How Can We Help?
Anti-Russia propaganda in the ‘impartial’ British mainstream media
Note – this article is NOT meant to be outright support for the Russian government, nor for President Putin nor the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, but instead focusses on the overly simplistic, blatant Hollywood-style propaganda that has portrayed Putin and Russia as the ‘boo-hiss’ villains, and portrayed President Zelensky and his allies as the ‘heroes’.
A couple of weeks after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there were quite a few programmes on mainstream British TV and Radio (supposedly ‘impartial’) that had an anti-Russia theme, but some of which were made before – and scheduled before – the start of the invasion (February 24th 2022).
For example, 10 days after the invasion, on March 6th 2022, one of Britain’s supposedly ‘impartial’ public service broadcasters – ITV – aired the first episode of their modern version of the ‘Cold War’ spy thriller, “The Ipcress File”, based on the 1962 novel of the same name. ITV had announced their decision to make the series back in December 2020. Filming started in early 2021, so the ‘pandemic’ obviously wasn’t a problem for them. A “Guardian” newspaper review of the first episode noted the contemporary resonance:
“The Ipcress File review – a working-class hero takes on the might of Russia” (STUART JEFFRIES, March 6th 2022, “The Guardian”).
“ITV’s reboot of Len Deighton’s cold war spy thriller has Joe Cole as Harry Palmer sorting out the mess left by public school boys. Sound familiar?”
“One of our scientists is missing. He’s been kidnapped from the Aldermaston Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, possibly by Kremlin minions who want him to tell them how to make a neutron bomb 3,000 times more destructive than the one that hit Hiroshima. I’m not saying Nato’s nuclear secrets are poised to fall into the lap of a latter-day Napoleon overcompensating for his shortcomings with military barbarism, but it’s too soon to rule out the possibility.”
“Thankfully, this is a TV review not a news story, but the contemporary resonances are unmissable, even if the makers of this six-part adaptation of Len Deighton’s 1962 thriller couldn’t have envisaged their audience would be playing extras in a real-life cold war sequel.”
“What makes The Ipcress File worth reviving is that now, as then, the Etonian death grip on politics and public service imperils Britain more than any tooled-up Russian.”
Here’s the link to the full article:
The Ipcress File review – a working-class hero takes on the might of Russia | Drama | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/mar/06/the-ipcress-file-review-a-working-class-hero-takes-on-the-might-of-russia
Note in the above article the anti-Boris Johnson/anti-Tory/anti-Right-Wing comment by the “Guardian” journalist (a centre-left newspaper), which is another common theme at the moment in the ‘impartial’ British media, thereby making it more likely that a General Election would be won by the centre-left Labour Party.
On March 11th, ITV broadcast the anti-Russia movie “Rocky IV” (at 10-45pm), but not in isolation, instead following on from earlier broadcasts in February and March of the whole “Rocky” series. “Rocky IV”, released in 1985 when the ‘Cold War’ was still going, features the ‘evil’ Russian boxer IVAN DRAGO.
A curious bit of honesty about media bias towards Ukraine was in the BBC’s TV and radio listings magazine “Radio Times”, in an article provocatively titled “Should TV news take sides?” (April 9th 2022). Written by a former BBC trainee, STEWART PURVIS (CBE), who also was an executive (‘Partner’) at the UK’s media regulator OFCOM, the subtitle was “I worry when broadcasters stand with Ukraine against Russia”. Purvis wrote that he fully supported Ukraine, and that he had actually helped Ukrainian TV journalists back in 2005 to embrace Western ways, but, he wrote, “…I wonder if we are becoming intolerant of anything outside consensus viewpoints? Or maybe I’m the only viewer who’s a bit squeamish that we now don’t seem to practice what I used to preach”. I wonder if Purvis had an ulterior motive for his article, because he had a long career in mainstream TV news, becoming Chief Executive and Editor-in-Chief of ITN (ITN produces the daily news programmes for ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 in the UK). During his time heading ITN, Purvis was President of the international news channel, EURONEWS (set up by the EUROPEAN BROADCASTING UNION). Purvis helped to launch EuroNews into Russia as that country’s first international rolling news channel in Russian on terrestrial television. Purvis was a non-executive Director of Channel 4. Purvis’ article seems to me to blame national governments for much biased news reporting, suggesting to me that he could be a globalist. He wrote: “This is all part of a global battle for “soft power”, in which states use their broadcasters to compete for influence around the world.”
