Strong piece in the New York Times that reveals some of the reality behind the Western war in Afghanistan. Increasingly privatised with no accountability at all, it’s a system that suits the powers that be very much. Corporations are making a killing and governments look like they’re hiring less staff. Almost the perfect definition of…
Showing all posts tagged New York Times
What can the poor empire do in Iraq? Reduce its footprint and cry
Via the New York Times comes a story that burns with resentment towards those ungrateful Iraqis. I mean, Washington “liberated” you and now you aren’t grateful every day for causing chaos in the country? Less than two months after American troops left, the State Department is preparing to slash by as much as half the…
How Wikileaks must be supported and why
Mainstream support for Wikileaks is often far removed from the daily news cycle. Many journalists seem to feel uncomfortable backing Wikileaks (and Julian Assange) because of his ongoing legal issues, forgetting the key miracle behind the site; the profound challenges to the established information order and exposing the sycophancy between journalists and corporate power. I…
NYTimes discusses future US role in Afghanistan but magically ignores mercenaries
This is typical corporate media reporting on “our” wars. Ideologically embedded New York Times reporters in Washington DC are handed information from the White House and essentially write a press release for the Obama administration. Any mention of the huge role of private contractors in Afghanistan, a group that will continue to grow, like in…
Who is truly investigating Wikileaks (and why we have the right to know)
Because we need to put a serious check on out of control executive and corporate power (via the New York Times): This much is known: In its hunt for information about three people it believes to be associated with the whistle-blower site WikiLeaks, the Justice Department has sought to extract details about them and their…
Breaking news; NYT and Haaretz scare Israel because they (now and then) talk about occupation
Amazing and revealing… (via JTA): … Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s two greatest enemies are The New York Times and Haaretz, the editor of The Jerusalem Post said in a speech. Steve Linde, addressing a conference in Tel Aviv of the Women’s International Zionist Organization, said Wednesday that Netanyahu made the remark to him about…
Iraq, quasi independent, dares challenge mercenaries
Being a truly independent nation, which Iraq clearly is not post US occupation, would mean that foreign security forces and private contractors would have strict rules of operation. Supporters of this ever-growing global movement might not like it, but this could well be the beginning of something important for the failed nation; exercising real autonomy…
MSM journalists see role as stenography despite claims of independence
The role of real journalists is to question so-called established truths and make officials uncomfortable. Being too close to power is the role of court reporters. Sadly, the vast bulk of corporate hacks are dead keen to rub shoulders with the rich and powerful and remain unwilling to seriously challenge, for example, the rush to…
Thanks Tom Friedman for telling Egyptians what their revolution should be
The New York Times foreign affairs columnist is rightly ridiculed for pontificating as if he sees himself the spokesperson for America itself. What’s good for the US often seems to be his priority. He recently spoke in Cairo (in between interviewing Muslims he didn’t think the West should bomb, yet), and found some people less…
Israel fights so many enemies, hard to know which Zionists to blame
Barak Ravid, Haaretz: Every year, in almost every country, government reports detailing statistics and demographics of the country’s citizens are published during the last week of December. The reports detail how many babies were born that year and how many people died. Some of those reports are turned into semi-comic articles on the back page…