The only real surprise about the release of the declassified CIA documents was the suggestion by Robert Gates that these events belonged to a chapter of the CIA that has been consigned to history. The sad fact is that by today’s standards, these scandalous revelations are not even regarded as extreme. What’s different today is…
Showing all posts in June 2019
Right wing obsession with masculinity
You have to wonder if the right wing’s obsession with icons of masculinity is compensating for something we don’t know about. Anne Coulter, who at least pretends to be a woman, holds up Pat Tillman as the epitome of American masculinity (at least until she found out he was a fan of Chomsky) while deriding…
Media hyperventilate over London “car bomb”
Judging by the headlines, you’d think that London police averted the detonation of a nuke. BRITISH police have defused a car bomb in the heart of London, a week before the second anniversary of the city’s deadly July 7 bombings. A police spokesman confirmed the device was a bomb, and that it was found after…
Killers beware!
Whatever you do, don’t break the law in Saudi Arabia: Saudi authorities on Thursday beheaded a Saudi man convicted of killing a fellow national, the Interior Ministry said. Al-Humaidi Al-Ghamdi shot Aeydh Al-Ghamdi to death after a dispute, the statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency said. It did not explain the nature of…
What is to come?
Alastair Crooke, London Review of Books, June 28: There was no peace process. And, in the view of most Palestinians, there is little prospect of one. On the contrary, the leadership of Hamas – like their colleagues in Hizbullah – are preparing for the long hot summer of regional conflict that inevitably lies ahead. The…
Joined at the hip
A gem from Istaputz. What I’ve done is going to be puzzled over and studied and followed… forever. — John Doe Yes, I may be at 30 percent in the polls, but in 20 or 30 years, they’ll appreciate what I’ve done. — President Bush
Blair given the keys to the liquor cabinet
Blair has landed the job he’s least suited for. This appointment is about as appropriate as giving John Wayne Gacey the responsibility of looking after a day care center. This sends an unambiguous signal to the Middle East. That the US has no intention of establishing peace in the region.
Putin extends Russia’s borders
There’s no stopping Vladimir Putin. The controversial Russian leader is seizing on a finding by Russian geologists that Russian’s northern Arctic region is directly linked to the North Pole via an underwater shelf, and decided that this piece of land should belong to Russia. This is not an insignificant piece of land either. Putin has…
Palestinians probing IDF’s weaknesses
And Israeli Merkava 4 tank was destroyed this week by an anti-tank rocket. This is significant, because it reveals that these weapons are available to the Palestinian resistance. As we saw last year in Lebanon, Hezbollah’s arsenal of anti-tank weaponry had a major influence over the outcome of that conflict.
The way it is
The Western media generally reports the non-Western world in a woefully inadequate way? A CIA prison in Tunisia? Barely registers. Vanity Fair’s latest edition on Africa…that… hardly mentions the Africans? Or the US role in the recent Gaza explosion? Most corporate journalists prefer not to to ask the key questions because the answers are utterly predictable…