😲 Wow! BBC news studio windows being plastered with stickers, posters, and pictures of loved ones believed to be injured or killed by the Covid-19 vaccine.
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on May 21, 2021
💭 PROPAGANDA MACHINE
JASON PATINKIN SPENT the better part of a decade as a freelance reporter, covering conflicts, extremism, and counterinsurgency in East Africa for major news outlets including the Washington Post, Reuters, and the Associated Press. He won commendations for relentless reporting under a repressive regime in South Sudan and broke stories about war crimes that provoked global outrage.
But as Patinkin watched a brutal civil war unfold in Ethiopia this winter and spring, the coverage by his most recent employer, the U.S. government-funded broadcaster Voice of America, shocked and unnerved him. Troops and paramilitaries loyal to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed were accused of killing and expelling civilians and committing gang rape, but VOA’s coverage largely favored the government, in Patinkin’s view, while ignoring its potential war crimes.
For months, Patinkin complained to senior editors about bias in the news outlet’s Ethiopia coverage. In his resignation email last month, he called out “VOA’s pro-Abiy propaganda effort,” its failure to issue corrections for “false and biased reporting,” and its airing of “pro-government propaganda while ignoring atrocities blamed on pro-government forces.” Twelve other current and former VOA service chiefs, reporters, and staffers, as well as outside experts, described violations of basic journalistic standards in VOA’s coverage of Ethiopia stretching back decades. Ethnic factions, especially in VOA’s Amharic language section, have used the news agency to push partisan agendas and settle scores, current and former VOA staff, including two former heads of the agency’s Horn of Africa service, told The Intercept.
“Since I was hired full-time at VOA about a year and a half ago, I’ve seen many incidents and decisions here that caused me great concern as a journalist,” Patinkin wrote in his April 30 resignation email, which was seen by The Intercept. “But VOA’s continued tolerance of a wartime propaganda effort is too much. I cannot in good conscience remain associated with this organization.”
Founded in 1942 with a mandate to serve as a “reliable and authoritative source of news,” Voice of America’s digital, television, and radio platforms provide news in more than 45 languages to an estimated weekly audience of more than 278 million people. With an annual budget of $252 million, the broadcaster says it is committed to “telling audiences the truth.”
The agency’s Horn of Africa service, especially VOA Amharic — which broadcasts in the language of the ethnic Amhara leaders and militias that Abiy and his government depend on — has failed to live up to that mission, the current and former VOA staffers said. “The Amharic service reaches Abiy’s political base. If the Amharic service were impartial, if it were reporting the atrocities, it would be so important,” one Africa Division reporter told The Intercept. “Instead, the American taxpayer is paying for propaganda.”
“This is a war, maybe a genocide, in Ethiopia,” the reporter said. “We have access to a lot of information — on the ground — that could be reported, but we’re hampered at every turn. It’s a matter of life or death. That’s no exaggeration whatsoever.”
“We have access to a lot of information — on the ground — that could be reported, but we’re hampered at every turn. It’s a matter of life or death. That’s no exaggeration whatsoever.”
VOA declined to answer detailed questions from The Intercept and did not respond to requests to interview senior staff named in this article. “The Voice of America expects all its journalists to adhere to the principles of producing accurate, balanced and comprehensive reporting with journalistic integrity free of political interference on all broadcasting platforms and languages,” said Anna K. Morris, a Voice of America spokesperson. “Nearly 12 million people tune in to the [VOA Horn of Africa Service’s] broadcasts every week because of its impactful reporting aiming for the highest journalistic standards.”
But VOA staffers say that since Abiy dispatched troops to Ethiopia’s Tigray region last November to crush what he called a mutiny, the news agency’s longtime journalistic failings have become even more pronounced. “I never thought that I would experience this in the United States of America,” that same Africa Division reporter said. “We come from countries where we’ve never really had press freedom. To experience this in the U.S. is shocking.”
That is precisely why Patinkin felt compelled to resign after repeated complaints to his bosses, he told The Intercept.
“It’s appalling that VOA has been used to advance wartime propaganda. What VOA is doing, particularly the Horn of Africa service, is a complete abdication of the sacred duty that we have as journalists,” Patinkin said. “There may be a genocide going on in Tigray right now, so as a journalist, not to mention as a Jew — whose people have experienced genocide — there is no way that I’m going to be a part of that.”
