The current trial in Norway of far-right murderer Anders Breivik is a disturbing reminder of his horrific crimes last year. I was involved in an e-book in 2011, On Utoya, that aimed to deconstruct the event and place it into context of the growing connection between hardline, Zionist supporters and the European racist Right. This…
Showing all posts tagged Islam
How to leave Afghanistan, and soon
Well, that’s one view about the war in Afghanistan, by Anatol Lieven in the New York Review of Books: The attempt by US-led NATO forces in 2001 and 2002 to create a strong Pashtun alternative to the Taliban from among former Mujahedin forces failed because so many had either disgraced themselves by their oppressive policies…
Echoes of Breivik cloud France and race-baiting media and politicians should look in mirror
After last year’s horrific massacre in Norway by Anders Breivik, an attempt to target the Left and multiculturalism, defenders of the status-quo said it was merely the act of a lone lunatic. The book, On Utoya (I wrote a chapter about the far-right’s increasing embrace of Israel) challenged this notion. Now with a horrible shooting…
What Israeli attack on Iran may bring
Gideon Levy in Haaretz on the real consequences of an Israeli strike against Iran (a message to be given to the litany of neo-cons and Zionist fanatics itching for war): Even the strongest supporters of an attack – whose numbers, scarily, are increasing – admit there is no chance that Iran will sit idly by,…
Musings on daily life for Gazans
Amira Hass writes in Haaretz about the grim reality for those caught between Palestinian rockets and Israeli bombardment: On the first day of the cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinians, children in the Gaza Strip went to school – as they did throughout the most recent exchange of fire. “There were two days I didn’t…
Remind me how CIA forces in Afghanistan will help the Afghan people
Sorry what? If true (via Associated Press) this is the kind of insane idea that simply reinforces the belief across the Muslim world that Washington is determined to occupy Afghanistan indefinitely: Top Pentagon officials are considering putting elite special operations troops under CIA control in Afghanistan after 2014, just as they were during last year’s…
War, what is it good for (ask corporate media, they love freedom bombs hitting Muslims)
Many mainstream journalists love conflict. Gives them the opportunity to hang with military types in war zones and feel important. Truth be damned. Repeating official talking points is par for the course. History has shown that far too many blindly (wilfully?) spread propaganda. The next target is Iran. Why? Because Israel and Washington tell them…
Wikileaks unloads with the Global Intelligence Files
The role of private companies in spying, monitoring and controlling public (and private) policy and debate sorely needs investigation. It’s not just about Western firms assisting repressive states censor the internet. Today Wikileaks launches the Global Intelligence Files: Today, Monday 27 February, WikiLeaks began publishing The Global Intelligence Files – more than five million emails…
What is real agenda of Al-Jazeera in Muslim world?
If true, yet more disturbing signs that Al-Jazeera is more than happy to see itself as endorsing regime change in the Arab world and often backing Western military support to do so (via AlAkhbar): Emails said to reveal dismay among Al-Jazeera staff over its “biased and unprofessional” coverage of Syria have been leaked by pro-Assad…
America wants “human terrain” to whitewash occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan
Years after 9/11, the US military believed that counter-insurgency meant learning about the countries you were invading and occupying. Sensible decision but nothing could alter the fact that America was conducting a brutal occupation of Muslim lands. Resistance rightly followed. “Human Terrain Systems” were employed – anthropologists, social scientists and others – to be the…