73

BBC Documentary – “A Dangerous Dynasty: House of Assad”

David Carlson

I rarely watch anything on the BBC now and this first part in a three part character assassination of Bashar Assad is a testament as to why watching anything the BBC produces is as near perverse as some of their DJ’s. “Nick Greene”, the Grun states ” forensic excision of the tumour at the heart of Syria,” is about as sick as gaggle of Bishops at a Jimmy Saville party.

The sickly female voice over 20 years ago would only be found on a childrens program explainingg basics of a subject to ten year olds but now, it seems, is standard fare for adults happy to accept such condescension.

To start with the ommision of how Hafez Assad rescued Syria from American and French colonial interference that by policy was designed to keep Syria a fractured state of warring tribes is as I expected a deafening silence. That he came from a peasant family with nothing to be President that united his nation in a secular peace and a growing prosperity for all is cast as his crime because he stomped on the Mossad/CIA sponsored rebels hiding under the guise of the Muslim Brotherhood. Indeed the situation today with the myriad factions we can collectively call ISIS/Al Qaida funded and assisted by Israel, the US and allies is a clear case of history repeating itself.

To hammer home the idea to aunties gullible children that Hafez was some kind of monster, a stitched together film of female soldiers biting the heads off snakes and unrelated footage of males stabbing puppies is presented. This is in fact an old propaganda film put together by Saddam Hussein when he was still dancing to an American flute and given to Donald Rumsfeld when they were still buddies.

The snake biting is authentic and a common theme around the world. Indeed US Secretary of Defence James Mattis in January this year was following in the footsteps of Hafez in congratulating Indonesian soldiers in their snake decapitation and blood drinking abilities.

Next there is a bit about Assads older brother being groomed to take over before he died in a car accident. Not before he is savaged for owning a Porsche and a BMW. It seems to be a respectable heir in waiting one must have an extensive collection of Italian HyperCars.

Bashar is shown by their own script to be an unassuming character of deep humanity who had planned to devote his life to help giving sight to the blind. This is something I would argue he continues to do in his interviews in recent years. Anybody listening to him interviewed, if they can get past his unfortunate discomfort of limelight, can only be struck with his reasonableness, his integrity and his humanity. Yet with strained contrivance and meaningless anecdotes from western stooges he is portrayed as a sinister character full of deceit.

Why? Because he talked and negotiated with western leaders but remained unbending over the defence of his nation, it’s secular inclusive ideals and of Arab people’s in general. But mostly for refusing to be a party to the new crusade of the post 9/11 landscape. Without any evidence he was charged with deporting militant prisoners to fight Americans in Iraq. But worst of all his crimes the despicable, heinous crime of foreseeing that the invasion of Iraq would mean Syria would see an influx of refugees and preparing in advance for that reality by putting the infrastructure in place to take care of them. Yes, the sinister dictator set up refugee camps. Such evil!

Mrs Assad does not escape the assault. Far from it, Asma is portrayed as nothing better than a social climber who connived her way to a wedding ceremony. Despite it being obvious that they are two peas in a pod, as made for each other a couple as you are likely to see, thrust into their position by fate not design. No laudits that they share the same desire to be as close to the ordinary citizens as is possible and portrayed as manipulative because they can drive the streets of Damascus as ordinary citizens without fear and do so on a daily basis.

Watching this should do the exact opposite that was intended. It should demonstrate that this couple are good people in a bad world. That they gave up their own lives and all the wealth and privileges that would have come with capitulation to western hegemony and opted to stand firm in defence of Syrian independence and the secular ideals of respect and harmony the Syrian state embodies.

By David Carlson aka Candide Schmyles a nobody living in the North of Scotland.

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Jason Koley
Jason Koley
Nov 2, 2018 2:57 PM

The comments on here are absolutely bonkers.

charles
charles
Nov 1, 2018 4:29 PM

jimmy saville worked at the bbc for more than 40 years after his death someone asked the head bbc spook the guy that went to the new york times how jimmy got away with it,his reply
we never knew.
40 years of rape and fiddling spending christmas with margaret thatcher etc etc.
nobody knew nuttin.

maybe just maybe saville was normalcy for certain groups.
does the bbc ever run counter to chatham house country takedown or is it just the soft power consent arm of mi5.
a nice cosy truman show bubble for the goyim
calming and extracting the energy of slaves

John2o2o
John2o2o
Oct 30, 2018 9:03 PM

“about as sick as gaggle of Bishops at a Jimmy Saville party.”

