A nuclear-free Middle East is a dream for us all. The elephant in the room has always been Israel, protected by the US and Western powers because, well, it’s the Jewish state. Don’t disturb the Jews. This news therefore is a little surprising but hopeful: The United States accepted Arab demands to pressure Israel over…
Showing all posts tagged Iran
Iran has the right to be independent, says Chomsky
Where are the mainstream commentators, hacks and journalists who actually challenge American foreign policy towards Iran? It clearly requires an 80 year old to show sense: Prominent American scholar Noam Chomsky says Washington cannot apply its policy of oppression to Tehran, saying it is not in Iran’s nature to follow orders. Speaking in Beirut after…
How’s that Washington, Middle East continuity coming along?
American foreign policy, under Barack Obama, that’s called terrorism if carried out by any other state: The top American commander in the Middle East has ordered a broad expansion of clandestine military activity in an effort to disrupt militant groups or counter threats in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and other countries in the region, according…
Washington and the Muslim world, a testy relationship
Views from across the Arab world: We are now approaching the first anniversary of President Barack Obama’s June 4, 2009 speech in Cairo, which offered Arabs and Muslims around the world a new “engagement” with the United States. A year later, how do Arab publics see the results of that effort–and how much do their…
Australian Zionist lobby defends killing Arabs and doesn’t ask for permission
Following yesterday’s announcement that Australia will be expelling a Mossad agent after Israel’s abuse of passports in the murder of a Hamas official, one of the country’s leading Zionist bodies, AIJAC, released this almost comical statement. Remember, dear readers, murder isn’t murder when Israel is pulling the trigger: The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council said…
Solving the Iran “crisis” really isn’t that difficult (if we want to)
A handy reminder by Noam Chomsky from 2008 that the corporate press have a particular interest in mouthing US foreign policy goals (and all this is relevant in light of the ongoing irrational hatred against the Islamic Republic): To take another illustration of the depth of the imperial mentality, New York Times correspondent Elaine Sciolino…
Liberal Zionism debates what Judaism should be in the 21st century
I’m coming late to this essay but there’s a long piece in the New York Review of Books by Peter Beinart talking about the failure of American Jewish elites and the wider Zionist community to understand the real effects of blind backing for Israel. Arabs are openly loathed and yet liberal, American Jewry is walking…
ABC TV broadcast on internet freedom and anti-censorship
I recently debated in Sydney on the motion that governments shouldn’t censor the internet. ABC TV broadcast the discussion and our team included a robust explanation on the principles of free speech. An edited version of the debate was broadcast tonight on ABC Radio National Big Ideas:
Removing this man without due and fair process shames Australia
With this decision, Australia once again shows itself to be far outside the parameters of international law, making security assessments based on a system completely lacking transparency. I once spoke at this Sydney Islamic centre last year and found an important space to engage Muslims on issues related to the Middle East and re-defining the…
Daddy Zionist, tell me about the day we fought Tehran
What fun-loving Israelis do on the weekend, imagine war scenarios with a nuclear-armed Iran: A nuclear-armed Iran would blunt Israel’s military autonomy, a wargame involving former Israeli generals and diplomats has concluded, though some players predicted Tehran would also exercise restraint. Sunday’s event at a campus north of Tel Aviv followed other high-profile Iran simulations…