Think Progress reports on the latest neo-con attempt to defend American violence in Iraq: AEI’s Fred Kagan, the architect of the Iraq surge, has a history of grossly misreading events on the ground in Iraq. In August 2007, amidst the height of skyrocketing violence in Iraq, Kagan claimed that “sectarian deaths” were “way down.” After…
Showing all posts in June 2019
Please Uncle Sam, love us
Being in Indonesia it’s been interesting to read the Jakarta Post every day. This week’s visit by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has resulted in column after column about her trip and its meaning (example one.) Like so many nations around the world, the Indonesian political and media elite crave Washington’s embrace and acceptance…
What do the Palestinians think?
An alternative reading of the acclaimed Israeli film, Waltz with Bashir: To say that Palestinians are absent in Waltz with Bashir, to say that it is a film that deals not with Palestinians but with Israelis who served in Lebanon, only barely begins to describe the violence that this film commits against Palestinians. There is…
If you want progress, do this now
Will the US soon embrace “terrorists”? Looks like it (as without engaging Hamas, peace in the Middle East is literally impossible, something that pleases the Zionist lobby no end): US Middle East Envoy George Mitchell expressed support for Egyptian efforts to forge a Palestinian national unity government, indicating that America could take a new tack…
Standing in solidarity
And the tide continues to turn and turn: We salute the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) in Durban, and Western Australian dock worker members of the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA), for refusing to handle Israeli cargo. Theirs is a courageous response to Israel’s attack on Palestinians in Gaza that, since December…
Better get used to this position
Europe is starting to engage Hamas. Israeli officials can’t believe that anybody would dare suggest the country committed war crimes in Gaza. One leading American strategist has been more than happy to white-wash the Jewish state’s abuses. Israeli writer Amos Oz reveals why his voice in the “pro-peace” camp is utterly irrelevant (and has an…
Standing up for a defamed reporter
I was recently asked to sign a petition regarding the case against East Timorese journalist Jose Belo: More than 80 prominent Australian, New Zealand and Pacific reporters, editors and media academics have protested over the controversial criminal defamation case against East Timorese journalist Jose Belo. Chief editor Belo has been charged followed publication of an…