I know that’s meant to be clever, but ironically there are some people who believe that Mr Savile was unjustly smeared by the MSM in a similar way that the Assad family have been unjustly smeared.

Several people have been working hard on what they see as the fight for justice for Jimmy Savile. They’re quite brave as the MSM have whipped people up in to such a rage about such matters.

WeatherEye
WeatherEye
Oct 24, 2018 11:07 PM

Compare with the fawning interview given to Egypt’s military tyrant Al Sisi, who is perhaps worse than even Mubarak. I remember Reuters quoting an IMF guy during his multi-billion-dollar foreign investment conference a few years ago saying “yes the repression is bad but it is stabilizing for foreign investment”.

Jane
Jane
Oct 24, 2018 10:45 PM

I have just watched part one. Talk about scratching an itch. The narrator sounds like the BT answering service. No context is given for anything, no mention of the various wars with Israel, no mention of the succession of coups d’état before Hafez came to power so that the people in general were glad of some stability at last. Even after Hafez did take over there was a lot of random terrorism which he finally managed to bring under control. The Hama massacre was provoked by the Muslim Brotherhood killing all the solders in the garrison at Hama. Hama would probably have been Hafez’s Deraa moment if he hadn’t acted fast and of course in those days there was no social media or foreign jihadi types to fan the flames. They seem to hint that Syria would have been better off under Hafez’ brother Rifat. They don’t mention that Rifat… Read more »

dick100
dick100
Oct 25, 2018 9:20 PM
Reply to  Jane

The “Hama massacre” was organised by certain foreign powers using the Moslem Brotherhood who are just as nasty as ISIL and caused trouble and terrorism for years, and it was intended to lead to a regime change operation. Hafez was completely justified in the measures he took.

Maggie
Maggie
Oct 26, 2018 10:04 PM
Reply to  dick100

@ Dick100, As you say, the exact same ”Foreign Powers” were involved up to their ears in the Hama massacre then and now… IMO it was them who paid for the coup in the first place. They had Rifaat Asaad on their payroll both monetarily and with the promise that he would become ‘their’ President once he had disposed of the non existent ‘Muslim Brotherhood’ allegedly hiding amongst the people…and stirred up a massive peaceful demonstration which was dispersed using the CIA/Mossad mercenaries dressed as Syrian soldiers to kill innocent civilians for the benefit of the International MSM..(Remember the King David Hotel? https://www.britishempire.co.uk/maproom/palestinedavidshotel.htm ) And Rifaat is still working tirelessly with his Radio Station Owner son Sawar al Assad … to undermine Bashar. Hanging on to the dream of becoming the President of Syria in the pocket of the USA/Israhell. Where did Rifaat get his millions from? When he was… Read more »

Haltonbrat
Haltonbrat
Oct 24, 2018 4:31 PM

This was pure propaganda to hide the fact that Brown/Cameron planned the war in Syria to bring down Assad and trash the country on the orders of Israel. This os made clear here by former French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas:

DunGroanin
DunGroanin
Oct 24, 2018 3:41 PM

MSM wormworderry headline link to the story says Labour MPs forced to withdraw abortion amendment – Bastard Corbyn! Urm not this time..
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/oct/24/commons-withdraws-amendment-to-legalise-abortion-in-northern-ireland

Meanwhile Craig Murray has posted on Kashoggi – including a link to a BBC world news story on disappearing Saudi princes from their European homes, not a blip of protest from the governments concerned or the media!

Simon Hodges
Simon Hodges
Oct 24, 2018 3:20 PM

As an organization whose outlook is purely globalist, who blindly accepts and refuses to critique the now universalized economic conclusions of neoliberalism and the geopolitical ‘liberation’ program of ‘progressive’ neoconservatives and ‘progressive’ liberal imperialists, then perhaps the state based broadcaster would be better funded by the corporations and vested interests of the transnational neo-globalist deep state that it represents rather than rely on the outdated nationalistic financial support of the British people which it clearly despises.

antirepublocrat
antirepublocrat
Oct 24, 2018 10:38 PM
Reply to  Simon Hodges

Precisely why I stopped contributing to National Public Radio in the US. They get plenty of funding from Big Oil and the MIC and persist in giving a platform to totally discredited morons like Paul Wolfowitz.

