Paul Mason and the Grand Propaganda Narratives

[Tony Gosling]

Milton Shulman’s memoirs: 
<http://www.911forum.org.uk/board/viewtopic.php?p=174836#174836>Further 
evidence Hitler’s treasurer Martin Bormann 
survived WWII. Disinfo campaign ongoing

Paul Mason And The Grand Propaganda Narratives
http://www.911forum.org.uk/board/viewtopic.php?p=174861#174861
  Print   Email IN ALERTS 2017   POST 17 FEBRUARY 2017   LAST
http://www.medialens.org/index.php/alerts/alert-archive/2017/838-paul-mason-and-the-grand-propaganda-narratives.html

As corporate media continue to haemorrhage ad 
revenue to websites like Facebook, and 
credibility to social media activism, dissent 
seems to be increasingly viewed as a luxury the 'mainstream' can ill afford.

Where once a handful of dissidents was allowed to 
challenge the Grand Propaganda Narratives (GPN) 
of the day, modern leftists are tolerated only if 
they accept these narratives even as they talk radical change.

A Guardian regular who stands out in this regard 
is Paul Mason, formerly BBC Newsnight Business 
Editor and Channel 4 News Economics Editor. 
Promoted to prominence by the corporate system he 
ostensibly resists, Mason reinvented himself as a 
vocal left activist who strongly supports Jeremy 
Corbyn. Mason now has 377,000 followers on 
Twitter, an impressive total for a political 
commentator. And yet some of his views are incongruous to say the least.

In a Guardian piece this week, Mason focused on 
the latest North Korean missile test, which he 
declared 'a clear threat or a clear bluff... So 
the question for the world is: how do we contain 
the threat and detect the bluff?'

Mason was thus reinforcing the GPN that all 
problems are 'our' business, and that 'we' have 
the moral credibility to 'do something' about 
them. This despite 'our' appalling track record, recognised by Mason himself:

'We've been here before, of course, with Saddam 
Hussein in 2003. Then, the chemical weapons 
turned out to be a bluff and the biggest threat 
to world peace emanated from Washington and London.'

In other words, the same 'we' that needs to 
'contain' the North Korean 'threat' to peace was 
itself the actual threat to peace in Iraq. 
Subsequent Western war crimes in Libya, Syria and 
Yemen suggest that little has changed.

In claiming that Saddam Hussein tried to 'bluff' 
the West on WMD, Mason reinforced the GPN that 
Iraq was more than just a wanton war of 
aggression. Instead, Western leaders were 
suckered by Saddam's suicidal braggadocio, by 'faulty' intelligence, and so on.

In an unpublished letter to the Guardian in 
response to Mason's piece, journalist Ian Sinclair wrote:

'In reality the Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq 
Aziz told ABC News in December 2002: "We don't 
have weapons of mass destruction. We don't have 
chemical, biological or nuclear weaponry". 
Hussein himself repeated this in February 2003, 
telling Tony Benn in an interview screened on 
Channel Four: "There is only one truth and 
therefore I tell you as I have said on many 
occasions before that Iraq has no weapons of mass 
destruction whatsoever".' (Email to Media Lens, February 16, 2017)

Not only did the Iraqi government not attempt a 
bluff, it was telling the truth.

Mason insisted that Britain should work to ensure 
that the response to North Korea is 'restrained, 
proportional and done through the UN security 
council'. But in claiming, as Iraq, Libya, Syria 
and Yemen burn, that the US-UK alliance might 
suddenly, somehow act multilaterally and 
responsibly - despite its track record of 
unilaterally pursuing self-interest at almost any 
human cost - he was promoting a GPN.

An Epitaph To Die For
But the really remarkable thing about Mason's 
article is the extent to which he demonised North Korean leader Kim Jong-un:

'People like Kim want to be remembered for a 
thousand years. And, as the current outbreak of 
swastikas on the walls of western cities show, if 
it's a phoneix-like [sic] rebirth you are after, 
you don't have to wait a thousand years.

'"I triggered a nuclear war with the USA and 
reduced South Korea to a toxic wasteland" would 
be, for Kim, an epitaph worth dying for. Even 
better if he could add, "and I destroyed the 
multilateral global order for ever".'

This is another classic GPN: while identity, 
location and appearance may change, there is 
always a fantastically insane 'Bad Guy' at large 
in the world who simply must be confronted by the 
West's heroic arms industries and tax-funded 
militaries, their budgets grown fat on fear-fuelled 'socialism for the rich'.

