Antony Loewenstein

A Tiny Revolution reveals a surprising fact about Iraq’s leadership:

“New Republic Senior Editor Lawrence Kaplan recently spent time in Iraq. Among the things he witnessed was this“:

On the day the preliminary results of December’s elections were announced, [Iraq's Prime Minister Ibrahim] Jafari invites the election commissioners for dinner. The liberal activist Mustafa Al Kadhimiy wrangles two invitations…

As a television in the corner of the room conveys images of the carnage outside, Jafari admits to being partial to the works of Noam Chomsky. Why won’t Chomsky come to Iraq? he asks.

“I think it’s safe to say that – of all the possible futures the Bush administration may have considered when they invaded Iraq – one thing they didn’t anticipate was ending up with a Chomsky fan as prime minister.”

Two recent court cases in vastly different corners of the globe prove the need to monitor Western multinationals in developing countries.

Nigeria: A Nigerian court on Friday ordered Royal Dutch Shell PLC to pay southern communities $1.5 billion (1.2 billion euros) in compensation for environmental pollution and degradation in the oil-rich Niger Delta.

Argentina: Ford Motor Company has been charged in an Argentine court with playing a direct part in the illegal detention, torture and “disappearances” of its own workers under the dictatorship that ruled the South American country from 1976 to 1983. The US automaker is accused in both a criminal and a civil lawsuit filed this week of carrying out “management terrorism” under the military regime in order to suppress worker militancy at its Argentine production plants.

It’s encouraging to know that the BBC was prepared for armageddon:

In the event of all-out nuclear war, the BBC was to distract the nation by broadcasting a mix of music and light entertainment shows, secret papers released by the Home Office reveal.

Hundreds of security-vetted BBC staff and a select band of unnamed radio artistes were to be clandestinely dispatched to transmission sites across the country at the first signs of international tension.

In the event of an attack today by a rogue US president, may I suggest the BBC broadcast this program indefinitely?

Hamas’s new prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, Washington Post, February 26:

“We do not have any feelings of animosity toward Jews. We do not wish to throw them into the sea. All we seek is to be given our land back, not to harm anybody.”

Read the whole interview. It’s a fascinating insight into current Hamas thinking. It is impossible to know if he is telling the truth, but it’s important to begin negotiations based on his comments that Hamas is willing to establish an independent Palestinian state if Israel withdraws to 1967 borders.  Another Hamas victor in recent elections discusses his ideas about Danish cartoons, Israel’s occupation and Palestinian statehood.

Meanwhile, former Israeli military heads are facing charges of war crimes in the US. The Israeli ambassador to the US claims that both men were merely enforcing Israel’s war against terror and bear no personal responsibility for actions that killed innocent Palestinians. Sounds like a familiar defence.

The situation in Iraq is worsening by the day as more evidence emerges of death squads roaming the country. US influence is thankfully waning and average Iraqis are suffering. Blogger Truth About Iraq explains:

This has to be the most corrupted incompetent government ever assembled by US foreign policy. It doesn’t function on so many different levels. But then again, this government was never about governance, but sowing dissent. This dissent was planted in the early days by the Iraq Governing Council and now it is bearing fruit. 

Iraq Pundit blames the Western media for misunderstanding the situation:

Iraqis have been working hard to avoid a real civil war in the midst of suicide bombings, killings and kidnappings. But the media prefer to ignore these efforts and instead choose to focus on the aggressive acts of Moktada Al Sadr’s gang.

I really hope that these reporters are just as wrong as they have been in the past. Those who have followed the Iraq story carefully might recall that if we were to believe press reports, there would have been no constitution written, there would have been no elections, and the Sunnis would never have joined the government.

Jennifer Loewenstein, Counterpunch, February 24:

For those who haven’t noticed, Israel opposes a two-state solution. It has been doing everything in its power to prevent a Palestinian state from emerging and will continue to do so as long as it can count on the complicity of its powerful friends and on abundant popular indifference. Under such circumstances, it is incumbent upon ourselves to ask why Hamas has therefore been ordered – by Israel and its same powerful friends – to accept “the two-state solution” especially when, unlike Israel, it has stated clearly and repeatedly that it would accept a Palestinian state on the lands occupied by Israel in the 1967 war, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. Indeed, all of its key spokespeople have said this: Zahar, Haniye, Meshal, and Yassin and Rantisi before they were murdered.

The latest fashion accessory for the 2006 World Cup in Germany is already causing waves in Israel. Who says the Dutch don’t have questionable taste?

Meanwhile, authorities in Tajikistan are demolishing the country’s only synagogue.

The Israel Project is a Zionist propaganda unit based in the US. They’ve recently released a TV advertisement that reminds viewers: “They [Palestinians] turn perfectly healthy children into hateful robots…” It is about as useful as telling Americans that all Israeli soldiers are baby-killers or that all Jews hate Palestinians and Arabs.

Ramallah Online wants an end to the “hate speech” and a campaign against Comcast for screening the offensive ads:

Comcast needs to know that you feel this grossly discriminatory ad, sponsored by The Israel Project, depicting an entire race and generation of children as “hateful killing robots”, is a clear form of bigotry and racism! These ads are neither informative nor educational. They are simply promoting racist perceptions rather than facts.

As with so much of the anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab and anti-Muslim material in the West these days, the sheer hypocrisy of the message is striking. When an Arab newspaper publishes an anti-Semitic article or cartoon, it is rightly condemned. When an American or Israeli organisation pumps out derogatory material against the new, socially acceptable punching bag, barely a murmur is heard. If you’re the Australian Prime Minister, of course, displaying base ignorance about Islam is almost expected.

London Mayor Ken Livingstone is suspended for offending a Jewish journalist:

The Mayor of London has denounced government watchdogs who today punished him with a four-week suspension from office for comparing a Jewish reporter to a Nazi concentration camp guard.

Mr Livingstone, who has consistently refused to apologise for his comments despite pleas from the Jewish community, hit back by saying that the ruling: “strikes at the heart of democracy”.

I tend to agree. Livingstone should have apologised – his original comment was insensitive and clearly offended many people – but many of his critics have long disliked him for his strong views on Israel and Zionism. This one-month suspicion will achieve little, however, but perhaps it will cause a healthy debate about free speech for elected officials and the power of an unelected panel.

The New York Post on February 21 defames Norman Finkelstein:

Lewis “Scooter” Libby is an author, patriot and friend of democracy. Well, according to a new website raising money for his legal costs, he “has been one of the unsung heroes in fighting the war on terror, working diligently and making countless contributions on some of the most critical life and death issues that our country has faced.”

Shame about all that lying.

UPDATE: Note Libby’s advisory committee members, including Bernard Lewis, Dennis Ross, James Woolsey and Francis Fukuyama.