Thomas Prentice
Thomas Prentice
Oct 24, 2018 3:14 PM

The REAL dangerous dynasty is the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, of late “Windsor,” and its many Prime Ministers who exercised the colonial, empire war and other powers previously directly exercised by the royals. WOnder when the bbc might do a doc on THEM? lol

Philpot
Philpot
Oct 24, 2018 12:55 PM

My Mrs watched some of this rubbish and fell for it enough to reproach me for supporting such a ‘butcher’. I loathe the BBC – I won’t watch it any more unless it’s countryfile or an antiques programme, which they are now planning to axe as nice old white people in pockets of Britain’s glorious, civilised past watch it and must be denied such pleasures. They’ll be getting scripted pap like HIGNFY or sunni-wahabist breakdancing from South London from BBCiii.

Frankly Speaking
Frankly Speaking
Oct 24, 2018 11:16 PM
Reply to  Philpot

Time to change wife? ;-/

DWS
DWS
Oct 25, 2018 11:18 AM
Reply to  Philpot

Ditch the TV, and don’t ever pay for a license again. I did that 15 years ago and never regretted it. The Bullshit and Brainwashing Corporation will never again receive any money from me.

JudyJ
JudyJ
Oct 24, 2018 12:24 PM

Thanks, David, for your review with which I wholeheartedly agree. I sat through most of the three ‘episodes’ (and that is the right word to use as it comes across as a fictional Hollywood-style production mini-series from, as you say, the voice-over to the music score, atmospheric to convey evil and malice aforethought). I came away with the distinct impression that the aim of the programme – apart from to lie and factually mislead – was to manipulate a bridge between the secular, respected and humanitarian President and his wife that many of us see and the murdering, genocidal, evil butcher that we are told he really is. I can only conclude that this was done out of fear that the ‘pro-Assad’ voices are starting to gain momentum. So, to counter this, BBC shows the ‘good’ side of the couple but then immediately counters it with an anecdote or allegation,… Read more »

harry stotle
harry stotle
Oct 24, 2018 1:49 PM
Reply to  JudyJ

“There was the case of the young boy who had purportedly been beaten to death by the Syrian authorities for writing anti-regime graffiti.” – I assume you are referring to 13yr old Hamza Ali Al-Khateeb (killed sometime during April or May 2011). Western accounts regarding the manner of this child’s death have been contested. http://uprootedpalestinians.blogspot.com/2011/06/breaking-news-true-story-of-hamza-al.html What we do know is that Hillary waded in with veiled threats soon after the allegations so depending on your point of view it might be argued that neocons (such as Clinton) were trying to exploit the death of Hamza Ali Al-Khateeb (in order to gaim momentum for regime change) or maybe Assad really had gone from being a mild mannered opthalmologist to sociopathic child torturer. Needless to say such cynicism about Clinton cannot be discounted given our inability to trust the motivation of belligerent politicians during times of war typified by the Kuwaiti incubator… Read more »

candideschmyles
candideschmyles
Oct 24, 2018 1:53 PM
Reply to  JudyJ

Thank you Judy. I have still to endure the 3rd part and I thank you sincerely for getting me out of any temptation to go penning two follow ups that are wholly unnecessary to get the picture. The “boy” to which you refer I believe to be Hamza A’Hadib who the rebel/jihadi propagandists said was to have died soon after after being delivered to hospital by his interrogators. The truth is he had been dead several days by then, hence his body was bloated and beginning to decay. The coroner reported that despite appearances his body showed no signs of being tortured. https://youtu.be/8b1qKqYz-Bs There are several interviews where Bashar “admits” various things but his dismal delivery makes his attempts at irony fall flat and delivers all the sound bite edits MSM needs to hang him out to dry. Evidently unlike our western leaders he has no PR team to coach… Read more »

JudyJ
JudyJ
Oct 24, 2018 2:57 PM
Reply to  JudyJ

Thanks for the edit, Admin.

Susan Wallace
Susan Wallace
Oct 24, 2018 12:04 PM

May God bless Israel and continue to save her from her enemies.

“And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth” (Zechariah 14:12).

“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee” (Psalm122:6).

Solemn warnings indeed.

candideschmyles
candideschmyles
Oct 24, 2018 12:29 PM
Reply to  Susan Wallace

I think “Israel” only real threat lays in her own breast.

Lefty Socialist Marxist Sponger
Lefty Socialist Marxist Sponger
Oct 24, 2018 1:42 PM
Reply to  Susan Wallace

As soon as I saw the title of part one I knew this was going to be a massive smear against a person who has so far resisted the perversion of the Deep State – so, to save you having to read yet another thesis, I will just say that I didn’t even bother watching any of this crap because I could have predicted all the comments I have read here – and it is reassuring to me that there still remain so many people who know the truth of all this.

JudyJ
JudyJ
Oct 24, 2018 3:12 PM

Like you. LSMS, I knew exactly what to expect before watching it and, as always with such programmes, was tempted to find something more worthwhile to do! But I usually succumb simply so that as soon as an acquaintance starts talking about the BBC programme they saw proving that Assad is a tyrant I can at least challenge their inferences from my own first-hand observation, having seen the programme as well.

DunGroanin
DunGroanin
Oct 24, 2018 3:47 PM
Reply to  Susan Wallace

Jeruslem is not Israel. You misrepresent the quote. Wormtonguery or clever?

John
John
Oct 25, 2018 6:27 AM
Reply to  Susan Wallace

Anyone promoting Judaism is clearly not a Christian! Shall I send you the link of lovable Jew kids saying they killer Jesus, they’re proud that they killer Jesus and that Jesus was the son of a shit? Should I? And yet you want to “protect” Jews temporarily so that god and his kid can come back and kill them all! I see you had several IDF trolls or yourself and a few Jews thumb up your comment too

mark
mark
Oct 25, 2018 8:45 PM
Reply to  John

According to our charming Hebrew friends of the Sarah Silverman variety, Jesus was the bastard son of a Roman soldier and a Jewish prostitute, who is now burning in a pit of excrement in Hell for all eternity. Nice people, those Hebrew folk.

Maggie
Maggie
Oct 26, 2018 11:56 PM
Reply to  mark

Jesus was the son of Zachariah… Mary was given to the temple as a Vestal Virgin when she was 3. When she started her period age 12 she had to leave for fear of defiling the temple and lived with Elizabeth and Zachariah till a husband was arranged for her. Zachariah inseminated her and then married her off to an old man Joseph when she was in her 12th year, and she gave birth to Jesus just after her 13th birthday.. Zachariah was the Rightful Hasmonean King of Judaea but the Romans would not allow him to take this title, and he complied with their rules to keep his life.. But the Romans got to know that two sons had been born to him but he would not give the whereabouts of Elizabeth and Mary away so they murdered him, and put John and Jesus on a hit list, Jesus… Read more »

mark
mark
Oct 25, 2018 8:40 PM
Reply to  Susan Wallace

I am the most wonderful person on the planet and anyone who says different is obviously an enemy of God who will destroy them, so everyone has to fawn all over me and give me all their money, especially the Americans.

Eurasia News Online
Eurasia News Online
Oct 24, 2018 10:56 AM

BBC can sell it (with some success) ONLY in the “five eyes” and nowhere else. The rest of the world knows exactly what the BBC is all about. The rest of the world also knows where BBC comes from – the country that committed more genocides and murders than Hitler would be able to do seven lives. And those who fund BBC (yes dear taxpayers of Kingdom of Genocides) should know that revenge will come sooner or later. Till it happens – enjoy your brainwashing

BigB
BigB
Oct 24, 2018 10:09 AM

All I can say is that I managed about ten minutes of this …this “what” being something so awful as to defy language. Goebbels would have blushed. Bernays would have thought twice. Not “Auntie”. With psychopathic relatives like that, who needs enemies? Especially crude counterfeited enemies.

candideschmyles
candideschmyles
Oct 24, 2018 12:25 PM
Reply to  BigB

I have watched part two. It doesn’t get any better. The only reason I am watching it is I have been researching Bashar recently trying to get some handle on why he is so demonised even by most of alt media. To be frank I have not found anything bad on him at all that comes with supporting evidence. To me he seems like the real thing, a genuine leader of a country that serves the best interests of the people. So it is a mystery to me why the bad labels persist even amongst those otherwise critical of the western warmongers. I genuinely think this has become a meme propagated through the laziness of commentators to do their own research. And made easy by him looking like a stock cartoon vampire and having that quiet lispy voice. Listening closely to what he actually says reveals a man with actual… Read more »

vexarb
vexarb
Oct 24, 2018 2:50 PM

Candidly, I believe one reason is at least as old as Athenian Democracy: I am voting to bring Aristides down because I am sick and tired of hearing people talking about Aristides the Just.

Jen
Jen
Oct 24, 2018 10:52 PM

In the early 2000’s, Dr Assad’s government did carry out neoliberal economic reforms, as recommended by the World Bank and the IMF, that among other things helped destroy much of Syria’s agriculture and led to grudges and grievances among rural Sunni Muslim communities in the eastern and northeastern parts of the country. In those days, the Syrian government relied on Abdullah Dardari, who held senior positions in the government for economics affairs and planning, to shape and direct the country’s economic policy. Since the war began in 2011, Dardari has resurfaced in various UN-related positions. We must ask what his role in shaping Syrian economic policy during Assad’s early years as President was really aiming at. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_Dardari Dardari has now been appointed Senior Advisor on Reconstruction for the Middle East and North Africa Region by the World Bank: http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2017/02/16/world-bank-appoints-senior-advisor-on-reconstruction-for-the-middle-east-and-north-arica-region (Hmm, the World Bank can employ a supposed expert on economic… Read more »

John
John
Oct 25, 2018 7:24 AM
Reply to  Jen

Excellent point about dardari. A rat if I ever saw one

DunGroanin
DunGroanin
Oct 24, 2018 9:52 AM

Any mention of the other Assad, living in leafy Surrey or Kent or wherever? Hmm? Anyone continuing to watch and listen to the propaganda news and entertainment bollocks spewed non stop by the ‘state’ broadcaster is a mug. A double mug for actually paying for it! £4 BILLION per year!!! Wtf?? Plus they make at least another £BILLION from ‘commercial’ activities. Much of it going to ‘private’ production companies formed nepotistically by Beeb insiders. Where they take earnings directly and indirectly. Meanwhile, every regional channel & every radio channel in HQ digital format is available for FREE across Europe and the world on freesat! on the web it is available across the world with ADVERTS. Just REFUSE to watch it or it’s iplayer. You can manage using internet devices to watch netflix and many other sources for a lot less a month. It is errroneous of the govt to demand… Read more »

Jim Scott
Jim Scott
Oct 24, 2018 5:32 PM
Reply to  DunGroanin

While I am from a five eyes country I am not at all convinced by BBC propaganda that is blatantly obvious . I have not deliberately listened to the BBC for about three years although the ABC does air as number of BBC programs in the wee hours and on Sunday mornings. About three years ago I filled in a BBC surveynand told them that I will no longer listen to their programs because I had no trust in the veracity of their information or their sources and I did not want to listen to propaganda. I have not listened or watched their programs since. By the way I have infinitely more trust in Bashar Assad than in Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu, Hillary Clinton or Theresa May. As for Australian leaders I think most of them are ignorant about foreign relations and they are not staying in their job long… Read more »

vexarb
vexarb
Oct 24, 2018 8:23 PM
Reply to  Jim Scott

I have not listened to the British Bullshit Corp since Prime Minister Tony B.Liar killed the reputable old BBC for telling the Truth about Iraq.

John
John
Oct 25, 2018 7:26 AM
Reply to  vexarb

Sorry vex but the beeb were never known for veracity before Blair either. Their decades of anti Irish anti USSR propaganda is proof of this

Denis O'hAichir
Denis O'hAichir
Oct 24, 2018 9:26 PM
Reply to  Jim Scott

It’s fuckin’ obvious. Have another look, you’re Australian yeah, yet you’re white(I presume), I’m Irish yet I speak fuckin’ English as my first language, you’re fuckin’ brainwashed ‘mate’ , So many thick cunts tell me “if” we” didn’t fight in ww2 we’d speaking German ” and they say that to me in English, thick as the fuckin’, wall. What’s the Aussie or Kiwi language is it your first or are you a fuckin’ parasite?

labrebisgalloise
labrebisgalloise
Oct 24, 2018 9:29 AM

Any insomniac listening to BBC World Service “Witness” in the european night last night will have been treated to a paean to General Pinochet and, following his arrest in London in 1998, the crafty PR man who came up with the wheeze of pushing him around in a wheelchair to make it look like he was seriously ill, leading to his release on compassionate grounds and arrival in Chile, whereupon he leapt out of the wheelchair to inspect the soldiers ranged to greet him. A level of journalism on a par with a Boy’s Own Annual of 1899: No context, just a comment towards the end that despite having tortured people he was great man who had made history and besides he was a friend of Margaret Thatcher – and which other great men who had made history hadn’t tortured the odd person here and there.

