The latest report by Reporters Without Borders finds the ever-increasing numbers of journalists being murdered around the world. It is therefore the responsibility of reporters who work in challenging environments – and that includes me, who’s just returned from Pakistan and Afghanistan and needs to become more familiar with protecting sources who work in dangerous…
Showing all posts tagged Syria
First Julian Assange TV interview is with Hizbollah leader
A brave first call. Julian Assange speaks to Hassan Nasrallah and doesn’t take the position, as so much of the corporate media, that he’s one of the world’s greatest terrorists (which he clearly is not). They discuss Syria, Assad, Israel, Palestine, religion, God, technology, Wikileaks and the US. Assange could be more forceful with his…
What needs to be said about Gunter Grass and THAT poem on Israel
Tariq Ali nails it: The German writer Gunter Grass (The Tin Drum) had already predicted the response to his poem in SdZ. There is no reason to be surprised, but there is every reason to be disgusted. Within Germany both the elite and a layer of the population by their words and actions appear to…
American invasion of Iraq caused mass destruction and still Baghdad gives DC the finger
This is almost comical. After years of occupation, mass killings and utter American criminality and incompetence, Foreign Policy reports that Washington just can’t get any love or support: The first major test of U.S. post-war influence in Iraq is now raging over efforts to stop Iran from funneling arms to Syria through Iraqi airspace, but…
What our media don’t tell us about the Middle East
Yet more fascinating insights from the recently released Wikileaks documents of Stratfor, published by Lebanon’s… Al Akhbar. One: US government officials requested that an American private security firm contact Syrian opposition figures in Turkey to see “how they can help in regime change,” the CEO of one of these firms told Stratfor in a company email…
American hypocrisy on massive scale
Does anybody serious believe American officials when they talk about supporting human rights? Hillary Clinton recently said this… at a UN Secretary Council debate on the Arab Spring: … we reject any equivalence between premeditated murders by a government’s military machine and the actions of civilians under siege driven to self-defense. Such a statement requires a…
The sorry state of Israeli propaganda
Here’s some free advice to the Zionist state; placing Shimon Peres, the father of the colonies and defender of anti-democratic moves inside Israel, in a woeful video talking about “peace” will be about as effective as Assad in Syria riffing about non-violent resistance:
Saluting the power of Anthony Shadid-style journalism in a cynical age
Famed New York Times journalist Anthony Shadid died tragically in February in… Syria… while reporting the war there. He was one of the finest reporters of his generation, spending years in the Arab world explaining its twists and turns. He proved that insightful, punchy and beautifully written journalism still matters in the modern age. Now his widow,…
ABCTV News24’s The Drum on Israel/US/Iran and Syria
Last night I appeared on ABCTV’s The Drum (video here) discussing both domestic and international affairs. The key part of the show began when this week’s meeting between Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu was discussed. The New York Times tells the world that, “Israel should not doubt this president’s mettle. Neither should Iran.” Netanyahu, speaking…