Robert Fisk paints a troubling picture of a nation that needs fundamental reform: According to historian Farouk Mardam-Bey, for example, Syria is “a tribal regime, which by being a kind of mafia clan and by exercising the cult of personality, can be compared to the Libyan regime”, which can never reform itself because reform will…
Showing all posts tagged Lebanon
Of course America killed Bin Laden in Israeli-style thuggery
Robert Fisk is right: Bin Laden got his just deserts – those who live by the sword tend to die by the sword – but did he get the “justice” that President Obama talked about? Many Arabs – and this theme was taken up by the Arab press, which spoke of his “execution” – thought…
Hizbollah ain’t a tumour for Arabs backing resistance
Lebanon is a fractured society partly controlled by Hizbollah. Many in the public back this reality and yet: Lebanon’s prime minister-designate Najib Mikati describes the powerful Hezbollah, whose backing was key to his nomination, as a “tumour,” in a 2008 US diplomatic cable revealed by a Lebanese daily on Tuesday. The billionaire businessman, who was…
John Pilger to Sydney’s Marrickville council; stand up for Palestine
John Pilger has sent the following message to Marrickville councillors: “Sometimes, looked at from the outside, Australia is a strange place. In other ‘western democracies’ the ‘debate’ about the enduring injustice dealt the Palestinians and Israel’s… lawlessness has moved forward to the point where the cynical campaign of… anti-Semitism smears is no longer effective — in…
How on earth would Zionism thrive without brutish mates?
Wikileaks shows us more: Mohammed Tantawi, the head of Egypt’s ruling generals, was an obstacle to Israeli efforts to stop arms smuggling within the Gaza strip, according to Israeli security forces. The assessment was privately delivered to US diplomats, alongside praise for former intelligence chief Omar Suleiman’s efforts to stop weapons trafficking, according to the…
Don’t think Goldstone’s “retraction” changes a damn thing about the report
There was an intentional Israeli policy of collective punishment against the Gazan people. Mondoweiss co-owner Adam Horowitz tells Democracy Now!: …The Dahiya Doctrine is the war doctrine that Israel first used in the 2006 attack on Lebanon, which basically said that any area that they were receiving fire from, they would consider the entire area…
“The Israel Lobby”, five years on
One of its authors, Steve Walt, reflects on a tumultuous period and his work’s undoubted influence. One of the great personal successes, in my view, has been the increasing number of Jews who recognise the devastating result of simply allowing the pro-settler, anti-Palestinian Zionists solely taking the floor. Judaism simply cannot be about backing never-ending…
Libya isn’t a Western plaything
While parts of Libya begin to imagine a life without Gaddafi – wonderful quote in this typically incisive Anthony Shadid piece in the New York Times: “There is no call for the overthrow of the government; only Colonel Qaddafi is mentioned, as lackey, tyrant and the man with really bad hair” – Western powers are…
A non-controversial proposal; Arabs have right to vote for whomever they want
Here’s to small blessings. A rather good editorial in today’s Sydney Morning Herald that calls for a re-thinking of years of imperial attitudes in the Arab world and an opening to Islamists who get elected. Bravo: The patronising orientalism that the Arabs or even Muslims in general are somehow culturally conditioned to political slavery is…
Just which part of the Jewish state is democratic for all?
You can smell the fear in this Haartez editorial. Israel is a democratic state that should be saved? Who thinks this? Palestinians living under occupation in the West Bank and Gaza? While the negotiations over the final-status arrangement between Israel and the Palestinians have fallen into lethargy, Israel’s international status is steadfastly sinking. The process…