What, all Muslims aren’t terrorists who hate the West? Contrary to the common assumption that Muslims view globalization as a threat to their society, a new poll of Muslim countries finds that globalization is generally viewed positively. The poll was conducted by WorldPublicOpinion.org in six nations with predominantly Muslim populations in different regions of the…
Showing all posts in June 2019
The Iranian perspective
Sadegh Zibakalam, Bitterlemons International, August 28: Iranian support for the newly established Iraqi regime was quite reasonable and to be expected. The Iranians fought eight long years to witness a Shi’ite-dominated government in Iraq. Iran lost a million of its people in that war, its economy was shattered and the Islamic republic lost nearly all…
Time to honestly debate Israel/Palestine
My following post was written for Khaldoun, the blog recently started by Macquarie University’s Centre for Middle East and North African Studies, where I’m a board member: Robustly debating Zionism has existed for as long as its existence. Jews, historically a persecuted people, were unafraid to discuss the merits or otherwise of the plan to…
Yes, the world needs more stuff
“The best advertising doesn’t look like advertising.” Perhaps, but it’s still advertising and it’s not news. Sadly, more and more media companies are discovering that advertorials are far easier to produce than timely and resource-hungry investigative journalism.
Bombing. Iran. Never. Makes. Sense
The Lowy Interpreter is the blog for one of Australia’s leading think-tanks, the Lowy Institute. Following a post last week that discussed Israel’s supposed fears of Iran’s nuclear facilities – strongly suggesting that an Israeli military strike was not unlikely and even understandable because the Zionist state feared destruction – I wrote a response that…
Time for a group hug, surely
The mainstream media vs blogging (yes, the debate rages on.) Why can’t we all just get along?
The power of togetherness
Never under-estimate the symbolic impact of yesterday’s speech by Michelle Obama at the Democratic National Convention (if even, for an Australian viewer, the Hallmark-style cheesiness was a little much):
How many years to go?
Israel, the coloniser: More than 2,600 housing units are under construction in West Bank settlements, including units in more than 1,000 new buildings, Peace Now contends in its semi-annual report. Basing its conclusions on aerial photographs and field visits, the organization says that slightly more than half of the new structures are going up east…