THERE’S BEEN A LOT OF SPECULATION—and no small amount of hysteria—about what President Trump may do with Voice of America and its parent federal agency, the Broadcasting Board of Governors. Reports in Politico and The Washington Post implied a takeover plot is afoot for Trump to mold VOA to his own purposes, as if POTUS has no other channels with which to communicate to global audiences.
Trump plans to slash State Department spending, under which VOA falls, by as much as 28 percent, which means some reductions are quite likely. But let’s make one thing clear: As federal entities, VOA and similar media do not do, and have not done, journalism for journalism’s sake. They are and always have been funded by taxpayers to support a larger agenda.
Whether that agenda is to make audiences feel good about America, as the last chairman of the BBG once put it, or to push the notion that they tell America’s story but do so by exercising press freedoms enshrined in the Constitution, it’s still an agenda.
There are many reasons to be concerned about Trump administration treatment of and attitudes toward media, and to watch closely the actions of a two-person Trump team in place at VOA. But to hold VOA and its parent agency out as journalistic paragons of virtue, as some major media have done, and assert they are no different from non-government media, ignores basic facts.
I spent about 35 years with Voice of America, serving in positions ranging from chief White House correspondent to overseas bureau chief and head of a key language division, and I can tell you that for a long time, two things have been true. First, US government-funded media have been seriously mismanaged, a reality that made them ripe for bipartisan reform efforts in Congress, climaxing late in 2016 when President Obama signed the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act. Second, there is widespread agreement in Congress and elsewhere that, in exchange for continued funding, these government broadcasters must do more, as part of the national security apparatus, to assist efforts to combat Russian, ISIS, and al-Qaeda disinformation.
Obama’s reforms, but also various precursor measures, paved the way for VOA (and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, Office of Cuba Broadcasting, and Middle East Broadcasting Networks) to become even more closely associated with the so-called Counter Violent Extremism and counter-disinformation programs.
It’s little-remembered now, but just over two years into his presidency, in September 2011, Obama ordered an “integrated strategic counterterrorism communications initiative”—designed to get agencies including VOA’s parent agency to collaborate in combating terrorism and extremism. The order also created a Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications, bringing representatives of all departments and agencies into counter-terrorism efforts, including DOD, CIA, and significantly, the Broadcasting Board of Governors.
In March 2016, another Obama order created a Global Engagement Center, which costs taxpayers about $160 million annually to counter disinformation, with initial funding from the Pentagon budget. Meantime, the Broadcasting Board of Governors is on a path to eventual elimination, to be replaced by a CEO—which would be a presidential appointee confirmed by the Senate.
That structure alone makes clear that VOA and other government-funded media are most certainly not “news companies,” a description former VOA director David Ensor was fond of using (before arriving at VOA in 2010, Ensor had crossed over from mainstream roles at NPR, ABC, and CNN to heading public diplomacy programs at the US Embassy in Kabul, what many still consider to be propaganda).
A yet-to-be-formed International Broadcasting Advisory Board will include the Secretary of State advising the CEO (John Lansing, an Obama holdover, currently holds the role). Meanwhile, the aforementioned Global Engagement Center is supposed to coordinate all government efforts to counter propaganda and disinformation efforts “aimed at undermining United States national security interests.”
The Center itself is located in the Department of State: That might seem sufficient to insulate VOA behind the firewall that has allegedly immunized government-funded media from political and policy interference, but let’s take a closer look. At best, it is difficult to believe there will not be significant levels of policy-based coordination between the new advisory board, which includes Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and the broadcasting CEO. And it’s hard to envision Donald Trump wanting to tamper with the kind of inter-agency approach ordered by Barack Obama.
As for firewalls, VOA already established an Extremism Watch Desk. Its material appears prominently at the top of VOA’s website—the same VOA that a former director tried label a “news company” while in the same breath describing it as a “state broadcaster.” It’s hard to imagine there won’t be interaction between this VOA extremism unit and the Global Engagement Center, and that members of the unit will not at some point be detailed to the State Department-based Center and vice versa.
The Broadcasting Board of Governors has also been deeply involved in the development and funding of anti-Internet censorship technology, which clearly supports freedom of expression. This is also another obvious area of overlap between the broadcasters and the Global Engagement Center.
The impression often given in media reports is that programming by VOA and other government-funded media is not influenced, directed, or shaped by foreign policy objectives of any administration. This is just absurd. Among other things, the revered firewall certainly didn’t stop officials from standing up the Extremism Watch Desk.
