The sordid Murdoch phone-hacking saga is only the minute tip of an iceberg of cronyism, corruption and nepotism in the West. the real story is how the Murdoch empire has influenced politicians, manipulated public opinion and shaped the global geopolitical and economic agenda over the last 20 years.
In what could prove to be the story of the century, a goldmine of data is available for researchers, academics and investigative journalists to probe how this hydra-headed conglomerate of cinema, television, cable network programming, direct broadcast satellite television, integrated marketing services, newspapers and information services, book publishing and other media-related assets has been used for everything from starting wars to promoting globalisation and undermining the United Nations.
How to connect the millions of dots? Here’s just one example.
Log on to News Corps website and look up the board of directors. there, prominently mentioned as number two on the list, is the name of Jose Maria Aznar, president of the Foundation for Social Studies and Analysis. look up Mr Aznar on Wikipedia and you will find that he was prime minister of Spain from 1996-2004. In 2003, Spain was one of the key European countries to provide logistical support for the US attack on Iraq.
Then look a little further. In 2010, Aznar founded the Friends of Israel Initiative, with the stated goal to ”counter the attempts to delegitimise the state of Israel and its right to live in peace within safe and defensible borders”. he believes that Israel is the West’s first line of defence, and must be protected.
In the past, any linkage between his pro-Israel tilt, his backing for the Iraq war and his presence on the News Corp board would be dismissed as a conspiracy theory. That is going to be extremely difficult today.
Further evidence of the Murdoch empire bolstering pro-Israeli politicians will come with a quick examination of Murdoch’s links with Tony Blair, who also played a key role in the Iraq war.
Such information is, I repeat, only the very, very minute tip of the iceberg.
In the United States, the holdings of News Corp include Dow Jones & Company, the Wall Street Journal, 20th Century Fox, the Fox Broadcasting Company, SKY Italia, Harper Collins Publishers, MySpace, hulu.com, Beliefnet, AmericanIdol.com and Rotten Tomatoes.
An illuminating commentary on this ownership structure appeared on the media website, theGrio.com, which describes itself as being ”devoted to providing African-Americans with stories and perspectives that appeal to them but are under-represented in existing national news outlets”.
The commentary says, ”Fox, admittedly, is the most successful cable news network in America. but its journalistic integrity is largely non-existent, with the entire operation geared toward promoting a conservative political agenda and platform. Facts are written and re-written to fit the story that Murdoch, Roger Ailes and their cronies are invested in promoting. Ailes, Fox’s president, served as a media consultant to Republican presidents Nixon, Reagan, and George H Bush.”
As the evidence mounts, the term ”conspiracy theory” recedes even further.
Even as the scandal was grabbing headlines worldwide, Fox News, which goes by the slogan ”Fair and Balanced,” was playing it down.
From July 6-15, the Pew Research Centre’s Project for Excellence in Journalism analysed the number of weekday prime-time minutes Fox devoted to the News Corp scandal, including four hours of daily prime time and an hour a day of daytime programming.
According to the Pew Centre, ”The analysis finds that the Murdoch-owned Fox News Channel devoted about one-fifth as much time to the story as MSNBC and about one-sixth as much time as CNN.”
The name News Corp does grave injustice to the word ”news”. the empire is for all intents and purposes a modern-day Pravda, devoted to mind-bending and mind-numbing, one of the greatest propaganda scores in world history.
It was Fox News which played a major role in highlighting the non-existent weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. just go back over the editorials, commentaries of the Murdoch-owned media, and the links between the so-called ”journalists”, the academic think-tanks, lobbyists, corporations and politicians will become more than obvious.
In the days preceding the demolition of the 1998 Suharto regime in Indonesia, and the 1997 economic crisis, Asia was a regular punching bag of Western corporations, politicians and media, especially the Asian Wall Street Journal, for its ”cronyism, corruption and nepotism”.
Now the tables are turning and the age of accountability is clearly dawning. more whistleblowers of conscience are set to come out of the woodwork _ even at the risk of their lives.
Regardless of whether it’s East or West, North or South, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Then follows a natural cycle of events. Arrogance sets in, and people begin to think themselves to be beyond reproach and above the law. and that is the beginning of the end.
This story of the century must be told with a deep-rooted exploration of the hidden agenda behind the ”globalisa tion” process, the open markets and financial liberalisation that has allowed modern day financial terrorists to manipulate currencies, commodities and economies. this should include a closer look at the shadowy group known as Bilderberg.
More facts are set to emerge in the courts. On Tuesday, a US law firm filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of purchasers of the common stock of News Corp who purchased during the period from March 3, 2011 through July 11, 2011.
The complaint alleges that ”defendants knew or were reckless in not knowing that, with the knowledge and consent of their editors, employees at News of the World …. have been hacking into the cell phones messages of more that 4,000 people for years”.