Just a week after the Russian invasion, on March 2nd 2022, the BBC aired an anti-Putin documentary that had already been shown the year before in Russia and other countries: “Tango with Putin: Storyville”, which had been originally scheduled by the BBC for a week later (9th March), according to the magazine “Broadcast”:
“BBC brings forward Storyville [documentary] about rebel Russian journalists”
“The BBC has brought forward the TX [transmission] date of a Storyville doc about anti-Putin Russian journalists in light of the ongoing events in Ukraine. Tango with Putin from London-based indies [independent film producers] Roast Beef Productions and Six Days, was originally set to air next week, but will air tonight at 10pm on BBC4.” (By Ellie Kahn, 2 March 2022).
Here’s the full online article by “Broadcast”:
“Tango with Putin” was repeated on BBC2 on March 24th 2022.
“Tango with Putin” has an intriguing background with significant Israeli/Jewish connections and even a connection to Putin’s longtime political ally, DMITRY MEDVEDEV, so I will deal with it separately in another article: “Tango With Putin”, in the Media section.
On March 5th 2022, just over a week after the Russian invasion, BBC1 aired the first episode of the final series of “Killing Eve”, about a heartless Russian psychopathic assassin who is pursued by a MI5 agent. The show was based on the 2017 novel “Codename Villanelle” and produced by Sid Gentle Films Ltd for BBC America.
On March 9th 2022, BBC4 cancelled the evening broadcast of 2 Russia-themed programmes; one of them was the aforementioned “Tango With Putin” that had been moved to a week earlier. The other program was “Russia on Four Wheels”: a travel documentary in which BBC presenters explored the different sides of Russia, e.g., its’ very wealthy capitalists.
On March 11th, Channel 4’s highly biased satirical show “The Last Leg” flew the Ukraine flag quite literally, as its’ flag sat prominently displayed on the desk of host Adam Hills.
On March 11th, BBC Radio 4’s satirical show “The Now Show” pointed out that Boris Johnson admired Putin, but not politically.
On March 15th, BBC4 repeated an episode of the 1980s BBC political sitcom series, “Yes, Prime Minister”, in which MI5 reveals that a former head was working for the Russians. That episode, “One of Us” (Series 1, episode 8), was broadcast in sequence, thus the first episode of the series had been broadcast back in January 2022, well before the Russian invasion. That first episode, “The Grand Design”, originally aired in 1986 during the Cold War, includes a discussion of Russia’s superior military forces compared to Britain’s forces. “The Grand Design” got repeated again on March 19th, but within a long radio documentary (“Hackers and Humphreys All”) originally aired in 2016.
Another episode of “Yes, Prime Minister” with a Russian theme was aired on March 22nd. In “Man Overboard” (series 2, episode 1), the opening scene involves a discussion about a hypothetical Russian invasion of Britain.
On March 18th, Channel 5 (another public service broadcaster) showed 2 Russia-themed programmes in succession; first was a documentary on the remains of the Russian site of the nuclear power plant in CHERNOBYL that exploded in 1986: “Inside Chernobyl with Ben Fogle”; second was the Cold War movie, “The Hunt for Red October”, about a rogue Russian naval captain who wishes to defect to the USA.
On March 26th, Channel 4 showed the first episode of a 2-part documentary, “Chernobyl: The New Evidence”, exploring recently de-classified KGB files that reveal that the explosion was preceded by cover-ups.
On April 3rd, BBC2 broadcasted the 1st episode of a 2-part documentary on the ‘Cold War’ relationship between American President Ronald Reagan and British PM Margaret Thatcher, entitled “Thatcher and Reagan: A Very Special Relationship”, presented by Thatcher’s official biographer CHARLES MOORE who 2 days earlier had an article on Ukraine published in “The Telegraph” newspaper (which he once edited):
“Ukraine has inspired the West by example to relearn the lessons of Thatcher and Reagan: The British prime minister convinced her US ally that armed aggression must never be allowed to succeed” (April 1st, 2022).
Moore’s documentary had been commissioned by the BBC well before the Russian invasion, in November 2021.
On March 10th, a couple of weeks after the Russian invasion, BBC Radio 4 began their 11-part series on Putin: “Putin”, presented by the BBC Royal Correspondent JONNY DYMOND, who was educated at the LSE. The series appears to have been commissioned in response to the invasion. For the 1st episode he was joined by the great-granddaughter of former Soviet Premier NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV and member of the CFR (Council on Foreign Relations): NINA KHRUSHCHEVA, who had emigrated to the USA. Her articles appeared in Western publications such as “Foreign Policy”, “The New York Times” and “The Financial Times”. She was the Russia editor of, and a contributor to, the New York-based media outlet, PROJECT SYNDICATE, which received grants from George Soros’ Open Society Foundations and The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Another regular columnist there was the CFR’s President, Richard Haass.