In a tense confrontation with management in 2015, some VOA reporters protested against a day-long workshop that had been arranged by VOA officials at a conservative think tank, the Hudson Institute, whose director sat on the BBG. VOA reporters demanded from their news managers “a swift and complete renunciation of the idea that VOA would engage in countering violent extremism.” They also asked why such an operation would be placed at VOA “as opposed to an intelligence agency.”
Yet, as of this writing the VOA Extremism Watch Desk remains, allowing broadcasting bureaucrats to retain their high-paying jobs and be seen as loyal warriors in countering ISIS, regardless of who is in the White House.
A few years ago, Obama adviser Ben Rhodes video-conferenced with the BBG to lament how far behind the agency had fallen in countering Russian disinformation. It’s difficult to accept the notion that there wasn’t some impact on programming from that.
Whatever Trump decides to do, remember too that taxpayers, who VOA and BBG officials assert get maximum bang for the buck from US international broadcasting programs, also expect VOA to be a key player in countering terrorist and Russian disinformation.
VOA still operates under its congressionally-approved 1976 Charter, requiring it to report accurately, objectively, and comprehensively, and reflect a range of opinions. It carries what are called “editorials” reflecting US government positions, written by a special policy office at VOA. Over the decades, VOA has succeeded, to varying degrees, at making the case that its government-paid reporters are no different than those working for commercial media.
But any notion that “whole of government” approaches can exclude participation by VOA, challenges common sense. A recent Washington Posteditorial, in support of a new agency TV program that is clearly part of the counter-disinformation effort, said staffs at VOA and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty are “made up of professional journalists … [who] do not want to be US propaganda tools.”
Good for them. But the fact remains that every two weeks they accept government paychecks. And at the end of the day will be progressively more enmeshed with the national security and foreign policy objectives of the United States. Government-paid journalists can no longer pretend they are just like their friends at CBS, NBC, AP, NPR, Reuters, and others, or expect to be seen as such by those working for non-government media. That’s simply living in delusion.
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on February 10, 2018
Access to the internet has largely led to the spread of information, cultures and ideas. The proliferation of the internet, as well as the hyper-connectivity of today’s society, often leads to the feeling that the world is getting smaller, that we’re largely interconnected, and that the online world is a free one.
While access to the internet, and the ability to navigate it freely, may sometimes seem like a certainty, less than one-fourth of the world’s internet users actually reside in countries where the internet is technically designated “free.” In fact, according to Freedom House’s 2017 Freedom on the Net report, online manipulation and disinformation tactics are on the rise, leading to a seventh consecutive year of overall decline in internet freedom across the globe.
Freedom House ranked 65 countries worldwide on their level of censorship. Countries were given an overall total score based on 21 questions and nearly 100 subquestions, divided into three categories: obstacles to access, limits on content and violations of user rights.
According to the Freedom House methodology, the top 10 most censored countries are:
In addition to an overall censorship score, Freedom House documented the prevalence of different levels of censorship used by each country to control their citizens’ access to content. Among the nine types of internet controls used were four types we outlined visually, including:
Countries that block political, social or religious content: These countries block orfilter domains,URLS or keywords with the goal of limiting access to specific content.
Countries that block social media/communication apps: These countries either block entire social media/communication applications or have temporarily or permanently blocked the key functions of these applications with the goal of preventing communication and information sharing.
Countries that arrest, detain or imprison bloggers or ICT users for posting political/social content: These countries have arrested, detained or imprisoned individuals as an act of retaliation for digital expression. (Brief detentions for interrogation are not reflected.)
Countries that use pro-government commentators: There are strong indications that these countries employ paid individuals to manipulate the discussion online.
Other key takeaways from the study include:
Almost half of the countries assessed—32 out of 65—have been on an overall decline in internet freedom since June 2016.
China continued to be the worst abuser of internet freedom for a third consecutive year.
The United States experienced a decline in internet freedom, falling two places from the fourth least censored country in 2016 to the sixth least censored country in 2017. The decline was largely due to the spread of disinformation and hyperpartisan content during the 2016 election, as well as the uptick in harassment and threats against journalists in the country.
Thirteen countries improved in their internet freedom score, including Libya, Bangladesh, and Uzbekistan. However, broad shifts in policy across these countries were not seen.
Countries that block political, social or religious content:
Countries that block social media/communication apps:
Countries that arrest, detain or imprison bloggers or ICT users for posting political/social content:
My Note: Some sort of sane censorship is a rational thing to do for such countries like Ethiopia that face tremendous challenges in dealing with their numerous enemies. Online manipulation and disinformation tactics are used by the lords of darkness who’ve got the resources to manipulate the less-informed gullible world. Racism, Racialism, Tribalism, Perversion etc. are some of the examples.