We were so shocked by Mason's comment that we 
contacted John Feffer, the director of Foreign 
Policy in Focus at the Institute for Policy 
Studies, and author of several books on Korean politics:

'Would be interested in your thoughts on this 
piece claiming Kim Jong-un would be willing to 
die to kill 50 million South Koreans.'

Feffer was kind enough to reply immediately:

'no indication that Kim believes such a thing -- 
narcissists usually prefer self-preservation at 
all costs.' (Feffer to Media Lens, February 14, 2017)

Korea specialists Markus Bell at the University 
of Sheffield and Marco Milani at the University 
of Southern California, commented earlier this month:

'a nuclear attack from Pyongyang appears highly 
unlikely. The government is fully aware that it 
would incur an overwhelmingly destructive 
military response from the US and South Korea'.

We also wrote to Mason:

'What's your evidence for the claim Kim Jong-un 
would be willing to die, if it meant he could kill 50 million South Koreans?'

As ever, Mason ignored us.

Why would a high-profile left activist emulate 
extreme, hard-right demonising of an official 
'Bad Guy', the kind of thing that is a fixture in 
The Times, Telegraph and Washington Post? Why 
would an activist do this having witnessed the 
literally millions of deaths, injuries and 
refugees generated by exactly this kind of 
cartoon demonisation of Saddam Hussein, Muammar 
Gaddafi, Bashar Assad, and others? And why risk 
fanning the flames of a conflict that could 
consume millions of Korean lives when North Korea 
offers precisely zero threat to Britain?

Mason also worked more subtly to breathe life 
into the 'responsibility to protect' GPN that has 
been a disastrous adjunct of demonising propaganda over the last few decades:

'If the missile crisis escalates, I have no doubt 
that by the weekend there will be people on the 
streets of western capitals chanting "No war with 
North Korea". That's good – but the left has to 
realise there is no direct read-off from Iraq to the DPRK.'

This reinforced the theme – tirelessly emphasised 
by Perpetual Warmongers like Jonathan Freedland, 
David Aaronovitch and Nick Cohen – that the 
'mistake' in Iraq should not mean we naively, 
selfishly and irresponsibly give up on the 
'humanitarian intervention' so beloved of Western 
fossil fuel and arms companies.

Bizarrely, Mason suggested that Trump might be 
tempted to utilise 'the crisis to launch a 
pre-emptive, unilateral strike on North Korea'; a 
notion that seems simply preposterous.

Mason's article also fits well, if ironically, 
with his views on Britain's own nuclear missiles. Mason said last year:

'I think Labour should vote to keep Trident.'

Why? Because 'Britain does face rapidly evolving 
threats': terrorism and 'a newly aggressive and unpredictable' Russia.

The idea that Trident can deter terrorism is as 
risible as the idea that Putin – albeit 
threatened by a newly aggressive and 
unpredictable Nato - is contemplating a nuclear 
strike on Britain. Yes, of course there is a 
vague theoretical possibility. But it is 
invisibly tiny compared to the overwhelming 
likelihood that Britain will be subject to 
near-term devastation as a result of runaway 
climate change. A threat the UK government - 
obsessively concerned, as it is, with our welfare 
and 'national security' - tries hard to bury rather than address.

Writing in the New York Times this week, Anatol 
Lieven responded to the much-loved GPN that is the supposed Russian 'threat':

'There are many good reasons for the United 
States to reach conciliation with Moscow on 
issues from Eastern Europe to the Middle East. 
The real question will be if Washington can 
control its own desire for global hegemony enough to make that possible.

'Unlike China, Russia is not an emerging peer 
competitor to the United States. Russia is a 
regional power struggling to retain a fragment of 
its former sphere of influence. Moreover, it 
should be a natural ally of the United States in 
the fight against Islamist extremism. A reduction 
of tension with Russia would allow the United 
States to concentrate on more important geopolitical issues.'

This is the kind of sober, non-partisan analysis 
one would expect to read from a leftist 
journalist. By contrast, Mason again reads like a 
hard-right Times or Telegraph neocon.

Mason continued:

'I think it is worth saying: "Fine, spend 41bn 
plus on a system that's designed never to be used 
militarily but that has kept the peace strategically."'

He was right to add the 'plus'. In 2014, the 
independent Trident Commission estimated that the 
missile system would have a lifetime cost of 
around £100 billion. Conservative Foreign Affairs 
Committee chair Crispin Blunt put the cost at 
£167 billion. The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament has estimated £205 billion.

