Freedomland
May 18, 2008
‘Petraeus and Crocker pretend Iraq is a state. Everyone goes along.’ by William S. Lind
In the second week in April, the world’s most elaborate kabuki theater, Washington, offered a stunning performance. America’s two consuls for Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus and Amb. Ryan C. Crocker, gave Congress and the world their appreciation of the situation in that unhappy country. Senators and congressmen listened with rapt attention. The three presidential candidates, aka the three blind mice, postured and preened in the great men’s presence. The press hung on every word. Analysts and columnists parsed their meaning.
As with theater, none of it was real.
Both Crocker and Petraeus spoke of Iraq as if it were a state. Crocker referred to “The passage of the 2008 [Iraqi] budget, with record amounts for capital expenditures, [which] ensures that the federal and provincial governments will have the resources for public spending.” He spoke of “the development of Iraq’s Council of Representatives as a national institution.” He cautioned that “there is still very much to be done to bring full government control to the streets of Basra.” In a similar vein, General Petraeus repeatedly referred to Iraqi Security Forces, noting, “An increasingly robust Iraqi-run training base enabled the Iraqi Security Forces to grow by over 3,000 soldiers and police over the past 16 months.” He assured Congress, “Iraq’s security ministries are steadily improving their ability to execute their budgets.”
Atrocity Without Borders
May 17, 2008
Damadola, in Bajaur, Pakistan struck by 2-drone missiles; US suspected to be behind bombing
More Here
Like Daughter, Like Pops
May 17, 2008
A couple of months back Angelina Jolie visited Iraq to furnish occupiers with photo ops and, after a meeting with Gen. David Petraeus and neocon Paula Dobriansky, announced to the world that ‘the surge’ was working. (Purportedly there to investigate the plight of the refugees, she declared the best thing for them was the presence of yet more US soldiers). Now her father, Jon Voight, is on a junket dispensing equally profound advice. Ha’aretz reports:
Academy Award winning actor Jon Voight is currently in Israel to express his fervent support for the Jewish people and his opposition to exchanging land for peace with the Palestinians.
On Tuesday, Voight visited Sderot, the western Negev town that suffers regular Qassam rockets strikes from the Gaza Strip.
One Palestine Complete
May 17, 2008
The solution to the conflict originated by Israel is a Palestinian State, writes Agustin Velloso in today’s guest editorial. Both the one-state and two-state arguments are generally framed in a context of Israeli ‘concessions’. It was the Palestinians who were wronged, and it is their land that was stolen; a discourse would only be meaningful if it is framed in terms of what concessions they are willing to make. It is time to rethink existing proposals, and move towards a third way based on justice, rather than expedience.
1. One State or Two?
The number of articles and statements about the solution to the Palestinian conflict has increased notably during 2008. The increase accompanies the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel, established on May 14th, 1948. Millions of Palestinians have suffered the consequences since then. Israel was established and exists at the expense of the Palestinian people.
All these years Israel has shown clearly that its existence is incompatible with the human and political rights of the Palestinians as human beings and as a people. It is well-known that Palestinians have to pay a price, no matter how high, in death, exile, occupation that Israel considers appropriate for making the Zionist project in Palestine a success. This project turns on the acquisition of Palestinian and Arab lands for the exclusive benefit of the Jews from all over the world, together with the exclusion of their legitimate inhabitants.
Neither the numerous United Nations Resolutions devoted to the Palestinian conflict, nor the widespread and repeated criticism of Israel’s policies and acts, let alone Palestinian demands and resistance, have managed to stop the Zionist project.
Are Politicians Failing Our Lobbyists?
May 16, 2008
Panelists discuss the alarming trend of politicians who break their promises to the lobbyists who helped elect them.
Saudi v Syrian media
May 16, 2008
Syrian Media – The Challenge and the Need to Act. This article from Syriacomment.com by by Averroes is a revealing analysis of the Arab media wars.
With the latest events in Lebanon, Saudi channel Alarabiya is again doing what it does best, inflaming Arab public opinion against Shiites, Syria, and the Lebanese Opposition, and it is doing so using the most recklessly sectarian language imaginable. The words Shiite, Sunni, Ta’ifi (sectarian,) and Alawite, are being repeated at an alarming rate on this and similar “Moderate Arab” media outlets, in reference to the political situations in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. In spite of the fact that the two sides of the power struggle in Lebanon have Sunnis, Shiites, Christians, and Druze, Alarabiya and other similar media outlets are adamant on painting everything with the ugly sectarian color.
Why Should we Trust Storytellers?
May 16, 2008
Adrian Monck, author of Can you trust the Media?, in the Guardian examining the medias obsession with building trust. For more try his blog Views on the News Biz.
Why do media organisations want to wallow in trust like hippos in mud? They want to roll in it until they’re covered from head to toe. When it dries up, thanks to dodgy editing on a royal documentary promo or phoney phone competitions, such as on Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, right, the mud cracks and it’s a “crisis”.
Trust has become a key concern in our media-obsessed age. It is the currency of Nick Davies’ Flat Earth News, in which he despairs of journalism as a profession but refuses to give it up. It may be broken, but Davies still believes what he does can somehow restore the sacred covenant between the reporter and the public through honest graft and shoe leather.
All this is well and good, but forgets one thing: the media are in the business of grabbing your attention. And that business becomes more competitive every day.
Obama vs. The Lobby
May 16, 2008
‘No matter how much he grovels, it’s never enough’, writes Justin Raimondo.
Poor Obama. No matter how much he tries to placate the Israel lobby, they just won’t take yes for an answer. The Lobby has been after him for months, trying to dig up “evidence” that someone with the middle name of “Hussein” is necessarily an enemy of Israel. The best they could come up with so far were the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s jeremiads, which didn’t have much of an effect at the polls, as the North Carolina and Indiana primary results – and subsequent national polls – attest.
Yet Obama still keeps trying to appease the Lobby. He’s purged staff members who so much as looked cross-eyed at the Israelis, such as one poor adviser who meekly suggested that talking to Hamas might not be such a bad idea. He was out faster than you can say Mearsheimer and Walt.
Racists for Hillary
May 16, 2008
Obama faces racism in West Virginia: Many blue collar Democrats are not ready for a black President.
Two Labour Strikes, a Strategy and One Reality
May 16, 2008
Today’s guest editorial on developments in Egypt and Lebanon from regular Fanonite contributor Alberto Cruz of CEPRID.
On April 6th a general strike was called in Egypt. One month later, on May 7th, another one was called in Lebanon. The causes were the same in both countries: calls for an increase in the minimum wage and improvements to workers’ statutory benefits and also to protest against the neoliberal, IMF-friendly, pro-Western political attitudes of the respective governments. The responses of the Egyptian and Lebanese governments were the same, although with different results: attempts to defuse the protests with repression, confronting the people and increasing the minimum wage as a last resort. The media account of the two strikes was the same too: minimizing the effects of the protest in government and international media, while the few media that can be described as independent in these countries reflected the strike calls’ success.
