If more evidence was needed that the vast majority of US corporate media is in the service of US foreign policy, coverage of the anti-Mubarak protests in Egypt have often overlooked the rather important detail of Washington’s backing. For example, here’s ABC‘s Christiane Amanpour: The implications are really big because this is very fundamental. Egypt…
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Why al-Jazeera is a threat
Jeremy Scahill is spot-on; the Arabic news channel does what the vast bulk of Western media refused to do since 9/11; remain unembedded with American foreign policy goals: The real threat Al Jazeera poses to authoritarian regimes is in its unembedded journalism. That is why the Bush Administration viewed Al Jazeera as a threat, it…
At least the Guardian didn’t ask US how to proceed over Wikileaks
Unlike the New York Times: A few days before the cables’ release, two senior figures from the US embassy in Grosvenor Square called in to the Guardian‘s London offices for a chat. This discussion led to a surreal transatlantic telephone call on Friday 26 November – two days before launch. Alan Rusbridger agreed to ring…
Wikileaks told us that Mubarak was going to appoint a VP
2005: The London-based Financial Times reported on June 15 that President Mubarak intends to name a Vice President – a step he has refused to take throughout his 24 year tenure as President – after the September Presidential elections. We reached out to the reporter who filed the story, who confirmed to us that Soliman…
Boys with deadly toys in Egypt and US don’t want any change
Democracy is a messy beast, especially if it isn’t reliability “pro-US”. Hence, the last decades have seen very close relationships between Washington and a host of brutal dictatorships. Cairo is no different. No wonder America is worried that a “reliable” state – read pro-torture and pro-Israel – is teetering: The officer corps of Egypt’s powerful…
Memo to MSM; Assange is less important than his leaks
Julian Assange, facing a barrage of personal attacks from media companies and foreign governments, rightly tells the UK Observer today that it’s highly revealing how much attention is directed at him as opposed to the allegations presented in the Wikileaks-released documents. He slept with women? Sure, that’s clearly more vital than criminality or torture backed…
“This is not Hosni Mubarak’s Egypt anymore”
Democracy Now! journalist Sharif Kouddous returns to his homeland Egypt from New York and reports on the ground from a nation in transition: I grew up in Egypt. I spent half my life here. But Saturday, when my plane from JFK airport touched down in Cairo, I arrived in a different country than the one…
This is how the White House “manages” its empire
Such details merely confirm why America’s decrepit empire is in need of serious break-down: After much discussion, it was decided that President Obama would not try to speak directly to Mubarak. According to an informed source, the assessment was that president-to-president intervention should be held in reserve as a last recourse. Besides, any exchange with…
Wikileaks shows that Egypt/US cuddling achieved little positive
Wikileaks cables released this week show the real relationship between Washington and Cairo, a toxic brew of money, slight pressure, fear of Islamism and reliability. Who needed whom more? US diplomats and their masters never imagined a different Egypt because they never wanted it to happen. It suited America just fine. The real rights of…