Listen to a reading of this article: Sydney Morning Herald editor Bevan Shields has published an article titled "We are not above criticism but these attacks go too far", tearfully rending his garments over criticisms his paper's three-part war-with-China
It is sad to say that Paul Keating, who is no lefty, seems to be the only mainstream politician in the Anglo-sphere who takes on lazy journalism and does not slavishly follow the Western narrative on major issues. The gutless left in the British Labour Party Campaign Group could learn a thing or two from Paul Keating. The UK Greens, like their counterparts in Germany have dropped their opposition to NATO: I guess NATO's invasion of Libya and its role in former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Syria were worthy crusades for the UK Greens now. https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/green-party-abandons-longstanding-opposition-to-nato
Considering the crimes of the United States Empire and Australia's role as Willing Accomplice and All-Around Buttboi, "being mean" is sort of an unofficial duty.
I think people who call for the death of millions as a matter of national policy deserve to hear a few mean words. In a saner world they would be tarred-and-feathered, or at least have a few rotten eggs and tomatoes thrown at them during speeches, like the good old days.
I feel that I ought to disagree, because, to be honest, I really don't think that it is good to be mean to anyone, and I am somewhat uncomfortable with mockery.
But there is such a thing as truth. And it is important. Telling lies, and slandering people, are much, much, much more serious problems that being mean and mocking. Lies and defamation have been responsible for the death of millions of people in this century alone.
There needs to be accountability. And yet those who have told these utterly destructive lies never seem to be called to account in the media or in public life, and continue to be treated with deference and respect.
In such a world, it is difficult not to feel that it is good when these liars are treated with meanness.
Also, forgive me if I misremember, but weren't various Congresscreeps recently "being mean" to Matt Taibbi & Co. for committing the faux pas of reporting Twitter censorship? Not to mention Our Famously Free And Independent Press seems to have forgotten about Julian "he's not a *real* journalist!" Assange.
Then again, we also were duly informed for four years during the presidency of Donald Trump, we heard that any time a mean thing was said about Jim Acosta or Wolf Blitzer, there was some kind of grave crisis where our free press was under assault, so surely my mind is probably just playing tricks on me.
Because of those stupid neocons, warmongers, corrupt politicians, corrupt journalists and imbecile leaders, I was laid off a month ago along with many of my colleagues. Those idiots are destroying the west because they are neurotic freaks that don't stand the idea of the US and Europe to stop being the sole top dogs in the world, nevermind that we could all trade and prosper in a multipolar world; the only change is that the west wouldn't be able to impose their values at will. Still, they prefer to turn the world into a nuclear wasteland before they cede some of their hegemonic power.
Keating is a light in the darkness. My takeaway from the Press Club video is that every single “journalist,” every one, gets up to defend AUKUS and warmongering. There is no debate, no difference of opinion; instead, it’s like a set of trained seals all barking the same line. None of them can have an ounce of self respect.
The U.S. will gladly sacrifice Australia in another proxy war, the same way they're sacrificing Ukraine, and without a grain of conscience or remorse. Given its position on China's doorstep, Australia would be expected to spearhead the fight with all the horrific risks and sacrifices that would entail, while the U.S. warlords wait for China to be weakened before committing its own personnel to any significant degree. "Let other countries do the fighting and dying before we sacrifice our own" seems to be the default new strategy after the American debacles in Iraq and Afghanistan. I hope Australians see the cruel ruse for what it is and take the appropriate steps to prevent it.
Keating sounds like just what we need in the US. We do have people like him, but they have about as much chance of being invited to our National Press Club to speak as my daughter’s Labrador retriever. Just his appearance on such a platform, and being taken seriously enough to be questioned by the propagandists who actually attended, indicates that a tiny window that lets in the light of reality still exists in Australian MSM. It is gone in the US. Our truth-tellers have been pushed beyond the margins. They are off the page, and treated with complete contempt when not ignored completely.
I watched that clip of Keating answering questions. It was really refreshing--I think this COULD NOT HAPPEN in a US context. A former president who talked like that, well he'd have a heart attack. There is only one former US president who appears not to be a sociopath happy to go along with the program, now in hospice care--and while he spoke some truth about Israel/Palestine I don't think he has ever spoken like Keating did. I hope many Australians saw that.
Not just that they need to be crying. We need to make their life as uncomfortable as possible. They have no trouble making ours worse every possible way, up to giving a flying fuck whether we will lose our children at some war somewhere.
We must make their lifes as much a living hell as they make our lifes a living hell.
While most understand what this really means, I do wish we could all take a step back and point the finger at the true perpetrators of this conflict -- The US Oligarchy.
Yes, Americans are wimps for not standing up to the Oligarchy. (Hi Germany, at least the French know how to protest) In fact, the majority don't even know who the Oligarchy is. They somehow think that Billionaires achieve their wealth through honest means.