Khrushcheva was a fellow at a New York, centre-left think tank: WPI (World Policy Institute, later renamed BROADEN) where she directed the Russia Project. The WPI’s complicated origins lay with one-worlders such as the Rockefellers and also: –
1) C. DOUGLAS DILLON (Rockefeller Foundation chairman; CFR vice chairman);
2) SAUL MENDLOVITZ – creator of the WOMP (World Order Models Project) that was supported by the Rockefeller Foundation and Carnegie Endowment for Peace. Mendlovitz supported the UN and advocated an independent U.N. force. He wrote: “I am a political activist for a group called the United Nations Emergency Peace Service (UNEPS). We are a group of academics, activists, and diplomats who decided some four years ago that we would take upon ourselves the promotion of the creation at the United Nations, of an independent force run by the United Nations.”
At the New Age, UN supporter, “Planetary Citizens”, Mendlovitz was chair of its’ advisory council. Mendlovitz was Jewish and on the advisory council of the America-Israel Council for Israeli Palestinian Peace.
3) SHERLE SCHWENNINGER – at the CFR he was Senior Program Coordinator for the Project on Development, Trade, and International Finance. Schwenninger was founding Director of the WORLD ECONOMIC ROUNDTABLE, a joint venture of the George Soros co-creation, INET (Institute for New Economic Thinking), with NEW AMERICA NYC.
Returning to the BBC radio series “Putin”; joining Khrushcheva in the first episode was “an expert in global crime”, MARK GALEOTTI, a consultant to various government, commercial, and law-enforcement agencies and a senior analyst for WIKISTRAT, a mysterious Israeli/American consultancy that appears to me to be some sort of unofficial global intelligence agency. Wikistrat’s advisers have included top US Intelligence executives such as MICHAEL HAYDEN (CIA Director; NSA Director).
Khrushcheva returned for the final episode of “Putin”, of which another guest was a US National Security executive, ALEXANDER VINDMAN, who had come to national attention in 2019 when he testified before the US Congress regarding the Trump–Ukraine scandal. His testimony provided evidence that resulted in a charge of abuse of power in the impeachment of Donald Trump. Vindman was born in Ukraine to a Jewish family. Vindman belonged to the U.S. delegation at the inauguration of Ukraine’s newly elected President, Volodymyr Zelensky.
Just a few months before the Russian invasion of Ukraine (2022), Vindman appeared on TV with fellow Jew, actor LARRY DAVID, in the first broadcast of an episode of the sitcom “Curb Your Enthusiasm”. Playing himself, Vindman reprised his role as a “hero” (allegedly) as a whistleblower for Donald Trump’s first impeachment.
On June 30th 2022, Channel 4 aired the world premiere of the first episode of the Putin-inspired cyber war thriller series, “The Undeclared War”, of which Channel 4 were co-producers. Set in 2024, Putin is still President but Boris Johnson is no longer the British PM, ousted by a coup orchestrated by one of his colleagues during an economic crisis in November 2022. Coincidently or not, Johnson resigned for real just one week after the first episode.
Boris’ fictional replacement is Britain’s first black PM. In the London of 2024, there is a pro-Putin propaganda TV channel that routinely fakes news. A British Intelligence intern sees the beginnings of a cyber war between Russia and the UK in the run up to a UK general election. British Intelligence at GCHQ secretly works to ward off a cyber-attack on the UK’s electoral system. The intern tries to crack a Russian computer virus. Channel 4 partnered with several companies to bring the series to television, including the New York-based US streaming service, PEACOCK, created by NBCUniversal (NBCU) whose HQ for many years has been at the Rockefeller Center’s famous “30 Rock” (30 Rockefeller Plaza) in New York. Peacock’s HQ is also at 30 Rock.
Guess what? There are some Jewish connections here. Don’t shoot the messenger!! “The Undeclared War” was written/directed by the Jewish writer PETER KOSMINSKY who for the series reunited with the Jewish TV Producer SIR COLIN CALLENDER and his production company, PLAYGROUND ENTERTAINMENT, the company behind the miniseries “Wolf Hall”, which Kosminsky had directed.
Playground coproduced “The Undeclared War” with NBCU International Studios for Channel 4 and Peacock. NBCU Global Distribution handled international sales.
NBCU’s CEO in 2022 was Jewish – JEFF SHELL – who got an award from the American Jewish Committee. Shell is a 2010 inductee into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
Peacock had been created during the ‘pandemic’ in 2020 under the auspices of NBCU Vice Chair BONNIE HAMMER, a Jewish New Yorker who had previously collaborated with Jewish director STEVEN SPIELBERG in bringing his sci-fi series “Taken” to television. Hammer received awards from 2 Jewish lobby groups: B’NAI B’RITH and its’ spinoff, the ADL (The Anti-Defamation League). Bonnie Hammer served at eBay on its’ board.