The lawsuit seeks to recover damages on behalf of all those who purchased or otherwise acquired News Corp securities during the ”class period”.
It invited all those who purchased or otherwise acquired News Corp securities during the class period, and either lost money on the transaction or still hold the securities, to consider joining in the action.
However, along with the revolutions under way in the Arab world, the scandal is yet another one of a series of anti-climatic events disrupting what would have been the original agenda _ marking the 10th anniversary of 9/11 with more solemn ceremonies designed to remind the world about the scourge of terrorism, primarily of a variety associated with one major global religion.
That generates some more grist for the ”conspiracy-theory” mill.
It is curiously surprising that just as the world is preoccupied with the Murdoch saga, and a range of other very significant earth-shaking issues such as the European debt crisis, the gargantuan US budget deficit and the upcoming declaration of Palestinian statehood, out pops yet another terrorist attack (in Norway).
The Murdoch scandal vanishes from the headlines _ just like that. It’s back to business as usual.
Latest stories in this category:
Table of Contents: Page Index Cooler Master Silencio 550 Computer Case Closer look: Exterior Detailed Exterior Features Closer look: Interior Detailed Interior Features Silencio 550 Final Thoughts Silencio 550 Conclusion Page 7 of 7
The cooler Master 550 Silencio uses a Mid-Tower case and insulated front and side panels to sound dampen noise. The insulation is dense and seals the case well. you can only mount a total of three 120mm fans in the case, but for all but the hottest rigs, this is most likely going to be just fine Especially when you consider Sandy Bridge technology and how cool it runs, the problem of heat isn’t really a problem as it was a few years ago (Think 920 Bloomfield OCed). The case comes with two 800 rpm 120mm cooler Master fans, installed. For a Mid-Tower case, it’s surprisingly roomy and you get almost a full inch of back panel cable room, but only 154mm of CPU cooler space, which may or may not be a problem for you. The Silencio 550 will accept a video card up to 11.1" (281mm) with the removable drive cage installed, 15.8" (400mm) card with the drive cage removed, and 16.8" (427mm) card with the top front fan and drive cage removed. Included is a front loading built in hot swap bay, an SD card reader, and two USB ports, one USB 3.0 and one 2.0. however, the USB 3.0 does not have it’s own native USB controller, so you need to run the cable out of the back of the case and plug it into the motherboard’s USB 3.0 header. The front grill is double thickness to allow intake air from the gill vents in the front bezel and snaps in nicely. it also comes with a filter that is easy to clean. there is another filter on the bottom of the case serving the power supply, and it too is an easy to remove filter that slides off. The case’s look is sleek, spartan, but elegant, and painted very well. I have no problems with the case’s outward appearance, but if you want "Bright Lights Big City," it’s not the case for you. The painted surface is a matte finish that doesn’t show finger prints, but the mirror like front panel is a finger print magnet. on the other hand, the front is nice looking because it is mirror like, and that’s pretty cool. The gill vents on the front are nice looking, and are not there just for looks. they are a necessary cooling element because the internal sound insulation seals the panels well. As always, the construction, like all cooler Master cases, is as solid as it gets, with all rolled edges so there are no cut points anywhere on the case. on the other hand, the case is so sleek as to not standout at all, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
At a 99.00USD MSRP (at the time of this publishing) the case is a little higher than other Mid-Towers in the same league, but that could go down a bit when actually sold in retail outlets. however, the case is completely insulated for sound, and that’s not something you see all the time.I’d say the price is about right if you want a sound insulated case. just about everything else you would want in a no fireworks case comes with this one. In several areas, I’ve given this case a hard time, but there is nothing wrong with it. if you’re in the market for an elegant, mature case without the bright lights big city look, and one that is sound insulated and functional, then this case might be for you. Sound insulation is this case’s marketing point, although it does shine in other areas, such as cable management and build quality.
+ Sleek, elegant look + Sound insulated + Roomy internal spaces + Lots of video card room + Hot Swap hard drive bay + SD card reader + USB 3.0 front panel I/O port + Filters on both air intakes + Built solid + Almost a full inch of back panel cable space + Internal removable hard drive cage + Comes with two 120mm 800 rpm fans
– SD card reader instead of more I/O USB ports – USB 3.0 from front panel has to be run outside the case – Larger video cards requiere removing the internal drive cage – Only two 5.25" bays -Door is not removable and only opens right to left
- Performance: 8.00
- Appearance: 7.25
- Construction: 9.75
- Functionality: 9.00
- Value: 8.50
Recommended: Benchmark Reviews Seal of Approval.
Benchmark Reviews invites you to leave constructive feedback below, or ask questions in our Discussion Forum.
