During last week’s Durban II conference, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave a speech that some in the West regarded as outrageous and others as merely representing public opinion in much of the world (personally speaking, I think it harmed the Palestinian cause no end). This clip from the BBC is startling for its honest questioning…
Showing all posts tagged Iran
When is a hate-fest not a hate-fest
It is worth quoting in full the following statement by Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, at the end of the Durban II conference in Geneva: It was very difficult. I had to face a widespread, and highly organized campaign of disinformation. Many people, including Ministers with whom I spoke, told me…
The world already knows this little secret
Seumas Milne, The Guardian, April 23: What do the US, Canada, …Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Italy and Israel have in common? They are all either European or European-settler states. And they all decided to boycott this week’s UN …conference against racism in Geneva – even before Monday’s incendiary speech by the Iranian…
When two bigots get in the room
The weekly Haaretz published statement by Israeli peace group Gush Shalom: The President of Iran, Who has built a career On incitement and appeal To the basest instincts, Made a speech at the Conference against racism. And who cried “Scandalous! Anti-Semitism!”? Our Foreign Minister, Who himself had built a career On Incitement and appeal To…
The Jewish Holocaust is over, repeat after me
Aluf Benn asks a key question in Haaretz and one that should resonate around the world. If Israel is truly heading towards a military confrontation with Iran, how can we stop the madness? If the Iranian nuclear program is the train to Auschwitz, what will the Israelis and the Jews do if an operation to…
How much do you know about your mobile phone?
Western complicity in Iranian repression is something I examined in my book, The Blogging Revolution. It’s getting worse: Telecom giant Nokia has spiffy slogan: “Connecting People.” But a new report reveals that Nokia may be helping connect the wrong people: Iranian security agents and grassroots dissidents. It seems Nokia has helped Iran install electronic surveillance…
If the Americans are truly serious, well…
Progressive Zionist lobbyist MJ Rosenberg wonders why the Israelis think they can ignore the requests from Obama to move towards a two-state solution: There can be no doubt: Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu does not much care what President Obama thinks about negotiations with the Palestinians. He seems to be making the same mistake that Obama’s…
This is a plan guaranteed to lead to violence
Let’s hope Obama treats this Israeli attempt to indefinitely postpone any negotiations with the Palestinians with the contempt it deserves. If not, a third intifada is far from unlikely: The new Israeli government will not move ahead on the core issues of peace talks with the Palestinians until it sees progress in U.S. efforts to…
Israel to bomb Iran? Don’t believe the hype
My latest column for New Matilda is about the relationship between Israel and Iran and the prospects for war: The Israel lobby want to bomb Iran, but calmer heads can see plenty of reasons not to. This time the lobby may not get what it wants, writes Antony Loewenstein Roger Cohen, a columnist for the…
The Durban circus continues
The UN’s anti-racism conference continues in Geneva but it’s hard to see how this event will achieve anything other than an even greater split between the West and the rest. The Australian media has covered the event in a fairly predictable way (and only the public, through letter writing, has allowed the debate to flourish).…