the Yanks have got them into.

      • Sharp Ears

        Thanks for that update. We hear little or nothing about Ukraine these days. The poor people with another winter to face.

        We do remember Ms Nuland’s words. F**k the EU
        Published on 6 Feb 2014

        Cut-out of a phone call between two American fun guys talking about maidan’s puppets. The actors are:
        Victoria Nuland: US-Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs
        Geoffrey R. Pyatt: United States Ambassador to Ukraine
        Jeff Feltman: head of the United Nations Department of Political Affairs
        Robert Serry: Dutch diplomat serving as United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process
        Ban Ki-Moon: Secretary-General of the United Nations
        Jake Sullivan: national security advisor to Joe Biden
        Joe Biden: Vice President USA
        Viktor Yanukovych: President of Ukraine
        Vitali Klitschko: Leader of the Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform and Member of the Ukrainian Parliament.
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CL_GShyGv3o D

        • Sharp Ears

          From the Linked In entry of Andrew Foxall, the author of the report ‘Putin’s Idiots…..’

          ‘• Ambitious and highly motivated individual who holds a doctorate from the University of Oxford.

          • Garnered support, on Capitol Hill, for an entity to be added to the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s OFAC list of Ukraine-related sanctioned designations, in March 2015.

          • Contributed to William Browder’s campaign in the name of the murdered lawyer-turned-whistleblower Sergey Magnitsky, including co-organising an event, in UK Parliament, featuring former Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov and punk-rock protest band Pussy Riot.

          • Increased the profile and credibility of the Russian blogger-turned-opposition politician Alexey Navalny and his Anti-Corruption Foundation, including designing and overseeing an education programme in UK Parliament and ghost-writing an op-ed in The New York Times, in March 2014.

          • Wrote for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Financial Times, and appeared on numerous international television channels, including BBC, CNBC, and Sky News.’

          https://uk.linkedin.com/in/drfoxall

  • fwl

    Mayer argues in Dark Money that the Supreme Court decisions in the Citizens United (2010 allowing businesses and unions to fund outside groups who in turn support political candidates) and the SpeechNow case (0verturning limits on individual donations) helped the Koch twins to convert ” 30 years worth of ideological institution building into a machine that would resemble and rival those of the two major political parties. Rather than representing broad-based support, however, theirs was financed by a tiny fraction of the wealthiest families in America, who could now, should they wish, spend their entire fortunes influencing the country’s politics.” page 227.

    The chapter then continues by considering the Devos family’s role in the long road to the 5-4 Supreme Court decision in Citizens United.

    The DeVos family are strict Dutch Reformed Church Calvinists, who support the Koch network and opposition to regulation and in the DeVos case anything that interferes with the work ethic.

    Now, during the selection process Trump was Adamant that he was the outsider. He was the one Candidate, who didn’t take the Koch dollar. The Koch’s even publically expressed a preference for Hillary. Really? Today Betsy DeVos is Trump’s choice for Education Secretary.

    Do you get it? Lefties who supported Trump because he was not Hillary and who you thought was waking up the masses: Well repent. (I better do so re my BREXIT vote). The election had been won by the unnamed party in the shadows.

      • fwl

        Betsy Devos in 1997 said “I have decided however………
        ………..”

        Oh never mind. It’s on pages 235-6. You can read it. I won’t post it. It’s simply so mind boggling that I must be dreaming…..

    • Alan

      The DeVos family are strict Dutch Reformed Church Calvinists, who support the Koch network and opposition to regulation and in the DeVos case anything that interferes with the work ethic.

      Oh, you mean Afrikanners? The same folk, or is that Volk, who laid apartheid on the world scene???

      • fwl

        Not all Calvinists are Afrikaners. Dutch families emigrated from Holland to live in Michigan, but I don’t know how their views and beliefs developed in comparison to the Dutch in South Africa. Of course there are also v liberal Dutch. Interesting to consider further.

    • Alan

      Oh do dream on Michael; the EU has no principles at all, other than the one that says making a fast buck at the expense of the working classes is fine.

        • Habbabkuk

          Mme Le Pen has no chance of becoming President of the French Republic.

          I shall make you the same offer as I made to “Herbie” a couple of days ago.

