This is a classic case of mainstream journalists, so keen to promote Progressive and Green Israel, shilling for Israeli electric corporation Better Place. The fact that members of its board had troubling human rights records and it operated in the occupied West Bank was conveniently ignored. Now news that will sadden nobody except individuals who…
Showing all posts tagged New York Times
Talking to Jeremy Scahill on war, drones and Wikileaks
My following interview appears in today’s New Matilda: Journalist Jeremy Scahill has spent his life exposing the dark recesses of US foreign policy. He talks independent media, drones and terror in this exclusive interview with Antony Loewenstein The Weekly Standard is the neo-conservative bible that backed the US wars against Iraq and Afghanistan and today…
Building a Nazi-style utopia in Paraguay
Intriguing and eerie story (via the New York Times) that highlights the timeless fascination some people have with a utopia lifestyle. From the mad to the bad and the racist to the religious, the quest for some kind of unattainable perfection persists: The year was 1887 when two of the best-known German anti-Semites of the…
Dr Strangelove at the White House over Syria
This would be comical if the situation in Syria wasn’t so serious. This reporting, via the New York Times, shows the complete inability to understand that Washington isn’t the arbiter of what happens inside Syria. Nor should it be. This is ineptitude framed as serious policy. Besides, there are countless forces backing the “rebels” and…
How the CIA funds Afghan corruption
Welcome to the insane US-led war in Afghanistan (via New York Times): For more than a decade, wads of American dollars packed into suitcases, backpacks and, on occasion, plastic shopping bags have been dropped off every month or so at the offices of Afghanistan’s president — courtesy of the… Central Intelligence Agency. All told, tens of…
When will the NYT call torture by its rightful name, torture?
Cracking writing by Andrew Sullivan on the gutlessness of the supposed paper of record: There was something almost poignant about a… post yesterday… by former NYT executive editor Bill Keller. It’s his way of explaining why he decided the Times could not use the plain word ”˜torture’ to describe torture – when it was conducted by the…
Life of an uncharged Yemeni prisoner at Guantanamo Bay
Devastating piece in the New York Times that needs no explanation: GUANTÃNAMO BAY, Cuba One man here weighs just 77 pounds. Another, 98. Last thing I knew, I weighed 132, but that was a month ago. I’ve been on a hunger strike since Feb. 10 and have lost well over 30 pounds. I will not…
Despite Obama promises, drone war killing indiscriminately
Essential new journalism by McClatchy Newspapers – it should be remembered that the same news service were one of the few before the 2003 Iraq invasion questioning WMD lies – on the reality on the ground for Barack Obama’s massively expanded drone campaign: Contrary to assurances it has deployed U.S. drones only against known senior…
Lest we forget the pro-war hacks who backed Iraq invasion
Opposing the 2003 Iraq invasion was often a lonely journey amongst the media elites. I was writing against the travesty of the war from 2003 (here’s a piece of mine in the Sydney Morning Herald from 2004) but far too many supported the conflict out of bravado or cowardice. Here’s US reporter Chris Hedges calling…
Debating ethics and journalism over US drone victim Anwar al-Awlaki
Yet another example of why Democracy Now! is one of the finest news shows in the world: