This is what a Serious columnist for the Washington Post, David Broder, wrote yesterday: Here is where Obama is likely to prevail. With strong Republican support in Congress for challenging Iran’s ambition to become a nuclear power, he can spend much of 2011 and 2012 orchestrating a showdown with the mullahs. This will help him…
Talking sense in the Sri Lankan media barely happens these days
Behold a true rarity. This article in Sri Lanka’s The Sunday Leader shows that there are still a few voices of reason in that authoritarian state: Contrary to the attempts to spin-doctor every excess of the current regime and its sins of omission by those whose names hardly need specifying to anyone familiar with the…
Al Jazeera’s Listening Post on Wikileaks Iraq documents
The Wikileaks Iraq files continue to cause robust discussion around the world. Al-Jazeera’s weekly media show, Listening Post, examined the impact of the latest revelations and how some journalists preferred to focus on the personal life of Julian Assange rather than the fact that the US had turned a blind eye to Iraqi torture and…
Is the Times too worried about upsetting its mates in Washington?
New York Times‘ Public Editor looks at the ethical decisions made by the paper in accepting the Wikileaks documents over Afghanistan. In the end, he argues that the paper made the right choice but there is one thing missing; the focus the paper took towards the US government. Was it too servile? Mr. Bill Keller…
Prosecuting a child at Gitmo and calling it justice
Obama’s America: Everything about the last week’s events at Guantánamo has been deeply disturbing. On Monday, in defiance of international obligations requiring the rehabilitation of child prisoners, the US government — under President Obama — fulfilled the deepest wishes of the Bush administration, and persuaded Omar Khadr, the Canadian citizen who was just 15 years…
David Cameron’s paradise is allowing privatisation to run wild
What a damn shame. One private firm that engages in thuggery is shunned by the British government: The private security firm G4S said tonight that it was “extremely disappointed” to lose a multimillion-pound government contract to forcibly deport foreign nationals. A decision to award the lucrative contract to a rival firm was announced today, two…
Times just hopes and prays Israel will listen to its pleasant request
A New York Times editorial gets tough (for a Zionist publication): Enough game-playing. Mr. Netanyahu should accept Mr. Obama’s offer and be ready to form a new governing coalition if some current members bolt. Arab states need to do more to nudge Mr. Abbas back to the table and give him the political support he…
We are failing in Afghanistan and most reporters don’t see why
Being unembedded in Afghanistan is a rarity, most journalists preferring to be near and dear to the military. That’s why Jeremy Scahill and Rick Rowley are in a class of their own. They’re just back from the war-torn country and reveal the utter failure of the American-led counter-insurgency. Here’s Scahill: Well, first of all, what’s…