GCQH – providers of ‘news’ to maintain ‘the narrative’ 

 

 

It’s the last day of the first quarter of 2022. There should have been more than just one report about the rise in the cost-of-living we’re facing, but no. The headlines in this morning’s print editions are about the scandal in the maternity wards in NHS hospitals – and rightly so (link). Might this lead to a re-evaluation of the ‘services’ provided by “Our NHS”? I hope so but I won’t hold my breath.

Meanwhile, the war in the Ukraine is going on. The head of GCHQ,  Sir Jeremy Fleming, told the world and the world’s MSM that Putin is being lied to by his advisers, that they’re afraid to tell him ‘the truth’ and that

“demoralised and undisciplined Russian soldiers were refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment “and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft”.” (paywalled link)

No proof is provided for any of these statements. After all, this is ‘secret information’ and therefore we must believe it. Interestingly, the hyperlink in the quote above goes to an article published on 11th March … so the ‘news’ by the GCHQ chief are not precisely ‘news’, but that’s alright. It’s not about proper news after all, but about fuelling the western narrative with the handy explanation for the attacks in the East of the Ukraine: ‘weak Putin is becoming ever more brutal’. 

Sir Fleming’s statement supports the spin by Mr Elensky (we must shun the letter Z, remember?), namely that Russia ‘failed’ to occupy the big cities like Kiev or Charkov. We’re told that the ‘demoralised, weak’ Russian military is retreating to the East and that the ‘tough Ukrainian military’ is winning, sort of (link). You didn’t think that GCQH’s ‘intelligence news’ just happened to be published by chance, did you!

It’s futile to mention the many statements from Russian generals and from Mr Putin himself about the aims of this Special Military Operation. Clearly, “we” don’t believe a word they say, we only believe our own propaganda. This has been made so much easier now that most Russian news sources cannot be accessed by us peasants.

Now let’s take a look at the economy and the cost of living. The DT has a report which makes grim reading for those who were still not aware of what’s coming:

“Council tax bills are set to hit £2,000 a year from Friday as the country braces itself for the biggest living standards crunch in a generation. A typical family will be almost £1,000 a year worse off from Friday, as energy, council tax and water bills all start to rise. At the same time telecoms companies will start pushing through inflation-busting increases for broadband and mobile phone contracts. Days later, workers will be hit with a 1.25 percentage point rise in national insurance.” (paywalled link)

This will only get worse because these price hikes will affect the supply chains, from manufacturing to groceries. It was on the cards since October last year – but now, oh now we can blame Putin for it! How convenient! At the same time our government keeps posturing and promising more armaments to the Ukraine while telling us that “we” will provide more, new stuff for our own Armed Forces. 

It’s strange that none of our clever economic ‘correspondents’ and business writers ask how we are going to pay for this. It’s even more strange that these self-same ‘correspondents’ seem to be unaware that most of the raw materials we’d need to re-arm are coming from Russia which isn’t inclined to sell to us, thanks to sanctions. There are already calls in Russia to demand payment in roubles for any Russian exports, from raw materials to wheat, not just for gas which will have to be paid for in roubles from now on.

Germany, as one of the largest importers of Russian gas, will be especially hard hit. Germany’s green Vicechancellor is already proposing rationing for gas (paywalled link). Last evening I read in German papers how politicians ‘advise’ their citizens to turn down the temperatures in their homes to 15ºC because ‘nobody dies from cold’ and everybody can wear a few more woollen jumpers. Also, spending only three minutes under a hot shower instead of five would be ‘helpful’. So far, they’ve not yet advocated washing over a hand basin, with cold water …

Meanwhile, the German Chancellor Mr Scholz, spoke with Mr Putin. Depending on your news source, Putin has ‘caved in’ and permitted the Germans to keep paying in roubles (link, in German). In contrast, you might like to read the article in a Russian paper, ‘Izvestia’, if you have a machine translator. It’s rather interesting (link). Here’s RT’s report in English (my emphasis):

“Moscow claimed that Putin explained to Scholz that his government is now demanding payment in rubles “due to the fact that, in violation of international law, the foreign exchange reserves of the Bank of Russia were frozen by the EU member states.” However, Putin told Scholz that the switchover would not result in less advantageous contract conditions for German importers.” (link)

Apparently, Germany’s payments in Euro would be made to GazpromBank which isn’t sanctioned in Germany. “We” have of course sanctioned that bank … Gazprombank would then convert the payment into roubles and transfer this to Russia. So where’s the difficulty? Is it that the EU won’t like it?

But let’s not worry about such finance difficulties. “We” have windfarms, “we” have hardly imported Russian gas, “we” can signal our virtue on the international stage. “We” can point fingers at Hungary which imports their oil and gas from Russia and is paying in roubles (paywalled link). Will Brussels finally kick Hungary out of the EU?

What about Poland though, where ‘hating Russia’ has now become ‘mainstream’, according to their President? Isn’t that against “EU Principles”? And what about the rumours that Poland hopes to take back those western parts of the Ukraine which were Polish before WWII if the war ends in the break-up of the Ukraine? Is such land grab permitted by the EU? Hm …

I leave you with two other news snippets. One seems to demonstrate that the USA apparently expected this war to break out. RT reports that the Pentagon ‘explained’ the withdrawal of their two destroyers from the Black Sea – in January (link). Nothing to see there, right? All normal procedure, right? Nothing to do with possibly becoming involved with the Russian Black Sea Fleet, to the disadvantage of the US ships!

The other snippet is a prime example for the hypocrisy with which our MSM treat anything Russian. The Times reports:

“Russians who oppose the war are being made to publicly recant their beliefs, in a sign that the country is returning to a form of totalitarianism not seen since the Soviet Union. A Muscovite who posted a video of himself on social media saying “glory to Ukraine” was forced to apologise and release a second video in which he declared his support for the “special operation” in Ukraine, RIA Novosti, the state news agency, reported.” (link, paywalled)

I note in passing that The Times accesses RIA Novosti, the Russian state news agency. Therefore they must be aware of Russian statements in regard to the war and in regard to Putin’s goals. They must know that occupying the big cities was never intended. And still they keep pushing ‘the narrative’ …

Furthermore, I note with disgust that The Times isn’t even mentioning the banning of Russian artists here in the West who were told to provide statements condemning Putin or lose their job. Was that not ‘totalitarian’ because it was done in ‘Teh West’? It’s yet another example for “it’s different when we do it”.

If hypocrisy were painful the Westminster swamp would already suffer from a severe shortage of painkillers.

 

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