Yet more worrying signs from Russia: Earlier this month the Russian government agency in charge of movie distribution ruled that Russian people could not see “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”. The agency’s reason: “Borat” offended ethnic feelings. The agency denied “banning” the movie, claiming instead it made a…
Showing all posts in June 2019
Masters on Jones
Investigative journalist and author of the best-selling Jonestown, Chris Masters, looked relieved to be in friendly company. Dressed in a bright red shirt and crème pants, he spoke casually last night to the 800-strong, sold-out audience at Sydney’s Seymour Centre. In conversation with HG Nelson, Masters was virtually treated like a rock-star by the adoring…
YouTube of the day
Keith Olbermann interviews the lawyer of a UCLA student who was recently tasered:
Madness incorporated
Will the Bush administration still embark on a bombing campaign against Iran’s supposed nuclear facilities? Seymour Hersh’s latest ponders the question (as he does on CNN.)
Compromising agenda?
The launch of al-Jazeera English is big news in the media world. It has already caused Tony Blair to admit the obvious over Iraq and will certainly continue to provide perspectives on world events that we rarely see in the Western media. However, this information is clearly worrying: While in Ivory Coast on a reporting…
Only one future is assured
Writing about Israel/Palestine can be a hazardous business. Many militant Zionists believe that only one interpretation of the conflict is acceptable, and critics, especially Jewish ones, are traitors. This news is therefore very troubling: The Zurich-based research journalist Shraga Elam received threats on his life in telephone calls. On November 16 and 17 he was…
Bring back the occupation?
Gideon Levy, Haaretz, November 19: The settlements must be returned to Gaza. Anyone who cares about the fate of those living in the Gaza Strip should wish for the re-establishment of Netzarim and Kfar Darom. If I were a Palestinian, I would dream of seeing Dugit and Nisanit resurrected. They could serve as the last…
Full of good ideas
Being a war-monger in 2006 is no easy task. Friends are leaving the cause. Iraq is in chaos. What to do? Bomb Iran (that’ll surely distract the pundits from any personal involvement in the Iraq debacle.)
The Miller conundrum
Judith Miller is the infamous former New York Times journalist. She was a key propagandist for the Iraq war – I was writing about her in early 2004 – and now calls herself a “freelance journalist” (a good summary of her work is here.) She was back in the news this week: Testifying Monday in…