Archive for October, 2007
Losing the fight on Iran
It seems the propaganda and fear-mongering is working. According to a Zogby poll published yesterday,
“A majority of likely voters – 52% – would support a U.S. military strike to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon, and 53% believe it is likely that the U.S. will be involved in a military strike against Iran before [...]
Filed under: Iran, Israeli / Palestinian, Media, News and politics, US, WMD | 12 Comments
Tags: Bush, Middle East, propaganda
The liberal American journal Dissent last month held a debate on the ethics of U.S. policy options in Iraq (focusing in particular on the ethics of withdrawal). Chaired by Trudy Rudin, foreign affairs columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, it featured as panelists Dissent co-editor and just war theorist Michael Walzer, professor of International Relations Sohail [...]
Filed under: Iraq, US | 1 Comment
Tags: "dissent", academia, Democracy, intellectuals
Dershowitz Exposed
No, not like that! *shudder* Those who have followed the lengthy and public battle between Norman Finkelstein and Alan Dershowitz will recall that a central allegation of Finkelstein’s was that Dershowitz attempted to suppress publication of his book, Beyond Chutzpah, by sending threatening letters to its publisher. Dershowitz emphatically denied this (“I have no interest [...]
Filed under: Israeli / Palestinian, US | 5 Comments
Tags: academic freedom, Beyond Chutzpah, Dershowitz, Free Speech, Norman Finkelstein
The New McCarthyism
A moral giant of our times:
“From my experience in South Africa I know that truth-telling is hard. It has grave consequences for one’s life and reputation. It stretches one’s faith, tests one’s capacity to love, and pushes hope to the limit. At times, the difficulty of this work can make you wonder if people [...]
Filed under: Israeli / Palestinian, US | 2 Comments
Tags: academic freedom, Free Speech, lobby, McCarthyism, Norman Finkelstein
Unworthy victims
Here’s a short experiment: ask people you know (or those you don’t, ‘though they might think you a bit strange) whether they’ve heard about the recent, inspiring rebellion of the monks in Burma.
Then ask them if they’ve heard about the equally inspiring wave of workers’ strikes, sit-ins and walk-outs in Egypt.
That’s the propaganda model at [...]
Filed under: Activism, Media | 7 Comments
Tags: Democracy, Egypt, Middle East, workers
The “road map” to nowhere
Aluf Benn, diplomatic correspondent for Ha’aretz, has written a couple of good pieces recently about the so-called “peace process”. Yesterday, he described how Olmert’s policy with towards negotiations is to “march in the no-man’s-land between talk and action”, conceding just enough to appease the international community and world opinion while not actually changing anything [...]
Filed under: Israeli / Palestinian, News and politics, US | 2 Comments
Tags: "peace process", collective punishment, road map
Iran in the cross-hairs
Michael Meacher: “Given the increasingly belligerent noises from the White House, will my right hon. Friend give a clear commitment that if there were a United States or Israeli military attack on Iran he would not support it militarily, logistically or politically?”
Gordon Brown: “We pursue a diplomatic course of action. I believe that we will [...]
Filed under: Iran, News and politics, UK, US | 20 Comments
Tags: Gordon Brown, warmongers
Biased reality
From a recent OCHA report (.pdf):
Note the sharp increase in Palestinian casualties last year – that’s what they get for having the audacity to elect their own government. Take a look also at the huge disparity in casualties for 2007 – by mainstream media definitions, reporting this in a “balanced” way would require that coverage [...]
Filed under: Israeli / Palestinian, Media, News and politics | 33 Comments
Tags: "reality has a Palestian bias", casualties, OCHA, stats, Terrorism
Shaking hands and stealing land
Life for Palestinians in the Occupied Territories is now so miserable that it has become quite difficult not to be seduced by the theatre of the latest ‘peace push’, such is the desire to see an end to the conflict. When Condoleeza Rice expresses her sincere ambition to create an independent Palestinian state, and when [...]
Filed under: Israeli / Palestinian, News and politics, US | 45 Comments
Tags: "peace process", Annapolis, colonialism, International & Foreign Policy
In Defence of Academic Freedom
The admirable DePaul Academic Freedom Committee held a discussion last Friday about the threats to academic freedom in the U.S., featuring the likes of Noam Chomsky, Tariq Ali, Norman Finkelstein and John Mearsheimer (of ‘The Israeli Lobby’ fame). The audio is up below, courtesy of Chicago Indymedia.
Tariq Ali’s introduction:
Noam Chomsky:
Akeel Bilgrami:
Tony Judt:
John Mearsheimer:
Q&A period:
Evan Lorendo, [...]
Filed under: News and politics, US | 8 Comments
Tags: academic freedom, DePaul, Education, Free Speech, John Mearsheimer, Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein
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