A Prize from Fairyland beyond our Wildest Dreams
As an American, I am very experienced with living in a country with dishonest major media (called the lamestream media by many Americans) owned by a small number of corporations or financed partially by the American government. The combination of the dishonest media and of the dumbing down of American education has consequences. See, for example, the film Idiocracy for a forecast of the future. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBvIweCIgwk
In George Orwell’s book 1984, Orwell predicted a future with competing totalitarian empires controlling the media and revising history. As George Galloway, a former Member of Parliament and the host of some excellent programs on Press TV, commented recently, you can still find Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park, London and in some other locations in the United Kingdom because the political establishment knows that very few people will be able to hear the speakers.
In “Press TV Discredits Itself” (Huffington Post UK, January 24, 2012), Jody Sabral has abandoned support for an outstanding media organization, for which she worked in Turkey.
Sabral’s claims of free speech in Britain are laughable. Many people in the world remember the BBC’s coverage (or lack of coverage) of the Gaza War. In “BBC refuses airtime to Gaza aid appeal” (The Guardian, January 22, 2009), Jenny Percival noted that the BBC has been criticized in the past over alleged biases in covering the Middle East. The BBC refused to air humanitarian appeals to aid the victims in Gaza. Previously, the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) had been able to raise millions of pounds for relief in Congo and in Burma. Sky offered this excuse for failing to broadcast the Gaza appeal: ‘By convention, if all broadcasters do not carry the appeal, then none do. The decision was effectively made for us.’
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jan/23/bbc-refuses-gaza-appeal
Are these British values that Sabral wants others to applaud? While Sabral and I share having American ancestors who served in the American Revolution and ancestors from England, the similarities end there. My Foote ancestors left England nearly 400 years ago. Many people left England and other European countries centuries ago to escape from monarchy, theocracy, and from endless wars. Centuries later, the British still have a monarchy, a theocracy, and support for endless wars to steal resources from weaker countries.
In “Why Iran hates Britain so much” (The Telegraph, June 29, 2009), Con Coughlin noted:
“Relations further soured when Britain arbitrarily set Iran's borders with India in the 1860s, but matters came to a head in 1872 when the then shah awarded Baron Paul Julius von Reuter, the founder of Reuters news agency, a monopoly over virtually all of Iran's economic and financial resources. Lord Curzon, the British Foreign Secretary at the time, described the ‘Reuter Concession’, as it became known, as ‘the most complete and extraordinary surrender of the entire industrial resources of a kingdom into foreign hands that has probably ever been dreamt of, much less accomplished, in history’.
Coughlin failed to note that Lord Curzon went on to become the architect of the D’Arcy Concession, a comparable concession in Persia. Stephen Kinzer, in All The Shah’s Men, wrote: “Winston Churchill called it ‘a prize from fairyland beyond our wildest dreams’.”
For honest accounts of the role of Britain in Persia, read W. Morgan Shuster’s book, The Strangling of Persia.
Shuster’s book contains the details of a small group of Americans who went to Persia to help with the Persian desires for a constitutional revolution. Unfortunately, the Russian and British monarchies were able to crush the efforts of the honest American individuals. The result was the continuation of monarchy in Iran with the Pahlavi Dynasty. The people of the world should be applauding the Islamic Republic of Iran for ending monarchy in Iran and for preventing the Iranian Communist MEK (MKO, PMOI, NCRI, Rajavi Cult, or Pol Pot of Iran) terrorists from taking over Iran. Like the United Kingdom, the Islamic Republic of Iran is a theocracy. When will the United Kingdom set an example for other theocracies in the world by ending theocracy and monarchy in the United Kingdom?
Unfortunately, the thieves of Britain are joined today by the thieves of America: Zionists, Christian Zionists, and Neo-Conservatives (Neo-Trotskyites).
George Galloway, a former Member of Parliament and the host of programs on Press TV, has expressed views contrary to Sabral’s views. Other members of Parliament or former members of Parliament have hosted programs on Press TV in London. Sabral failed to address the views of these British lawmakers and failed to explain why her understanding of British laws is superior to theirs.
I have appeared in the London studio of Press TV on a panel (including with a Zionist) for one hour. Our only instructions were to discuss, in our own views, what we thought were the most significant events in the world for that year. To suggest that anyone in Tehran approves the content of programs is very dishonest. No one at Press TV knew which points I and the other panelists wanted to make. Viewers witnessed an honest difference in viewpoints between persons they would not see on the BBC propaganda network.
I have appeared many times on Press TV and several times on China Radio International and on RT (Russia Today Television). I do not expect any invitations for me or anyone with Middle East experiences similar to mine on BBC or on America’s lamestream media. Other than the taped television program in London, my appearances on Press TV have been live. My appearances have ranged from a few minutes to several continuous hours on live television. No one at Press TV knew what I would say.
By contrast, you will find in America’s book stores and on the American media the views on Iran of people who have never been to Iran and who have not studied Persian. For example, see Kenneth M. Pollack’s book, The Persian Puzzle.
The BBC Persian Service even promotes the views of the Iranian Communist MEK (MKO, PMOI, NCRI, Rajavi Cult, or Pol Pot of Iran) terrorists.
http://www.iran-interlink.org/files/News4/May06/BBCPersian060506.htm
These are British values others should hold in contempt.
Even the New York Times, with its long history to promoting dishonestly communists, described the MEK honestly as the Cult of Rajavi.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/13/magazine/13MUJAHADEEN.html?pagewanted=all
In 2008, as a presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton threatened to obliterate Iran.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=857guwaNbRc
Sabral failed to condemn Hillary Clinton for wanting to murder every man, woman, and child in Iran. She failed to condemn the long British history of using military force to impose dictators in other countries and to steal resources. Instead, according to Sabral, those of us who appear on Press TV to oppose the bombing of Iran or sanctions against Iran are anti-interventionalist propagandists.
Sabral has even worked for Press TV. Press TV is one of the best sources of news and programs in the world today. However, even Press TV has made at least one mistake in its hiring of journalists.
I am grateful that my Foote ancestors left England nearly 400 years ago. Today, the United Kingdom is still a monarchy, a theocracy, and a promoter of endless wars to steal resources from weaker countries. While my family name is English, I welcome being classified as unBritish. If the British truly valued democracy, they would have granted seats in Parliament to representatives from the American colonies. There would have been no American Revolution.
If the British people had any good values, they would have supported the values of Charles James Fox, a Member of Parliament at that time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_James_Fox
Instead, the British people supported the laws which gave them King George III, the Mad King, or the King Who Lost America.
George Orwell, in his book 1984, had a better appreciation of the failings of real British values.
From 1906 to 1911, the people of Iran struggled to have a constitutional revolution. They valued democracy. The Russian and British monarchies crushed the dreams of the Iranian people.
Today, the British are still mired in monarchy and in theocracy. Sabral claims that the British value democracy. For educated persons who have studied history, we know that it was the Iranian people who valued democracy.
Labels: bbc, britain, d'arcyconcession, gaza, iran, jodysabral, lordcurson, morganshuster, paulsheldonfoote, presstv, reuterconcession, stranglingofpersia, winstonchurchill
posted by Paul Sheldon Foote at
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