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UK media fails to disclose defence sector links in nearly 60% of cases

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Re: UK media fails to disclose defence sector links in nearly 60% of cases

#211

Post by ajsnigrutin »

fakedang wrote: post #111
ajsnigrutin wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the UK we're talking about here. To skip the currently political sensitive topics of who is helping who with what, who feels the consequences, what prices are affected because of that, let's go a bit further in the past... for example, UK taxpayers money went for bombing Iraq for the "weapons of mass destruction" when Tony Blair already knew those didn't exist. At some point you have to ask, is it really for def…

And the same UK taxpayer money is now being spent to ferociously defend Ukraine, and in turn European interests. That same UK taxpayer money is spent to promote freedom of the seas for global trade, whether it be the Hormuz, the Malacca Strait, the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic, the Baltic or the Horn of Africa. Defence spending is only as good as the government that controls it, but you can't be serious if you're disco…

Hormuz?

I mean... UK airforce is literally protecting the skies of the agressor in that war, the genocidal one. Didn't do anything to stop the genocide though.

As someone not from US nor UK, but from a small country that always seems to send a van of soldier a year after the war has started, i'd be much happier if both the brits and the yankees stayed back home on their "islands" and within their borders, I don't want to pay for our soldiers to go to another afghanistan-style expedition again too; it doesn't help us at all to be a part of the agressive occupier, the locals there hate us, and somehow we even leave their local traitors behind (eg. in afghanistan).

Here's one article by someone relevant to this post: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08/08/israel-has-littl...

Israel has "no choice", right.

Re: UK media fails to disclose defence sector links in nearly 60% of cases

#212

Post by meta_gunslinger »

meta_gunslinger wrote: post #184
chadgpt3 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What racism is enshrined in law?

Which section of the population is allowed to be armed by law and which is not?

I see downvotes but not rebuttals. I guess facts just trigger some ideologically captured users.

Re: UK media fails to disclose defence sector links in nearly 60% of cases

#213

Post by SturgeonsLaw »

dgroshev wrote: post #58
SturgeonsLaw wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It absolutely is sinister. Everything about the military is, when you decouple the rhetoric from the actions and consider what it is that those organisations actually do.

This is a luxury belief that requires the privilege of being unbombed. I invite you to explain this to Ukrainians.

My position is that war is a blight on humanity, and people waging war are committing evil acts. Russia's actions in Ukraine reinforce my view.

I am fortunate enough to live in a country that is not being bombed, and I wish that for every human being.

Re: UK media fails to disclose defence sector links in nearly 60% of cases

#214

Post by einpoklum »

graemep wrote: post #63
TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Iraq and Afghanistan might disagree with your first point. Last time I looked Iran and the UK are quite some distance from each other, and Iran has inexplicably neither been launching missiles at the UK, nor threatening to, and is apparently not even capable of it. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crm120x4lzxo So the justification for these "defensive" bombing runs on Iranian mountain sites from Fairford remains mys…

Iran attacked the British base in Cyprus with drones so has directly attacked British territory. Iran has also been sponsoring terrorism in the UK. Iran has also attacked an American base on British territory. > one of the most corrupt countries in the world A ridiculous exaggeration given what a lot of other countries are like.

> Iran attacked the British base in Cyprus with drones so has directly attacked British territor

Oh, you mean that base the UK had let the US use for its attacks on Iran?

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2026/3/2/starmer-lets-us-...

> Iran has also been sponsoring terrorism in the UK.

You remind me of that 'Yes Prime Minister' episode when Hacker and Humphrey decided to announce they were expelling so-many Soviet diplomatic staff because they were supposedly engaged in espionage.

Re: UK media fails to disclose defence sector links in nearly 60% of cases

#215

Post by einpoklum »

megous wrote: post #145
graemep wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Iran attacked the British base in Cyprus with drones so has directly attacked British territory. Iran has also been sponsoring terrorism in the UK. Iran has also attacked an American base on British territory. > one of the most corrupt countries in the world A ridiculous exaggeration given what a lot of other countries are like.

Helping the aggressor with its offense or defense during the aggressive acts is taking part in the aggression. States have international obligation to not engage in or promote aggression and to not take part in it. UK voluntarily took this obligation on itself. I guess it's debatable whether the drone attack was proportional. I'd say that attack on clearly military installation of active ally is proportionate. Bombin…

> whether the drone attack was proportional

Note my comment above. If anything, it was under-proportional. It may also be mentioned that Akrotiri base is a remanent of the British colonial occupation of Cyprus. See also:

https://greekcitytimes.com/2026/03/09/protests-cyprus-britis...

