Conflicts in the Middle East & Northern Africa

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • Brian
    Banned
    • Oct 2011
    • 1130

    It looks like taking the 'Red Pill' is catching on everywhere.

    Al Jazeera exodus: Channel losing staff over ‘bias’

    Key staff from Al Jazeera’s Beirut Bureau have resigned citing “bias” in the channel’s stance on the conflict in Syria.


    12 March, 2012
    Key staff from Al Jazeera’s Beirut Bureau have resigned citing “bias” in the channel’s stance on the conflict in Syria.

    Bureau Managing Director Hassan Shaaban reportedly quit last week, after his correspondent and producer had walked out in protest.
    A source told the Lebanese paper Al Akhbar that Al Jazeera’s Beirut correspondent Ali Hashem had quit over the channel’s stance on covering events in Syria. "… his position [which] changed after the station refused to show photos he had taken of armed fighters clashing with the Syrian Army in Wadi Khaled. Instead [Al Jazeera] lambasted him as a shabeeh [implying a regime loyalist],” a source told Lebanese press.

    Ali Hashem was also infuriated by Al Jazeera’s refusal to cover a crackdown by the King of Bahrain while twisting its Syria angle. “[In Bahrain], we were seeing pictures of a people being butchered by the 'Gulf's oppression machine', and for Al Jazeera, silence was the name of the game,” he said.

    The Beirut bureau’s producer also quit claiming Al Jazeera had totally ignored Syria’s constitutional reform referendum, which saw a 57% turnout with 90% voting for change.

    Ghassan Ben Jeddo, who had been the head of the Beirut Bureau before resigning almost a year ago, said that Al Jazeera was biased in covering the Arab Spring, especially in Syria and Bahrain.

    “I do believe that Al Jazeera and other channels were not balanced in dealing with the events,” he said. “For instance, with respect to the events in Syria and Bahrain, we started to invite guests from America who only criticize the regime in Syria and support the regime in Bahrain and persons who justify NATO intervention. This is unacceptable.”
    Journalist and author Afshin Rattansi, who worked for Al Jazeera, told RT that, “sadly”, the channel had become one-sided voice for the Qatari government’s stance against Bashar al-Assad, having begun as the region’s revolutionary broadcaster.

    “It is very disturbing to hear how Al Jazeera is now becoming this regional player for foreign policy in a way that some would arguably say the BBC and others have been for decades,” he said. “If Al Jazeera Arabic is going to take a war-like stance after [the] Qatari government, this would be very ill.”

    “There is the courage of these journalists, however, in saying ‘Look, this is not the way we should be covering this. There are elements of Al-Qaeda in there,’” Rattansi concluded. “The way Al Jazeera Arabic has covered the story of Syria is completely one-sided.”

    Journalists and anti-war activist Don Debar, who has also had Al Jazeera experience, confirmed that the station has been heavily guided by the Qatari government in its policies.

    “That has been ongoing since last April of 2011,” Debar told RT. “The head of the bureau in Beirut quit, many other people quit because of the biased coverage and outright hand of the government in dictating editorial policy over Libya, and now Syria.”

    ‘There's a chill, they're controlling things more at Al Jazeera’
    Former Al Jazeera English-language blogger Ted Rall recounted his own story of quitting the job. He said his blogs and columns were being rejected on a regular basis.

    “For a long time I ascribed it to incompetence on their part because they weren’t very good at getting back very quickly, but over time I came to learn through various people there that the politics of the channel were changing,” he told RT. What he found out was that leftist and progressive voices such as his were not welcome anymore and that he no longer needed to submit anything.

    Rall noted that this change in policy only took place recently.
    “After September 11, Al Jazeera became a channel that could be counted upon for openness and transparency, certainly compared to most corporate broadcast media in the West, particularly related to the Middle East and Central Asia and South Asia but that has really changed in the last year or so,” he said “There’s a chill, they’re controlling things more.”

    When Rall first went to work at Al Jazeera, he says he was surprised that it was actually owned by the Qatari government. He compared their past hands-off policy to that of Rupert Murdoch when he owned the Village Voice of New York City. But now, the “Qataris have decided to shape the picture of the news a little more than they used to.”
    While he rejected the notion of objectivity, Rall did note that the media could try to present a more balanced view.
    “What you really want to see is a broad marketplace of ideas, where lots of different ideas and stories are being told,” he summed up.

    Comment

    • fatso
      Member
      • Sep 2008
      • 301

      Originally posted by George S. View Post
      Fatso you have similarities of voltron both don't like turks.Anyway remember ottoman that was voltron i'm not surprised anymore.As to the turks killing people i doubt that they kill poor & unarmed civilans unless the civilians are posing as kurdish terrorists.fATSO there are two sides to a story your's is not one of them You beleive every bit of trash that's dished to you you tube.Or should i say voltron.
      Yes, there are two sides to every story. Unfortunately your to blinded to see both sides...clearly your comments were shallow.
      I do not believe Turks are sincere about their friendship with Macedonia. If Tetovo was threatened by Muslims Albanians ...I'm certain your Turkish friends would side with their Muslim brothers.
      Did you know that your Turkish friends refer to Tetovo as Tetova ?

