Russia re-fuels its propaganda war with Jeremy Clarkson jokes
Russian media has seized upon a joke made by Jeremy Clarkson to create their most laughable piece of propaganda yet – that Brits are on the verge of eating each other.
TsargradTV – owned by Vladimir Putin-supporting businessman Konstantin Malofeev – suggested that Britain has been left so destitute from supporting sanctions against it, that there is a “risk of cannibalism”.
The outlet describes Russia and Belarus as the world’s “largest suppliers of food and fertilisers” and because those supplies are now being hampered by economic penalties imposed by the west over the Ukraine invasion, Brits and other nations, are starving.
In a report, TsargradTV quotes Clarkson from a piece he wrote for The Sunday Times, joking that it is only a matter of time before “people eat their neighbours”.
Using the article as its source, the Russian channel said – in a rough translation into English – “journalists begin to say terrible things aloud, reminding them of the risk of cannibalism”.
Published on Monday, with a photo of two cavemen standing next to some Union Jack bunting, the TsargradTV story – titled Cold, Hunger, Cannibalism: London fell into its own Ukrainian pit – claims it is publishing “No malice. Only facts”, the Mirror reported.
“Things are not going well in the UK,” it begins.
“While politicians are playing into the Ukrainian crisis, their own population is preparing for starvation.”
It goes on to say: “Europe is seeing an explosion in prices, and politicians are talking about the threat of mass starvation. In some cities of Britain, a state of emergency is introduced due to food shortages.”
Britain is indeed facing a cost of living crisis with taxes, fuel, energy, and food prices soaring.
Ofgem earlier this week warned the average energy bills will rocket by another £800 in October to £2,800.
TsargradTV has used the crisis to garner support for its faltering invasion of Ukraine.
It suggests the sanctions imposed on Russia by the west simply “destroyed supply chains” to its own people and appears to paraphrase a section of Clarkson’s Times column from May 15, in which he warns food supplies could be drastically hit by the reduction of grain and rise in the cost of fertiliser.
However, it takes it completely literally.
Clarkson’s supply chain remarks were far less dramatic. He wrote: “Politicians say they are ‘monitoring the situation’, which means they aren’t doing anything at all, but one day they will have to because while people can live without heat or clothing or even sex, they cannot live without food.”
Related links:
- Jeremy Clarkson is scared people will turn to cannibalism as food shortages sweep the world
- I messaged 100 pro-Russia commenters to see if they were bots – here’s what they said
- UK journalists sent videos of graphic murders of Russian soldiers in ‘propaganda’ campaign