Re: UK media fails to disclose defence sector links in nearly 60% of cases

#216

Post by CrzyLngPwd »

_djo_ wrote: post #174
CrzyLngPwd wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Iran. It didn't attack anyone until it was attacked. It has been defending itself.

Iran attacked countries that played absolutely no role in the US and Israel’s attack on it, including some (like Oman) that have been fairly closely allied to the regime. That goes far beyond what’s permissible in international law in response to an attack. In my view the US and Israeli attacks on Iran were illegal, reprehensible, and deeply stupid. But that doesn’t mean Iran is allowed to do whatever it wants afterw…

That's very naive.

Iran attacked US forces and bases all across the Gulf, which played pivotal roles in the USA/Israel attacks.

Radars, airfields, HIMARS installations, airports used for refuelling US tankers, and anywhere that hosted the aggressors in any way were and are fair game.

You can't say Iran attacked innocent and peaceful Kuwait whilst ignoring the US forces firing HIMARS into Iran from Kuwait. Iran has every right to attack those US forces wherever they are parked.

Re: UK media fails to disclose defence sector links in nearly 60% of cases

#217

Post by vintermann »

alansaber wrote: post #181
vintermann wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So we are told, but generally I don't buy it. Certainly not just for moustache-twirling "destabilization" purposes. If foreign interests bother with fringe Norwegian issues, it's because they get something directly from it. It may of course be that e.g. Israel gives support of various kinds to groups like SIAN or MIFF, or Russia to groups which are critical of Norwegian military support for Ukraine. But even that doe…

You don't buy the idea of a comically diffuse goal? That seems to be the end state of most major organisational committee meetings

Oh, I believe in plenty of incompetence, I just don't think it's all about us.

Re: UK media fails to disclose defence sector links in nearly 60% of cases

#218

Post by _djo_ »

CrzyLngPwd wrote: post #216
_djo_ wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Iran attacked countries that played absolutely no role in the US and Israel’s attack on it, including some (like Oman) that have been fairly closely allied to the regime. That goes far beyond what’s permissible in international law in response to an attack. In my view the US and Israeli attacks on Iran were illegal, reprehensible, and deeply stupid. But that doesn’t mean Iran is allowed to do whatever it wants afterw…

That's very naive. Iran attacked US forces and bases all across the Gulf, which played pivotal roles in the USA/Israel attacks. Radars, airfields, HIMARS installations, airports used for refuelling US tankers, and anywhere that hosted the aggressors in any way were and are fair game. You can't say Iran attacked innocent and peaceful Kuwait whilst ignoring the US forces firing HIMARS into Iran from Kuwait. Iran has ev…

If Iran had limited its strikes to US facilities in the Gulf I might have agreed with you. But it didn’t, it hit civilian targets too, all which had nothing to do with the American and Israeli campaign.

I see you snuck in ‘airports used for refuelling US tankers’ there, but Iran hit passenger terminals and other civilian-only parts of airports. That’s not permitted under international law.

Moreover, none of the Gulf countries allowed US forces to strike Iran from their territory, such as HIMARS firings, until after they were first attacked by Iran.

Being sceptical of US and Israeli motives is one thing, but that shouldn’t cause you to give Iran a free pass to break international law with impunity.

Re: UK media fails to disclose defence sector links in nearly 60% of cases

#219

Post by epolanski »

Ntrails wrote: post #207
epolanski wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If somebody is discussing about defense in the media the viewers/readers should know that the person works for the defense industry in a commercial role. Presenting them merely as experts because they are "former X" creates a false impression of impartiality.

For talking heads/opinion you have, I would say, two choices: - Retired people with historic experience. The longer since they were actively involved in the sector, the less useful they will be of course. There is also going to be something of a demographics bias here. - Currently employed people, and given their primary skillset is "Defense industry expertise" I'm going to posit that they always have a commercial ro…

The problem isn't that they work in the defense industry, but that the information is not disclosed.

If somebody who has a commercial role in not one, but _two_ different defense companies, arguing for increase in defense spending is merely presented as a "retired officer" there is a huge information that is being omitted.

It's like having somebody arguing about banking regulations and presenting them as "award winning economist" or "former ministry of finances" and omitting the fact that he works in the banking sector now.

Re: UK media fails to disclose defence sector links in nearly 60% of cases

#220

Post by coldtea »

happymellon wrote: post #36
coldtea wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The UK doesn't have some imperialist policy of land grabs It has centuries of exactly that at a global scale, and continued post-war neo-colonial land grabbing and pressuring, plus eager participation in all the imperialist games of its larger brother. I mean, just mentioning "Tony Blair" is enough...

20 years since he was in power...

Also 20 years since he set the tone every later guy kept making the same or worse...

Not to mention he was never punished even for blatant violations, has been trusted with positions of power and influence since, and is making a public political comeback in 2026 too.

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