Antony Loewenstein

The drum of war approaches:

The five U.N. Security Council powers moved closer to an agreement on Wednesday on a statement that would call on Iran to suspend parts of its suspect nuclear program that could be used to build weapons.

Not unlike Iraq, let’s be under no illusion that the US is only using the UN as a cover for future military or aggressive manoeuvres against Iran. Maybe the Islamic state should threaten to invade Washington DC. Besides:

The George W Bush administration failed to enter into negotiations with Iran on its nuclear program in May 2003 because neo-conservatives who advocated destabilization and regime change were able to block any serious diplomatic engagement with Tehran, according to former administration officials.

The Australian government may be pronouncing its new media rules will increase “diversity“, but that’s not how the US media sees it:

Australia’s plans to overhaul its 20-year-old media laws may provide further opportunities for global media magnates looking to spread their influence.

Multinational media moguls clearly deserve to acquire more assets in their ongoing quest for opening-up minds and disseminating useful information.

Witness the beginnings of a sweet, new relationship in US politics:

Hillary Clinton hasn’t had her Hayman Island moment. Yet.

Hayman is a resort off Queensland, Australia, to which Rupert Murdoch flew Tony Blair in 1995 for the annual conference of his right-of-center media megalith, News Corp.

It was a crucial step in the complex and surprising negotiation between the two men that would boost Labour’s Mr. Blair up the little stoop and through the door at 10 Downing Street two years later.

Now, the spectre of an alliance between Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Murdoch—two of the most powerful and guarded figures in the world—is beginning to whet the appetites of the chattering classes.

At the moment, the two speak of each other (through surrogates) in notably similar terms:

“Senator Clinton respects him and thinks he is smart and effective,” said a spokesman for Mrs. Clinton, Philippe Reines.

“Rupert has respect for her political skills and for the hard work that she’s done as a Senator,” said an executive vice president at News Corp., Gary Ginsberg.

Other evidence is still a bit lean. Lunch has been taken at News Corp.’s midtown headquarters, friendly noises have emanated from the New York Post’s editorial page, and Mr. Murdoch has retained a key advisor to Mrs. Clinton, Howard Wolfson.

Murdoch has a talent for spotting enthusiasm – witness his seduction of Blair in 1995, or was it the other way around? – and likes to be one step ahead of the political curve. The fact that Hilary aspires to imperial arrogance like George W. Bush doesn’t bother the media mogul. After all, the Murdoch empire is still praising the “leadership” and “vision” of Blair.

With Kadima looking like the winner in Israel’s elections – and record low turnout suggests a less than healthy democracy – the colonial mentality is still alive and well in the Jewish state:

Three organizations are busy renovating, upgrading and improving roads in the West Bank in response to the transportation problems created by the Israel Defense Forces barriers and the diversion of Palestinian vehicles to secondary roads. The transportation problems, which are having severe economic and social effects, were described extensively Haaretz this past Monday and Friday.

In recent months the IDF has revised its plan to create a system of roads for contiguous Palestinian traffic. Military sources say this comes from the desire to enable the best possible quality of life for Palestinians. Palestinian sources say the IDF has not officially informed the PA of the new plan.

Eric Haney is a retired command sergeant major of the U.S. Army and a founding member of Delta Force, the military’s elite covert counter-terrorist unit. He tells the LA Daily News that the Iraq war has damaged the US for generations:

Q: What’s your assessment of the war in Iraq?

A: Utter debacle. But it had to be from the very first. The reasons were wrong. The reasons of this administration for taking this nation to war were not what they stated. (Army Gen.) Tommy Franks was brow-beaten and…pursued warfare that he knew strategically was wrong in the long term. That’s why he retired immediately afterward. His own staff could tell him what was going to happen afterward.

We have fomented civil war in Iraq. We have probably fomented internecine war in the Muslim world between the Shias and the Sunnis, and I think Bush may well have started the third world war, all for their own personal policies.

Q: What is the cost to our country?

A: For the first thing, our credibility is utterly zero. So we destroyed whatever credibility we had. … And I say “we,” because the American public went along with this. They voted for a second Bush administration out of fear, so fear is what they’re going to have from now on.

He also talks about the US policy of torturing “terror” suspects and the ability of the Bush administration to throw away the US constitution.

These are the “values” supported by Blair and Howard (and encouraged by the Murdoch followers). The Iraq war – “imperial overreach“, in the words of one commentator – has hastened the increasing irrelevance of the US empire. China is rising, and so is India. By so strongly supporting the US, leaders like Blair and Howard show themselves to be the sycophants they really are. The US era is coming to an end.

