Why standing up for human rights, against the tide, matters

Salman Rushdie writes in the New York Times on 27 April: We… find it easier, in these confused times, to admire physical bravery than moral courage — the courage of the life of the mind, or of public figures. A man in a cowboy hat vaults a fence to help Boston bomb victims while others flee…

Fidel visits a dolphin show and reflects on his legacy

Credit where it’s due. The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg may have spread propaganda about Saddam, Iran and Israel, but he can write and his latest dispatch about meeting Fidel Castro (here’s the first) is fascinating: There were many odd things about my recent Havana stopover (apart from the dolphin show, which I’ll get to shortly), but…

Castro tells Ahmadinejad to respect the Jews

Atlantic reporter Jeffrey Goldberg – a man fond of war, Israel and conflict with Iran – is invited to Havana to meet and converse with Fidel Castro. There is much to digest but this is especially interesting: He said the Iranian government should understand the consequences of theological anti-Semitism. “This went on for maybe two…

Many Jews simply can’t accept what Israel has become

This is what liberal Zionism has come to. Asking, almost begging, for understanding about Israel but nothing like demands for one person, one vote. Palestinians should be given equal rights in Israel? Perish the thought. Here’s American Jewish writer JJ Goldberg in New York a few days ago: I’m beginning to feel like Amos Kenan”¦[who…

Havana’s revolution is dying a very painful death

The US embargo remains insane and counter-productive but aging dictators are equally killing their country: Parque Trillo used to be a lively pocket of Havana. A small open space bounded by four streets, it was where Cubans came to gossip, shop, play baseball and dance. On the surface little has changed. Pensioners chat on benches,…

America is not interested in bringing fair and balanced info to Havana

What’s the problem with this story (via The Cable)? The U.S. government-sponsored television and radio stations aimed at bringing objective news into communist Cuba aren’t doing the job and need new leadership and direction, according to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In a new report by the committee’s majority staff, led by John Kerry, D-MA,…

Baby steps down Havana way

The LA Times notes a small change in Cuba (but in reality, the island will stay remarkably similar until either the Castro brothers die or reform or the Obama administration removes the insane and counter-productive embargo): So, a Cuban walks into his neighborhood barbershop for a trim and a shave on a Havana afternoon. In…

Israel is behaving like Fidel Castro, says Fox News

Fox News interviews reporter Judith Miller recently on the Anat Kamm case. Host Shep Smith seems outraged that supposed democratic Israel would censor information and put an individual under house arrest. “This is very Fidel Castro”, he says. He tells viewers that when anybody says anything even mildly critical of Israel they are accused of…

The eyes of the world must remain on Colombo

Sydney University’s Jake Lynch, a strong supporter of the Palestinian cause, writes in his weekly column about Sri Lanka and the need to continue pressure over its appalling treatment of the Tamils: The news that the Government of Sri Lanka is to close the internment camps where thousands of Tamils were illegally detained, following the…

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