ATLANTA, GA, June 2, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – International news media mogul, Ted Turner, who is hardly renowned for his modesty, has claimed credit for ending the Cold War.
Turner surprised his listeners with this revelation during his speech at CNN’s twenty-fifth anniversary celebrations in Atlanta Georgia. Upon being asked by CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour if he really thought he had a hand in it, Turner responded “I’m absolutely certain I did.”
Turner was not forthcoming with details on exactly how he had caused this event to come about. Critics noted that the ambiguity and scope of the claim resemble Al Gore’s infamous and much mocked remark that he helped “create the internet.”
However, at one point Turner did confess in reference to his goals for CNN that “I thought, between sports and news and television and friendship, that you could end the Cold War and, by God, we did.”
Perhaps in mentioning friendship Turner was thinking of his relationship with Fidel Castro, whom he credits with the inspiration for launching CNN International, which he evidently believes had a profound effect in toppling the Soviet Union. Turner, speaking about a 1982 meeting with the communist leader recounted: “[Castro] said, ‘Ted, the whole world needs CNN. I use it all the time and it’s very important to me.’ So I said, ‘Well, if Castro needs it, certainly the capitalists around the world could use it, and perhaps some other communists too.”
This confession that CNN International was inspired by such a prominent communist world leader is strikingly appropriate. Both Turner and his brainchild, CNN, are well-known for their strongly Marxist and culturally Marxist views. The virulently anti-religious Turner is notorious for his support of eugenic population control, especially in Africa and developing countries, as well as the thoroughly Marxist “New World Order” proposed by the UN.
The flippant and ill thought-out remarks are merely the latest in a long list of Turner’s public ‘faux pas.’ Several times in the past number of years Ted Turner has been forced to issue apologies for publicly mocking the late Pope John II, the Catholic Church, Judeo-Christian values, and religion in general. In the most recent incident of this type of intolerant behaviour he labeled Catholics who wore ashes on Ash Wednesday “Jesus Freaks”.
Throughout the ceremonies in Atlanta Turner professed to be very optimistic about the future of CNN, calling it “the world’s most respected news source”. Many were unsure if his optimism was well founded. The anniversary coincides with the steady plunge of CNN’s ratings with many viewers putting an increasing trust in the more conservative Fox News for its greater fidelity to fact, as opposed to the often controlled and biased reporting of CNN. However, many viewers are known to have been surprised and delighted by CNN’s uncharacteristic, exceptional coverage of the death and funeral of Pope John Paul II.
JJ