But that's the point. Heck, even Putin acknowledges that most Americans haven't a clue.
The Ukraine is a historically new construction. Until the late 19th century, the Ukraine was merely a region, and 100% of its inhabitants, the Ukrainians, or Rusyns (Ruthenians) as they were called in areas under Austria at that time, considered that their language, or whatever regional dialect they spoke, was Russian (“Russka mova”), and they had zero political awareness or identity separate from Russia (with the exception of the Zaporozhian Cossacks, who were Cossacks, not as presently described, “Ukrainian Cossacks”, LOL.)
The concept of a “Ukrainian language” and the associated identity was constructed in areas under Austrian rule (parts of Galicia and Volhynia), with Austrian support and state financing, immediately after the local iteration of the 1848 revolutions, as a way to quell pro-Russian irredentism among landowners and the Russian Orthodox church in the region. From here on, the Galician literary dialect was also set as the “one and only” Ukrainian language, similar to how the dialect of Florence became “standard Italian.”
Due to Russia’s backwardness, the Russian Empire was unable to standardize its linguistic landscape in the same manner as the Germans and French had largely done by prior to World War 1, or World War 2 at the latest. That process requires compulsory schooling and mass literacy, which Russia did not have until Soviet days. Hence, by the time of the Russian Revolution, the Galician Ukrainist movement had been able to gain some marginal but elite following throughout all territories that spoke Ukrainian dialects rather than “Great Russian.”
This was subsequently channeled, with the Russian collapse of 1917-1918, into the formation of the Ukrainian breakaway state. After this was put down by the Bolsheviks (first and foremost, Ukrainian urban Bolsheviks from Kharkov and what’s today called Donetsk), it again came to life under German rule with the Galician-based Banderist movement.
Most Ukrainians did not vote for independence from the USSR in 1991, but the republic was abandoned by Yeltsin, and thus, had independence thrust upon it. There was a general lack of enthusiasm for the state, a lack of understanding as to its purpose, especially as by this time, almost all Ukrainian citizens spoke Russian as their language of work, at least, and among well over half of the population, of the home as well. In short, there was a near-total ideological vacuum.
The only people who had an ideology… were, well, guess who.
Today, excepting the far northwest, with its dominant Greek Catholic church, the Ukraine is still so similar to Russia (culturally there is ZERO difference)…..
…..that the ONLY way any Ukrainian leadership can aim to make its state distinct, to justify its own rule, is to invent a completely fictitious, phony history of some coherent, historical “Ukraine” that never existed (their school history textbooks are a RIOT)…..
…..and to adopt a “supremacist”, Russian-exclusionist approach and ideology. Like, “We’re not Russian goddamn it, we were never Russian, we will cut the Russian out of us, perhaps slowly, perhaps quickly if we can, but we’ll get rid of it, because the Ukraine isn’t big enough for minorities or two nationalities, so, someone needs to get steamrolled.”
In short, fascism.
The Ukrainian state (under German protection) of 1918, and then again with the Banderist movement (again under German protection, or benign neglect at least) during WW2 and then in exile… were explicitly fascistic. The former, even before the term existed.
I wrote last summer or so, that any independent Ukrainian entity will ALWAYS arrive at fascism as its governing ideology. It just took much longer this time (since 1991), in part because of the dominance of Russian cultural and professional media (and the difficulty in re-Ukrainizing in the absence of a sufficient written base and professional need) and the enormous cross-border family bonds left over from Soviet days.
But, it happened.
Obviously, Uncle Sam has taken advantage of this to establish his 51st state on the territory of the former Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Obviously, the majority of Ukrainian officials, educators, etc., are just there to get paid. Like people everywhere, they go along and are not driving the ideology.
In this case, I'm going to look at the glass half full rather than half empty. You are fortunate in Australia to have had such blatant propaganda articles with such a vehement response from a former Prime Minister. In France, we have a press and a government that are totally submissive to the United States, but in a discreet mode, which means that no one reacts, in particular no political leader. We foolishly follow the Americans in their proxy war against Russia and not a word in Parliament: all our elected officials silently approve. I could say that we have become a mute democracy if the deafening silence of our leaders on events of importance were not masked by their incessant chatter about nothing.
In Australia, you are lucky that it still reacts to the big propaganda worthy of Goebbels.
Fox News has a certain profile for their female correspondents.
This is the first time I've viewed the Australian press corps, and I sense a similar feminine dynamic.
But I kind of like the format and the willingness to challenge the propagandist masquerading as journalist. This would never happen in US. Not even Bernie Sanders challenges corporate media.
