Australia's ABC Mediawatch program has chastized a Murdoch journalist, Janet Albrechtson, (think Ann Coulter with an Aussie twang) for promoting the "Good News From Iraq" blog of Arthur Chrenkoff.
The segment reveals that Chrenkoff works for John Howard's Liberal Party, on the staff of Senator Brett Mason. As one commenter said:
Given the breadth and sheer volume of links that Arthur includes in each post one can only assume that a great deal of Arthur's posting occurs during public tax-payer funded work hours. Quite a great deal in fact. So do we now conclude that the Australian tax payer funds this blog???It's good to see someone on Chrenkoff's case. Like Albrechtson, he is an embarrassment to Australia.
Chrenkoff's "Good News" site is part of a tight little network of US propaganda blogs, including Iraq The Model, Little Green Footballs, Roger L Simon, etc (just check the mutual links on each site).
Any intelligent observer quickly comes to suspect that there is far more to these sites than meets the eye.
For example, Chrenkoff celebrated his blog's first anniversary with some intriguing nods of thanks to supporters including "Major Tammes at the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, our special correspondent and tireless translator Haider Ajina, and friends at CENTCOM, various embassies and ministerial offices, who have to remain nameless."
Another example. I became suspicious that Omar Fadhil, one of the bloggers at Iraq The Model, was actually running a Berlin-based radio show. According to my Google search, about the only person in the world who posted a link to this German "Election Radio" show was Australian-based blogger Arthur Chrenkoff, who just happens to be a very big fan of the brothers at Iraq The Model (the feeling is mutual). Chrenkoff's link to the German radio show was included in part 20 of his "Good News From Iraq" series. Surprise, surprise, Omar Fadhil at Iraq The Model then just happened to post a link to Chrenkoff's Good News From Iraq Part 20 story! (click here for my previous post on this)
As regular readers know, I have written extensively about Iraq The Model (see here and here).
The USA has acknowledged that it is running PsyOps in Iraq and it requires little imagination to argue that sites like these are all on the US government payroll.
(story thanks to Tim Dunlops excellent Road To Surfdom).
UPDATE: I am now being attacked by Chrenkoff and his mates like Tim Blair as a conspiracy theory / tin foil hat blogger spouting "blatant insanity". So for anyone visiting from those sites who may be interested in the truth, I present:
A short history of recent "Conspiracy Theories"
1. Saddam has no WMDs.
2. Saddam has no connection to Al Quaeda.
3. Our governments lied to us.
4. The invasion of Iraq was illegal, making Bush, Blair and Howard War Criminals.
5. Israel is manipulating US foreign policy.
6. There is not and cannot be any such thing as a "War on Terror".
7. The invasion of Iraq has actually increased the terrorism threat.
et cetera et cetera et cetera...
Of course you won't hear the truth about these "conspiracy theories" at places like Chrenkoff. If you want to know more, read on....
UPDATE 2: Now someone called Judith calls me an asshole for voicing suspicions about the Kesher Talk website's extensive coverage of Omar and Mohammed Fadhil's trip to the USA (where these Iraqi bloggers just happened to meet with George W. Bush and Paul Wolfowitz in the White House). Predictably, Judith also comes very close to calling me anti-Semetic.
Judith argues that Howard Fienberg has not run Kesher Talk since sometime in 2003, even though he still owns the site. So what does that prove?
My point is that there exists an extensive network of blogs and websites with the mutual objective of spreading pro-war propaganda (if not outright lies). And as I said, given all the lies we have been told, it would be naive to think that none of these sites is on the US (or Israeli) government payroll.
Ask yourself what motivates people like Arthur, Judith, Simon, the Fadhil brothers and Howard? Are they really decent, caring right-wingers who sincerely dedicate their free time to such sites in the belief that the Bush agenda - including the Iraq War - is a great leap forward for freedom? If so, why are they not angry at all these lies we have been told? Indeed, why do they themselves help to spread such lies with such voracity? Or could it be that they are pursuing their own selfish agendas by jumping on the pro-war bandwagon?
I mean... Arthur Chrenkoff just happens to work for a Liberal senator? Come on, folks. Use your heads.
UPDATE 3: Heads up! Here's another US$81 billion being poured down the tube! You folks at the bottom just divvy it up among yerselves, as per usual...
8 comments:
Damn conspiracies...
I think I found another one at this person's blog and his associated website.
I'm laughing my arse off at the number of people you've pissed off. Good one Gandhi. While I don't share your opinion on the strength of the relationship between US Gov and war-blogging memebots, I think you raise some interesting issues. If normal companies are using buzz and direct-advertising techniques, there's no reason to think that the most powerful military complex on the planet hasn't caught on. And even if you're way off, it's fun watching these guys in the echo-chamber get pissy :-D Oh! The egos.
elendil,
well, about time one of my regulars leaped to my defence!
:-)
It's also fun reading through the comments at Tim Blair's webstie. A few folks there know me from ITM, other from Jeff Jarvis's stie. But their memories are kinda vague...
The only time I ever posted a comment at Tim's webstie, I was banned IMMEDIATELY! I didn't even make an offensive comment, certainly not as far as I could tell... So much for freedom of speech.
I assume Tim is a lurker at ITM, or some such thing. A very incestuous bunch, these warbloggers.
Oh, and here's a very revealing tidbit for all you rightwing WANKERS:
Tim Blair used to work for Murdoch's The Australian (as an editor from 1994 to 1999).
So his defence of AlbrechtsEn is somewhat suss, innit?
Murdoch is as much responsioble for the Iraq War as Bush. No doubt he has a special little expenses fund for like-minded people like Timothy.
Tim Blair, ugh, I read as far as the post entitled "Clean up on aisle three" and couldn't get any further. He should read my blog and see if he can keep that smirk in his tone. What an ignorant dickhead. Didn't realise he was a Murdoch boy *snort* but makes sense now. I'll admit they are pretty tight-knit, but I don't know if payment and direct inducement is the most parsimonious explanation. I guess that sort of thing can self-organise. Like so many writhing, blind, Dendroctonus micans larvae, they seek each other out and cluster in tight little self-reinforcing masses. Icky to behold, but the pattern is not necessarily meaningful. If coleopterans can do it, there's no reason to think that war-bloggers can't, being (marginally) more evolved.
"given all the lies we have been told, it would be naive to think that none of these sites is on the US (or Israeli) government payroll."
I wish I was on the payroll, I could use the cash. Where are my checks, oh International Zionist Conspiracy?
Judith - You're not on the payroll? Boy are you missing out. I'm going out to the mailbox to get my check right now. Then it's off to meet the rest of the gang at the Elders of Zion meeting tonight (shamelessly stolen from "the Doctor" at Meryl's). After that, we're going to go torture some Palestinians, steal their orchards, and, just for good measure, desecrate their cemetaries. Oops, that would be the Jordanians.....
vie,
I used the word webstie on purpose. A bit of Joycean pun fun.
Think pigs at the trough...
I missed this earlier but I have to agree that the number of idiots you piss off is directly proportional to the value of your work. Har de har har. Good for you!
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