Here’s what the corporate press would like us to believe. Causing carnage in Iraq by Western forces was justified to rid the place of “terrorists” but when Gaddafi does something similar in Libya he’s a blood-thirsty murderer. Medialens dissects the hypocrisy.
Showing all posts tagged Iraq
What a real political party does; enforce human rights norms in Palestine
Following the circus of Sydney’s Marrickville council and its (brief) embrace of Palestinian rights through BDS, major questions remain; what will it take for a major political party, such as the Greens, to place human rights at the centre of its being? What excuses will be made to avoid this? And what “red lines” will…
Iraq war all about oil? Well, who knew?
No kidding: Plans to exploit Iraq’s oil reserves were discussed by government ministers and the world’s largest oil companies the year before Britain took a leading role in invading Iraq, government documents show. The papers, revealed here for the first time, raise new questions over Britain’s involvement in the war, which had divided Tony Blair’s…
Where are the Arab voices in Aussie BDS debate?
My following story appears in today’s edition of Crikey: A few weeks after the start of the Iraq war in 2003, I talked to a senior editor at The Sydney Morning Herald and asked her why there were basically no Iraqi voices in the paper, either for or against the conflict. “I never thought of…
This is what passes for “serious” Mid-East commentary in NYT
Columnist Thomas Friedman – whose understanding of the Muslim world involves staying at very expensive hotels and then speaking to the doorman to sense the “Arab street” – writes yet another article that shows how little he gets about the region. Want to speak to people who aren’t just in the elites, Friedman? When I…
Why Arab revolutions are so unique (and don’t need or want Western “help”)
New York Times journalist Anthony Shadid on Democracy Now!: I think for the first time—absolutely, since I can remember, but perhaps that a lot of people can remember—the region [Arab world] is speaking with an indigenous vocabulary. You know, it’s speaking about its own vision. It’s articulating its own vision. It’s so radically, fundamentally different…
”˜Collateral Murder’ soldier talks in new documentary
The Wikileaks effect; giving a human voice to the US-caused horrors of war in Iraq:
ABC News24 on killing Afghan civilians, Assad and ignoring indigenous lessons
Last night I was a guest on ABC TV News24’s The Drum to discuss issues of the day (video here). Foreign issues were front and centre. America’s Kill Team in Afghanistan – US troops murdering civilians for fun – is just the latest example of occupiers in inhospitable lands treating those they’re supposed to protect…
Obama defenders find ways to justify use of arms here and there
The New York Times, being an establishment paper, unsurprisingly backs Barack Obama’s military intervention in Libya. Much more revealing, however, is this interview with Samantha Power, a senior director on the National Security Council. I truly wonder if she believes the words she’s telling Politico: Obama “has used his pulpit and a number of speeches…
Do we know anything about Libya’s “rebels”?
Not much, no. In fact, what’s remarkable about the Western intervention is the complete lack of understanding who is fighting for what and why. Calling for democracy is essential, of course, but what else? Barack Obama’s recent speech backing the war was all about protecting civilians and America not willing to watch massacres take place.…