Barack Obama has behaved in the Middle East exactly like his predecessor, George W. Bush. Veteran White House reporter Helen Thomas is right: Barack Obama does have a foreign policy. It’s called war. But wait, pleads Hillary Clinton, we’re trying so damn hard: Call it Hillary Rodham Clinton’s “Keep Hope Alive” tour. The secretary of…
Showing all posts tagged United States
US Jews breaking the Israeli law of return
This statement was just released: We are Jews from the United States, who, like Jewish people throughout the world, have an automatic right to Israeli citizenship under Israel’s “law of return.” Today there are more than seven million Palestinian refugees around the world. Israel denies their right to return to their homes and land—a right…
Citizens, prepare to avoid the anti-Christ
Only in America (or perhaps a theocracy, take your pick): The House of Delegates is scheduled to vote Wednesday on a bill that would protect Virginians from attempts by employers or insurance companies to implant microchips in their bodies against their will. It might also save humanity from the antichrist, some supporters think. Del. Mark…
The relationship between the Taliban and al-Qaeda is not clear
Don’t believe everything you read in the corporate press: Evidence now available from various sources, including recently declassified U.S. State Department documents, shows that the Taliban regime led by Mullah Mohammad Omar imposed strict isolation on Osama bin Laden after 1998 to prevent him from carrying out any plots against the United States. The evidence…
How many Americans want Israel to be cast adrift?
A public debate recently took place in New York: “The US should step back from its special relationship with Israel.“
Australian member of parliament thinks bombing Iran is almost inevitable
Australian, Jewish Zionist MP Michael Danby loves to talk about human rights in many countries around the world, except of course Palestine. It’s the usual program; issue directives without political risk but support the most reactionary elements of the Israeli political elite. And bombing Iran. Take his piece in the Wall Street Journal that argues…
Most reporters are happy to be embedded with the army mindset
Patrick Cockburn, a Western journalist who doesn’t celebrate when the military “kills terrorists”, challenges the relationship between the mainstream media and the armed forces: The press likes short wars. Its audience is never so eager for news as during an armed conflict. The first newspapers date from the wars of the late 16th and early…
Journalists love to compete for meaningless scoops about vacuous politicians
Need evidence that most corporate journalists see politics as a game, like sport? Over to you, Politico: Fox News has been making a serious charge about mainstream political reporters: They hate Sarah Palin. This is not just wrong, it’s absurd. The reality is exactly the opposite: We love Palin. And if Palin does not exactly…
The New York Times has at least one vaguely honest writer on Israel/Palestine
New York Times columnist Roger Cohen is one of the better mainstream American commentators on the Middle East. Though unbelievably mild and seemingly unwilling to suggest Washington do anything to pressure Israel apart from harsh words (like that’s going to work), his latest piece continues the admirable trend: For over a century now, Zionism and…
How Britain, under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, defends torture
There are times when the Western state is exposed as outright liars. The case of tortured British citizen Binyam Mohamed is a case in point. The details are astounding. Senior government officials, intelligence services and ministers all lied. We really shouldn’t be surprised. “Never believe anything until it’s been officially denied“, once wrote Claud Cockburn.…