      Please keep my name out of your trash.

      Comment

      • EgejskaMakedonia
        Senior Member
        • Jan 2010
        • 1665

        Originally posted by fatso View Post
        Yes, there are two sides to every story. Unfortunately your to blinded to see both sides...clearly your comments were shallow.
        I do not believe Turks are sincere about their friendship with Macedonia. If Tetovo was threatened by Muslims Albanians ...I'm certain your Turkish friends would side with their Muslim brothers.
        Did you know that your Turkish friends refer to Tetovo as Tetova ?

        Please keep my name out of your trash.
        It's hard to tell nowadays. One would think that Macedonians would get along with Greeks or Serbs, considering all three nations are predominately Christian Orthodox. Yet it's almost the complete opposite...I'm sure you know why.

        Comment

        • fatso
          Member
          • Sep 2008
          • 301

          Originally posted by EgejskaMakedonia View Post
          It's hard to tell nowadays. One would think that Macedonians would get along with Greeks or Serbs, considering all three nations are predominately Christian Orthodox. Yet it's almost the complete opposite...I'm sure you know why.
          The Greeks and Serbs are the reason for the animosity with Macedonia. I have always been vocal in my position on how unfair Greece's position has been with RoM.

          Comment

          • EgejskaMakedonia
            Senior Member
            • Jan 2010
            • 1665

            Originally posted by fatso View Post
            The Greeks and Serbs are the reason for the animosity with Macedonia. I have always been vocal in my position on how unfair Greece's position has been with RoM.
            To be honest, it's a real shame. If none of this animosity occurred in the first place, there'd be a very strong relationship with all three nations. I guess that's a matter of 'what ifs,' but unfortunately that isn't the case.

            Feel free not to answer fatso, but I still don't understand what nationality you are. I've seen you around since the Maknews days, and you seem to know Kafana. Are you a Greek who supports Macedonia?

            Comment

            • fatso
              Member
              • Sep 2008
              • 301

              Originally posted by EgejskaMakedonia View Post
              To be honest, it's a real shame. If none of this animosity occurred in the first place, there'd be a very strong relationship with all three nations. I guess that's a matter of 'what ifs,' but unfortunately that isn't the case.

              Feel free not to answer fatso, but I still don't understand what nationality you are. I've seen you around since the Maknews days, and you seem to know Kafana. Are you a Greek who supports Macedonia?
              I'm what many call a traitor .....but basically I'm a fence sitter.

              Comment

              • Risto the Great
                Senior Member
                • Sep 2008
                • 15660

                I think you can sit on the fence safely and then rely on fundamental human rights to assist your conscience votes on these issues.
                Risto the Great
                MACEDONIA:ANHEDONIA
                "Holding my breath for the revolution."

                Hey, I wrote a bestseller. Check it out: www.ren-shen.com

                Comment

                • fatso
                  Member
                  • Sep 2008
                  • 301

                  Originally posted by Risto the Great View Post
                  I think you can sit on the fence safely and then rely on fundamental human rights to assist your conscience votes on these issues.
                  Well said.

                  Comment

                  • Onur
                    Senior Member
                    • Apr 2010
                    • 2389

                    Fatso, you better come up with better lies.

                    In Turkey, we use it`s former name as "Kalkandelen". Maybe the Turks in Macedonia are using both Kalkandelen and Tetova but if they call it Tetova, it`s because of linguistic purposes. It`s easier for Turkish speakers to pronounce -ova, rather than -ovo. It doesn't have any political meaning. Already, wtf you mean by that? It`s not possible for Turkish Macedonians to involve any nationalistic claims for Macedonia. I laugh at this even while i am writing this.

                    If Turkish people would support this kind of thoughts, then they would do that for Thrace in Greece, not in Macedonia. You know what, you guys in Greece probably have the the most harmonious, calm, easygoing minority group in the world despite the fact that they are living at the border with their kinsmen`s country but yet you come here and blame Turkish minority in Macedonia. I wonder what would happen if you had 100.000s of fanatical Albanians or our Pan-Kurdist terrorist Kurds as a minority in Greece?. Would you rather have them instead of Turks?

                    You are a prime a..hole.
                    Last edited by Onur; 03-15-2012, 08:06 PM.

                    Comment

                    • Brian
                      Banned
                      • Oct 2011
                      • 1130

                      Li'le Johnny Howard was Bush's lackey and it looks like the tradition has continued - why the hell is Australia in Africa? Probably looking for the long gone boogie-man Kony like they were looking for the non-existent Bin Laden. Let's just raid a few countries while we're there, we might just find him.

                      Australian 'special forces gathering intelligence in Africa'

                      Australian special forces have been operating in several African countries over the past year gathering intelligence on terrorist activities, a report said on Tuesday.


                      13 Mar 2012
                      Australian special forces have been operating in several African countries over the past year gathering intelligence on terrorist activities, a report said on Tuesday.

                      The Sydney Morning Herald said 4 Squadron of the elite Special Air Service (SAS) had mounted dozens of clandestine operations in places such as Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Kenya in a role normally carried out by spies.

