New Yorker editor David Remnick writes about the uprisings in Egypt and after acknowledging the corruption of the Israeli occupation of Palestine next door issues the following utterly illogical statement: …The United States has long ceased to be a puppet-master among the Arab states, if it ever was. Really? Tell that to the people of…
Showing all posts tagged Jordan
Don’t forget every “expert” who embraced Mubarak and his kind
The embedded journalists, writers, commentators and think-tankers who spend their hours urging “moderate” regimes in the Middle East – namely Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and others – never cared too much about the democratic aspirations of the Arab people themselves. Too messy, too inconvenient. And as long as Israel was happy, well, Washington (and…
Cutting US aid to Israel? Say it ain’t so!
Even the suggestion gets the “moderate” and “mainstream” Zionist lobbies up in arms. Just remind me why America backs a nation in the Middle East that occupies another people and works closely with brutal dictatorships Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt? U.S. Democrats and pro-Israel lobbies slammed on Thursday comments made by newly elected Republican Senator…
Please don’t listen to King Abdullah on, well, anything
This is rather depressing. Here’s Jordan’s King Abdullah talking to Jon Stewart’s Daily Show about how “moderate” he is and the “extremists” are upsetting the Middle East. Yes, because running a US-backed police state completely makes you “moderate”. His country’s influence is decreasing, not least because he so slavishly follows US foreign policy in the…
America says; democracy in the Mid-East is for pussies
Akiva Eldar in Haaretz on Washington’s desperate attempt to continue to maintain “democratic” Israel in the Middle East and US-backed dictatorships in the rear: Despite the fact that they occurred almost simultaneously, any connection between the withdrawal of American combat troops from Iraq and Washington’s invitation of the leaders of Jordan and Egypt to a…
Israel and Iraq questions provide double whammy in Auckland
I’m currently at the Auckland Writer’s Festival. Wonderful event. Speaking to hundreds of people every day – mainly about the Middle East but also on the importance of alternative voices online – and the one message that keeps on coming up is how rarely dissenting Jewish perspectives or those critical of Israel appear in the…
Being an Iraqi in Lebanon
The Iraq war has produced nightmares for generations: When one mentions refugees in Lebanon, one usually thinks about the estimated 300,000 Palestinians who live here in appalling social and economic conditions. But an estimated 50,000 Iraqis have sought refuge in Lebanon in the last few years, most of them without legal status and in constant…
Who picks up the pieces seven years after the Iraq invasion?
The Iraq war receives far too little media coverage these days. The “good war” in Afghanistan is leading the bulletins. But reading about this document from an American army medic back from Iraq, the atrocities by the Americans remain largely unknown. ABC yesterday featured a story and news report about the massive refugee crisis in…
The failing campaign
Wow: Wikileaks has cracked the encryption to a key document relating to the war in Afghanistan. The document, titled “NATO in Afghanistan: Master Narrative”, details the “story” NATO representatives are to give to, and to avoid giving to, journalists… The encryption password is progress, which perhaps reflects the Pentagon’s desire to stay on-message, even to…