Shallow 'Journalists'



I caught a bit of Russia Today the other night, a programme hoisted by a fast-talking chap name of Max Keiser accompanied by his co-host Stacey Herbert whom I later found out happens to be his wife; all very cosy then.

Anyway, the scene for the programme was set by a mocking introduction which asked 'What happens when you get a group of European countries (global powers after the First World War) who sit down and draw lines on maps to create new states and nations with no reference to people's culture or history?'.


The answer is, of course, the Middle East and how pleased Stacey and Max were with their little riddle that they went on to mock the 'west' and America, in particular, for the rise of the Islamic State (IS) joking that the terrorist group makes so much money from its appropriated lands in Syria and Iraq that its business arm might build a new tower block in Manhattan, the backdrop to this particular show.

And this was on the very same night as the news wires reported that the American journalist, Steven Sotloff, had been murdered in cold blood by IS, the second member of his profession to have met such a barbaric fate in recent weeks.  

Now a few things jumped out to me about this programme and the first was that the post war settlement of 1918 was not a great deal different to that of 1945 when Russia (in the shape of the Soviet Union) was involved in the 'carving up' process as well.

So while it sounds like a clever observation on Max and Stacey's part to poke fun at the Middle East, the situation is not hugely different to other parts of the world which a similar history - the real question is how people can now live together under a political settlement that is based on power sharing and a respect for minority rights. 

The second thing that occurred to me is that a similar programme to Russia Today could not be made in Russia itself because the Russian Government would never  tolerate such criticism and would simply shut the TV channel down.

The third thing was that people like Max and Stacey are not real journalists like, say, Steven Sotloff or James Foley, who took great personal risks to report on what they saw as the truth surrounding momentous world events. 

No, Max and Stacey are just shallow propagandists in the pay of a Russian, state-sponsored TV show and will play to the gallery as long as the big pay cheques keep rolling in.  

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