          My £100 says that Mme Le Pen will not become President of France next year.

          Are you willing to put up £100 to back up your assertion that she will?

          We can deposit the money with Craig (readies in a letter if you want to stay anonymous) and he will send the £200 to either me or you after the election.

          BTW “Herbie” seems to have backed down after posting some guff about the odds and now seems unwilling to back up his opinion with £100, can’t imagine why! 🙂 )

          • Herbie

            It’s very simple, habby.

            You say:

            “Mme Le Pen has no chance of becoming President of the French Republic”

            That’s a 0% chance of winning.

            That’s what you claim.

            Infinite to 1.

            I offered 100/1 just to be fair, but as usual you did a runner.

            You’re not prepared to back your claim with real dosh.

            Either back your claim with odds apropriate to the claim you’ve made, or withdraw it.

            You really can’t be expecting an evens bet on what you say is an infinite to 1.

  • CE

    Not much “fun” to be had whilst appearing on a fake news propaganda outlet of an anti democratic klepto-state, I would’ve thought. Maybe that’s just me.

    • RobG

      Maybe you’ve had a frontal lobotomy, and actually believe all the western propaganda bullshit?

      Over the top, boys, it’s for King and Country…

      Duh!

      But keep reading the Daily Mail, et al.

      • Kempe

        So which of the three contradictory versions of the downing of MH17 so far broadcast by RT do you believe?

        Craig does himself no favours by appearing on RT.

      • michael norton

        Rob
        how are the FRENCH getting on at Flamanville, this is the French site for the proto-type European Pressurized Reactor in
        France / England.

        First concrete was poured for the demonstration EPR reactor at the Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant on 6 December 2007.
        As the name implies this will be the third nuclear reactor on the Flamanville site and the second instance of an EPR being built. Electrical output will be 1630 MWe and the project was planned to involve around €3.3 billion of capital expenditure from EDF.

        How’s it going???

      • michael norton

        In November 2014 EDF announced that completion of construction was delayed to 2017 due to delays in component delivery by Areva.

        In April 2015 Areva informed the French nuclear regulator ASN that “anomalies” had been detected in the reactor vessel steel, causing “lower than expected mechanical toughness values”. Further tests are underway?
        In July 2015 The Daily Telegraph reported that Areva had been aware of this “problem” since 2006 but kept it quiet.

        In June 2015 multiple faults in cooling system safety valves were discovered by ASN.

        In September 2015 EDF announced that the estimated costs had escalated to €10.5 billion,
        and the start-up of the reactor was delayed to the fourth quarter of 2018.

        In April 2016 ASN announced that additional “weak spots” had been found in the reactor steel,
        and Areva and EDF responded that new tests would be conducted, though construction work would continue apace.

    • Macky

      “fake news propaganda outlet of an anti democratic klepto-state,”

      Was this sometimes you heard on the BBC ? 😀

  • Dave

    If you want to find out what’s happening in your own country you need to read the foreign press and preferably listen to your own dissidents who struggle to get a hearing at home. I don’t watch RT to find out more about Russia but about Britain and the lies we’re told. And it works the other way round for Russians who watch for example the BBC, qualified by applied commonsense.

      • Habbabkuk

        Dave

        What’s with the “quallified by applied common sense”?

        Why did you add that only to your third sentence but not to the second?

        Was it deliberate or just a innocent mistake….? 🙂

    • Macky

      Exactly so, the rational commonsense approach that needs to be spelt out only for fools or knaves.

      All those trying to use “Fake News” to restrict Free Speech have a very obvious agenda.

  • Sharp Ears

    The HJS Report. 17 pages of garbage.

    Putin’s Useful Idiots:Britain’s Left, Right and Russia
    Russia Studies Centre !
    Policy Paper No. 10 (2016)
    http://henryjacksonsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Putins-Useful-Idiots.pdf
    Andrew Foxall

    About the Author
    Dr Andrew Foxall is Director of the Russia Studies Centre at The Henry Jackson Society. His first
    book, Ethnic Relations in Post-Soviet Russia, was published by Routledge in October 2014. Andrew
    holds a DPhil from the University of Oxford.

    http://henryjacksonsociety.org/people/professional-staff/russia-studies-centre/andrew-foxall/

    The HJS director. http://powerbase.info/index.php/Alan_Mendoza
    He has spoken to AIPAC and is a member of CFoI. Enough said.

  • Phil Ex Frog

    The idea that a viewer can get a full breadth of opinion by watching several TV stations is the real deceit here. The unspoken shared agenda between UK & Russian governments, ITV & RT, Murray and Kamm is what you will never hear countered on any of these media outlets. Murray, along with all TV pundits, never mentions the underlying assumptions, never questions the unquestionable, which is why he is welcome on RT.

    • Macky

      Sounds like you must know about these “underlying assumptions” & “unquestionable” questions, care to elaborate ?

      • Phil Ex Frog

        The underlying assumption is state capitalism. When did you last hear a coherent anti-capitalist pov on RT? Or the BBC or the Daily Mail?

        • Macky

          RT did some very good coverage of the anti-capitalism movement Blockupy in Germany; didn’t see anything on those September demonstrations anywhere else.

          • Phil Ex Frog

            Oh OK. Please provide a link to this coherent critique of state capitalism that is on RT. I would love to see it.

          • Macky

            I presume you know how to use Google, there are many links of RTs coverage of the anti-capitalism demonstrations that I referred to; and I guess you have never watched any of the Max Keiser shows !

            If you are looking for an academic type opinion piece “critique” from any News Channel, then you don’t understand the difference between Newspapers & News Channels.

          • Phil Ex Frog

            Macky, you are confusing criticisms of society with critiques of capitalism. That you quote Max Kaiser, a great supporter of capitalism, shows you miss the point entirely.

            RT does not host any discussion about alternatives to state capitalism. It really doesn’t. Same as the BBC. Same as every MSM media. Such critiques are not allowed. Only commentators prepared to talk within a framework that accepts state capitalism are allowed. Criticisms of our society does not make a critique of state capitalism.

          • Macky

            You didn’t pick-up on the point that at least RT covered those anti-capitalist protests, when the MSM did not. Instead, despite popularising the terms “Banksters”,“Financial Terrorists/Terrorism”, and one of the few to speak against the official 9/11 narrative, and whose shows mostly consists of railing against the unsustainability of Capitalism, you conflate/downplay Kaiser to just “Criticisms of our society”.

            It’s beginning to sound like you are one of those purest anarchist idealists who dreams of a very peculiar vision of Utopia, and that you would like to see this vision broadcast all over the alternative media. Alternative Media is not perfect, but it doesn’t deserved to be put in the same sin-bin as the Corporate MSM.

          • Phil Ex Frog

            Macky

            Yes RT do cover “anti-cap[italist” demos. But so does the BBC and every other MSM news outlet. Bejesus, the Daily Mail was full of occupy coverage. However, that is entirely different from presenting coherent alternatives to coporate state capitalism. This isn’t so hard to grasp. MSM will give limited airtime to a slogan without context, especially if it makes the opposition look a bit bad. No corporate state media will present a developed coherent case of alternatives to corporate state capitalism. It simply never happens. This is not hard to grasp. It’s to be expected. It is totally born out by reality.

            The talking heads lining up on these corporate medias are only ever allowed to discuss this and that within the framework of corporate state capitalism.

            The never mentioned shared agenda between RT/BBC/Murray/Kamm et al is where the real censorship lies. In this way they all serve the corporate state agenda.

        • lysias

          Leftist economist Michael Hudson has appeared several times on RT. As a matter of fact, it was through one such appearace that I first learned about Hudson and his excellent recent book “Killing the Host”, which I highly recommend.

          • Phil the ex-frog

            Lysias. I am not saying you will never see a revolutionary on the tele. I am saying they will probably not be presented as a revolutionary and will certainly not be given space to discuss revolution. Unless it is to give opportunity for a deluge of sneering.

            The MSM is a capitalist monoculture. You might be a capitalist and fine with that. Perhaps you know you are correct and a diversity of opinion is the last thing you need. However, to deny that alternatives to capitalismn do not even get an airing is obvious tosh. I’m easily shot down. Just produce some examples to prove my argument wrong.

          • Macky

            “Just produce some examples to prove my argument wrong.”

