A lengthy video is being circulated online round KL in which two self-styled ‘American geo-political analysts’ attack the new Malaysian PM for being allegedly ‘anti-China’ and a tool of ‘US imperialism’.
Part of the rambling attack on Anwar by these relative unknowns consists of denials that the previous BN government had been corrupt or that the 1MDB scandal was genuine.
The self-podcasters concerned are a conspiracy ‘vlogger’ who names himself Brian Berletic/Tony Cartalucci and his guest, Angelo Giuliano, a regular critic of ‘western imperialism’ on Russia’s state TV station
Indeed, the vloggers spend several minutes complaining that the 1MDB scandal was a fabrication concocted by the author of this blog acting as an alleged agent of secret services from the USA.
They appear to conclude from some ‘deep research’ that no money was stolen and the whole expose was merely a lie to tarnish an innocent Najib …. so that many years later, after so many ups and downs, Anwar could become PM and pursue an alleged anti-China agenda.
Tell that to Goldman Sachs because they will be asking for the return of their fines, as will numerous other global banks and organisations who have likewise admitted to money laundering offences over the $5 billion that were first borrowed and then stolen by Najib and Jho Low.
read Youtube transcript:
…. the reason I wanted to bring this up is the link because guess what the first step really one of the first steps the new [PH] government [of 2018] took it froze Chinese infrastructure Investments because it had opened the books and discovered that there was a lot of funny money swishing around what had been this very corrupt closed unaccountable system right and so there was a big corruption cleanup and there is a big kind of a deep dive on foreign influence in this country this is not a hugely pro-American country
It’s probably never going to be an actual U.S Ally um but this is going to redown to our benefit right and and that’s an example of the long game thank you okay so I mean it couldn’t be clear he’s telling you they meddled in Malaysian elections they got in opposition they wanted into Power they’re sitting in the office together uh to get to get the foreign policy shaped in the direction Washington wants and will benefit from not Malaysia and so uh who do you think he was talking about one of the people running the government he’s obviously he’s talking about Anwar Ibraham. Anwar Ibraham is in Washington with these people and these people are in Malaysia with Anwar Ibrahim and the people around him that’s what just happened in Malaysia from 2018 onward this is what’s been going on and before that this is who the Ed wanted to get into power and now I I hear people say well Brian Malaysia is like I see it in the comment section right now Brian it’s such a corrupt country there’s all of these CR all these scandals taking place and the government is this and the government is that and I just want to ask you uh who told you that who told you that the government it is corrupt or that there’s this Scandal or that Scandal who are these media organizations and what is their motivation?
I see this one right here this is a great one the one MDB scam we’ve we’ve heard about this it’s funny how enthusiastic the Western media was to talk all about this scam. Who broke that who’s who was the one doing the uh investigation let’s take a look. A lot of people might not know this it’s the uh Sarawak report it certainly sounds like it’s a Malaysian media organization doesn’t it but it’s actually run by a white woman in the UK she lives in the UK she does not live in Malaysia and it even says right here a Sarawak report at its sister organization Radio free Sarawak Radio free Sarawak uh it’s it’s a play on Radio free Europe Radio free Asia the US government funded propaganda Outlets uh so it’s uh founded by Sarawak born but now living in the UK and and not Malaysian in any way investigative journalist Clare Rewcastle Brown in 2010 and they talk about uh down here how it was you know leading the charge with this one MDB scandal.
Who who who funds her where did she get her money from uh who is she associated with? Well she talks about these awards that she’s won so the IPI International press institute’s free media Pioneers award in 2013. so here is uh International press Institute supporters and partners National Endowment for democracy she talks about uh this communication for social change award so that’s uh this one right here it’s part of the communication initiative Network who funds that uh come down here it’s the British government the department for International Development that’s the British government right there the BBC and uh look this is her Time Magazine writing an article about her The Accidental whistleblower how a retired London journalist uncovered massive corruption half a world away.
