Sunday, 12 November 2017

Alex Salmond and "Moscow Gold".

Those of us who  consider most of the UK media to be biased towards the Union including the BBC may well raise an eyebrow to  Alex Salmond presenting  a Show on  RT formally Russia Today.

The channel has been accused by critics of acting as a mouthpiece for President Putin, the Russian government and their actions around the world.

The "backlash" has seen justified questioning  of Mr Salmond decision  but it has also led to some crazy claims

The Express reports that


ALEX Salmond was under pressure to resign as a senior advisor to the Queen after his TV deal with a Kremlin propaganda channel was branded “close to treason”.

 Labour peer Lord George Foulkes said the former First Minister’s place on the Privy Council should at least be reviewed in light of joining broadcaster RT, formerly known as Russia Today.


Lord Foulkes, who has sat on the Council since 2002 and is a former member of the intelligence and security committee, branded Mr Salmond’s venture “absolutely outrageous”.
Citing allegations of Russian meddling in the US election and Scottish independence referendum he said it had “huge implications”.
Lord Foulkes said:
“He is like a tool of the Russians by doing this. I don’t think people fully realise what the Russians are up to. 
“Everyone assume at the end of the Soviet Union that Russia was going to be a friendly country it is quite the reverse.
 Its not as if Foulkes is a fan of the UK media though

 During the 2009 expenses controversy, Foulkes attacked media presenters, saying they were all paid "to come on TV and sneer at democracy and undermine democracy. The vast majority of MPs are being undermined by you"] in an exchange with BBC presenter Carrie Gracie.

Those of us who have been following  the events in Catalonia where the Heirs of Franco have imprisoned democratically elected politicians  with barley a murmur  from our wonderful unbiased UK media 

May well find turning to RT to see unbiased or propaganda from another source.

I no longer watch the BBC's question time as it so often consists of a right wing majority on the panel and an audience which sems to consist of swivel eyed right wing loonies who sem to be given preference by the presenter.

Or watch Politics Today and Andrew Neil and reporters Laura Kuenssberg's so called unbiased coverage which may well make their rivals on RT blush with embarrassment


  Speaking to Business Insider, Salmond said the channel would give him a freedom to reveal as yet unspecified revelations.


"I have got some really interesting revelations [on my show] which I know I wouldn't have got [on other TV channels]" he told BI.
"It's designed to allow people to express their opinion. I want people to have that opportunity."
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Asked whether he was concerned about joining an outlet that is accused of being a propaganda outlet for the Putin-led Russian government, Salmond said 

"I have scanned back through Russia Today broadcasting and I counted 50 Labour MPs, 38 Tories, 14 SNPs, seven Liberals, three Sinn Fein, two DUP and a Green. They've all appeared on Russia Today programmes. So, if it's good enough for John McDonnell, Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott, John Redwood, Crispin Blunt, Liam Fox, Ian Blackford, Vince Cable and Caroline Lucas, then I can probably withstand any criticism.
"Also, from my own experience in these matters... I have been on RT many times. A year ago a did a show based on the Syrian conflict and I gave a fairly strong condemnation of Russian intervention Syria, and that was broadcast as I said it. It actually provoked quite an interesting international debate where I was called a neo-colonialist, which was a new experience for me. But the point is, the views I had were broadcast as I said them, and I had no complaints whatsoever about that."

Is RT any worse than Fox news? at least the former is a mouthpiece for a "democratically" elected Politician, Whilst the latter reflects the views (as does his other media outlets) of its owner Rupert Murdoch,

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

As someone who regularly watches RT, Al Jazeera, Fox News and various other foreign news stations I see nothing wrong with Alex Salmond presenting his own show on RT.

Looking at the news from these other television stations has certainly opened my eyes to the biased news we are constantly drip fed by the BBC. I suppose, after all, it is the propaganda arm for the British Government and faithfully does the bidding of the establishment. Whether it's misleading citizens over the Iraq war or broadcasting news and tv programmes with a pro Union bias as seen during the Scotish independence referendum, it's what they do.

Alex Salmond's decision to appear on RT with his own programme has got this multitude of hysterical naysayers rattled because they cannot control what he says, unlike on the BBC when he makes a rare appearance. Remember the Nick Robinson fiasco during the independence campaign.

If RT is the mouthpiece of Russia and Putin, then it's a perfect bedfellows for the BBC.