While the Bush administration acknowledges that key indicators of the Iraqi economy were better performing before the war and the British government pleads for the public to understand the “ethical” British army – note the Defence Secretary’s concern, and palpable anger, at having to deal with “human rights standards” – perhaps the most intriguing piece…
Showing all posts in June 2019
Democracy rules
As Hamas is sworn into government, and Israel severs contact with the democratically elected entity, it seems the Jewish state has learnt nothing from its history. The occupying power restricted access to Gaza lawmakers to travel to the West Bank and be sworn into power – Mother from Gaza has much more on the day’s…
Iran rises
LA Times, February 18: The Islamic government in neighbouring Iran watched with trepidation in March 2003 when U.S.-led troops stormed Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein’s regime and start remaking the political map of the Mideast. In retrospect, the Islamic Republic could have celebrated: The war has left America’s longtime nemesis with profound influence in the…
Battling over the facts
A fascinating interview between historian Norman Finkelstein and Israel’s former Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami. Such honest debates are rare on the Israel/Palestine conflict.
Creeping apartheid
Amira Hass, Haaretz, February 17: A military order that took effect last week bars Palestinians with permits to enter Israel from entering via the roads that Israelis use to enter the country from the West Bank. The order also forbids Israelis to transport Palestinians with valid entry permits via these roads. Instead, Palestinians must enter…
Too good to be true
I recently received this spam email from a “family member” of the former PLO leader, Yasser Arafat. Sadly, corruption was indeed rampant in the Palestinian Authority: From Nadia Arafat 202, Kamel El Shennawi Street, Garden City, Cairo, Egypt. Attention dear, In The Name of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful Aselamu Aleikum. Forgive my…
Blinded by Iran
New information suggests that the US is intentionally flying blind on Iran. The report details the job of Valerie Plame, the outed CIA agent. She may have been working on tracking Iran’s suspected WMD program and was deliberately sabotaged, “leaving the field open for the neocons and their foreign operatives to move into the vacuum…
Telling them where to go
An appropriate way to deal with Australia’s new “security” environment: “American rocker and writer Henry Rollins was reported to the National Security hotline during his recent Australian tour because of a book he was reading on a flight to Brisbane. A furious Rollins was informed he was “nominated as a possible threat” for reading Jihad:…
Targetting “them”
Murdoch’s Australian engages in modern-day McCarthyism: A Deakin University lecturer has defended terrorism waged by Islamic jihadists overseas and “unequivocally” backed the Iraqi insurgency that has killed thousands of Westerners and Muslims. Nasya Bahfen, a business communications lecturer at the Melbourne-based university, said that although she did not support suicide bombing as a means of…