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on October 21, 2016
Folks, it is beyond repulsive and stomach turning watching our Leftist enemies deceptively promoting this evil woman as an angel of light
Hillary Clinton: America’s Most Dangerous Enemy Within
From Florida, I flew out to Reno to entertain at the 2016 Nevada Women’s Expo. In between my shows, I made pit-stops in my hotel room. Folks, I could hardly believe what I was seeing. Every news TV channel I turned to was beating the crap out of Trump trying to brand him an abuser of women. Leaked Hillary emails have revealed that the mainstream media gets its marching ordersfrom the Clinton campaign.
Thus, the media fix is in: portray Trump in a red hoodie with a pitchfork; portray wicked-crooked Hillary as angelic, wearing a pure white flowing gown. Never have I seen such a shock-and-awe orchestrated media campaign to demonize a candidate.
On the issue of “abuse of women”, if we had a fair and balanced mainstream media rather than operatives of the Clinton campaign, Hillary’s advisers would have begged her, “Pleeeeease Ma’am, don’t go there!!!” Hillary and Bill’s records of abusing women is horrific (assault, rape, Hillary humiliating a 12- year-old girl to get her rapist off and more). And yet, the Clintons arrogantly know they can get away with attempting to brand Trump an abuser of women while they belong in the Infamous Abusers of Women Hall of Shame.
Folks, it is beyond repulsive and stomach turning watching our Leftist enemies deceptively promoting this evil woman as an angel of light.
Work for the Mainstream Media? You Should Kill Yourself
The American media is now no better than its predecessors at Pravda or the Nazi Ministry of Propaganda; reporters have become nothing but lying packs of jackals holding onto what perks they can and dutifully obeying the call to lick the peanut butter off of master’s nether-regions. They sit when they should hunt, roll over when they should bark, and play dead whenever tidbits of truth break the fence and coming roaring out of emails or foreign correspondence.
The sheer amount of shit being dumped down the throats of the American populace should inspire any human with blood still pumping through their veins to take flamethrowers to every government building and start hanging people from streetlights with their own intestines.
And yet….we don’t. The American people will line up on election day, just as they have every one before that, and take part in a grand collective illusion that they are helping guide history. They will smile as they are handed small stickers that say “I voted” and for the next 12 hours they’ll become amateur civics professors even though a hilarious amount of them don’t really know what the fuck their voting for anyway.
All those cool movies and ideologies assure us that if we just jam “the truth” into enough people’s faces they’ll suddenly wake up, detach, and reach some political Nirvana as if thousands of years of slavery are all just some big misunderstanding. That moment came and went with this election. What did “the people,” that weird herd everyone from Libertarians to Communists look to court do?
They go about their daily lives. But are they innocent? They aren’t oblivious, they’ve smelled something foul but for them it’s just too much trouble. They will serve, even gleefully so, as long as they get a big show every four years that makes them feel like they matter.
The Bourgeoisie, the powerful, know this. They exploit it.
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on March 23, 2015
“We have not found among the Europeans who have become our neighbors and who desire our welfare and independence. The West Europeans in their desire for new land have encircled us crossed our borders to deprive us of our independence and are causing us trouble” Ras Makonnen – cousin of Menilek ll. June 1892
President Barack Obama marked the Persian New year, ‘Nowruz’ with a special video message to Iranians. The First Lady Michelle Obama hosted a celebration of the Persian new year, at the White House. Even Google celebrated the Iranian New Year Navroz with a colorful doodle on its homepage.
I agree with the author of this article who wrote, “there is absolutely nothing wrong with honoring the many events celebrated within this magnificent e pluribus unum melting pot of ours. The problem is that this is not about honoring a group of people who make up less than 1% of our population.”
The question I want to ask as an African – as an Ethiopian – is, why haven’t the “African-American” President Obama, First Lady Michelle or Google never ever honored on the 11th of September the one truly African traditional New Year’s celebration – the Ethiopian New Year? Why don’t they extend their best wishes to the great ancient and honorable people of Ethiopia? Not that it matters, but, being curious, do Ethiopians have to abandon their Judaeo-Christian identity, or constantly demonize Americans (the great Satan) like the Iranians nicknamed them, do they have to terrorize Westerners, infiltrate their institutions, bomb their embassies, take hostages or force them out of the country to earn their attention and respect? Do bulling and terror sell?
