ANTIC.org-SNN
Tue, 07 Jun 2005 09:24:40 -0700
SINGER/SONGWRITER JAMES BLUNT: NATO'S PROPAGANDIST?
After extensive exposure in the media former British Army Captain
turned singer/writer James Blunt, has entered the UK pop charts with
his debut album titled Back to Bedlam.
In the 4th June 2005 edition of the London Times, Adam Sherwin wrote a
fawning piece on the singer under the heading 'Warrior for Peace'. The
article contained some surprising statements that require closer
examination.
Mr Sherwin informs us that James Blunt was the son of an Army Air
Force Colonel, was born in a military hospital, and went to Harrow
School and read Aerospace Manufacturing Engineering at Bristol
University before entering Sandhurst.
Attendance at such institutions as Harrow and Sandhurst, which are not
options for the vast majority of the population, reveal that this
particular singer is very much an establishment figure.
Moreover there are several things that Mr Sherwin does not tell his
readers. For instance the singer's real name is Blount and he is the
product of a privileged layer of society hailing from the county of
Norfolk. Significantly his stint at Bristol University was sponsored
by the British Army and his rank of Captain at the age of twenty-five
meant that this was no ordinary 'squaddie' but an individual who owed
his 'success' to his class position in society.
Sherwin comes to the crux of his article when he states, 'The album's
climax is No Bravery, an angry ballad penned in the barracks when he
was sent to Kosovo as part of the Nato peacekeeping force in 1999'.
Although the song itself contains no lyrics that mention Yugoslavia we
are told the following, apparently uttered by Mr Blount:
It is a song, he says, about "meeting Serb soldiers laughing and
smoking a fag over the bodies of Kosovo Albanian families they had
just murdered".
This is a surprising statement, not only because 'Serb soldiers were
laughing and smoking fags over dead bodies' but surprising because by
the time the peacekeeping force Blount belonged to entered Kosovo, all
Serb soldiers had left the province! The Serb forces withdrawal from
Kosovo was a condition of the peace agreement that brought an end to
Nato's bombing campaign.
So whatever scene Mr Blount witnessed it did not, nor could it,
include Serb soldiers.
I appreciate it must be annoying for historical facts to get in the
way of a good propaganda story but it is sometimes insulting when
newspapers hope that people cannot recollect events that are six years
old and instead suffer from having the memory span of a gnat.
Having attempted to rewrite history Mr Sherwin further insults his
readers by offering up this story;
'As an officer with the Reconnaissance Regiment, he (James Blunt)
became one of the first peacekeepers to enter Pristina, Kosovo's
capital. He entertained the troops with ribald songs about senior
officers and strolled through Serb villages singing: "All we are
saying is give peace a chance".
In a recent interview musicOMH.com asked Mr Blount. 'So would you
resume the role of Captain Blunt in Iraq?'
To which he replied "I'd happily go out there."
So, not content with supporting one illegal war in Yugoslavia, Mr
Blount would 'happily' support another in Iraq. And this, according to
Sherwin, is a man who 'strolled through Serb villages singing: "All we
are saying is give peace a chance". Yeah, right! Surely this is a
sketch straight out of Monty Python.
At present the British Army is facing allegations of using torture and
extensive abuse in Iraq. Yet a Captain from this army, a Captain who
would 'happily' engage in illegal wars, is strolling around singing
'give peace a chance?' Pass me that sick bag.
Another, more serious, issue is raised by this story however. Prior to
Nato's occupation of the Serbian province of Kosovo there were
eighteen different ethnic groups living there.
Why then would Mr Blount only stroll through Serb villages singing his
song? What about the other ethnic groups?
Allow me to answer the question. It is the Serbs who are the target of
this propaganda article. This story, together with the fiction of Serb
soldiers laughing and smoking fags over dead bodies, is intended to
create a particular impression in the readers' mind. It is, to be
blunt, anti-Serb racism, and disturbingly this article is just one of
many that are now appearing in the British media. Nor is this
accidental. It is a planned operation with definite goals.
For an insight into the connections between the role of the media and
government planning please allow me to relate the following
experience.
Back in September 2000 the Times newspaper interviewed me while I was
in Yugoslavia working as an election observer in the country's
presidential and parliamentary elections.
During the build up to these elections the British media was
consistently predicting that they would be fraudulent. Moreover the
British Foreign Secretary at the time, Robin Cook, had threatened that
dire consequences awaited the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia if Mr
Milosevic and his Socialist Party were returned to power. As a further
threat a British destroyer was sent to sit off the coast in readiness,
and it was under these disturbing conditions that the elections were
held.
In his questioning the Times political editor had asked if I had
witnessed any possible irregularities during the Yugoslav election, to
which I answered no. (Election observers from four different
continents also gave this same answer). After the interview I asked
him if he himself had witnessed any irregularities, to which he also
answered no.
It was somewhat of a surprise therefore when the following day's
edition of his paper ran the banner headline, 'Widespread fraud in
Yugoslav Elections.' It was apparent that he had his story written
long before he had ever reached Yugoslavia, and he was not going to
let hard facts get in the way of propaganda.