            You do know that Noam Chomsky “describes himself as a libertarian socialist, a sympathizer of anarcho-syndicalism” Wiki

            He even talks about the filtering system, & the parameters or framework of political debate, like that famous time he schooled Andrew Marr;

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLcpcytUnWU

            He even wrote quite a well known book about how consent is manufactured ! 😉

  • Phil Ex Frog

    Murray’s repeated claims about the HJS and the CIA are assumptions, admittedly not unfounded but assumptions they are. It does him no favour to keep repeating this as fact.

    • Macky

      Seems a bit irrational to keep going on about something that you admit is pretty likely, and especially to demand proof of something that by its very nature will be covert, it’s not like the CIA ever openly admitted funding such groups !

          • Phil Ex Frog

            Your use of LOL, exclamation and smiley face does in fact make your argument compelling. I am convinced it is perfectly fine for liberals obsessed with tracking and criticising the misinformation of MSM to themselves just parrot and consume misinformation to their taste.

          • Macky

            “Your use of LOL, exclamation and smiley face does in fact make your argument compelling.”

            The irrefutable argument I made is that declaring something “misinformation” without evidence or rational argumentation is irrational; the LOL & smiley face were a reaction to your ironic irrationality ! 😀

          • Phil Ex Frog

            Oh Macky. You have it arse about tit. You expect me to prove something I am saying is unknown? OK. Whatever. May I suggest your irrefutability might be reinforced with some letter capitalisation.

          • Macky

            No, you demand proof of Craig’s assertion that the CIA are behind the HJS, an assertion that you admit is not unrealistic, yet at the same time you refuse to acknowledge that your dissatisfaction for the lack proof for this assertion is irrational, exactly because if it’s true, it will inherently be deliberately hidden, covert and secret ! How exactly do you expect this proof to be presented? Seeing it written on the CIA website ? Seeing a copy of a Top Secret document that could land people in jail ? Hearing a crackly taped phone conversation between two unverifiable voices ? Is there any reasonable proof that will really satisfy you ?

            I could easily ask you for proof for your claim that it is “misinformation”, can you provide it ? Or how about even a persuasive logical argument to support your assertion ?

            If I had to chose between Craig’s likely to be true assertion, and your blind faith evidence & argument free assertion, I prefer to pick the former.

    • Macky

      Has it not occurred to you that maybe there are good reasons why he cannot tell you how he knows this is true ?

      • Phil Ex Frog

        Oh please. You mean he has been tipped of by a spooky contact? That’s good enough for you? LOL. Smiley face !!!

        • Macky

          More irrationality ! I never said anything more than “Craig is likely right on this”, no definite closed mind blinkered assertion like you “misinformation” assertion !

          • Phil Ex Frog

            But there is a huge gulf between “likely right” and a something acceptable as fact.

            Making stuff up and unquestioningly accepting stuff that is made up, without evidence, happily meeting preconceptions, is precisely what many here, including you and Craig, criticise the MSM and consumers of MSM for doing. Dunno. Just seems a road to no where. Hypocritical even.

          • lysias

            History books are full of assertions of things that are no more than highly likely. The standard of proof in civil suits, at least in the U.S., is “preponderance of the evidence”. I.e., cases are won, and damages are awarded, merely because a judge or jury decides that one party’s case is more likely to be true than the other’s.

          • Phil the ex-frog

            OK, I give up. You two are fine about made up stuff, repeatedly stated, as long as it conforms to your world view. Good luck with that.

          • Macky

            “But there is a huge gulf between “likely right” and a something acceptable as fact.”

            Which is why I used the words “likely right” !

            It’s only you that seems so certain of the “fact” that Craig’s assertion is “misinformation”

            “You two are fine about made up stuff,”

            This shows that you are not a serious nor logical debater if you keep attributing falsehoods to others.

  • michael norton

    Perhaps we should get China to help build new Nuclear Power stations in the United Kingdom, they could help the French?

    At least 40 dead in China construction accident

    At least 40 people have died after a platform under construction at a power plant’s cooling tower in eastern China’s Jiangxi province collapsed on Thursday, state news agency Xinhua said. The accident happened in Fengcheng at around 7 a.m. (23:00 GMT), and rescuers are on the scene Xinhua said, without giving other details. (REUTERS)

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