Diatribune

This time it's the media spin that I'm struck by. I noticed this lovely, twisted little quotation in a Yahoo featured AP article about Iran, about Iran's announcement that it is producing a weapons system, what it calls a smart bomb:

(Defense Minister)

Najjar was more aggressive, saying the bomb "remarkably increases Iran's defense capabilities."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070826/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_smart_bomb;_ylt=...

What kind of determination to spin does it take for a "journalist" to describe a comment about the defensive capabilities of a weapon as "more aggressive"? I'd say it takes an hellacious determination to spin.

But the author of the AP article was not alone in his spin. No article about Iran would be complete without a quote from Israel, right? Because, after all, spin requires that it always be assumed that Iran is Israel's business:

"All countries of the Middle East, Israel included, are concerned about expansionist Iranian policies, and about their aggressive military arms buildup," Israel's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said.

Expansionist policies? How the hell does a comment like that about Iran make it into anything pretending to be journalism without qualificiation? What expansionist policies does Iran have? The answer is NONE. Iran has attacked no one and has threatened no one. In fact, it is Israel that has repeatedly attacked other nations around it and that has repeatedly threatened to attack Iran.

I don't like Iran. But this kind of grotesque and blatant spin, by "journalists" and "statesmen" is for lying children, not for adults trying to resolve conflict.
__________________________