Here's something I learned today, whilst doing a google image search for 'Palestine, Teddy Bear' to find an image to illustrate the news that the BBC wasn't going to take part in a Gazan fund-raiser, I discovered this little gem...
"The Israeli Armored D9 — nicknamed Doobi (Hebrew: דובי; lit. teddy bear) — is a Caterpillar D9 bulldozer that was modified by the Israel Defence Forces, Israeli Military Industries and Israel Aerospace Industries to increase the survivability of the dozer in hostile environments and enable it to withstand heavy attacks."
The humour presumably comes from the fact that D9s are not furry and real teddy bears don't crush people to death
note how its thick metal plating has enabled this armoured bulldozer to withstand heavy attacks from unarmed female peace activists and emerge victorious.
15 comments:
To be fair to the IDF, there are RPGs and other anti-vehicle weapons around that might threaten it :p
As for being in the path of one, getting in the way of the IDF unarmed isn't a smart thing to do in my opinion. Lets face it, they don't care who they have to kill to maintain their regional dominance...
An RPG would make very short work of one those monstrosities. They're built to be rock and bottle proof
and here's the specific wording from the head of the BBC explaining why the State Broadcasting Company was keeping out of it..
"After consultation with senior news editors, we concluded that to broadcast a free-standing appeal, no matter how carefully couched, ran the risk of calling into question the public's confidence in the BBC's impartiality in its coverage of the story as a whole."
An alternative point of view would be that the BBC's rejection of requests to take part in a fund raiser (made by apolitical charities), no matter how carefully couched, ran the risk of calling into question the public's confidence in the BBC's impartiality
From: Snowmail - Channel 4 News [snowmail_daily@channel4.com]
Sent: 24 January 2009 17:12
Subject: BBC sparks Gaza appeal row
Hi there. Krishnan here (and by the way it is me most weekends from now) and we're on at our new regular weekend time of 6.30pm for half an hour.
The BBC is under siege over its decision to boycott a Disasters Emergency Committee appeal for the people of Gaza and one has to think they will be 'reviewing their decision'.
Channel 4, ITV and Five have decided to go ahead and show a TV appeal on Monday night to raise awareness of the appalling suffering of those civilians caught in the recent fighting. So the BBC is looking increasingly isolated.
Having fronted a DEC appeal for the former Yugoslavia, perhaps my own impartiality on this story is open to question, but it is hard to find anyone who doesn't think this is a mistake at the BBC.
No doubt they have honourable intentions - there will be no conspiracy to let Palestinians suffer and no desire to be anything but fair. But in taking this stand the BBC have politicised a charity appeal that has always been unimpeachable in its integrity.
The DEC charities have always helped people in complex conflict situations - apart from the former Yugoslavia appeal in the 1990s there have been appeals for Darfur, Congo and Kosovo in recent years.
Nobody has ever questioned the BBC's integrity as a result. Their sensitivity is understandable - there are very powerful lobby groups on all sides of this conflict and they are well organised.
All big media organisations are well used to the write-in and phone-in campaigns in favour of or against a particular report when it comes to the Middle East.
But it appears that fear of being criticised by the pro-Israeli side has pushed the BBC's bosses into the unfortunate position they are in today, with pro-Palestinian people and those who are totally impartial, uniting to condemn the decision as a bad one.
It wouldn't matter so much if there wasn't so much at stake - but with children being amongst the worst affected by the devastation in Gaza, the humanitarian need there is enormous. And being a small place with a small population it is a problem that can effectively be tackled.
The DEC is a collection of leading charities who work with local partners - and the decision on launching a major appeal is taken at a committee involving the BBC, ITV, Sky and the charities.
Channel 4 was not involved but decided to get involved after seeing the controversial decision.
Tonight Carl Dinnen will have the report of the appeal, while Inigo Gilmore will have a report from Gaza. He has been filming in Rafah with the Islamic Relief charity and has been examining to what extent the aid effort in Gaza is independent of Hamas.
We will also be talking to the International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander who is calling on the BBC to change its mind, and the number three executive at the BBC Caroline Thompson, who has been out representing the views of her boss Mark Thompson (no relation) today.
The BBC is owned by the Rothschilds, of course they wouldn't... :p
Part-owned maybe, there are plenty of vested interests out there and they'd all want a piece
That's true.
Unless you take the view some people hold that the extended Rothschild family ultimately own everything
which, personally, I doubt
I've no doubt that they're game to have a go though
I wonder if we could simply end all wars by handing everybody a RPG-29, a "9K38 Igla" (plus two dozen shells each) and a AK-107 with several hundred rounds.
Well, additionally we would need something that can hit high flying bombers. And cruise missiles. And ICBMs. And MIRVs. And stealth bombers.
Yet, if everybody had some sort of mobile armour-piercing and anti-aircraft ability handy, the cost for invading a country would climb so high as to make it unfeasible.
I guess the cost of running an airline, running a bank (the real ones, with bank counters and such) or transporting money would rise quite steeply as well. Well, it's a trade off.
"BBC Caroline Thompson, who has been out representing the views of her boss Mark Thompson (no relation) today."
A better way to confirm the lack of relationship would be to spell her name correctly.
A very good article by John Mearsheimer, the co-author of must-read The Israel Lobby & US Foreign Policy.
It's not a rant but a cold documented piece, and it reveals the calculated genocidal thinking of the Israeli leaders.
Tony Benn to BBC "If you wont broadcast the Gaza appeal then I will myself"
oops
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E21MdXe3BOQ
@anon22:41
It is a good piece, thank you
The conclusion is on the money...
"Moreover, discourse about this longstanding conflict has undergone a sea change in the West in recent years, and many of us who were once wholly sympathetic to Israel now see that the Israelis are the victimizers and the Palestinians are the victims. What is happening in Gaza will accelerate that changing picture of the conflict and long be seen as a dark stain on Israel’s reputation."
Personally, I've moved from having some sympathy for the Israelis to having absolutely fuck all sympathy.
How can you have any sympathy for those who condone senseless slaughter and who show their contempt for you by justifying it with the most pathetic lies?
The fact that all our politicians and most of our media plays along with those lies just compounds my disgust
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