Leading Australian academic Scott Burchill has some thoughts about Libya: 1. Military intervention like this can make the humanitarian crisis worse, as it did in Serbia in 1999. Milosevich’s attacks on Kosovars only escalated after NATO’s bombing campaign begun. So even though the West controls the skies over Libya, expect ground attacks by Gaddafi loyalists…
Showing all posts tagged Egypt
Attacking Libya isn’t about making us feel good
Bombing Libya is welcomed across the world from so many supposedly well-meaning types who haven’t a clue about what the country is like or what they’re really backing. But hey, Gaddafi is a bad man! This Haaretz editorial weighs the risks: While the joint Western and Arab action against Libya’s dictatorial regime has widespread support,…
Mainstreaming hatred of Muslims, thanks to Rupert
Are there limits to damning Muslims? Not according to the Murdoch empire. Melbourne’s Herald Sun editor Alan Howe has spent the last years finding new ways to demonise the Muslim religion. We can expect an upcoming column to advocate rounding up all Muslims and putting them on outback farms. His latest, a letter to former…
Bibi isn’t capable of vision except settlements, colonies and apartheid
And Jerusalem Post editor David Horowitz seems to agree: Netanyahu may argue that the last thing Israel dares do today is take significant “risks for peace” in the unpredictable Middle East, with the further private concern that American support is less reliable than it has been for years, as underlined by the rapid abandonment of…
Who has really thought through the no-fly zone over Libya?
So the West is about to launch another war, this time against Libya. Who exactly is the West backing? Who are the rebels? What do they represent? Are we providing arms to groups who may turn against the Libyan people? The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Egypt is sending arms to the Libyan rebels,…
Assange: internet can liberate and/or imprison
He’s right (though probably exaggerates the influence of Wikileaks in the Arab revolutions): The internet is the “greatest spying machine the world has ever seen” and is not a technology that necessarily favours the freedom of speech, the WikiLeaks co-founder, Julian Assange, has claimed in a rare public appearance. Assange acknowledged that the web could…
Real power in Egypt; trade unions
Most Western press talk about the online revolution occurring in Egypt. That’s happening but is only a small part of the picture. Here’s independent Australian journalist Austin Mackell – currently based in Egypt and showing a post-revolution nation when most Western corporate reporters have left – interviewing local journalist Jano Charbel on the ongoing struggles…
Obama very happy to change little in the Middle East
The New York Times clarifies what the Obama administration is really thinking about the Arab world. “Pragmatism” is the key word. In other words, backing autocrats who do the dirty work of Israel and America. Anybody still in love with the supposedly grand visions of Barack Obama? In the Middle East crisis, as on other…