Category Archives: Media

Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte

While Whatever Happened to Baby Jane is a very well known film, its follow up, Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte is rather more obscure.

It was originally conceived as another vehicle for Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, on similar lines to Baby Jane – a slightly crazy aged Southern Belle who has long been suspected of murdering her lover is fighting eviction from her home, and enlist her Cousin Miriam for help. The Role of Miriam was originally Crawford’s, and she was present and correct at rehearsals and the first days of shooting.… Click here to continue reading this article

A new Swiss humanitarian convoy for the city of Donetsk

This article first appeared in French on the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation website.

On 22 May 2016, two humanitarian convoys Confederation carrying chemicals for treating water and medical supplies left for Ukraine in the conflict zone.

Part of the convoy with medical equipment and medicine was awarded to the Kurakhove hospital this morning.

The products have been transported by road but also, for the first time by rail .

Sunday morning, a train ferrying chemicals for water treatment left Switzerland to Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine.

The cargo is for waterworks of Donbass, which supply the population with drinking water on both sides of the line of contact.… Click here to continue reading this article

The New USA -v- Russia Cold War. Seeing the Wood Through the Trees.

I’m not sure why anyone falls for the dishonest media spin from either side.

The current “cold war” situation owes more to an engineered conflict that is agreeable to both sides (EU/US and Russia) to distract the peasants from the domestic economic turmoil.

Creating political theatre and ‘threats’ allows governments to run loose economic policy and pour money into defence without taking a beating on the markets.

The ISIS/AQ threat is better persecuted by special forces. To be able to dump billions into new defence projects and soak up blue collared workers into a standing military you need a credible threat.… Click here to continue reading this article

Shock News: Western Media Suddenly Decides Russia is the Good Guy.

When a propaganda channel like Fox News begins to make positive noises about Russia, we must wonder why the narrative has changed so fast and who is pulling the strings.

We all know about Fox News, often referred to as Faux News, the comedic American ‘news’ channel that pedals agenda-driven, Republican-leaning, bite size propaganda chunks to the unthinking, gun-toting masses over the pond.

Quite often, Russia Insider reports on their hysterical output; among which has been “He (Putin) has been repeatedly invading foreign countries…” and “If we don’t interfere in Ukraine he (Putin) will go after Lithuania, Estonia, he is out of control now”.… Click here to continue reading this article

Book Review: Exceptional – Why the World Needs a Powerful America by Dick Cheney

For fair disclosure, before you read this review, I will say that while I enjoy visiting America from time to time, I am disdainful of American foreign policy and its continual aggression, state-sponsored terrorism, wars and regime changes around the world.

I am a Russophile. I think Vladimir Putin is one of the worlds great leaders.

An American pal of mine gifted me this book recently. I promised him I would read it with an open mind. I think I have, but it hasn’t changed my opinion.

Here is some of the book blurb:

Exceptional – Why the World Needs a Powerful America by Dick Cheney

Former vice president Dick Cheney, a #1 New York Times bestselling author, and his daughter Liz Cheney, former deputy assistant secretary of state, explain the unique and indispensable nature of American power, reveal the damage done by President Obama’s abandonment of this principle, and show how America can and must lead again.

… Click here to continue reading this article

US Complains As Russia Bombs its Terrorists

This article first appeared at journal-neo.org

The New York Times in its recent article, “Russians Strike Targets in Syria, but Not ISIS Areas,” attempts to frame Russia’s recent actions in Syria as dishonest and dangerous. It reports:

Russian aircraft carried out a bombing attack against Syrian opposition fighters on Wednesday, including at least one group trained by the C.I.A., eliciting angry protests from American officials and plunging the complex sectarian war there into dangerous new territory.

This of course would only make Russia’s actions dishonest or dangerous if groups trained by the US CIA were in fact the “moderates” the US claims they are.… Click here to continue reading this article

Taking the British Media to Task When They Lie About Russia

For the mainstream western media, lying about Russia is now just a routine part of the working day.

No British Sunday newspaper would be complete without the obligatory anti-Russian double page spread on the ‘threat’ Putin and Russia poses to somebody somewhere this week.

To get this right, one must not concern oneself with facts. Simply choose a country, any country will do, do some random Googling, make some stuff up to pad it out, but be sure to say you are “quoting a source” to absolve yourself of responsibility for what you write.… Click here to continue reading this article

How Britain’s Propaganda Machine Controls What You Think

This article originally appeared at TruePublica

On the one hand, just five individual Billionaires in Britain get to control 80% what you read in printed media and on the other hand, just five Internet Service Providers get to control what 87% of people get to see on their devices. Both are heavily influenced by government. It is no wonder what the public think is a misinterpretation of the truth. In fact, so far from the truth, it is more a departure from reality. Propaganda works!

Owen Jones’s book, “The Establishment and how they get away with it” focuses on how British democracy is threatened from within explained best by it’s own description;

“Behind our democracy lurks a powerful but unaccountable network of people who wield massive power and reap huge profits in the process.… Click here to continue reading this article

What is the real story with Ukraine, Russia, the EU and America?

What is the real story with Ukraine, Russia, the EU and America? 

Anyone who reads Western media might feel that they have a handle on what is going on in Ukraine.

You have been misled by the Western media to hold one, and only one view: There is ‘terrorism’ perpetrated by ‘pro-Russian separatists’, armed by Russia, and Vladimir Putin is the main culprit. Especially with flight MH17.

End of story. Anyone who believes differently is a Russian propaganda merchant.