It is sad to say that Paul Keating, who is no lefty, seems to be the only mainstream politician in the Anglo-sphere who takes on lazy journalism and does not slavishly follow the Western narrative on major issues. The gutless left in the British Labour Party Campaign Group could learn a thing or two from Paul Keating. The UK Greens, like their counterparts in Germany have dropped their opposition to NATO: I guess NATO's invasion of Libya and its role in former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Syria were worthy crusades for the UK Greens now. https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/green-party-abandons-longstanding-opposition-to-nato
Considering the crimes of the United States Empire and Australia's role as Willing Accomplice and All-Around Buttboi, "being mean" is sort of an unofficial duty.
I think people who call for the death of millions as a matter of national policy deserve to hear a few mean words. In a saner world they would be tarred-and-feathered, or at least have a few rotten eggs and tomatoes thrown at them during speeches, like the good old days.
I find it difficult to disagree.
I feel that I ought to disagree, because, to be honest, I really don't think that it is good to be mean to anyone, and I am somewhat uncomfortable with mockery.
But there is such a thing as truth. And it is important. Telling lies, and slandering people, are much, much, much more serious problems that being mean and mocking. Lies and defamation have been responsible for the death of millions of people in this century alone.
There needs to be accountability. And yet those who have told these utterly destructive lies never seem to be called to account in the media or in public life, and continue to be treated with deference and respect.
In such a world, it is difficult not to feel that it is good when these liars are treated with meanness.
Also, forgive me if I misremember, but weren't various Congresscreeps recently "being mean" to Matt Taibbi & Co. for committing the faux pas of reporting Twitter censorship? Not to mention Our Famously Free And Independent Press seems to have forgotten about Julian "he's not a *real* journalist!" Assange.
Then again, we also were duly informed for four years during the presidency of Donald Trump, we heard that any time a mean thing was said about Jim Acosta or Wolf Blitzer, there was some kind of grave crisis where our free press was under assault, so surely my mind is probably just playing tricks on me.
Because of those stupid neocons, warmongers, corrupt politicians, corrupt journalists and imbecile leaders, I was laid off a month ago along with many of my colleagues. Those idiots are destroying the west because they are neurotic freaks that don't stand the idea of the US and Europe to stop being the sole top dogs in the world, nevermind that we could all trade and prosper in a multipolar world; the only change is that the west wouldn't be able to impose their values at will. Still, they prefer to turn the world into a nuclear wasteland before they cede some of their hegemonic power.
Keating is a light in the darkness. My takeaway from the Press Club video is that every single “journalist,” every one, gets up to defend AUKUS and warmongering. There is no debate, no difference of opinion; instead, it’s like a set of trained seals all barking the same line. None of them can have an ounce of self respect.
The U.S. will gladly sacrifice Australia in another proxy war, the same way they're sacrificing Ukraine, and without a grain of conscience or remorse. Given its position on China's doorstep, Australia would be expected to spearhead the fight with all the horrific risks and sacrifices that would entail, while the U.S. warlords wait for China to be weakened before committing its own personnel to any significant degree. "Let other countries do the fighting and dying before we sacrifice our own" seems to be the default new strategy after the American debacles in Iraq and Afghanistan. I hope Australians see the cruel ruse for what it is and take the appropriate steps to prevent it.
Keating sounds like just what we need in the US. We do have people like him, but they have about as much chance of being invited to our National Press Club to speak as my daughter’s Labrador retriever. Just his appearance on such a platform, and being taken seriously enough to be questioned by the propagandists who actually attended, indicates that a tiny window that lets in the light of reality still exists in Australian MSM. It is gone in the US. Our truth-tellers have been pushed beyond the margins. They are off the page, and treated with complete contempt when not ignored completely.
I watched that clip of Keating answering questions. It was really refreshing--I think this COULD NOT HAPPEN in a US context. A former president who talked like that, well he'd have a heart attack. There is only one former US president who appears not to be a sociopath happy to go along with the program, now in hospice care--and while he spoke some truth about Israel/Palestine I don't think he has ever spoken like Keating did. I hope many Australians saw that.
Not just that they need to be crying. We need to make their life as uncomfortable as possible. They have no trouble making ours worse every possible way, up to giving a flying fuck whether we will lose our children at some war somewhere.
We must make their lifes as much a living hell as they make our lifes a living hell.
"by the US empire,"
While most understand what this really means, I do wish we could all take a step back and point the finger at the true perpetrators of this conflict -- The US Oligarchy.
Yes, Americans are wimps for not standing up to the Oligarchy. (Hi Germany, at least the French know how to protest) In fact, the majority don't even know who the Oligarchy is. They somehow think that Billionaires achieve their wealth through honest means.
But that's the point. Heck, even Putin acknowledges that most Americans haven't a clue.
THANK YOU, once again and for a thousandth time....
And - something else - FYI (about a new 51st US state ;-)) ):
Jacob Dreizin – March 16 -- https://thedreizinreport.com/2023/03/15/silicon-valley-bank-and-donetsk/
As for the Nazism, they can’t avoid it.
A Short History of Ukraine State
The Ukraine is a historically new construction. Until the late 19th century, the Ukraine was merely a region, and 100% of its inhabitants, the Ukrainians, or Rusyns (Ruthenians) as they were called in areas under Austria at that time, considered that their language, or whatever regional dialect they spoke, was Russian (“Russka mova”), and they had zero political awareness or identity separate from Russia (with the exception of the Zaporozhian Cossacks, who were Cossacks, not as presently described, “Ukrainian Cossacks”, LOL.)
The concept of a “Ukrainian language” and the associated identity was constructed in areas under Austrian rule (parts of Galicia and Volhynia), with Austrian support and state financing, immediately after the local iteration of the 1848 revolutions, as a way to quell pro-Russian irredentism among landowners and the Russian Orthodox church in the region. From here on, the Galician literary dialect was also set as the “one and only” Ukrainian language, similar to how the dialect of Florence became “standard Italian.”
Due to Russia’s backwardness, the Russian Empire was unable to standardize its linguistic landscape in the same manner as the Germans and French had largely done by prior to World War 1, or World War 2 at the latest. That process requires compulsory schooling and mass literacy, which Russia did not have until Soviet days. Hence, by the time of the Russian Revolution, the Galician Ukrainist movement had been able to gain some marginal but elite following throughout all territories that spoke Ukrainian dialects rather than “Great Russian.”
This was subsequently channeled, with the Russian collapse of 1917-1918, into the formation of the Ukrainian breakaway state. After this was put down by the Bolsheviks (first and foremost, Ukrainian urban Bolsheviks from Kharkov and what’s today called Donetsk), it again came to life under German rule with the Galician-based Banderist movement.
Most Ukrainians did not vote for independence from the USSR in 1991, but the republic was abandoned by Yeltsin, and thus, had independence thrust upon it. There was a general lack of enthusiasm for the state, a lack of understanding as to its purpose, especially as by this time, almost all Ukrainian citizens spoke Russian as their language of work, at least, and among well over half of the population, of the home as well. In short, there was a near-total ideological vacuum.
The only people who had an ideology… were, well, guess who.
Today, excepting the far northwest, with its dominant Greek Catholic church, the Ukraine is still so similar to Russia (culturally there is ZERO difference)…..
…..that the ONLY way any Ukrainian leadership can aim to make its state distinct, to justify its own rule, is to invent a completely fictitious, phony history of some coherent, historical “Ukraine” that never existed (their school history textbooks are a RIOT)…..
…..and to adopt a “supremacist”, Russian-exclusionist approach and ideology. Like, “We’re not Russian goddamn it, we were never Russian, we will cut the Russian out of us, perhaps slowly, perhaps quickly if we can, but we’ll get rid of it, because the Ukraine isn’t big enough for minorities or two nationalities, so, someone needs to get steamrolled.”
In short, fascism.
The Ukrainian state (under German protection) of 1918, and then again with the Banderist movement (again under German protection, or benign neglect at least) during WW2 and then in exile… were explicitly fascistic. The former, even before the term existed.
I wrote last summer or so, that any independent Ukrainian entity will ALWAYS arrive at fascism as its governing ideology. It just took much longer this time (since 1991), in part because of the dominance of Russian cultural and professional media (and the difficulty in re-Ukrainizing in the absence of a sufficient written base and professional need) and the enormous cross-border family bonds left over from Soviet days.
But, it happened.
Obviously, Uncle Sam has taken advantage of this to establish his 51st state on the territory of the former Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Obviously, the majority of Ukrainian officials, educators, etc., are just there to get paid. Like people everywhere, they go along and are not driving the ideology.
In this case, I'm going to look at the glass half full rather than half empty. You are fortunate in Australia to have had such blatant propaganda articles with such a vehement response from a former Prime Minister. In France, we have a press and a government that are totally submissive to the United States, but in a discreet mode, which means that no one reacts, in particular no political leader. We foolishly follow the Americans in their proxy war against Russia and not a word in Parliament: all our elected officials silently approve. I could say that we have become a mute democracy if the deafening silence of our leaders on events of importance were not masked by their incessant chatter about nothing.
In Australia, you are lucky that it still reacts to the big propaganda worthy of Goebbels.
How sweet was this...?
Beautiful tirade of commentary by Paul Keating, mowing down the journalistic imposters,one by one off their pedestals.....
We all need more of this!!
Thank you Paul ,you're still the best visionary, doer & PM ever...
Fox News has a certain profile for their female correspondents.
This is the first time I've viewed the Australian press corps, and I sense a similar feminine dynamic.
But I kind of like the format and the willingness to challenge the propagandist masquerading as journalist. This would never happen in US. Not even Bernie Sanders challenges corporate media.