A classic case of America’s establishment protecting its own (via the Washington Post). It’s why the United State’s constant claims of “spreading democracy” around the world hasn’t even started at home: As John Brennan moved into the CIA director’s office this month, another high-level transition was taking place down the hall. A week earlier, a…
Showing all posts in June 2019
If I ruled the world
I was asked by Osman Faruqi, editor of the University of New South Wales student newspaper Tharunka, to write a column: The role of the US hegemony is over. Washington no longer controls the world by charm and force. It’s a multipolar planet with countless centres of power. Wouldn’t this be something to celebrate? In…
Daily brutality in Syria’s Aleppo
Remarkable footage by German filmmaker Marcel Mettelsiefen for Britain’s Channel 4:
Noam Chomsky delivers 2013 Edward Said lecture in London
On 18th March, Chomsky spoke on, “Violence and Dignity – Reflections on the Middle East”:
US-trained death squads in Iraq are our legacy
A remarkable documentary, by the Guardian and BBC Arabic, on the role of US-funded death squads in Iraq via torture skills honed in Latin America during the “dirty wars“. Powerful, explicit and brutal (though there are critics), such films are essential to challenge the spurious argument that the war was anything to do with freedom…
Two-state solution in Palestine dead, buried and cremated
Last year I co-edited a book with Ahmed Moor called After Zionism (re-issued this week with an updated introduction). It’s about the one-state solution and the reasons this outcome is the most just for both Israelis and Palestinians. This piece in Salon discusses, after Barack Obama’s visit to Israel and Palestine last week, the illusion…
Radio Live in New Zealand on 10 year anniversary of Iraq war
The ten year anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq will leave the media agenda now. It should not. The country we invaded and occupied remains broken. I was interviewed this morning by New Zealand’s Radio Live about the conflict (starting at 19.52).
Israeli Jews thank Obama for backing their apartheid state
The following protest took place outside the US embassy in Tel Aviv on March 22:
How anti-Semitism became normalised in the British Muslim community
Mehdi Hasan writes in the New Statesman about an issue that receives far too little coverage: Growing up, I always assumed that this obsession with “the Jews” was a hallmark of the “first-generation” immigrants from the subcontinent. In recent years, I’ve been depressed to discover that there are plenty of “second-generation” Muslim youths, born and…
Obama damns Israeli occupation but will do nothing to stop it
The expectations around Barack Obama in Israel and Palestine were low. This visit was all about showing love for Israel and Zionism with a touch of criticism if it wouldn’t upset his hosts. Noam Sheizaf at +972 correctly explains that pretty words aren’t useful in this conflict: Measuring the value or effect of a speech…