The media coverage of Iran is terrible, and seems to be getting worse—see Glenn Greenwald’s latest piece on the ABC and NBC nightly newscasts.
And today the New York Times (2/15/12) tells readers this about Iran’s nuclear program:
The new uranium enrichment plant, known as Fordo, has raised Western concerns because it is buried deep underground, making it more impervious to scrutiny.
That struck me as odd, since Fordo is, like other Iranian nuclear facilities, regularly inspected by the International Atomic Energy Agency. And the Times seems to know this, since a few paragraphs later, correspondent Rick Gladstone reported:
Last month, inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations nuclear watchdog, confirmed that Iran had started uranium enrichment at Fordo.
The “problem” with Fordo is not that it is “impervious to scrutiny.” The problem is that it could be very difficult to bomb. (The facility is “in a bunker that Israeli intelligence estimates is 220 feet deep, beyond the reach of even the most advanced bunker-busting bombs possessed by the United States,” as the Times magazine recently reported.)
Elsewhere in the paper, the Times casually notes that “Iranian saber rattling is increasing the sense of instability in the Middle East.”
Nothing new about Newspeak on Iran, is there?
I’m very concerned about how these incidents in India and Thailand are being portrayed by the stenography pool that is the corpress. It makes no sense for the Iranian government to be behind them, as it feeds the narrative of a regime out of control, and needing to be dealt with as soon as possible.
But that logic is lost in the drumbeat for war, and these could be the match that sets the region aflame.
americans love war,our whole economy is based on it,Im sure the oil people are licking thier chops to get control of the oil fields and get oil ”contracts” after the thing is over. Its all just a rehearsal for the inevitable conflict with china thats waiting in the wings.
Well, perhaps I should direct my question to ABC & NBC newscasts and the NY Times. The U.S. is trillions in debt and rising, along with the debt service. How will the U.S. pay for another war?
How will we pay for another war? Well, the Greeks seem to be turning into the Gazans, and I guess we will turn into the Greeks. I think the media people are forgetting that tvs and computers and cell phones wear out, and at a certain point with no connection to the world and with so many unemployed and starving and ill people, that no one will need media or even be able to connect to it.
A couple more volcanoes going off, a few more killer winters, tsunamis, earthquakes, or an oil spill in the Arctic, a global pandemic, and everything changes.
The end of the electronic media and the beginning of semaphore, smoke signals or piegons for communication. We turn into Mohenjo Daro….and start all over again. The stories of 18th century Enlightenment become the NEO Atlantis! Maybe we’ll get it right the next time. : )
Can you blame Iran for wanting to protect a valuable part of its infrastructure from internationally-known hotheads like America and Israel? It’s worthwhile to note that while Amedinijad speaks tough and aggressive, he does not make the decisions for Iran. It is the Clerical Elite who make the real decisions, so Amedinajad is little more than just a performing monkey, acting the lunatic for the benefit of American and Israeli warmongers. It is also noteworthy to notice that Iran has “No First Strikes” enshrined in its constitution (something that neither America, nor Israel can claim), and thus cannot attack first without instantly declaring its government rogue and opening the door for near-instantaneous repercussions from the United Nations. Furthermore, we need to note Iran’s history, and that over the past 100 years or so, Iran has not invaded ANYBODY, nor has it launched any kind of offensives against any other nation.
This mania about Iran and its nuclear program (about which, even Defence Secretary Panetta has stated on the record that Iran isn’t trying to make nuclear weapons) is nothing but misdirection, distracting people from more important issues like the ever-increasing income gap, the constant fraying of the social safety net, and the fact that even after Wall Street all but wiped out the world’s economy, it is still functionally unregulated.
Apparently, the 1% is not happy that Iran is still selling oil for dollars? Where does the mindless, absolute greed come from?? Based on behavioral attributes and tendencies, should we not fear the 1% much more than the Iranians? Those making these deliberate false claims, must want such a war, but for what benefit?? How does one measure such vast criminality?
Elaine- ”how will we pay for another war”? simple, give the rich a bigger tax break.
Iranian saber-rattling? Jesus! Sooner or later we are going to start a war that will finally ruin us, and the coming Iran war might be it. It might have the same effect on Israel, too.
It’s way past time that the world had a nuke-free Middle East. All nukes should be removed from the Middle East and preferably the entire world. Why should Israel sit on 300 nukes, refuse to divulge any information on its program, avoid international scrutiny, and vociferously complain that Iran might develop a weapon? That’s not the worse part! Israel then orders the United States to go after Iran as the bad boy of the Middle East.
It is disheartening, to say the least, that the mainstream media, after doing their mea culpa re: the run-up to the Iraq war, don’t seem to notice that they are doing it again re: Iran. A democracy cannot exist without an honest press. Where does that leave us? Only a small, poorly funded alternative media hold politicians and government agencies accountable.
Edwina I could not agree with you more.Our press should print the English translations of the remarks from the Iranian leadership every single day as it appears in their press.To not do so is to not inform, and warn the American public of the scope of the insanity that resides in the Iranian leadership.Our press should stop shrinking from this duty by doing only half a job.Let us all hear Ah ma needs a job daily rants and threats.