Blaming Victims a Western Specialty by Ruling Regimes and Supportive Media

by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)

Lincoln was wrong in his Gettysburg Address, saying "resolve…that this nation…shall have a new birth of freedom (in a) "government of the people, by the people, for the people (that) shall not perish from the earth."

He also falsely claimed the US was "conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal" — ignoring women and reality.

These notions didn't exist in his day. Things are much further removed from this ideal today, a nation responsible for high crimes against peace at home and abroad daily — supported by establishment media instead of standing for right over wrong.

When it comes to political profiles in courage and major fourth estate journalism the way it should be, Diogenes would search in vain for them.

They're virtually nowhere to be found in the so-called "land of the free and home of the brave." The rarest of rare political exceptions prove the disturbing rule, none at all among major fourth estate members.

They operate exclusively as press agents for powerful interests — long ago having abandoned public interests and welfare. 

They're a collective degenerate lot. Their pseudo-journalism features advocacy for wrong over right and state-sponsored propaganda.

They failed to report accurately about Friday's Hormuz Strait incident, the NYT headlining "Iran's Seizure of British Vessel Further Roils Gulf Region."

The Times falsely blamed Iran for escalated tensions Trump regime hardliners and their UK counterparts are fully responsible for.

Ignoring their war on Iran by other means, notably illegally imposed sanctions on a nonbelligerent nation, the self-styled newspaper of record falsely claimed "Britain (is) tr(ying) some resolution to a broader conflict between Tehran and Washington over the fate of a 2015 deal with the world powers designed to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon."

Fact: Britain has been allied with the US aim to topple Iran's government since its 1979 revolution ended a generation of Washington-imposed fascist tyranny.

Fact: Falsely claiming an Iranian nuclear weapons threat was and remains red herring cover for wanting its government replaced by pro-Western puppet rule.

Fact: The "broader conflict between Tehran and Washington" was made in the USA, what the Times and other establishment media fail to explain — falsely blaming Iran for US-led criminal actions against the country and its people.

Fact: Nonbelligerent Iran threatens no other nations, not their commercial shipping or in any other way.

Fact: The US, Britain, Israel, and their imperial partners threaten world peace, stability and security.

I can't recall the Times or other Western media ever explaining or suggesting what demands featured headlined reports on the lawless US imperial agenda.

Instead they feature a daily broadside of managed news misinformation, disinformation, and bald-faced Big Lies on issues mattering most.

The Times falsely claimed "Iranian vessels…tried to stop a British tanker in the Persian Gulf region…on July 11," adding: "After a short standoff, an accompanying British warship drove them away."

Nothing of the sort happened. UK authorities and supportive media lied claiming otherwise.

Iran's IRGC debunked the Big Lie, saying: "Patrols by the IRGC's Navy vessels have been underway in the Persian Gulf based on current procedures and missions assigned to them with vigilance, precision and strength," adding:

"In the past 24 hours, there has been no encounter with foreign ships, including British ones." IRGC naval vessels are able to act "decisively and swiftly" against threats to the Islamic Republic.

Iran's Foreign Minister Zarif said "the British tanker (in question) passed (unobstructed)," adding:

Falsified "claims (were) made…for creating tension and these claims have no value."

Britain's Grace 1 seizure, in cahoots with the Tump regime, was maritime piracy, what the Times and other major media glossed over instead of highlighting and laying blame emphatically where it belongs.

Iran impounded one UK tanker, not two as falsely reported. Nor did the Times or other major media explain the vessel breached Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

It's why the IRGC impounded the vessel, acting legally with an extra incentive because of Britain's maritime piracy against Iran's Grace 1 supertanker. 

A same-day article explained that UK tanker provocatively breached innocent passage by turning off its transponder and ignoring multiple Iranian warnings of its improper behavior.

Iran's IGRC responded to its breach of maritime law. In the same article, I asked was Friday's incident jointly plotted by the Trump and UK regimes to provoke Iran's legitimate action in its territorial waters — falsely calling it a hostile act?

The Times and other media reports ignored, gave short shrift to, or buried this vital information well into their accounts, the information likely seen by few readers.

Nor did major media reports explain that the UK tanker changed course in the Hormuz Strait, turning sharply in the direction of Iran's Qeshm Island, following the wrong traffic pattern, violating international maritime regulations.

Britain acted provocatively in violation of maritime law. Iran's IGRC acted legally against the vessel.

Tehran demands release of its illegally seized Grace 1 supertanker by UK royal marines.

If Britain frees the vessel, Iran no doubt would reciprocate in kind, resolving the diplomatic dispute between both nations.

Doing the right thing isn't a Western attribute, just the opposite. 

Britain got Iran by illegally seizing its tanker in cahoots with the US. Tehran got Britain by impounding its vessel for breaching maritime law.

The obvious solution is release of both vessels. Release of one without the other isn't likely to happen.

The ball is in Britain's court.

A Final Comment

On Friday, a UK-controlled/rubber-stamp Gibraltar court extended the Grace 1's unlawful seizure for another 30 days — showing judicial complicity with Britain's bandit act.

The high-seas piracy was in cahoots with the Trump regime, UK authorities acting on its request to seize the Iranian tanker — both nations complicit in the criminal action.

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