It gets even more curious…
‘Black’ Africa Ain’t a Priority
Recently, CNN military analyst, Maj. Gen. James “Spider” Marks revealed a controversial perspective on why the Boko Haram atrocities are ignored
According to him, the United States has the capability to root out Boko Haram but it’s not a priority. He also stated that Black West Africa is not a priority. He goes on to state that if Boko Haram were in some other region of the world perhaps in “White Africa” (North Africa) or in the Middle East, it would cause more alarm.
“Very stark, very hard to say, but that’s the case right now,” he said.
French Cynicism: Africa gets priority when it comes to demonization of its people, intimidation and murder of its elites
French international broadcaster went down to Ethiopia to report on the Great Renaissance Dam. It came back with nothing new, but with the usual french cynicism concerning Africa and Africans. After all, cynicism is perfected by the French – as it emerged in the works of leading french atheist “Enlightenment” philosophers, such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Denis Diderot.
Today’s France practically finds itself in a state of stealth cultural war with Arab Muslim invaders. It really strikes me, instead of dealing directly with this scourge, the French continue babysitting North Africans, training them to persecute French Jews, expel them from their ancestral homes, work together with the same Arabs to destabilize parts of the African continent. Mali, DRC, CAR etc are just some of the tragic hotspots where la petit “Grand Nation” has used the Arab useful idiots to demonstrate their outdated interventionist culture and control mechanism. They arrange a well orchestrated chaos and destruction plan in order to play the “savior” card. In the Ethiopian case – with the report on the Renaissance Dam – the French don’t hide their intention to undermine the development of the Ethiopian nation — which never showed enmity towards France and its people. In this cynical report the French attempt to paint too much negativity around the dam construction project – simply primitive anti-Ethiopian propaganda – an ugly disinformation campaign on behalf of Egypt.
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on March 18, 2013
My note:I read the following report:
“Al Jazeera’s English and Arabic websites are reported to have been blocked in Ethiopia”
…and thought that it’s a wonderful thing! They should also do the same thing with the redundant news source of Al Jazeera TV – a biased Islamic propaganda machine, which pushes arab viewpoint, instead of reporting news or airing programs in an objective way. Al Jazeera is blocked even in the United States. Every Ethiopian should remove it from his/her channel listings, and refrain from everything “Al”, like in Al-Jazeera, Al-Gore, Al-Thani, Al-Saud etc. The prefix “Al” in the Ethiopic grammer, like in “Mewuded” “Al’mewuded” is negation, and it always means trouble.
It’s a shame that the despotic nation of Qatar – which just sentenced its own Poets to Life in Prison for a Verse – is active in promoting its own version of freedom and justice across Africa.
The following articles perfectly give a description of one of the most dangerous medias of our time. Ethiopians should be warned to not tune in to this misleading media organization which was created with the help of some greedy western media makers.
The collapse of Al-Jazeera
The fact that the channel is owned and tightly controlled by the undemocratic and authoritarian Qatari royal family, that jails independent journalists who criticize the regime at home, seems to have gone unnoticed and ignored by many. But since the start of the Arab Spring, that is slowly starting to change.
According to an article that appeared in the German magazine Der Spiegel, many leading journalists and TV anchors have started to leave the channel in recent months. According to one of those that has recently left, the German based Aktham Sulimen, “Before the beginning of the Arab Spring, we were a voice for change…a platform for critics and political activists throughout the region. Now, Al-Jazeera has become a propaganda broadcaster.”
According to another Beirut based correspondent, “Al-Jazeera takes a clear position in every country from which it reports – not based on journalistic priorities, but rather on the interests of the Foreign Ministry of Qatar……In order to maintain my integrity as a reporter, I had to quit.”
In truth, Al-Jazeera was never an independent media outlet and always had a political bias.
I can remember watching its Arabic language coverage of the revolution in Egypt and noticing that it dedicated two hours to a rambling speech by Muslim Brotherhood-allied cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who also happens to be based in Qatar. The speech didn’t even attract a large crowd in Egypt and was largely irrelevant to what was happening on the streets. It was merely propaganda for the Muslim Brotherhood, which did not lead the revolution but is close to the Qatari royal family.
Al-Jazeera’s “Alternative Viewpoint” in Qatar’s Paradise
Al-Jazeera is not, however, a communications medium in the Western sense; it is a psychological warfare medium. Its cameras are always turned outward; they never criticize Qatar’s tyrannical, dictatorial, corrupt, plutocratic leaders or their exploitation of foreign workers, who have neither the status nor rights of Qatari nationals. Al-Jazeera’s ongoing propaganda campaign against the Arab states in the Middle East is a move chosen by the rulers of Qatar to deflect Arab, Western and effervescent local attention from what is happening in the corrupt Al-Thani family’s dark, closed emirate of wealth.
Although it promises aid to financially needy Islamic countries, it sends just the occasional pittance when t feels a need to bolster its popularity. Meanwhile huge unreported sums go to support Islamist terrorist organizations such as Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Jabhat Alnusra Al Islamiya in Syria. The rest of country’s enormous oil revenues are channeled into the coffers of the rulers and their close associates, and are used to pay for their entertainment or for building enormous towers. The rest of the population — most of which are foreign workers whose labor they exploit and who have no civil or social rights — is not invited to join the party.
Although Al-Jazeera incites Muslim masses around the world to revolt against “repressive regimes,” while calling for “democracy,” “pluralism,” and the ousting of totalitarian rulers, Qatar itself does not hold elections, has no political parties, has no democratic institutions, and its citizens have no political or social rights. What Qatar does have, with the help of Sharia [Islamic religious law], is a strong, family-run system of enforcing internal security and suppressing opposition. Al-Jazeera is the well-oiled and well-funded machine of a family employing armed mercenaries who call themselves “media personnel”: Propaganda warriors who use cameras and microphones as weapons. Qatar therefore has every reason to hide what happens within its borders and look for defects in other places.
Al-Jazeera takes two editorial routes: its English-language programs present a moderate, cultured version of its propaganda, different from what is broadcast by its Arabic-language programs. Nonetheless, its purpose seems to be to spread Islam and undermine secularism.
Al-Jazeera’s reporting is unbalanced in that it gives favorable coverage to Islamic regimes and movements it wants to strengthen, and slanders those it wants to weaken. Its sights are set on changing regimes. Al-Jazeera effectively created the Arab Spring by endlessly rebroadcasting footage of the fruit-seller in Tunisia who set himself on fire to protest his government. Every time there was a small demonstration, Al-Jazeera would cover it and air it time and again until the people of Tunisia were sufficiently whipped up.
Al-Jazeera’s reporting is also unbalanced when it is turns to the religiously-motivated activities of Islamist groups in other countries, where the Arab Spring was turned into an Islamist Winter, and where the good intentions of democratically-minded young Muslims were exploited and perverted as, after the revolutions, Islamists seized power. Al-Jazeera’s bias is also evident in its support for the dictatorship of Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt at the expense of the country’s moderate, secular, democracy-seeking opposition, on whose back the Islamization of the country is taking place.
As a TV channel, Al-Jazeera does not operate under accepted Western norms. It is a fundamentalist terrorist communications base operating under Qatari political cover, with a pretense of pluralism. While in the other Arab countries, to reach the Islamic paradise, people need to kill Jews and be killed in wars, dying as shaheeds [martyrs] in the battles of Islam, according to Al-Jazeera only Qatar is already a genuine paradise on earth. Everything there is perfect, so there is no need to report the news.
It would be interesting to get an update on enemy penetration of today’s mainstream media. Such a review won’t happen (at least in public) because HUAC/HISC and its Senate counterpart the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee (SISC) are long gone, thanks to pressure from Communists, fellow-travelers, and embarrassed liberals.
There are government entities today that are supposed to be looking out for us with regard to chinks in our internal security armor. Their ability to do so is questionable at best.
But now, with the Al gore/Al-Jazeera deal, our current enemies have gone way beyond the sneak-around, undercover methodology utilized by Stalin’s secret agents. Here we have in broad daylight an enemy takeover of a telecommunications medium with the capability of reaching millions of homes right here in the USA.
As Cliff Kincaid said at his February 5 news conference, Al-Jazeera is not entitled to the protections of the First Amendment because it is global terrorist entity – a front for Al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood.
A foreign entity desiring to own telecommunications operations in the U.S. is supposed to go through a vetting process by the Department of Justice (DOJ), the FBI, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). None of that has taken place, so the Al-Jazeera takeover is a violation of the law right there.
The legal process is known as CFIUS – the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, an inter-agency panel of the U.S. Government, chaired by the Secretary of the Treasury and including members from 16 departments and agencies. No legally-required application by Al-Jazeera has been made to this body.
Under the transfer arrangement, the name of the channel under its new ownership is to be Al-Jazeera America. That, in and of itself, is labeled by Kincaid as “a complete and utter fraud,” especially given that Al-Jazeera is fronting for people whose fondest wish is “Death to America.”
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Addis Ethiopia Weblog 