Causing trouble: The government of Syria was active in organizing the 2006 riots that erupted across the Arab world following the publication of controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, Oslo daily Aftenposten reported Monday, quoting US diplomatic cables released by website WikiLeaks. The cartoons were originally published in neighboring Denmark in 2005. Their publication resulted…
Showing all posts in June 2019
How much racism can a “democracy” take?
One: Palestinian detainees are systematically denied the right to meet a lawyer during interrogations by Shin Bet, the Israeli internal security service, according to a report published today by an Israeli and a Palestinian rights group. The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club say detainees from the occupied West…
History repeats itself over Wikileaks
A fine historical reminder in the UK Guardian: There is a precedent for Julian Assange’s predicament. Australian journalist Wilfred Burchett in the late 60s was banned from Australia for reporting the Vietnam war from the North, and for allegedly asking prisoners taken during the Korean conflict to confess to Chinese interrogators. Authorities attempted to turn…
Karzai knows his pimp isn’t going anywhere, yet
How we all miss the good old days? Useful idiot dictator longs for an unquestioning, clueless Washington elite to prop up his regime (not that the Obama administration is much different): Longing for the early years of the Bush administration, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been consumed by anti-U.S. conspiracy theories, convinced American officials are…
A “serious” newspaper debases itself
Perfection. ABC columnist Tim Dunlop offers his reflections on 2010 and takes out Murdoch’s Australian: If The Australian was a member of your family you would’ve arranged an intervention by now to stop further self-harm. If it was a bloke you would suspect it of having a very small penis. Has anyone ever seen a…
“In World War Two, journalists were patriots first”
Newt Gingrich reminds us that his vision for America is a dark, undemocratic nightmare: A fellow traveller, John Bolton, believes the US should lie its way to superiority. No wonder Washington’s image globally has never been worse:
Sarkozy doesn’t dislike Arabs all the time?
Putting aside the unworkability of a two-state solution, this shows growing international anger towards Israel. Next step is financial and diplomatic punishment for the Zionist state: Former French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner in January 2010 had already discussed with the US the idea of recognizing a Palestinian state regardless of the outcome of negotiations with…
CNN hearts Bush admin peeps over Wikileaks
This is a debate on CNN over Wikileaks that is deeply revealing. Note the strong sense that journalists should really not uncover information that could upset governments:
“Don’t come back to Nabi Saleh you piece of shit”
Joseph Dana, leading Jewish Israeli activist against the occupation, was arrested last week: On Friday, I was detained by Border Police officers in Nabi Saleh along with another Israeli. We were handcuffed behind our backs, thrown to the ground and beaten. The other Israeli was beaten much worse than I. His head was smashed against…
Corporations are on the way out thanks to intense leaking?
Noam Scheiber, The New Republic, 27 December: The Wikileaks revolution isn’t only about airing secrets and transacting information. It’s about dismantling large organizations—from corporations to government bureaucracies. It may well lead to their extinction.