THE MEDIA SIMPLY CANNOT STOP ITSELF FROM LYING
ABOUT THE DESTRUCTION OF DUBROVNIK
Re: Tourism helps rebuild the Balkans
by Larry Johnsrude, Edmonton Journal
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it” was the infamous remark made by the Third Reich Minister of Propaganda —Paul Joseph Goebbels in 1942. It appears that the Edmonton Journal practices that form of “Partisan journalism.”
Johnsrude’s remark that, “Seven Balkan states that made up the former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia) are rebuilding their economies on tourism” Is laughable. The title of this article is misleading, as there was no mention of Montenegro, Macedonia, Kosovo and Serbia in his “travel” piece that hides the fact that Croatia’s unemployment rate is hovering around 26% and that the Croatian economy is in free fall and is the basket case of the Balkans.
The writer says “…the eight-month siege of Dubrovnik is only a sad memory. Almost 70% of the buildings in the fortified old city were hit by Serbian shells.” That was a total lie. The Serbs lobbed 60 bombs into Dubrovnik, 15 of which were duds and never exploded, 12 landed outside the walled city according to the UN authorities.
Apparently Mr. Johnsrude was well paid for this promotion of Croatia?
The media driven manipulation by Ruder/Finn that Dubrovnik was bombed and destroyed nearly destroyed tourism on the Dalmatian coast. Ms. Taylor of Voice of America claimed the rebuilding of “563 out of 824 buildings.” The deception was cynical. The exaggeration that the Croats rebuilt this damage in the middle of a Civil War when food and medicine could not get through Serbian lines but marble and mortar could is truly an immoral deception. Johnsrude then goes further to tell his readers that “much of the damage was restored to original condition” implying that the Croats were able to match the 15th century construction so precisely that the damage is undetectable.
Lets take a closer look at this media driven propaganda by this writer. To repair 563 buildings in 4 months as claimed by Ruder/Finn and the Croatian government would imply that 142 structures per month or 4.7 per day were being repaired and rebuilt. Such construction ability would be the envy of the world if only 10% were true.
We now know that the Croats burned old auto tires throughout the walled city and photographed Dubrovnik with telephoto lenses that compressed the range, making the images appear that Dubrovnik was burning…NO, MR. JOHNSRUDE it was only smoking. Those images were beamed around the world and appeared on countless magazine covers and front pages of newspapers and now we know that this writer is skilled at double speak, manipulation of the facts and out right lies…
We now know that the “Buy a Tile Fund’ was orchestrated by Ruder/Finn who raised tens of millions of dollars from innocent contributors. We also know that the fund functioned from the address of 1615 M Street, Washington D.C. 20036, the address of Ruder/Finn Public Relations.
Dr. Peter Maher, Linguistics Professor in Chicago, a Roman Catholic, not a Serbian source, went to Dubrovnik after these Croatian claims were made. Dr. Maher speaks Serbo-Croatian fluently. He discovered that the major damage in Dubrovnik was the destruction of the home of the Serbian Orthodox priest; the destruction of the Serbian Icon Museum that was bombed from within, (Dr. Maher was in military intelligence during WWII) and two windows were broken in the Jewish Synagogue …He photographed the entire walled city and his video was shown on Public Television Channel 19 in Chicago in April, 1992. His video alone turns this article into a media sideshow.
Your writer should bow his head in shame for this disturbing piece of propaganda as it shows contempt for the truth and was intended to deceive. The editorial staff at the Edmonton Journal is a party to this obvious piece of trash.
William Dorich, Beverly Hills, CA
William Dorich is author of 6 books on Balkan history. His articles have appeared in the Washington Post, The International Herald Tribune and the Wall Street Journal among others. His newest books are: Serbia Faces & Places and Memoirs of a Serbian American Dissident
The image on the right was taken in the hills above Dubrovnik by the Serbian army a month after claims that they bombed and destroyed Dubrovnik....
ABOUT THE DESTRUCTION OF DUBROVNIK
Re: Tourism helps rebuild the Balkans
by Larry Johnsrude, Edmonton Journal
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it” was the infamous remark made by the Third Reich Minister of Propaganda —Paul Joseph Goebbels in 1942. It appears that the Edmonton Journal practices that form of “Partisan journalism.”
Johnsrude’s remark that, “Seven Balkan states that made up the former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia) are rebuilding their economies on tourism” Is laughable. The title of this article is misleading, as there was no mention of Montenegro, Macedonia, Kosovo and Serbia in his “travel” piece that hides the fact that Croatia’s unemployment rate is hovering around 26% and that the Croatian economy is in free fall and is the basket case of the Balkans.
The writer says “…the eight-month siege of Dubrovnik is only a sad memory. Almost 70% of the buildings in the fortified old city were hit by Serbian shells.” That was a total lie. The Serbs lobbed 60 bombs into Dubrovnik, 15 of which were duds and never exploded, 12 landed outside the walled city according to the UN authorities.
Apparently Mr. Johnsrude was well paid for this promotion of Croatia?
The media driven manipulation by Ruder/Finn that Dubrovnik was bombed and destroyed nearly destroyed tourism on the Dalmatian coast. Ms. Taylor of Voice of America claimed the rebuilding of “563 out of 824 buildings.” The deception was cynical. The exaggeration that the Croats rebuilt this damage in the middle of a Civil War when food and medicine could not get through Serbian lines but marble and mortar could is truly an immoral deception. Johnsrude then goes further to tell his readers that “much of the damage was restored to original condition” implying that the Croats were able to match the 15th century construction so precisely that the damage is undetectable.
Lets take a closer look at this media driven propaganda by this writer. To repair 563 buildings in 4 months as claimed by Ruder/Finn and the Croatian government would imply that 142 structures per month or 4.7 per day were being repaired and rebuilt. Such construction ability would be the envy of the world if only 10% were true.
We now know that the Croats burned old auto tires throughout the walled city and photographed Dubrovnik with telephoto lenses that compressed the range, making the images appear that Dubrovnik was burning…NO, MR. JOHNSRUDE it was only smoking. Those images were beamed around the world and appeared on countless magazine covers and front pages of newspapers and now we know that this writer is skilled at double speak, manipulation of the facts and out right lies…
We now know that the “Buy a Tile Fund’ was orchestrated by Ruder/Finn who raised tens of millions of dollars from innocent contributors. We also know that the fund functioned from the address of 1615 M Street, Washington D.C. 20036, the address of Ruder/Finn Public Relations.
Dr. Peter Maher, Linguistics Professor in Chicago, a Roman Catholic, not a Serbian source, went to Dubrovnik after these Croatian claims were made. Dr. Maher speaks Serbo-Croatian fluently. He discovered that the major damage in Dubrovnik was the destruction of the home of the Serbian Orthodox priest; the destruction of the Serbian Icon Museum that was bombed from within, (Dr. Maher was in military intelligence during WWII) and two windows were broken in the Jewish Synagogue …He photographed the entire walled city and his video was shown on Public Television Channel 19 in Chicago in April, 1992. His video alone turns this article into a media sideshow.
Your writer should bow his head in shame for this disturbing piece of propaganda as it shows contempt for the truth and was intended to deceive. The editorial staff at the Edmonton Journal is a party to this obvious piece of trash.
William Dorich, Beverly Hills, CA
William Dorich is author of 6 books on Balkan history. His articles have appeared in the Washington Post, The International Herald Tribune and the Wall Street Journal among others. His newest books are: Serbia Faces & Places and Memoirs of a Serbian American Dissident
The image on the right was taken in the hills above Dubrovnik by the Serbian army a month after claims that they bombed and destroyed Dubrovnik....
No comments:
Post a Comment