Mason failed to explain that one might, for 
example, argue (although we do not) that nuclear 
weapons have helped keep the peace and are needed 
now, without backing the white elephant Trident 
system. But Mason wants to keep the message 
simple: We need Trident! See Ian Sinclair's 
detailed rebuttal of Mason's arguments here.

Uncompromised dissident analysis is fast 
disappearing from stressed corporate media across 
the 'spectrum'. It is time to stop being deceived 
and instead work hard to build rational, 
compassionate, non-corporate alternatives.




Milton Shulman’s memoirs: 
<http://www.911forum.org.uk/board/viewtopic.php?p=174836#174836>Further 
evidence Hitler’s treasurer Martin Bormann 
survived WWII. Disinfo campaign ongoing

<http://www.smh.com.au/world/bombing-at-sufi-shrine-in-southern-pakistan-kills-dozens-20170216-guexvm.html>Bombings 
in southern Pakistan and Baghdad claimed by 
Islamic State kill more than 100. Trump accuses 
Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons – 
Netanyahu visit to Trump; Israeli Prime Minister 
Benjamin Netanyahu’s father, Benzion Mileikowsky, 
was born March 25, 1910 in Warsaw, Poland. 
<http://www.bilderberg.org/censored.htm#cook>Roger 
Cook’s journalistic sting series, The Cook 
Report, ‘Dirty Bomb’, transmitted on Tuesday 9th 
July 1993, on ITV (Central Television) where they 
managed to obtain nuclear materials on black 
market for a ‘dirty bomb’; Israel’s illegal 
nuclear weapons, 
<http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-14724842>history 
of Syria’s Golan Heights, occupied by Israel in 
the 1967 Six-day war; Trump discussing his ideas 
on Israel – 2 state solution? Trump’s National 
Security Adviser Michael Flynn squeezed out or 
‘resigns’. 
<http://www.bilderberg.org/shulman.htm>‘Marilyn, 
Hitler and Me’, the memoirs of longtime Evening 
Standard drama critic Milton Shulman – has 
chapter on Martin Bormann surviving WWII. Scott 
Bennett’s 
<http://www.lulu.com/shop/2lt-scott-bennett-11th-psychological-operations-battalion/shell-game-a-military-whistleblowing-report-to-the-us-congress-exposing-the-betrayal-and-cover-up-by-the-us-government-of-the-union-bank-of-switzerland-terrorist-threat-finance-connection-to-booz-allen-hamilton-and-us-central-command/paperback/product-22976554.html>Shell 
Game report detailing Swiss banks, 
[<http://www.jimstonefreelance.com/shell_game.pdf>download 
Scott Bennett’s ‘Shell Game’ report here] 
including UBS, financing of ISIS and Al Qaeda 
terrorist groups; 
<http://www.bilderberg.org/shulman.htm>Milton 
Shulman’s memoirs: IAN FLEMING, MARTIN BORMANN 
AND NAZI GOLD: Extracted from: Marilyn, Hitler 
and Me, The memoirs of Milton Shulman, Andre 
Deutsch (1998) – Interview with Scott Bennett, 
former Psychological Warfare Officer – he 
discusses how he worked at Rand Corp and Arab 
Spring was their Psychological Warfare ‘product’. 
Assassination of Kim Jong-nam – half-brother of Kim Jong-il.
<http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/series/State+Of+The+City+reports>Radio4All 
download pages
<http://www.bcfmradio.com/podcasts/20170217180002.mp3>BCfm audio file
<http://www.radio4all.net/files/tony@cultureshop.org.uk/2149-1-20170217180002.mp3>Radio4All 
audio file

So much emphasis is placed on select Jewish 
participation in Bormann companies that when 
Adolf Eichmann was seized and taken to Tel Aviv 
to stand trial, it produced a shock wave in the 
Jewish and German communities of Buenos Aires. 
Jewish leaders informed the Israeli authorities 
in no uncertain terms that this must never happen 
again because a repetition would permanently 
rupture relations with the Germans of Latin 
America, as well as with the Bormann 
organization, and cut off the flow of Jewish 
money to Israel. It never happened again, and the 
pursuit of Bormann quieted down at the request of 
these Jewish leaders. He is residing in an 
Argentinian safe haven, protected by the most 
efficient German infrastructure in history as 
well as by all those whose prosperity depends on his well-being.
<http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fspitfirelist.com%2Fbooks%2Fmartin-bormann-nazi-in-exile%2F&h=eAQErj17O>http://spitfirelist.com/books/martin-bormann-nazi-in-exile/   
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