Showing all posts in June 2019

The London Telegraph hails a “novel Saudi approach to fighting terrorism“: British security chiefs are studying a novel Saudi approach to fighting terrorism – using clerics to debate jihad with jailed militants and convert them to more moderate beliefs. Saudi authorities say they have re-educated about 400 of 700 extremists and released them from prison.…

The terrorist “mastermind” has returned and the mainstream media seem to have swallowed the bait. As Robert Fisk rightly says – in a fairly rambling way, it must be said – Bin Laden and al-Zarqawi are in many ways irrelevant to the wider struggle. The genie is out of the bottle.

Rupert Murdoch finally gets insider access to the Bush White House. Who says Fox News isn’t “fair and balanced?”

My latest column for New Matilda discusses the failures of the corporate media and an alternative interpretation – Medialens: Media writer for the Washington Post, Howard Kurtz, recently argued that the Washington press corps was suffering its greatest crisis in living memory. Aside from uncritically accepting Bush Administration spin on Iraq’s supposed WMD, Kurtz argued…

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi appears in a propaganda video for the first time in years. One of the finest, independent, Western reporters, Christopher Allbritton, explains the significance: It’s likely not a coincidence that the video was released now, just a couple of days after the deadlock over PM Ibrahim al-Jaafari was broken with the selection of…

Pakistan dictator Pervez Musharraf is a softie, after all: He seized power in a coup, has shrugged off three assassination attempts and rules with an iron fist. But for all the steel in him, Pervez Musharraf “literally wept” when he heard Pakistani troops had surrendered during the 1971 Bangladesh war with India. The uncharacteristic admission…

The newspaper industry is alive and well, according to New York Times managing editor Jill Abramson. While she is right to suggest that “serious” journalism is needed now more than ever – as Western governments increasingly treat the press with “open disdain” – she is misplaced to argue that establishment media is the best place…

Zalmay Khalilzad finally reveals the real agenda of America’s “destiny” – invasion and occupation: The U.S. ambassador here on Monday urged war-weary Americans to dig in for the long haul: a years-long effort to transform Iraq and the surrounding region, now one of the world’s major trouble spots. “We must perhaps reluctantly accept that we…