That’s why NATO knew what they were doing. The point of the matter is, Australia is not a member state of NATO. Neither should we be…Our entire lifetimes, our Australian military has never gone and fought proper wars. What it does is behave as the US’s sidekick. Why are we in Afghanistan? Oh, because the Americans are in Afghanistan. Why are the Americans in Afghanistan? Oh, protecting its own interests and benefiting greatly. I think a lot of everyday people on the street who haven’t just completely drunk the very simple Kool-Aid of “Russia bad everyone must up arms”, for goodness sake, before people started waving around the Ukrainian flag, we all knew it was one of the most corrupt countries on the face of God’s green earth.
Judging by Henderson’s sophomoric ad hominem, I assume he was incapable of refuting ‘The Late Debate’ co-presenter’s courageous, spirited and accurate analysis. Not only does he compare Storer to the most-watched essayist of American politics in the world today (thinking that’s an insult), he also compares her to John Pilger (a rogue too old for the Sky straight-talker to know about). Then he invents a fake quotation based on a neocon myth that’s almost as moth-eaten. “Give it to Putin,” Henderson imagines her saying – on being told the Russian President was about to invade chunks of Europe to rebuild the USSR. There is, in fact, no evidence Russia has any plans afoot to invade the West. There is a Mount Elbrus of evidence proving the United States means to control Europe’s political, cultural, economic and military dispositions.
“Let’s go to the transcript,” Henderson had begun, “which has been somewhat altered to make Ms Storer’s comments more coherent.” No, that’s not why he added an ellipsis. Suspicious, I tailed the trio. Let’s instead go to the Sky video which proves that Henderson has redacted Storer’s citation of Greg Sheridan’s “brilliant” column of 6 June in which he also criticises the tag-along sycophancy of Australian military deployments. That’s five strikes for Hendo: historical denialism, belittlement in lieu of a rebuttal, shooting himself in the foot during the commission of condescension, a sackable misuse of quotation marks and shiftily doctoring a transcript.
I happen to like and respect Henderson. He is a veteran scourge of the media’s smug doormen and a first-rate author of biographies and histories. Unfortunately, however, the Pavlovian reaction of culture warriors of his vintage to new America’s drums of war – all the whee with LGB! – bespeaks a generation of otherwise admirable minds hopelessly flummoxed. Liz Storer is right. The Russo-US Proxy War in Ukraine is not noble and it certainly has nothing to do with Australia – except as another opportunity for Canberra to play Stepin Fetchit at the behest of Washington. But old men always fight the wars they know best: yesterday’s. Henderson is backing lawless Joe Biden’s axis of democracy wreckers to settle a score with Leonid Brezhnev.
Related: New Zealand radio journalist suspended over pro-Kremlin propaganda.
There is a murkiness in the article which hides the fact that it is the RNZ boss who is apologising for the ‘garbage’ and not the subeditor. As for the subeditor, he is merely explaining that he has been subediting in the same way – accurately, going by the examples and as noted in the parentheses – for five years. The message, then, and despite the article’s surface intention, is not that the subeditor is a propagandist but that the message that the the subeditor is a propagandist is propaganda designed to control the population by scapegoating. Sad tactics.
Yes, it’s the now ubiquitous ‘propaganda’ propaganda.
Hendo doesn’t take comments for good reasons.
My Pet Peeve is his hanging shit on Ezra Pound, who was one of the good guys, in every issue.
Well put, C.L. The reflexive retort that any criticism of US foreign policy sounds ‘leftist’ is intellectually lazy.
I know Hendo and when I bump into him, I often subject him to a good rant, which he finds entertaining. Gerard is great on most things, but he’s not perfect. I like Storer…and Bernardi tries to question the official Ukraine propaganda.
Sheridan is just a nauseating dribbler, a mediocre one at that, who should be put out to pasture.
Yes, Cassie, Sheridan is nauseating dribbler and a deep-state sycophant, however every now and again he is spot on. His excellent description of the ADF below, being one such example.