Fact checking — Paul Robinson

The big news from Italy this week is the seizure by Turin police of a massive arsenal of weapons held by a neo-Nazi group. Among the weapons was a stonking-big air-to-air missile. Reporting the story, the BBC links the neo-Nazis to ‘Russian-backed separatist forces’ in Ukraine….

Naughty separatists. Despite all that talk of fighting ‘fascism’, it appears that they’re in bed with neo-Nazis. But then again, maybe not. For as Mark Ames points out on Twitter, there’s a problem with the BBC report. The official police statement says something very different. In fact, it says the following:…

Which for those of you who don’t speak Italian, translates as:

The investigations had begun about a year ago when the police headquarters in Turin, coordinated by the Central Directorate of Prevention Police, monitored some people linked to political movements of the ultra-right who had fought in the Ukrainian region of Donbass against the separatists.

So it turns out that they fought not ‘for the separatists’ but ‘against the separatists’....

But here’s the thing. It’s not just the BBC which makes that claim. CNN, for instance, reports that:

The stockpile was discovered by police who were investigating Italians ‘with extremist ideology’ who had fought alongside Russian-backed separatist forces in Donbass, eastern Ukraine, last July, according to the police statement.Similarly The Guardian writes that:

Police said that the discoveries stemmed from a previous investigation into Italians who took part in the Russian-backed insurgency in eastern Ukraine.

This is word for word what the Associated Press (AP) writes. And that perhaps explain why so many media outlets are repeating the same story. They’ve just copied it from AP without verifying it.

There is one exception, however. One media organization seems to have actually checked what the police statement said, telling us that:

The police say the groups had fought “against the separatists” in the Donbass region of Ukraine – the forces of the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk in the east of the country.
Who’s this? The answer – RT....

Irrussianality

Fact checking
Paul Robinson | Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa

See also

RT

Media link Italy neo-Nazi missile to ‘pro-Russian separatists’ despite police saying the OPPOSITE

Italian police seize MISSILE, guns and neo-Nazi material in raid on far-right militants

Breaking Down the BBC’s Visit to Hotan, Xinjiang — Sun Feiyang

Articles, editorials, and calls to action over the Chinese region of Xinjiang (officially known as Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region) have filled countless pages of news in the past few years. A chorus of voices spanning the American political spectrum, from Marco Rubio to Ilhan Omar, call for sanctions and condemnation of China’s actions in the region. This full-court press has ramped up in the last few months, with back-to-back “exposés” released by multiple news outlets.

Since the political situation in Xinjiang and broader context has been well covered by many others (which I’ll link at the end) — what I plan to do here is go through a recent video report on Xinjiang by John Sudworth of the BBC and provide my own commentary....

Another side of the story.

Geopolitics Alert
Breaking Down the BBC’s Visit to Hotan, Xinjiang

Sun Feiyang, Medium

Here is a comment from the post at Medium.

NC
Jul 8

As a native Mandarin speaker, I can tell you that the author’s translation is correct regarding the policeman’s suggestion about enrolling in the school. It was not an order. The BBC purposefully mistranslated the Uighur man’s words to say something that was not what he said. He said 可以
kě yǐ which means:
can, may, possible, able to, not bad, pretty good
I would not be surprised if the vast majority of people in these schools enrolled because the Chinese government gave them a stipend to attend. For a relatively poor region like southern Xinjiang, you would have a lot of people who would willingly go for a small stipend, language education, and vocational training.
However, I also would not be surprised if some level of coercion was involved by police in some other cases. It’s possible that some Uighurs do not want extra attention on themselves or their families by the massive surveillance system of Xinjiang so they go in order to “prove” to the authorities they are not Islamists.

BBC — News Eddie Adams' iconic Vietnam War photo: What happened next

The BBC attempts to whitewash a murder.

Warning: This story includes Adams' photo of the moment of the shooting, and graphic descriptions of it.

It was an execution but war justified it, you see.

The article laments that the murder's career was (almost) destroyed by it.

Reminiscent of the many years of British colonialism, and why the Brits became hated even by their close neighbors, the Irish, who were also colonized. (Disclosure: I inculcated in the details of this as a child by the Irish side of my family.)

But the West is civilized, right? And Great Britain was the birthplace of liberalism as the foundation of the "Free World."

Inquiring minds wonder why this story was planted now.

BBC News
Eddie Adams' iconic Vietnam War photo: What happened next

Paul Robinson — Farage, Bannon, Dugin, & Trumputinism

Professor Robinson trashes the BBC's John Sweeney.

Panorama has been running since 1953. It averages a little over 2 million viewers an episode. It pains me that so many Britons would be subjected to analysis like this without having the chance to hear anybody tell them what utter rot it is....

The BBC is state sponsored.

Irrussianality
Farage, Bannon, Dugin, & Trumputinism
Paul Robinson | Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa

Rudy Panko — BBC on Suicide Watch After Aleppo Civilians Seek Safety of Syrian Army

As the Syrian army continues to drive into the "moderate rebel" stronghold of East Aleppo, responsible western news outlets have been faced with the daunting, seemingly impossible task of turning the liberation of tens of thousands of civilians into a dark day for humanity.

Russia Insider
BBC on Suicide Watch After Aleppo Civilians Seek Safety of Syrian Army

Rudy Panko

also

Vladimir Putin instructed the Defence Ministry and the Ministry of Civil Defence, Emergencies and Disaster Relief to set up field hospitals in Syria with a view to providing medical assistance to the residents of Aleppo and nearby territories. This task is to be implemented within the shortest possible timeframe as per the decision of the President.

President of Russia
Instruction to Defence Ministry and Emergencies Ministry on setting up field hospitals in Aleppo

Seumas Milne — Pinkoes and Traitors by Jean Seaton review – my father, the BBC and a very British coup

This was a No 10 coup by any other name – and one from which the BBC has never fully recovered. 

The Guardian
Pinkoes and Traitors by Jean Seaton review – my father, the BBC and a very British coup

Seumas (shay-mus) Milne

Also

Sir John Sawers, who recently retired after five years as chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that Russia poses a "state to state threat". 

Sir John said dealing with such threats would require more defence spending.

Anyone see a pattern here? If not, refer to above.

BBC
Sir John Sawers, ex-MI6 chief, warns of Russia 'danger'

Nuke capable Russian bombers cross English Channel with transponders off

Highly provocative. UK fighter jets were scrambled to "escort" these Russian planes along their route. Civilian aviation was disrupted.

It said the two Russian planes did not enter UK airspace, but the manoeuvres were "part of an increasing pattern of out-of-area operations" by Russia.
The planes were "escorted" by RAF jets "throughout the time they were in the UK area of interest", officials added. Read more. 

Don't f**k with the bear.

Saker — On a lighter note: the BBC propaganda is still the best [snark]

I had the same thoughts when I read the BBC report.

The Vineyard of the Saker
On a lighter note: the BBC propaganda is still the best
Vineyardsaker

Background with pictures: The Situation in the Donbass as of September 2, 2014 at SLAVYANGRAD.org

Randy Wray — Minsky on the BBC

I gave background to the reporter for this story, but the BBC chose to focus on the somewhat more conventional interpretation. Still, this is very worthwhile listening...

Economonitor — Great Leap Forward
Minsky on the BBC
L. Randall Wray | Professor of Economics, University of Missouri at Kansas City

Neil Wilson — Complaint to the BBC over terrible video about government spending

Peter Martin kindly drew attention to an appallingly bad piece by Hugh Pym that has been published on the BBC Online website.

Once again it perpetuates the myth about the government drawing on a mysterious pile of financial resources that are out there somewhere in the world (in this case a pile of red sweets). Both Peter and Alex Little have complained to the BBC and got the usual dismissive response.

But it got their attention. So now it's my turn, and here's what I wrote:

3spoken
Complaint to the BBC over terrible video about government spending
Neil Wilson

Neil adds: "The BBC, being quintessentially British, makes it very easy to complain. If you can see the video then please complain about it, and ask that it be withdrawn."