Antony Loewenstein

“The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact, non-Westerners never do.”

Samuel P. Huntington

I re-discovered this priceless and accurate comment while re-reading Salam Pax’s old blog. Huntington, of course, is the man who brought us the “Clash of Civilisations” theory – the inevitable confrontation between the West and Islam – and more recently, the Hispanic “threat” to the United States.

In other words, a likely favourite of the US establishment.

Syria can be accused of many things, not least of which is an autocratic regime intolerant of dissent. But, according to Iraq’s former interim Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, Damascus is not assisting militants crossing into Iraq to fight the raging insurgency. Allawi, whose background is suspect at best, made the comments in Cairo this week.

Allawi would have had access to high level intelligence during his time in office. His claims contradict continual accusations by America, Australia and Britain that Syria is behind the rising violence. So whom can our Dear Leaders blame now?

Back on planet Earth, Bush is fighting growing displeasure at home. His answer is to expand Iraqi prisons and arrest more “terrorists”. And what of claims that the US is now talking to “terrorists”? Never negotiate with them, I remember them crowing some time ago. No longer. As I’ve said before, bring back the draft. America is in such dire straights militarily, they may soon have no choice. Support for the war, already plummeting, will decrease even further.

The US lost Iraq militarily months ago. And yet our pro-war commentators and politicians continue to insist Iraq is flowering into a democracy. How much longer will they bury their head in Iraq’s quicksand?

The Committee to Protect Bloggers has moved. The team for all the news that’s fit to publish on bloggers and internet freedom.

A branch has just opened in Singapore, that bastion of Asian economic strength. As for the government’s belief in true democracy, well…

On related matters, a Napalese blog has launched in an attempt to bypass that country’s draconian press restrictions.

How did the Downing Street memo see the light of day? The London Times’ Michael Smith explains.

Ever wanted to know what culinary delicacies are served to inmates at Guantanamo Bay? Worry no more, The Gitmo Cookbook will answer all your questions. American conservative activists reckon this is a way to convince the world that “Gitmo” is a holiday camp under a different name. US Vice President can’t understand the outcry: “There isn’t any other nation in the world that would treat people who were determined to kill Americans the way we’re treating these people”. Prisoners are “living in the tropics”, he says.

How many more reports need to be released to prove the American facility is a travesty of human rights?

An Amnesty spokesperson perfectly expressed the sentiment: “It is not a matter of climate or what food prisoners get, but a question of justice.”

Perhaps we need to remember the words of senior Pentagon official, Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Christino, who claimed in 2004 that intelligence gathered from Guantanamo Bay inmates had failed to stop even one terrorist act and the system of interrogation there was almost guaranteed to produce false confessions.

The Sydney Morning Herald’s Paul Sheehan today informs us that when it comes to the Middle East, “we remain locked in a malignant cliche, a vision of the region and its peoples as seething and dysfunctional, divided between Islamic fundamentalists and those who fear them. Blood and terror is the dominant news story from the Gulf.”

How insightful and original. As usual with Sheehan, the reasons behind such racism aren’t articulated, so let me help. Our mainstream media is a prime culprit. While we remain convinced of “our liberation” of Iraq, America’s supposed belief in democracy and freedom in the region and label anyone who disputes the Bush agenda as terrorists or appeasers, Sheehan’s words, no matter how well intentioned, will fall on deaf ears.

For the real perspective on the Arab world, don’t rely on the Western press. Check out blogs or regional newspapers. Only then do we realise that many in the Middle East have no desire for Western influence or “liberation”.

Wayne Mansfield is a self-confessed “spam king.” Australian authorities claim he has sent tens of millions of spam emails over the last years. Mansfield says that the response rate to spam “is staggeringly high – people wouldn’t do it if it didn’t work”.

He faces penalties of up to $220,000.

Mansfield said the real king of spam was American Scott Richter who sent more than 56 million spam emails an hour.

Can you imagine being jailed for defamation after writing an article that was never published? Welcome to Russia, 2005. Eduard Abrosimov is currently serving seven months detention. The current state of Russia’s fledging democracy is worrying.

Reporters Without Borders places Russia under Putin as a “Predator of Press Freedom“. He joins a distinguished group that include Laos, Libya, Nepal and China.

Iran has a new President. Ultra-conservative Tehran mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is likely to inflame relations between the West and Iran. Vote-rigging has been alleged.

Iranian born Hossein Derakhshan, currently living in Canada, blogs about the likely changes to Iranian society. Suffice to say, he is less than optimistic about the flowering of democracy in his birth country and fears a greater crack-down on the country’s barely functioning freedoms.

Global Voices gathers a round-up of Iranian blog reaction.

“The 14 democratic member nations of the Middle Eastern Union unanimously voted to declare war on the U.S. Monday, calling the North American country a ‘dangerous rogue state that must be contained.’”

Read on.

“It’s easy to criticise from my ergonomic chair. Let’s not forget: [Paul] McGeough is in Iraq and I am not”, wrote Murdoch and pro-war lapdog, Andrew Bolt this week. How does anyone take this man seriously, other than propagandists and those suffering delusions? The war in Iraq is not going well, the American people are wavering and democracy is not taking root. Don’t believe me?

Gen. John Abizaid, the top US commander in the Persian Gulf, gave testimony to the US Congress during the week, and contradicted the upbeat assessments offered by the Prince of Darkness, Dick Cheney. The insurgency is as strong as it was six months ago, he said, and shows no signs of weakening. Cheney continues to claim that the “terrorists” are in their “last throes.”

Blind pro-war supporters have become the laughing stock in this debate. Face reality, people. The insurgency isn’t simply about defeating America and its allies, it’s about ending an occupation that continues to provide no security or basic services. How hard is it for ignorant war-lovers to understand that Iraqis don’t want to be occupied?

Paul McGeough, meanwhile, the subject of numerous attacks this week over his reports from Iraq – and an Australian journalist on the ground contradicting Howard government spin – explains that our leaders have little or no understanding of the tribal nature of Iraq and refuse to see the lessons of the Douglas Wood saga. But how would they? They’re too comfortable, like the Bolts of this world, in their ergonomic chairs.

Der Spiegel reports on the crisis in Darfur. It’s a tragic tale of world indifference, Sudanese viciousness and African Union bungling and buck-passing:

“The world knows exactly what’s happening in western Sudan, but hasn’t taken any serious steps to intervene and put a stop to the conflict between the Arab Islamist central government in Khartoum, together with its Janjaweed helpers, and the primarily black African population in the poverty-stricken western portion of Africa’s largest country (by land mass).”

The Sydney Morning Herald should be congratulated for sending their Middle East correspondent, Ed O’Loughlin, to Sudan in 2004. His reports were placed on the front page and gave Australians a small insight into the horrors of the country. Since then, however, much of our media has paid little more than lip service to the unfolding genocide.

For the Bush administration, Sudan can supposedly supply “key” intelligence in the “war on terror.” Good to see their priorities are clear.