Showing all posts in June 2019

Should the media be patriotic? Yes, according to a number of Americans rating the performance of their media. The results give an interesting indication that many people believe the media’s role, ipso facto, isn’t to question government spin but rather to promote “American values”, whatever that means. Yet another nail in the coffin of objective…

Remember Judith Miller? She’s the New York Times journalist who was promoting bogus claims of Iraqi WMD before the 2003 invasion. When it was discovered that she had been sourcing her material from none other than fraudster Ahmed Chalabi, she kept her job and remains one of the Times’ key reporters. So much for accountability…

“The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact, non-Westerners never do.” Samuel P. Huntington I re-discovered this priceless and accurate comment while re-reading Salam Pax’s old blog. Huntington, of course, is the man…

Syria can be accused of many things, not least of which is an autocratic regime intolerant of dissent. But, according to Iraq’s former interim Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, Damascus is not assisting militants crossing into Iraq to fight the raging insurgency. Allawi, whose background is suspect at best, made the comments in Cairo this week.…

The Committee to Protect Bloggers has moved. The team for all the news that’s fit to publish on bloggers and internet freedom. A branch has just opened in Singapore, that bastion of Asian economic strength. As for the government’s belief in true democracy, well… On related matters, a Napalese blog has launched in an attempt…

How did the Downing Street memo see the light of day? The London Times’ Michael Smith explains.

Ever wanted to know what culinary delicacies are served to inmates at Guantanamo Bay? Worry no more, The Gitmo Cookbook will answer all your questions. American conservative activists reckon this is a way to convince the world that “Gitmo” is a holiday camp under a different name. US Vice President can’t understand the outcry: “There…

The Sydney Morning Herald’s Paul Sheehan today informs us that when it comes to the Middle East, “we remain locked in a malignant cliche, a vision of the region and its peoples as seething and dysfunctional, divided between Islamic fundamentalists and those who fear them. Blood and terror is the dominant news story from the…

Wayne Mansfield is a self-confessed “spam king.” Australian authorities claim he has sent tens of millions of spam emails over the last years. Mansfield says that the response rate to spam “is staggeringly high – people wouldn’t do it if it didn’t work”. He faces penalties of up to $220,000. Mansfield said the real king…

Can you imagine being jailed for defamation after writing an article that was never published? Welcome to Russia, 2005. Eduard Abrosimov is currently serving seven months detention. The current state of Russia’s fledging democracy is worrying. Reporters Without Borders places Russia under Putin as a “Predator of Press Freedom“. He joins a distinguished group that…