The London Times is part of the Murdoch empire, and it was Rupert
Murdoch who had flown both Tony and Cherie Blair around the world and,
according to investigative journalist Greg Palast in his book 'The
Best Democracy Money Can Buy', Blair had amended his government's
anti-trade union bill at the request of Murdoch so that its contents
read, in Palast's words, not so much as a trade union act but more
like 'trade unions – the final solution.'
In essence, as long as their political aims correspond, the London
Times acts as a mouthpiece for the Blair government.
Given this relationship between media and government it is necessary
to view with the utmost suspicion articles such as Sherwin's.
At present such articles I believe are being used to create conditions
which will be favourable to Tony Blair and his allies for two things.
One is the conviction of Mr Milosevic at the ICTY and the other is the
handing over of the Serbian province of Kosovo to the terrorists from
the KLA.
Is it not truly astonishing that coverage of the Milosevic trial,
announced as 'the trial of the century', disappeared from the Western
media for the past two years? Is it not astonishing that the testimony
from a prosecution witness that he had been tortured to supply false
evidence against Milosevic did not rate a mention in the mainstream
media, nor did the utter farce of the whole prosecution case? And yet
a video, surfacing after the prosecution case has closed, and which by
no stretch of the imagination has any connection to Milosevic, and
which originated from the Serbian equivalent of Britain's Lord Haw
Haw, now receives universal media coverage.
And is it not astonishing that the pogrom launched against the
remaining Serb civilians living in Kosovo last year by Albanian
extremists organised in offshoots of the KLA, created little or no
coverage in the West? And is it not truly astonishing that the real
situation now existing in that province is never mentioned by the
western media, and is in fact deliberately covered over? Yet the
British media will tell their readers, echoing Blair, that the
intervention in Kosovo is a 'success story'.
Returning to the Times article; it is obviously trying to reinforce
the misconception of Kosovo being a 'success story' by printing the
following statement from the singer Blount:
"It would be an amazing opportunity to play my songs in Kosovo. It is
such a beautiful part of the world. I would also play in Belgrade
because the people at the top have changed."
Blount tried to elaborate on his 'Kosovo experience' during the
musicOMH.com interview where he stated,
"I've seen everything you can think about. It's like being an actor in
a movie. You see death on these levels and you kind of imagine how you
should be acting and so you act that way; and then you get back to
London and you think that was a really interesting kind of movie that
you've been in."
After extensive exposure in the media former British Army Captain
turned singer/writer James Blunt, has entered the UK pop charts with
his debut album titled Back to Bedlam.
In the 4th June 2005 edition of the London Times, Adam Sherwin wrote a
fawning piece on the singer under the heading 'Warrior for Peace'. The
article contained some surprising statements that require closer
examination.
Mr Sherwin informs us that James Blunt was the son of an Army Air
Force Colonel, was born in a military hospital, and went to Harrow
School and read Aerospace Manufacturing Engineering at Bristol
University before entering Sandhurst.
Attendance at such institutions as Harrow and Sandhurst, which are not
options for the vast majority of the population, reveal that this
particular singer is very much an establishment figure.
Moreover there are several things that Mr Sherwin does not tell his
readers. For instance the singer's real name is Blount and he is the
product of a privileged layer of society hailing from the county of
Norfolk. Significantly his stint at Bristol University was sponsored
by the British Army and his rank of Captain at the age of twenty-five
meant that this was no ordinary 'squaddie' but an individual who owed
his 'success' to his class position in society.
Sherwin comes to the crux of his article when he states, 'The album's
climax is No Bravery, an angry ballad penned in the barracks when he
was sent to Kosovo as part of the Nato peacekeeping force in 1999'.
Although the song itself contains no lyrics that mention Yugoslavia we
are told the following, apparently uttered by Mr Blount:
It is a song, he says, about "meeting Serb soldiers laughing and
smoking a fag over the bodies of Kosovo Albanian families they had
just murdered".
This is a surprising statement, not only because 'Serb soldiers were
laughing and smoking fags over dead bodies' but surprising because by
the time the peacekeeping force Blount belonged to entered Kosovo, all
Serb soldiers had left the province! The Serb forces withdrawal from
Kosovo was a condition of the peace agreement that brought an end to
Nato's bombing campaign.
So whatever scene Mr Blount witnessed it did not, nor could it,
include Serb soldiers.
I appreciate it must be annoying for historical facts to get in the
way of a good propaganda story but it is sometimes insulting when
newspapers hope that people cannot recollect events that are six years
old and instead suffer from having the memory span of a gnat.
Having attempted to rewrite history Mr Sherwin further insults his
readers by offering up this story;
'As an officer with the Reconnaissance Regiment, he (James Blunt)
became one of the first peacekeepers to enter Pristina, Kosovo's
capital. He entertained the troops with ribald songs about senior
officers and strolled through Serb villages singing: "All we are
saying is give peace a chance".