While Israel’s mainstream is likely to vote for “racism” in today’s election, some Jews prefer to take the more obvious path:

Several parties who maintain anti-Arab platforms are running for seats in the upcoming Israeli general elections, with at least one having previously called for “relentless terror” against Palestinians.

“Our party calls for cleansing the region extending from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean from the goyim (non-Jews) and thus guaranteeing a Jewish majority of no less than 90% throughout the land of Israel,” he was quoted as saying during a party meeting in West Jerusalem last year.

The Arab world may be filled with vile anti-Semitism, but Jews advocating ethnic cleansing is equally outrageous.

Arguably Iraq’s best blogger is receiving her due recognition in the West:

An anonymous Iraqi woman has become the first blog author to be in the running for a big literary prize for a book published between hard covers.

She lost her job, she told her readers, when it became too dangerous for Iraqi women to travel to work alone. 

Her reflections on the three-year anniversary of the invasion displayed the trauma suffered by so many Iraqis since the country was “liberated.”

Tony Blair may believe that “anti-Americanism” is “madness” and the Iraq war is a noble struggle akin to the fight against the Nazis – who writes such hyperbolic and dishonest nonsense? – but the Iraqi people are struggling to cope with “liberation“:

More than 20% of Iraqis live in abject poverty despite the boost in government’s social security program, a report by the Ministry of Planning reveals.

The sum is much bigger than what civil servants made under former leader Saddam Hussein. But prices have skyrocketed particularly of fuel, rent and other basic needs.

The Australian media has lost all critical faculties during the Blair visit, and their analysis has been typically fawning. It’s worth considering the words of a real journalist, the Guardian’s Richard Norton-Taylor, who recently suggested that the US/UK alliance “has become nothing but one-way traffic”:

A senior British military commander in the invasion of Iraq said the other day that Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, should be tried for war crimes. He was speaking in private and, I assume, did not mean to be taken literally. But there was no mistaking the anger in his voice.

Is it in Britain’s national interest to be so closely allied to a US that takes Britain for granted, to an administration that sets up Guantanamo Bay – where the treatment of prisoners led a high-court judge to remark that “America’s idea of what is torture is not the same as ours and does not appear to coincide with that of most civilised nations”?

This is the path that Australia is following. Once again, the media is content being ciphers for state terror. Blair was told that Iraq would descend into chaos, and yet he talks about “favouring freedom.” He is as contemptible as Milosevic, though his hands are far bloodier.

- “Liberals” used to overlook Israel’s crimes, argues writer Geoffrey Wheatcroft. Not any more.

- The New York Times reveals a British memo detailing pre-Iraq war discussions between Blair and Bush. When Blair told the Australian Parliament today that “we need you“, an appropriate response would have been to deport the British Prime Minister and tell him never to come here again.

- Some Zionists believe that Jews have the right to occupy the Palestinians indefinitely. They won’t be so arrogant when, as is likely in the coming years, sanctions are slapped on Israel. Some Jews in the US, meanwhile, are also opposed to any Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories. United Front for the Land of Israel founder Susan Roth explains:

Olmert’s withdrawal would be a victory for worldwide Islamic terror. It would result in the formation of an al-Qaeda/Islamic Jihad/Iranian-satellite state that would serve as a sanctuary for all kinds of terrorists. The withdrawal would be disastrous for America’s war on terror, for Israel and for the Jewish people.

She’s right, of course. Maintaining the occupation will do wonders for the reputations of Israel and the US.

- A fascinating insight into Thailand’s democratic woes.

- The Guardian reports that Sri Lankan Tamils in the UK are being intimidated by rebel groups looking to fund their cause.

- What happened to the Milosevic directed “genocide“?

- US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is a perfect representative for the Bush administration. He recently spoke at a university in Switzerland and argued that detainees captured by the US have no rights. Newsweek explains:

“War is war, and it has never been the case that when you captured a combatant you have to give them a jury trial in your civil courts,” he says on a tape of the talk reviewed by NEWSWEEK. “Give me a break.” Challenged by one audience member about whether the Gitmo detainees don’t have protections under the Geneva or human-rights conventions, Scalia shot back: “If he was captured by my army on a battlefield, that is where he belongs. I had a son on that battlefield and they were shooting at my son and I’m not about to give this man who was captured in a war a full jury trial. I mean it’s crazy.” Scalia was apparently referring to his son Matthew, who served with the U.S. Army in Iraq. Scalia did say, though, that he was concerned “there may be no end to this war.”.

Scalia and Australian Zionists are like two peas in a pod. As US influence starts to wane around the world, we can look forward to a day when the current superpower no longer operates under its own rules. That day may be closer than we think.

Really.