DunGroanin
DunGroanin
Oct 24, 2018 9:58 AM

Pinochet the murdering henchman of Kissinger the mass murderer.

The FIRST 9/11 and the most heinous for gathering and murdering thousands in the stadiums.

Allendes last broadcast words are worth reading.

George Cornell
George Cornell
Oct 24, 2018 10:06 AM

The “man” who certified Pinochet as being sane, from an ancient fartcatching university, was promptly knighted, having been an academic layabout for decades.

vexarb
vexarb
Oct 24, 2018 8:30 PM

That crafty PR man was a tool of B.Liar’s Foreign Minister, Jack Straw, highly valued in certain Labour circles “for his low cunning”.

harry stotle
harry stotle
Oct 24, 2018 9:23 AM

The US and Britain knew they were going to be responsible for some serious shit in Syria.

They were not wrong: there have been perhaps half a million killed while millions more have been displayed – at the same time once thriving, and culturally rich cities have been decimated.

None of this would make sense without a Dr Evil narrative rationalising what is essentially a western backed power play for resources and geopolitical control in the region.

The film makers at the BBC by demonising Assad and ignoring the real motives for war have done their bit to increase the risk of similar patterns playing out again, perhaps next time in Somalia or Venezuela?

Honestly, they need to take a long hard look at themselves.

Robyn
Robyn
Oct 24, 2018 9:55 AM
Reply to  harry stotle

Quite so, Harry. And the people who still unquestioningly watch and read the MSM need to take a long hard look at themselves.

harry stotle
harry stotle
Oct 24, 2018 10:12 AM
Reply to  harry stotle

Nick Green is the film maker: a project overseen by ’72 films’. Their website describes ‘A Dangerous Dynasty: House of Assad’ as a new three part series (which) delves into the story of the Assad dynasty. Right at the centre of it are President Bashar and his wife Asma, who met and fell in love in London. Bashar al-Assad trained to be an eye doctor at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington; Asma was a British born girl (girl, sic) from a Syrian family with a career in investment banking. Over a decade ago, they were being welcomed with open arms in Britain. Today, they are entrenched in a brutal war that has led to some of the most horrifying crimes of modern times. Told through rarely seen footage and testimony of those who knew them, worked with them and studied them, the series explores how the couple, who at first… Read more »

Jen
Jen
Oct 24, 2018 9:08 AM

Good grief, this documentary is sure to be screened on either the ABC or SBS here in Australia. Both channels are propaganda arms of the BBC, no less.

Bad enough that the ABC is currently screening the Invictus games – a pet project of one of the British Royals – to harass the public into “supporting the troops” through exploiting veterans with disabilities, in a way that it has never done with the Paralympic Games.

candideschmyles
candideschmyles
Oct 24, 2018 10:58 AM
Reply to  Jen

It is sick. Send our children off to a distant land to kill innocents. Then when they get an arm or a leg blown off convince them to perform like trained monkeys.

Makropulos
Makropulos
Oct 24, 2018 8:24 AM

As I’ve said before, the Beeb also excell at propaganda through their light entertainment stuff e.g. “Have I Got News For You” in which various manufactured strains, e.g. Labour “anti-Semitism”, are passed off casually as if these matters were clearly established facts.

candideschmyles
candideschmyles
Oct 24, 2018 11:01 AM
Reply to  Makropulos

The smug arrogance of Hislop especially galls me. I can no longer even watch it.

Gwyn
Gwyn
Oct 24, 2018 1:53 PM

I feel the same about HIGNFY, Candide. Having not seen it for a long time, I watched a few minutes of it, a couple of weeks ago, but had to stop when Hislop made a hilarious ”joke” in which he mentioned Jeremy Corbyn alongside Stalin and Lenin.

He looked terribly pleased with himself after he’d delivered his astonishingly witty quip. I, on the other hand, had to fight the urge to smash my laptop to smithereens.

candideschmyles
candideschmyles
Oct 24, 2018 2:01 PM
Reply to  Gwyn

This is exactly why I cannot afford to watch it. Would cost me a fortune in devices.

George cornell
George cornell
Oct 24, 2018 5:44 PM
Reply to  Gwyn

I always thought Hislop was an annoying little jerk, who is never so pleased as when he favours the watcher with a ‘witticism’ , and is still trying to make up for his schoolboy inadequacies.

