My following story appears in today’s edition of Crikey: A few weeks after the start of the Iraq war in 2003, I talked to a senior editor at The Sydney Morning Herald and asked her why there were basically no Iraqi voices in the paper, either for or against the conflict. “I never thought of…
Showing all posts tagged Egypt
Egyptian legal system more responsive to torture than our own?
Australian citizen Mamdouh Habib was tortured by American and Egyptian officials post 9/11 and was smeared and shunned by the corporate press for years. He demands justice and deserves it. He talked to me about these issues in February, including the involvement of Egypt’s new Vice-President, Omar Sulaiman. A few days ago I was contacted…
New intifada in Palestine would have political power
Israeli Arab politician Hanin Zoabi has a long history of taking on racism within the Zionist state. She was very impressive during her visit to Australia in 2009. Her latest thoughts are calling for a new Palestinian intifada to rival the Arab Spring (a mass, non-violent movement is already feared by the Zionist state); “I…
This is what passes for “serious” Mid-East commentary in NYT
Columnist Thomas Friedman – whose understanding of the Muslim world involves staying at very expensive hotels and then speaking to the doorman to sense the “Arab street” – writes yet another article that shows how little he gets about the region. Want to speak to people who aren’t just in the elites, Friedman? When I…
How many times does a corporate reporter need to visit Israel to repeat its talking points?
Here we go again. A little game; how many Western “journalists” and politicians continually visit Israel on a propaganda tour? Answer; most of them. In 2009 I wrote about the Sydney Morning Herald’s international editor Peter Hartcher visiting the Zionist state and being more than happy to speak to a very select collection of people,…
Corporate media giving narrow view on post Mubarak Egypt
A pretty average report from Australia’s Channel 10 on Egypt’s supposed move to democracy. Thank God all the people interviewed are friendly looking and not openly Islamist:
Egypt may no longer be Israel’s bitch in Gaza
Looks like Israel may have a slight problem with its client state next door: Former International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei, who had previously announced his intetions to run for the presidency of Egypt, said Monday that “if Israel attacked Gaza we would declare war against the Zionist regime. In an interview with the…
So much for that grand “coalition” for Libya invasion
Welcome to the world of Western foreign policy; only certain kinds of repression are troubling. Pepe Escobar in Asia Times: You invade Bahrain. We take out Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. This, in short, is the essence of a deal struck between the Barack Obama administration and the House of Saud. Two diplomatic sources at the…
Tahrir tweeting reflects spirit of the times
I recently mentioned a newly released book, Tweets from Tahrir, on the Twitter coverage of Egypt’s revolution. This is a very fast turn-around book and should be welcomed. In terms of insights, in 140 characters, it’s a strong addition that shows the power of social media in times of upheaval (via Mondoweiss): Chapter18 –
Why Israelis can’t just lie back and think of Arab democracy
From a young age, the vast majority of Israeli Jews are taught that Judaism is a superior religion and treating Arabs badly is a necessary price to survive in the Middle East. Hence a nearly 45 year old military occupation of Palestine. Here’s an interesting perspective from Eyal Press: Shortly after the democratic uprising began…