She has nothing to do with Malaysia she was born there uh maybe when it was still a British colony or right after getting Independence uh she’s a former London uh journalist with who who do you think the BBC she was with the BBC British State media uh a sec a secretarial job and then she was a researcher and then promoted to assistant producer and you know uh her last name Brown because she married uh the brother of former UK prime minister Gordon Brown okay so uh Angelo I’m I’m laying out all of these facts Anwar Ibraham he’s in he’s in the United States he’s in Washington with the Ned specifically the Ned is in Malaysia with him in his opposition specifically this this media platform that broke this you know Scandal that we kept hearing about she’s a white woman who lives in the UK who’s Associated directly with the British and also the U.S government oh one I I almost forgot this one one last one actually I’ll let you get a word in edgewise Malaysiakini when I when I exposed Malaysiakini’s U.S government funding nobody believed me they said there’s no possible way Malaysia keaney because they make you pay to read their propaganda but yes it is right here Malaysia Kini and uh accountability and transparency which you know good for them they they have written it down somewhere but nobody knows this for whatever reason funding Canada the Netherlands National Endowment for democracy and also open Society Institute so all of these media organizations telling you how corrupt the Malaysian government is these are funded by the US government and I see the exact same thing here in Thailand I see the the U.S backed opposition
oh Brian the
government here is so corrupt it’s more corrupt than anything anyone is better than this government it’s not true it
simply isn’t true they are they are lying they’re paid to lie by the US government to lie Angelo uh what do you
think about all of this no I I get I get uh I understand people
where they’re coming from there’s lots of frustration and in this this reaction you know electing regret you know for 60
years you have always this the the you know that that uh the same government and the people won’t change you know
it’s out of frustration and then and why Ibrahim is a is what we call a chameleon
he’s been he’s been flirting with everyone everyone you know it was with the radicals Muslim radicals now he’s
coming he’s coming with a with a more concealed conciliatory tone you know about Unity you know just let’s not be
true radicals when it comes to to your uh to Muslim states uh let’s let’s
promote you Unity because there are ethnic tensions you know and this is why
it’s getting 85 percent of the the Chinese vote in uh in Malaysia because because Chinese are you know they tend
to be more liberal and they’re kind of afraid of this radicalization so is actually
tailoring to these those people but in reality you need to look at the person
is being groomed by the West you know he’s being his entire life his entire
life he was selected first you know it was in Times magazine in 96 you know when you this is what happened on saying
when before being you know popular you know and and known in the in Taiwan as
she promoted and grew by the west and then one day she comes in Two Times magazine and then and then Taiwanese
they say oh well you know she’s recognized abroad you know I mean maybe she’s a good person that’s the same that’s the same they did you know I look
at the coverage of Anwar Ibrahim from Western media over the last 20 years
they’ve been preparing for that for a long time wait and it’s you know and it’s it’s about investing to the the
political parties investing to Media like Malaysia kidney and and into lots
of others ngos that corporate you know with the Anwar Ibrahim you know and then
and then his background I mean you know he was working for the IMF and the World Bank and I saw a mess as someone like
mentioning he’s the replica of a dragon in Italy you know
Our response to this interesting interpretation of the worldwide scandal? Let’s put it this way, one can confidently conclude that the apparently prolific online self-podcaster ‘Brian Joseph Thomas Berletic’ has no degree from any accredited school and has never been hired by a reputable news organisation.
This is simply because he does not meet the basic standards of research discipline, starting with substantiating one’s allegations with evidence and logic.
Instead, he fulfills all the criteria for a paid propagandist or narcissistic self-publicist at best.
Neither does he take the basic step of inviting easily accessible targets to comment on his deductions nor does he pursue his research in any other direction than the rabbit hole he is bent on heading into.
It is all rambling, self-certified innuendo and nonsense of the type that could equally conclude that King Charles is Jack the Ripper or that the ninety year old next door is also working for the CIA.
Like many of his ilk, Bertelic starts on an assumption that the Sarawak Report editor is in the secret pay of someone – ignoring the donation button on our site that has been the source of SR’s limited income for several years i.e. generous Malaysian readers.
He also ignores the email address for all enquiries to which he could have addressed his rambling allegations. Perhaps that is all too much like real work on the part of a genuine seeker for the truth?
Even more work would be entailed in reading the no less than two full length books detailing exactly how SR came into being and why, of course.
Which is presumably the reason for Mr B’s constant questioning as to “why? why? why?” would a ‘white woman’ who was ‘merely born in Malaysia’ care about the subsequent destruction of an environmental gem and the abuse of its indigenous peoples?
The answers are fully explained in the book The Sarawak Report. However, there is a warning for Mr B that it is 500 pages long. He predictably prefers to stick to a rabbit hole analysis extrapolating from a couple of paras on the SR website instead.
He finds these to be stacked with suspicious ‘red flags’ born out of his apparent world view: for example, that the editor is white, meaning she should not care about the region; that one of the editor’s former employers was the BBC (in the 1980s); that one of the several non-financial awards of recognition received by the SR/RFS project came from the International Press Institute (which apparently receives donations from US sources amongst others); that the editor is connected by marriage to a prominent political figure in the UK ….
From these items of information Mr B feels free to leap to the dramatic allegation that SR’s editor is secretly paid by the United States government to apparently undermine China’s interests in the region!
Our specific sin? That we are acknowledged for the scoop exposure of 1MDB that so badly tarnished the BN administration of Najib Razak (in return for influence China had assisted Najib’s 1MDB cover-ups).
Perhaps this ‘analyst’s’ research has not updated to the present situation, whereby the same Najib has been confirmed guilty by Malaysia’s own highest court in the land during Najib’s own party’s term of office and now languishes in the luxury VVVIP wing of Kajang jail – a crook by common consent?
It is certainly possible that this self-podcaster is unaware of SR’s complete vindication in the matter, given he plainly informs himself mainly by ranting at the mirror.
SR could of course, given the gravity of Brian/Joseph/Thomas’s allegations, and the laughable lack of evidence to back any of them up (you can’t prove what isn’t true) take the man to some libel court. However, that would dignify nonsense.
We will simply throw his logic and line of questioning back at him which we will direct first to the email [email protected] which apparently has been revealed to be an acknowledged ‘front’ identity for his truly.
In the event he does not respond, this article will appear within 24 hours on SR with the capacity to be updated should Mr Bertelec/Cartalucci eventually reply. Our questions are these:
1) According to his own logic and by virtue of the fulsome but unsubstantiated attack he has made on the new Malaysian PM for allegedly being in favour of ‘imperialist’, ‘murderous’ and ‘autocratic’ American forces against alleged Chinese interests in the region, we assume him to be a paid propagandist for the Chinese government. Does he deny it?
2) Given he assumes others go online only for money we assume that is why he goes online. Does he publish his accounts?
3) Is he being funded by Jho Low out of China or via Jho Low’s legal representatives in the US, like so many other paid PR outfits and propagandists are documented to have been?
4) Has he thought of going to journalism school or training in a newsroom as he plays being a journalist rather a lot?
5) Why are his videos being prolifically circulated around Chinese circles in Malaysia and the likes of Tic Tok – it certainly looks like a state propaganda exercise, is it?
6) How does a ‘white man’ like him justify his audacity in pronouncing on political and geo-political matters relating to the region (indeed even living in Bangkok), given that, according to him, a ‘white woman’ is not supposed to concern herself with environmental and indigenous rights matters in the region which are driven by global corrupt practice?
7) If he was sent a copy of the Sarawak Report….. does he think he would manage to read it, because all the answers to his conspiracy theories as to the motive behind that project are contained in the book?
8) We he to read the book he would understand that the editor of SR first met with Anwar Ibrahim in 2007 whilst reporting on the ground in Sarawak on the eco-destruction of the state. She heard the opposition leader was in the market place in Lubock Antu canvassing local voters in a by-election she had come to witness, so she chased him for an interview. Usually facts are more interesting than fiction, why not try sticking to them?
Sarawak Report did not receive an immediate response to its email.