Peacock’s President in 2022 was a former GOOGLE employee, KELLY CAMPBELL, who previously served as the President of HULU at The Walt Disney Company.
“The Undeclared War” was advertised by Channel 4 with a controversial stunt similar to Orson Welles’ “War of the Worlds” radio broadcast. In this case it was a short speech by the (fictional) Prime Minister warning of an imminent cyberattack. Defending their marketing strategy, Zaid Al-Qassab, Channel 4 chief marketing officer, said: “Since Orson Welles first terrified the nation with his War of the Worlds broadcast, the idea of feeling that the nation is at the centre of a drama has thrilled audiences…Channel 4’s new drama, The Undeclared War, is so relevant to our current global context that we wanted viewers to feel the jeopardy to our very way of life. We think this campaign really brings the reality of cyber war into people’s homes.”
https://inews.co.uk/culture/television/channel-4-faces-ofcom-probe-over-emergency-news-stunt-to-promote-cyber-attack-drama-the-undeclared-war-1678066
“The Undeclared War” required much research work from its’ principal writer/director, Peter Kosminsky, and Colin Callender, who spent three years with intelligence experts from the UK and the US. Kosminsky wrote that their research began back in 2017: “But even back in 2017, a hot war was already taking place between the UK and Russia in… the cyber domain. Russia has malware buried deep inside our critical national infrastructure (think electricity grid, gas, phones, rail signaling, air, the internet – basically everything). And we have viruses secreted away in theirs.” (“The Hot War Taking Place Between the UK and Russia”, Peter Kosminsky, “Radio Times”, June 25th– Jul 1st 2022).
Did Kosminsky work for British Intelligence for real? The actor SIMON PEGG, who played a top GCHQ official in “The Undeclared War”, spoke intriguingly of his acting role and of Kosminsky: “Obviously he’s an expert in his field, he’s worked at GCHQ for a long time and worked his way up and he’s very knowledgeable – so conveying that degree of authority and knowledge of the way things work at GCHQ, I wanted to make sure that came across.”
Pegg continued: “As a kid, I grew up in the shadows of GCHQ. Two of my uncles worked there and I never knew what they did because they weren’t allowed to tell me. My brother did all the electrics for the new building but as should be the case, I wasn’t entirely aware of what goes on there…” (Channel 4 interview, DANNY PATRICK, 8th July 2022)
https://www.channel4.com/press/news/interview-simon-pegg-danny-patrick
https://www.channel4.com/press/news/interview-simon-pegg-danny-patrick
As a youngster, Kosminsky was educated at one of Britain’s top independent private schools for boys: The Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School, which, although Christian, appears to be popular with Jewish parents. Famous Jewish alumni there include: JASON ISAACS (actor); SACHA BARON COHEN (comedy actor); LEON BRITTAN (Tory politician); DAVID BADDIEL (comedian/writer); SIMON SCHAMA (TV historian); MATT LUCAS (comedy actor); ASHLEY BLAKER (Matt lucas’ longtime collaborator; TV producer; comedian; commissioned by the BBC to create a radio show called “Ashley Blaker’s Goyish Guide to Judaism”).
Kosminsky graduated from Oxford University and joined the staff of the BBC as a general trainee, working with a remarkable group of fellow trainees who would go on to greater things:
- PETER SALMON – Controller of BBC One; the co-inventor of the “Sport Relief” charity; Chief Creative Officer of ENDEMOL SHINE GROUP.
- KEVIN LYGO – roles at ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, including Director of Television at ITV. Lygo was persuaded by his famous friend, the film director/writer RICHARD CURTIS to produce Curtis’ charity “Comic Relief” on the BBC. Lygo then rejoined the BBC on a permanent contract, commissioning shows.
- DOMINIC CAMERON – managing director of the ITV website.
At the BBC, Kosminsky worked in the Current Affairs Department on programmes such as “Nationwide” and “Newsnight”.
Kosminsky directed a controversial BBC1 TV drama about the then Tony Blair government: “The Project” (2002), which highlighted the ruthlessness at the heart of Blair’s ‘New Labour’.
Kosminsky’s Jewish collaborator Sir Colin Callender received a Humanitarian Award from the Jewish ADL (Anti-Defamation League) and received an award from the US-based CREATIVE COALITION, founded by the Jewish actor and Zionist activist RON SILVER (CFR member). In America, Callender teamed up with HBO head, JEFFREY BEWKES, to create the film division HBO NYC. Bewkes became head of TIME WARNER.