Francis Lee
Francis Lee
Oct 24, 2018 8:18 AM

It ill-behooves a country like the UK with its record of imperial record of exploitation, slavery and mass murder to criticise anybody else. Just for the record. 1. The Zulu and South African wars in the late 19th century led by the notorious Cecil Rhodes. 2. The slave trade in west Africa, and the internal slavery in East Africa. In this latter chapter as described by Leonard Woolf ‘Empire and Commerce in Africa’ where the indigenous peoples were evicted by white settlers from their land. According to the British view ‘’ … the natives had no right to land and no right to live his life for himself; he should be compelled to work on the white man’s land for a wage fixed a twopence a day.’’ Woolf added, ‘’Men’s beliefs and desires are like an iron shutter which descends across their eyes. The philosophical historian does not delude himself… Read more »

Thomas Turk
Thomas Turk
Oct 24, 2018 9:43 AM
Reply to  Francis Lee

…where the indigenous peoples were evicted by white settlers from their land. NOT true, you are sprouting fake nooz as DJT would say. We were among the early settlers, not Brits but Hungarians. Went to Kenya in1939. No Africans were there, just a few wandering Masai a hundred miles away and Kikuyu even further. We opened up new farmland where just a few zebra, deer and ostrich roamed. We grew wheat, barley, oats, raised cattle and pork,. We had a clinic for the workers and a school for their kids. They were given training, salaries, uniforms, free housing, free food, including fresh meat 2X a week, and allotted an acre of land to grow their own staples and keep goats. The neighboring Brit and South African farmers did the same. The Brits set up the railways, roads, bridges, telecoms, schools, Universities, Hospitals, and established law and order. They even had… Read more »

George Cornell
George Cornell
Oct 24, 2018 9:59 AM
Reply to  Thomas Turk

So you ignore the 12M black slaves sent by British slavers to the New World to smoke and mirror your ridiculous notion that the benevolent Brits went to Africa out of maudlin sentiment for the darkies and their plight? I suggest you read contemporary accounts of the Parliamentary record.

And while you are at it, read how Kichener invented concentration camps and Amherst invented biological warfare.

Your absurd condescending take on bigamy betrays your racist core.

mark
mark
Oct 25, 2018 8:52 PM
Reply to  George Cornell

Ah, but they were sent to the New World for their own good, to take up exciting new job opportunities in the agricultural sector.

George cornell
George cornell
Oct 26, 2018 1:11 AM
Reply to  mark

Good point, and it was a near instantaneous 200 years before they were freed, and eventually allowed to vote, own land and just another 100 before they could play pro baseball with whites and ride in the same buses. In the meantime they could pick cotton and tow barges and were even permitted to sleep from time to time, often with a roof over their heads. What is everybody moaning about?

Jim Scott
Jim Scott
Oct 24, 2018 5:59 PM
Reply to  Thomas Turk

So just a few wandering Masai don’t count as people to you? This is the same bullshit used in Australia. Here the Aboriginal people were semi nomadic in that they followed the seasonal grasses and hunted the animals that eat the grass. Whole tribes moved with the rains and had eight seasons based on different foods available. Europeans who turned up when the tribes had moved on claimed no one lived there. When the Aboriginals returned the settlers claimed that the aboriginal groups came after them.

Denis O'hAichir
Denis O'hAichir
Oct 24, 2018 9:35 PM
Reply to  Thomas Turk

Poor attempt. – F Mrs TT poor Thomas needs to try much harder, I recommend staying back for a few years.

Denis O'hAichir
Denis O'hAichir
Oct 24, 2018 7:37 AM

The BBC is sickeningly biased, very difficult to watch their extraordinarily poor propaganda, they should take some lessons from RT, I agree with the author it’s rare I watch anymore, stick with Cox an co going on about the universe.

candideschmyles
candideschmyles
Oct 24, 2018 11:47 AM

Even Cox is dogmatic and embellished many conjectures as cast iron fact. By their own measure physicists can only begin to explain 5% of the cosmos. Physics is completely dominated by a bunch of self congratulatory brothers and sisters of the ruling classes that increasingly are guilty of crass virtue signalling and in return for huge salaries push out their esoteric number game as the only show in town. Please do not think for a moment i am some luddite with a grudge, far from it, the sciences – cosmolgy, cybernetics and genetics especially, are my primary passion. But physics and cosmology needs new blood and new ideas. The stagnant minds that dominate at the moment stand yet on the shoulders of giants and all real advance is made by instrument builders and engineers.

