The Common Ills: Fairy tales passed off as news

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Fairy tales passed off as news

Alaa Shahine and Nafeesa Syeed (Bloomberg News) report:

The International Monetary Fund plans to soon send teams to Jordan and Iraq for talks that may lead to more aid for the two countries, which are grappling with the economic fallout of Mideast conflicts.
[. . .]
While the Iraq program doesn’t involve immediate IMF assistance, it will help create a framework to tackle its mounting challenges, according to Ahmed. The plan would start in 2016 and could “then lay the basis for Iraq to come to the IMF for a financing program later in the year if things go well,” he said.

It's interesting how the western press uses Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. They cite him when its in US government's interests to cite him. When it's not, they ignore him.

So this article denies al-Sistani's recent edict denouncing foreign funds.

It registered in Iraq.

There is a growing concern -- and should be -- in Iraq over this nonsense of strings-attached money.

So much never makes into the narrative provided by the major western outlets.

For instance, the right-wing p.r. firm behind the Yazidis these days are yet again trotting the MP out before western media. And they will glom on her and present the one-sided view that is used to sell more war -- poor, little victims. The view doesn't reflect actual reality. For example, Tallha Abdulrazaq (Middle East Eye) notes:

In January, and in full view of Peshmerga forces, Yazidi militias, themselves only recently victims of IS atrocities, proceeded to attack Iraqi Arab villages like Buhanaya, killing civilians, burning down homes and generally terrorising the populace. There were also separate reports that showed that these same Yazidi terrorists were abducting Iraqi Arab women in order to subject them to the same sexual slavery and mistreatment that Yazidi women were forced to endure when IS forces kidnapped them.
Yazidis, who are a sub-category of the Kurdish people, are somehow immune to Western criticism and outrage. After all, it is inconvenient when those that the Western governments have painted almost as being an endangered species suddenly turn around and commit atrocities and war crimes like IS. The only difference between the two is that Yazidis are a minority who happen to be non-Arab and non-Muslim, trumping even Muslim Kurds, and therefore the kind of minority the West can really get behind.

So many fairy tales and fantasies passed off to grown ups looking for news content.

Once upon a time, the US government installed yet another puppet in Iraq and insisted he was making reforms and, loyal subjects and lackeys that they are, the minions of the western press ran with the fairy tale.

The western media has repeatedly portrayed Haider al-Abadi's 'reforms' as genuine. We've noted they play like a power grab. If you read the Arabic press, you can see that view point. Or you can note this from Zayd Alisa (OpenDemocracy):

Abadi’s announcement on 16 August, of ostensibly shrinking his cabinet by a third, while in reality tightening his political bloc’s already formidable grip on all major ministerial positions, is in stark violation of his own seven-point plan. It reflects at best a prime minister incapable of departing from his foundering tip-toeing approach, and at worse, a prime minister frantically striving to cover up his faltering and inherently weak leadership with the most brazen display of amateurish spin. No wonder such leadership is fervently embraced by a US administration hell-bent on maintaining ISIL as a credible threat to Iraq and Syria, ensuring that Iran and Russia are far too busy propping them up to expand their influence in the Middle East.

The following community sites -- plus Jody Watley and Black Agenda Report -- updated: