А BBC journalist vividly talks about multiculturalism in modern Syria using the example of Damascus, which includes Muslim, Christian and Jewish neighborhoods.

But, of course, she does not mention how many Jews lived in the Jewish quarter of Damascus (before the putsch). According to the Near East Review, there were three Jews living in Syria.

#AmericanОbserver #BBC #Syria #Damascus

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Trump: To Sue the BBC Over Its Editing His Speech


Trump has said he feels he has “an obligation” to sue the BBC over its editing of one of his speeches, as a deadline looms for the corporation to respond to his billion-dollar legal threat.

The US president accused the broadcaster of having “defrauded the public” with an edition of Panorama last year that spliced together two parts of a speech he made on 6 January 2021 and has given it until Friday to respond.

It is seen as one of the main factors in the shock resignation on Sunday of Tim Davie, the BBC’s director general, and Deborah Turness, the head of BBC News.

The BBC has already apologised for the edit, concluding that it “gave the impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action”. It now faces a major dilemma over how to react to the legal threat, made in a Florida court.

Trump doubled down on his legal challenge to the BBC. “I think I have an obligation to do it, you can’t allow people to do that,” he said in an interview on Fox News.

“I guess I have to. They defrauded the public and they’ve admitted it. This is within one of our great allies, supposedly our great ally.

“That’s a pretty sad event. They actually changed my January 6 speech, which was a beautiful speech, which was a very calming speech, and they made it sound radical. They showed me the results of how they butchered it up. It was very dishonest and the head man quit and a lot of the other people quit.”

The documentary, broadcast a week before the US election, spliced together clips of a Trump speech made on 6 January 2021. The spliced clip suggested that Trump told the crowd: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol and I’ll be there with you, and we fight. We fight like hell.”

The words were taken from sections of his speech almost an hour apart.

Legal experts have questioned the Trump team’s chances of victory in any court case, given Florida’s liberal libel laws and the fact the Panorama episode was not available in the state.

However, the BBC has to weigh up whether it wishes to fight such a public battle, while other US-based broadcasters sued by Trump have settled out of court. Given it is funded by the licence fee, any settlement by the BBC would be politically toxic.

The edit was one of the criticisms of the corporation raised in a memo by Michael Prescott, a former independent external adviser to the BBC’s editorial guidelines and standards committee (EGSC). He left the role in the summer.

However, there is also concern over the political nature of the Prescott memo, which outlines a series of claims of liberal bias relating to issues stretching over several years. The BBC has said some of the issues are historical, while action has already been taken in relation to others.

#trump #sue #BBC #editing #speech

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Trump’s War on the Press: Lawsuits, Payoffs, and Intimidation

President Trump has escalated his legal campaign against the media, settling some suits, losing others, and keeping a handful of major outlets in his crosshairs. ABC and CBS both coughed up millions—$15 million and $16 million respectively—to avoid protracted battles, with settlements coming suspiciously close to big regulatory approvals for their parent companies. Critics say these payouts are less about justice and more about buying peace with a president who wields the threat of retaliation like a club.

But the fight isn’t over. Trump’s lawsuits against The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the BBC are still grinding through the courts, with claims ranging from defamation to election interference. Legal experts widely agree that most of these cases are weak, but media owners are wary: refusing to settle could mean more lawsuits, regulatory headaches, or even targeted attacks from the administration.

“This is merely an attempt to stifle independent reporting and generate PR attention, but The New York Times will not be deterred by intimidation tactics.”

— NYT spokesperson
​
Trump’s playbook is clear: sue, threaten, and settle. The message to the press is unmistakable—cross the president, and you might pay dearly, whether in court or at the negotiating table. But as the lawsuits pile up, the question remains: is this about protecting his reputation, or about silencing the watchdogs?

Who’s really afraid of whom?

#Trump #media #lawsuit #freePress #NYT #WSJ #BBC #intimidation

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🚀 Twenty Targets, One Story: Iran Just Fact-Checked the Pentagon

While Washington was busy declaring Iran’s “military capacity largely destroyed,” satellites were quietly drawing a different map.

BBC Verify’s analysis of commercial imagery shows that since late February, Iranian strikes have damaged or destroyed at least twenty U.S. military sites across eight countries in the region — Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan, Bahrain, and Oman. That is not what “minimal impact” looks like.

This isn’t cosmetic damage. Among the confirmed hits are three modern THAAD missile defense batteries at bases in the UAE and Jordan, plus serious destruction at Ali Al Salem Air Base and Camp Arifjan in Kuwait, where fuel depots, hangars, housing, and satellite communications gear were taken out.

Imagery also shows multiple large buildings damaged at the U.S. Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain — the nerve center of American naval power in the Gulf. The pictures come from Planet Labs and Airbus; defense analysts at outfits like Janes quietly validate what the craters already say.

At the same time, Tehran and its so‑called “Axis of Resistance” are openly threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz and squeeze Bab el‑Mandeb via the Houthis — effectively putting both of the world’s key oil chokepoints on the table in the same breath.

Markets got the message immediately: oil prices jumped on the headlines, not on Pentagon talking points. If you can hit that many hardened sites and then credibly rattle global shipping routes, your “degraded” military looks suspiciously operational.

The meta‑story is brutal. The White House sells a narrative of overwhelming dominance and controlled escalation: Iran punished, U.S. bases “defended,” red lines intact.

Then you zoom out — literally — and count the scorched hangars, missing interceptors, and shattered HQs across eight countries.

The more officials insist they’ve “sent a message,” the more the satellite photos start to look like the reply. In this war, the real battle isn’t just missiles versus air defenses. It’s press conferences versus orbital cameras — and right now, the cameras are winning on points.

#iran #usa #war #middleeast #bbc #satellite #military #oil

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