Portonchok
Portonchok
Oct 24, 2018 12:18 PM

The BBC is indeed horrendously biased, but all UK media is is the same. However, RT is biased too, in the opposing direction.

RT documentaries and shows are in many cases excellent, but their international news broadcasting has this year become quite comical at times, especially when using animations and playing music; that’s clearly a tactic used to enforce a message. Their UK news is actually informtive and balanced.

These things are not black and white, we should not be on one side or the other, we should have independent and enquiring minds and call out propaganda wherever we see it.

Jim Scott
Jim Scott
Oct 24, 2018 6:12 PM
Reply to  Portonchok

I agree we need to use our intelligence to assess the validity of all news. For instance when more than seventy percent of Syrians support Assad why would he bomb them. When Obama said the use of chemical weapons would be a trigger for US intervention why would Assad use them? When Donald Trump says that Khashoggi may have been murdered by a random violent group who just happened to stroll into the Saudi Embassy we should understand that is blatant bullshit to protect the sales of weapons at any cost.

mog
mog
Oct 24, 2018 7:16 AM

A good series of tweets by David Miller showing how the circle of (intelligence service led) information sources becomes self referencing and self re-inforcing:
https://twitter.com/Tracking_Power/status/1054759888247754752

vexarb
vexarb
Oct 24, 2018 6:29 AM

Thank you, David Carlson, I have posted Link in SyrianPerspective. And thank you, Off-Guardian which now means also Off-BBC. According to a couple of Australians who post regularly in SyrPer, they are as sickened by ABC as we are by BBC. Here is one of those Ozzies spreading the truth about one aspect of the FUKZU$A attempt to destroy democratic Syria and replace it by a backward, theocratic Rothschild oil company like Saudi Arabia: “Andres Perezalonso at SOTT has a good take on the eastern Euphrates’ infestation by U$ grunts — 700 HOSTAGES TAKEN BY ISIS UNDER US MILITARY WATCH? U$A’S SPITEFUL EFFORTS TO PREVENT SYRIA’S RECOVERY … If Trump had a firm hold of what the US military does and an accurate understanding of the situation, he would do his best to order them to get out of the way and let those three countries sort out the Euphrates… Read more »

tutisicecream
tutisicecream
Oct 24, 2018 5:11 AM

Another “Urban” myth from the devious Auntie Beeb?

The Viner Times, formerly called the Guardian gives it a breathless 5 stars! A stellar example of, what do they call it, fearless journalism?

In this post truth era it’s good to see such a good example of propaganda being hammered out by the British state’s premier broadcaster. It must make all those tireless license fee payers proud to be British.

Can’t wait fro the follow-up series on the House of Saud…

Haltonbrat
Haltonbrat
Oct 24, 2018 6:01 PM
Reply to  tutisicecream

Because the Viner Times is exceedingly pro-Zionist and has been since the days of CP Scott.

Fair dinkum
Fair dinkum
Oct 24, 2018 2:41 AM

The propaganda arm of the corpara$ite$.
Just like Australia’s ABC.

George Cornell
George Cornell
Oct 24, 2018 2:15 AM

Thank you David. I wish I could send you my licence fee and send the BBC a sack of coals.

vexarb
vexarb
Oct 24, 2018 7:05 AM
Reply to  George Cornell

Burning coals, for heaping on heads?

Rhisiart Gwilym
Rhisiart Gwilym
Oct 24, 2018 8:21 AM
Reply to  George Cornell

I’ve never paid a beeb licence fee in my life. Nor have I paid any income tax to the English imperial-gangster state since 1973, preferring instead to tithe voluntarily, to give money to unequivocally good causes (as I still do, despite now having no other income than the state pension, and living – officially, though not in any actual Mumbai-street-dweller sense – below the ‘poverty’ line). These things – being a persistent unjust-tax refusenik – are doable. It’s just a great pity that a whole lot more britcitz aren’t doing them. And yes, I understand that taxes are necessary to provide actually-good and popularly-supported things in a civilised social democracy. But in Britain the idea of progressive taxation, with the richest paying most, and with wealth above a certain maximum limit suffering 100% taxation, is in tatters; simply non-functional. And also, in this famous ‘democracy’ we’re not allowed to tick… Read more »

Rhisiart Gwilym
Rhisiart Gwilym
Oct 24, 2018 9:38 AM

PS: Love your self-description, David: “A nobody living in the north of Scotland”! I’d say the same about myself, but further south in Britain. 🙂