Showing all posts in June 2019

Conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan, October 25: “I have to say that as someone who trusted the administration not to consciously lie or mislead about their evidence for Saddam’s WMDs, I’d be pretty pissed if it turned out they did. We have no solid evidence for that, though. Yet.” Sullivan’s unholy belief in the truthfulness of…

– Tell me something I don’t know. Who knew stenography paid so well? – The neo-cons are restless. Here’s Lawrence Kaplan, senior editor at The New Republic, discovering that freedom, democracy and roses won’t be coming any time soon in Iraq (perhaps he should have left his ideology at the door before and realised it…

Ariel Sharon recommends a book.

Juan Cole examines the tangled web between the New York Times, Rupert Murdoch, a post 9/11 America and patriotism in the run-up to Iraq war: “The NYT had no sources to speak of inside the Bush administration, a real drawback in covering Washington, because it was a left of centre newspaper in a political environment…

A legend passes on. Her bravery will be remembered.

The Zionist lobby likes to believe that anti-Semitism is just below the surface of anybody who dares criticise Israel. It’s a powerful argument, though palpably false. Few journalists or politicians wants to be tarred with the anti-Semitic brush, but then, how else to rationally debate Israel and its brutal occupation of nearly 40 years? AIJAC,…

A friend of mine works in India with the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative. A friend of hers based in the Maldives has been arrested and sentenced to ten years in jail for “terrorism”. Her crime? Being a peace protestor and activist. Amnesty provides all the useful information: “Amnesty International considers her imprisonment to be politically…

Reuters, October 24: “The human toll for the U.S. military in the Iraq war is not limited to the nearly 2,000 troops deaths since the March 2003 invasion. More than 15,220 also have been wounded in combat, including more than 7,100 injured too badly to return to duty, the Pentagon said. Thousands more have been…

The Guardian editorial, October 24: “He may be a lurid shade of yellow, addicted to Duff beer and one of the least responsible staff at Springfield nuclear power station, but Homer Simpson deserves his new accolade of top philosopher in a magazine poll of leading men of the current decade. His antics are often deplorable…

Israel making life difficult for the Palestinians? Acting like the Gaza withdrawal never happened? Who says this? James Wolfensohn: “The Government of Israel, with its important security concerns, is loath to relinquish control [in the West Bank and Gaza], almost acting as though there has been no withdrawal, delaying making difficult decisions and preferring to…