Andy in Scotland 🏴󠁧clean the air/stop the spread

HERE'S WHAT THE WORLD WAS TOLD YESTERDAY: Suspected Iran-linked terrorists were caught with vans filled with explosives near a US airbase in the UK. US president Donald Trump said his intelligence people had been watching the men for a “long time” because they “were looking to do big damage”. This morning, what do we learn? The story above is all WRONG. - It has now been revealed that “no explosive material had been found” in the vehicles, police said. - The vans contained diesel, the value of which has soared because of unnecessary conflicts, such as the US-Israel attack on Iran. - The vehicles were branded “Fuel 2You”, suggesting they were openly transporting fuel. - Also, “All five men were British Nationals”. - Further, no tip-off came from US intelligence but from a local farmer in her 50s who called the police after seeing men with white vans. - Photos turned out to have been creatively spun out of one blurred original by an OpenAI program. - Most notably, all the men were released on bail, indicating that they were not considered dangerous. . WHAT A DIFFERENCE What a difference a day makes. It’s worth recalling what yesterday’s headlines actually said. “Counter-terror police investigate Iran link over suspected bomb plot at RAF base used by US,” the Guardian said. “Five men arrested on terrorism charges after explosives found near RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire”. The photos with added AI-generated faces were shared on social media by several groups, including the British Army Veterans Group, and spread quickly, viewed at least 1.6 million times. It’s certainly valid to report that men apparently acting suspiciously were found in part of rural Britain near an airbase, RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire. That’s no excuse to report that they had vans of explosives to blow up an airbase and point the finger at Iran. . THE REAL STORY As people with a little healthy skepticism know, the actual truth (as opposed to what the headlines say) can usually be found buried deep inside the text. And so it is with this story. The very last paragraph of the latest report on this tale in the Guardian says that the UK’s Iranian embassy said the reports of this being an Iranian operation were false, and pointed to the real illegality in the conflict: "The circulation of such fabricated speculations, particularly in the aftermath of the criminal acts of aggression committed by the United States and the Israeli regime against the Iranian people, will serve no purpose other than to fuel Iranophobia propaganda in the UK." The irony, of course, is that diesel thefts have soared worldwide as the doubling of prices have led to literally millions of people being unable to run their factories and vehicles. A global fuel crisis was triggered by the US-Israel attack on Iran on February 28—which the UN has agreed is an ongoing war crime. And can we name one of the bases the US is using for its operations? Yes. RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, UK. . .