In a recent interview musicOMH.com asked Mr Blount. 'So would you
resume the role of Captain Blunt in Iraq?'
To which he replied "I'd happily go out there."
So, not content with supporting one illegal war in Yugoslavia, Mr
Blount would 'happily' support another in Iraq. And this, according to
Sherwin, is a man who 'strolled through Serb villages singing: "All we
are saying is give peace a chance". Yeah, right! Surely this is a
sketch straight out of Monty Python.
At present the British Army is facing allegations of using torture and
extensive abuse in Iraq. Yet a Captain from this army, a Captain who
would 'happily' engage in illegal wars, is strolling around singing
'give peace a chance?' Pass me that sick bag.
Another, more serious, issue is raised by this story however. Prior to
Nato's occupation of the Serbian province of Kosovo there were
eighteen different ethnic groups living there.
Why then would Mr Blount only stroll through Serb villages singing his
song? What about the other ethnic groups?
Allow me to answer the question. It is the Serbs who are the target of
this propaganda article. This story, together with the fiction of Serb
soldiers laughing and smoking fags over dead bodies, is intended to
create a particular impression in the readers' mind. It is, to be
blunt, anti-Serb racism, and disturbingly this article is just one of
many that are now appearing in the British media. Nor is this
accidental. It is a planned operation with definite goals.
For an insight into the connections between the role of the media and
government planning please allow me to relate the following
experience.
Back in September 2000 the Times newspaper interviewed me while I was
in Yugoslavia working as an election observer in the country's
presidential and parliamentary elections.
During the build up to these elections the British media was
consistently predicting that they would be fraudulent. Moreover the
British Foreign Secretary at the time, Robin Cook, had threatened that
dire consequences awaited the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia if Mr
Milosevic and his Socialist Party were returned to power. As a further
threat a British destroyer was sent to sit off the coast in readiness,
and it was under these disturbing conditions that the elections were
held.
In his questioning the Times political editor had asked if I had
witnessed any possible irregularities during the Yugoslav election, to
which I answered no. (Election observers from four different
continents also gave this same answer). After the interview I asked
him if he himself had witnessed any irregularities, to which he also
answered no.
It was somewhat of a surprise therefore when the following day's
edition of his paper ran the banner headline, 'Widespread fraud in
Yugoslav Elections.' It was apparent that he had his story written
long before he had ever reached Yugoslavia, and he was not going to
let hard facts get in the way of propaganda.
The London Times is part of the Murdoch empire, and it was Rupert
Murdoch who had flown both Tony and Cherie Blair around the world and,
according to investigative journalist Greg Palast in his book 'The
Best Democracy Money Can Buy', Blair had amended his government's
anti-trade union bill at the request of Murdoch so that its contents
read, in Palast's words, not so much as a trade union act but more
like 'trade unions – the final solution.'
In essence, as long as their political aims correspond, the London
Times acts as a mouthpiece for the Blair government.
Given this relationship between media and government it is necessary
to view with the utmost suspicion articles such as Sherwin's.
At present such articles I believe are being used to create conditions
which will be favourable to Tony Blair and his allies for two things.
One is the conviction of Mr Milosevic at the ICTY and the other is the
handing over of the Serbian province of Kosovo to the terrorists from
the KLA.
Is it not truly astonishing that coverage of the Milosevic trial,
announced as 'the trial of the century', disappeared from the Western
media for the past two years? Is it not astonishing that the testimony
from a prosecution witness that he had been tortured to supply false
evidence against Milosevic did not rate a mention in the mainstream
media, nor did the utter farce of the whole prosecution case? And yet
a video, surfacing after the prosecution case has closed, and which by
no stretch of the imagination has any connection to Milosevic, and
which originated from the Serbian equivalent of Britain's Lord Haw
Haw, now receives universal media coverage.
And is it not astonishing that the pogrom launched against the
remaining Serb civilians living in Kosovo last year by Albanian
extremists organised in offshoots of the KLA, created little or no
coverage in the West? And is it not truly astonishing that the real
situation now existing in that province is never mentioned by the
western media, and is in fact deliberately covered over? Yet the
British media will tell their readers, echoing Blair, that the
intervention in Kosovo is a 'success story'.
Returning to the Times article; it is obviously trying to reinforce
the misconception of Kosovo being a 'success story' by printing the
following statement from the singer Blount:
"It would be an amazing opportunity to play my songs in Kosovo. It is
such a beautiful part of the world. I would also play in Belgrade
because the people at the top have changed."
Blount tried to elaborate on his 'Kosovo experience' during the
musicOMH.com interview where he stated,
"I've seen everything you can think about. It's like being an actor in
a movie. You see death on these levels and you kind of imagine how you
should be acting and so you act that way; and then you get back to
London and you think that was a really interesting kind of movie that
you've been in."
Yes Mr Blount, very 'interesting' very deep and so coherent!
Ian Johnson
June 2005.
.
------ End of Forwarded Message
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