                      Citing a government source, it said the missions by the previously unknown squadron were believed to involve terrorism intelligence gathering amid concerns about the threat posed by the Islamist al-Shebab militia.

                      They are also aimed at developing rescue strategies for evacuating trapped Australian civilians while assessing African border controls and exploring landing sites for possible military interventions.
                      The information gathered flows into databases used by the United States and its allies, it said.


                      The Herald added the operations have raised serious concerns among some sections of the military and intelligence communities that the troops do not have adequate legal protection or contingency plans if they are captured.

                      "They have all the espionage skills but without (Australian Secret Intelligence Service's) legal cover," said one government source.
                      According to the newspaper, ASIS officers are permitted under Australian law to carry false passports and, if arrested, to deny who they are employed by.

                      Defence Force members, such as the SAS, on normal operations cannot carry false identification and cannot deny which government they work for.

                      Defence Minister Stephen Smith refused to confirm the group's existence "because we don't want to put at risk either operations or our national security".

                      But he insisted that all Australian operatives overseas did their job within the law and had proper protection.

                      "People would expect from time to time the SAS, ASIS, and department of foreign affairs and trade are involved in making sure Australians overseas are not at risk," he told Sky News.
                      "Whenever we have our people in the field they have the proper and appropriate protections.

                      "Whether someone is working for ASIS or someone is operating for or with the SAS, we ensure they operate in accordance with domestic and international law and that they have appropriate and proper protection."
                      Last edited by Brian; 03-15-2012, 09:25 PM.

                      Comment

                      • Brian
                        Banned
                        • Oct 2011
                        • 1130

                        Originally posted by fatso View Post
                        The Greeks and Serbs are the reason for the animosity with Macedonia. I have always been vocal in my position on how unfair Greece's position has been with RoM.
                        Also how unnecessary. In the past it may have been to hold on to the land but today with no sunset clause in any treaty noone can take Aegean Macedonia from Greece but by war. It is more than obvious with only 2 1/2 Million in population and with a great number of them anti-Macedonian there is no way RoM could square off with Greece so it is ridiculous when Greece puts up 'expansionism' and 'territorial designs' as reason to oppose RoM.

                        It is silly to watch the UN/EU put pressure on Greece to afford rights to minorities like Afghan refugees but not the Macedonians that have been there with Greece for 100 years. Other than pride to not back-down there is no reason Greece could not recognise RoM and the minority of Macedonians inside the Greek borders. The EU would not even think to allow Aegean Macedonia to link with RoM because what would they do with all the Greeks and others that have set up homes, farms and businesses there - the EU would not allow a mass migration.

                        You would think that Greece and RoM with a common enemy growing on her doorstep and inside would be reason enough to support each other.

                        In order to save face it would not be too hard to just make up some BS that because of close ties in ancient times between the Greece and Macedonia we thought it looked like Macedonians were Greeks but we dug up some stuff with 'I waz 'ear' on it by Macedonians and now we see a different perspective on the matter.
                        Last edited by Brian; 03-15-2012, 09:28 PM.

                        Comment

                        • Brian
                          Banned
                          • Oct 2011
                          • 1130

                          With all the countries in the region changing their governments is this the start of an 'under new management' sign in Turkey?

                          In Germany, demonstrations against Recep Tayyip Erdogan



                          18/03/2012
                          Over 20,000 people demonstrated yesterday in the German city of Bochum against Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who today was to visit Germany. Erdogan canceled a trip to Germany for death of 12 Turkish soldiers in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan.

                          The protest had protesters in France Belgium, as well as representatives of different minority communities in Turkey - Alevis, Kurds and Armenians. They accused Erdogan that suppressed minorities in Turkey. reason for the demonstration was anticipated award for the protection of human rights "Steiger" in Bochum.

                          Comment

                          • Big Bad Sven
                            Senior Member
                            • Jan 2009
                            • 1528

                            Originally posted by Onur View Post
                            Another horrible humanitarian crime in Afghanistan by the US soldiers again;
                            Dont worry, im sure Obbuma will get on TV, do a bit of shucking and jiving, say a few lame jokes, maybe even sing and dance and all of the american dumbo's will forget about this.

                            Maybe play repeats of septermber 11 to make the dumbos's not forget who the real "enemy" is

                            Comment

                            • Big Bad Sven
                              Senior Member
                              • Jan 2009
                              • 1528

                              Comment

                              • Big Bad Sven
                                Senior Member
                                • Jan 2009
                                • 1528

                                Destroy all churches in the Arabian Peninsula – Saudi Grand Mufti
                                The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia has said that all churches in the Arabian Peninsula must be destroyed. The statement prompted anger and dismay from Christians throughout the Middle East.


                                These are the people who support the "rebels" in Syria, and these things will happen in Syria just as they have happened in Iraq, Somalia and recently Libya.

                                These are the people that are turning our good torbeshi brothers into fanatical muslims, that would rather side with shiptars because they are "muslim".

                                And the icing on the cake is that the americans are in bed with the racist Saudi's and their "helpers", Al-Queada.

                                But thats ok american dumbo's and aussie bogans, keep cheering for Al-Queada to win in Syria

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X