Iraq / Middle East / Murder Thread

False equivalency there with embedded journalists in Iraq who were stupidly biased, whether they intended to be or not. I don’t think you can argue Bartlett is a mouthpiece for the Assad regime, or for any reason pro it, everything should be looked at with scepticism but you’re not giving her any credit or respect as a journalist if you think she can’t decipher between wheeled out government supporters and common people. I’m sure she met both groups, no doubt the previous by design.

I don’t think it’s false equivalency.

She uses very similar language to what embedded journalists in Iraq used - “liberators”, “terrorists” etc.

Is it credible to say that the majority of the people in Aleppo are pro-Assad? Sure.

Is it credible to say that there isn’t a civil war and that the population of Syria is as overwhelmingly pro-Assad to the extent she claims it is? No, I don’t think so, in fact it’s obvious nonsense, notwithstanding all the outside actors in the Syrian conflict.

And as I’ve said, two of her claims in the video have been debunked.

Just because somebody says they’re independent doesn’t mean they’re independent, they may be highly biased (and I’m not singling out Bartlett here).

Similarly, just because somebody is attached to a “mainstream media” organisation, certain people who already have their minds up will automatically discount them as a source, which is nuts, notwithstanding that certain media organisations will have biases, occasionally obvious but usually far less obvious, about many matters they cover.

It’s very credible to say that while the majority may not be crazy about Assad he’s a much better alternative to the so called “rebels.” Did you ever consider that the citizens of a once fairly developed peaceful and secular country don’t want to be over run by religious nutjobs. And have chosen to be on are on the side of the democratically elected government of their country.

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I’d need to see her in her underwear before I could make a decision.

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Those people in the ground in iraq were being paid by the BBC, Murdock et al. What part of that do you not understand?

This Ladies independance as a journalist is pretty hard to deny.

Nobody is being Pro-Assad here. The point of it is that she is telling us what the people on the ground think. When you look at what Aleppo was in terms of a city, its not too hard to believe that people were pretty happy with the way it was but that a few local tribes (who seem to be as much in conflict with each other as anyone else) jumped on a regional movement bandwagon and got some traction, and were well armed by the Yanks.

You still refuse to see the money line

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Did you ever consider that I might not have the “view” you ascribe to me?

What’s journalistic independence?

The INTERNET is littered with people who claim they are “independent journalists” and are anything but.

Repeating your pre-conceived narrative that any “mainstream media” coverage is worthless advances your argument in precisely no way.

Eva Bartlett is being pro-Assad, strongly so.

You realise “the people on the ground” don’t speak with one voice, yes?

I don’t need somebody who by their own admission uses this forum as a proxy advertising service to tell me about following a “money line”, thanks.

Alot of rubbish. Wsste of time debating

No, Kev. What you put up was a lot of rubbish.

Your debating style can be summarised as follows:
Post up a load of fact-free, generalised, conspiracy theory-influenced rubbish, than refuse to engage when it’s picked apart.

This is instance #573937.

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Well you seem to be rubbishing the claims of the journalist and saying they have been debunked. I read the channel 4 rebuttal but it was very weak. They “fact checked” one or two of her claims and ignored the rest. Even at that they werent sure they were fact checking what she was talking about.

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What was weak about it?

Bartlett hasn’t responded to Channel 4 News or other outlets that have debunked the story.

The onus is on her to back the story up as she made the assertion.

Why on earth would anybody need to fake or recycle footage of the same girl?

The only reason anybody could have for doing so, or for believing that it was taking place, is if children weren’t being killed or injured in significant numbers in Aleppo.

Have you seen footage of what the city looks like? Is this “faked” too? Do you think it’s credible that children weren’t being killed or injured in significant numbers in Aleppo?

That isn’t to remain blind to the possibility for propaganda from all sides, clearly there is potential for propaganda, but why would you have to fake this kind?

How is it credible to say that what has been taking place since 2011 is not a civil war?

How can one say with any confidence that a journalist is “independent”, when they write a blog for RT (a television station owned by the Russian government, who are directly involved in the conflict), and use the language of "liberation and “terrorists” that Fox News used in Iraq in 2003? Merely because they say so themselves? This stretches credulity to the absolute limit.

Asking these questions in no way implies support for the Syrian opposition or for anybody.

They’re basic questions about journalistic integrity and I honestly don’t see how they can be squared without doing some serious mental gymnastics.

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You’re an idiot just arguing for sake of it becausr you are embarrassed for believing alot of the rubbish the western media sells you.

Do you expect yer to answeƕ to every single media outÄșet?

Thats just dumb

Again, you’ve written nothing constructive in that post, which is not surprising given that you’re so clearly out of your depth on this topic.

I expect journalists to be able to verify and back up their assertions when challenged, especially when such assertions are absolutely central to the narrative they’re putting forward.

Do you expect journalists to able to do this, or does your standard of believability merely amount to calling yourself “independent” and throwing around unverified and unverifiable assertions and accusations?

That’s a pretty low standard of journalistic expectations on your part and one which feeds directly into your views on so many subjects.

Fair play to the Obama administration re the UN and Israeli settlements.

http://blogs.cfr.org/zenko/files/2017/01/BombsDropped16.png

Sources: Estimate based upon Combined Forces Air Component Commander 2011-2016 Airpower Statistics; CJTF-Operation Inherent Resolve Public Affairs Office strike release, December 31, 2016; New America Foundation (NAF); Long War Journal (LWJ); The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ); Department of Defense press release; and U.S. Africa Command press release.

Jesus thats mental. Any statistics on whether they’re good bombs or bad bombs?

They’re American. They’re all good bombs silly.

Overall, the U.S. Air Force has expended about $2 billion worth of precision-guided munitions on Islamic State since the start of the campaign in August 2014, dropping more than 40,000, according to Air Force officials. U.S. aircraft have dropped nearly 18 times more weapons on Islamic State than on targets in Afghanistan over the same period.

I hear there’s a massive famine brewing in North Africa