Vladimir Putin is the evil bogeyman (white cat optional). America wants to spread democracy across the world.… Click here to continue reading this article

Russian Ukrainian Adventures Newsletter – Summer 2014.

Russian Ukrainian Adventures Newsletter – Summer 2014.

Hello Member,

It has been a while since we sent out a newsletter, several years in fact. So we thought one was long overdue.

We would like to bring you up-to-date on the happenings at RUA in recent months.

The Forum Continues To Go From Strength to Strength!

The forum has been rather busy in recent months. We remain not only the busiest Russian women information discussion forum on the net by far, but we are also now the largest by a sizeable margin, and have been for some time.… Click here to continue reading this article

Vladimir Putin: Europe’s Peacemaker. A Proper Politician.

President Putin of Russia has recently made an address to the American people.

Yes, that’s right. Not the Russian people, the American people. Going right over Obama’s head to tell the American people the truth about Syria.

Let’s look at the relationship between Obama and Putin.

In this context, the power relationship is that of Putin shaking Obama’s hand at the G20 with his hand above Obama’s, palm facing down and with his left arm grasping Obama’s right arm in a firm grip on his bicep. This is the handshake used to demonstrate dominance.… Click here to continue reading this article

David Tennant to Return to Doctor Who in November 2013.

The BBC has announced that for the 50th anniversary episode of Doctor Who to be screened in November, will feature David Tennant!

Fans of the Doctor may also be pleased to know that Rose Tyler – aka Billie Piper – will also feature. Despite denying it on the Graham Norton show two months ago.

Has the BBC finally woken up and sniffed the skinny latte?

Perhaps the slothful revenue from Dr Who merchandising since they introduced Matt Smith as the Doctor has made them feel the need to bring David Tennant back.… Click here to continue reading this article

British Politics: UKIP and Nigel Farage. Credible or not?

British Politics: UKIP and Nigel Farage. Credible or not?

For our friends in places other than the UK, Nigel Farage is the leader of a political party called UKIP: The UK Independence Party.

UKIP currently has 11 of the 73 UK seats in the European Parliament following the 2009 elections and subsequent changes. It also has three members in the House of Lords, all the result of defections.

The party also has one seat in the Northern Ireland Assembly, due to a defection by former Ulster Unionist Party MLA David McNarry in October 2012.… Click here to continue reading this article

Could the Mottram Bypass Be Replaced By Shared Space Similar to Poynton?

Anyone who knows Mottram knows about the traffic problems and the lack of funding for the Mottram Bypass.

We have another article on Real Deal about the Mottram Bypass here: e-petition deliver Mottram – Mottram Bypass – Stuck in Traffic?

Local MP Jonathan Reynolds has recently taken up the reins on the issue and sent local residents a long and informative letter on the subject.

The locals of Mottram are glad that someone is finally back on the case.

It is clear to anyone who lives in or near Mottram that the bypass is a much-needed road.… Click here to continue reading this article

If I didn’t Know Better (Dammit, I do) song from Nashville.

Here in the United Kingdom, we just got the new American imported ABC series Nashville which is airing on Channel Four.

Nashville is an American musical drama television series.

The series stars Connie Britton as Rayna Jaymes, a legendary country music superstar, whose stardom begins fading, and Hayden Panettiere as rising teen star Juliette Barnes. The series premièred on ABC on October 10, 2012, had more than 8.93 million viewers.

Here is the general plot: Rayna Jaymes (Connie Britton) is the established “Queen of Country” music.

However, her latest album is not selling well and her tour is playing to half empty venues.… Click here to continue reading this article

Dark Net: The Hidden Internet They Call The Undernet – Deepnet

I happened upon an article in one of the papers this week that touched a subject I had never heard about, here is some of it:

The internet is like an iceberg. The web as we know it – every Google result, all the billions of pages we visit – is just a tiny fraction jutting above the waves. The vast majority of it is invisible to web browsers and the general public. This is known as the ‘dark web’.

Most of this unseen mass of activity is perfectly innocent – paid-for content, sites that require log-ins, academic data, and so on.

… Click here to continue reading this article

Forum Moderators Guide – How to be a Good Forum Moderator

The Moderators guide below was originally taken from several large forums with over a million posts between them.

It was further tweaked as a result of the published guidelines of several ‘big boards’ that have each around a million posts.

It was later honed and tweaked by a published author who administrates three large forums. This is the current exact version his forums use.

If you are new to managing forums, you need to outline to your staff what exactly you expect of them. You cannot expect them to guess or know already.… Click here to continue reading this article

How Forum Spammers Operate. How To Spam A Forum

Forum spam is a big issue if you own a forum. This title is probably going to bring in some folks, thinking ‘why the heck is he writing this here?’ We don’t need to know how they work, we just need to know how to stop forum spam.’

The simple truth is, if you know exactly how it’s done, and how it all works, you can then know what counter-measures you can invoke to help to combat this problem. Note how I said to “combat it”, and not stop it.… Click here to continue reading this article

The old Lucky Lovers forum. What happened to it?

Many people mourned the loss of the forums that were once attached to the Lucky Lovers dating site.

They were popular forums in both the English and Russian languages. It was a place many Russian women congregated, and several marriages resulted between people who met on the forum.

What wasn’t widely known is that the forums were split off from the Lucky Lovers site and assigned a new domain several years ago. That domain was GoGabber.com. But it wasn’t very heavily promoted anywhere.

The last few years the site has limped along with a low Google ranking and lacking much purpose and not drawing in many new members.… Click here to continue reading this article