Riad Hamad

Riad Hamad is a pro-Palestine activist who was trying to send books to children in Palestine and ended dead, bound with tape and drown. He was investigated by FBi and IRS and his death is truly disturbing.

Norman Finkelstein

I am much more scared by the loss of democracy in USA than the loss of democracy in the rest of the world. This is because all the people battling for their human rights were able to see this country as a beacon of hope (what a worn out phase it is, sorry). It sustained Solidarity in Poland, it fed student discussions deep into the night, it was a model to emulate but never to equal. If this model was to crumble, the russian or chinese model of citizens place vis a vis state would become a norm instead. Like female emancipation, the free speech project is a mere couple of generations old and can be swept away very quickly indeed. Treatment of Finkelstein is a symptom of a much deeper problem. If this lobby or that lobby can do this with the acquiescence of the intellectual elites of the country, the step to the government doing it is very small indeed.

Hypocricy, Samir Kuntar and Al-Jazeera

Finding hypocrisy in USA media is as easy as shooting rats in a barrel: Can really nail several specimen in one sitting (or is it shooting?)

Good example from Judea Pearl in the Wall Street Journal.


What an utter, utter hypocrisy.
Is the author sure it is a mere concept of socializing with subject of the news that got his revulsion juices flowing, or was it the fact that the subject of the party thrown by staff of Al-Jazeera was a man, Samir Kuntar, that jewish propaganda build up to be some sort of monster, and Al-Jazeera staff safety judged to be, for most of his incarceration, a political prisoner?

Very few people in the real world believe the story of a child killed by a 17 year old, who instead of fleeting for his life stops and batters that child to death "waiting for her to stop moving her arms so as to get a really good aim at her head", thus ensuring his own capture. He never expressed the remorse, because he never admitted to this killing. It reeks of the story of Kuwaiti premature babies being cast out of the incubators by savages from Iraqi army in a drum beat preceeding the first Gulf war: utterly compelling to hear, and a propaganda lie from start to finish.

The image of Roman Coliseum is especially repugnant as an image used in this argument with a tragedy of siege of Gaza playing out to the audiences in Israel. I am looking for a spike in scientific papers on Hobbes published in Israeli Universities in the incoming years.

The ongoing clashes with Al-Jazeera are not confined to Israel and Israeli-firsters in the USA media: Morocco got really shirty with them as well recently, not to mention those luminaries of democracy like UK, USA, Saudi Arabia, to name the few.

Al-Jazeera does not select it's stories according to agreed parameters of this or that dictator or media mogul's cartel. This is another reason for the venom. Of course, the carefully build picture of Israel as a "moral" beacon to the nations is crumbling anyway. Reuter's cameraman recently learned a lesson of sullying Israel's image.

Please continue your splutters of indignation - or reset your moral compass. You could do worse than start following independent media.

China interest in Georgia

I have just entered Georgia in Google news looking for chinese perspective on the conflict, and there was nothing in the first page. I did a country specific news search and guess what: it has barely registered on their radar. So much for the issue being of international importance. I would not be surprised if China did not look at the Georgia from human rights perspective: after all, the even west educated returners to China do not really believe in human rights if these interfere with chinese interests. But they are really relegating it way down the news pecking order. This means that they absolutely believe in Russia's right to tidy things in their own back yard, and further more that this is not going to escalate. Poor Saakashvili, he really swallowed the propaganda of USA standing behind the plucky little democracies. He forgot to invest in the LOBBY.

"Redirection"

"Redirection" is a title of new piece in The New Yorker by Seymour Hersh.

In shorthand: When America occupied Iraq, they hoped that underdog Shiite will be gratefull and become, unlike Iran Shiite, a friend of the western powers.

Link between Iran and Iraq shiite was stronger than they thought. Iraq shiite turned against occupying american army AND against sunni Iraqis who lorded it over shiite in Iraq for, well, ever.

Hence America seeks co-operation from Lebanon (non-withstanding hezbollah shiite south), Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt. Its co-operation with Israel is well documented and of long standing already.

Possibility that Iran might end up possessing nuclear weapons alarms Washington.
Iran, of course is alarmed at being surrounded with nuclear powers: Israel, Pakistan, India, and American bases in Turkey, Afganistan, Saudi Arabia, Kuweit, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Azerbaijzan,

The raging controversy, rarely vented in the media, is that Al-Quida has its roots in militant , Sunni ,religion of uber-conservative walabi islam in Saudi Arabia, and non withstanding that Saudi money pay for world wide proteolysing of this ultra-fundamenlist strain of islam).

Iran, Syria (Sunni, but anty-american ) and Lebanon south with its links to Iran via Hezbollah) are now a local, updated "Axis of Evil.

This change of policy direction occured despite the fact that anti-american Sunni insurgents in Iraq are many times more numerous than Shiite anti-american insurgents.

The clandestine actions are flourishing, without oversight of US Kongress.
America and its allies in the region are undertaking a continuous stream of provocations against Iran, in hope of Iran retaliating and opening the door for a direct strike against Teheran.

Palestinian Killing Zone

Have a look at this dispatches film.

Haven, I'm in haven.....

Tax Haven are good! This is the summary of a little piece of journalism in Economist. I do not accept its premise I don't support its conclusion. Is the idea of tax leakage a tool for slimming the governments down? Definately. Is it a good thing? Sometimes. Who benefits? Fat cats. Who pays for a short fall? Labour. Why? Because labour cannot change its address like any respectfull corporation can. Because government can lay its hands on the tax before little people like you and me even smell the money. Because we are sitting ducks. Because naither party will seriously let go of personal tax on labour and go after real money. So when is it good?. When even the politicians are outraged by the simplicity of accounting slight of hand and feel moved to do something. No, politicians are no longer outraged by greed. Not in anglosaxon countries. Being outraged by greed is virtually unheard of. It smells too much like communism, and as we know communism is dead and socialism is ....well dead as well. So why is tax haven a good idea? Well, as soon as I make my millions I will go to one of those havens myself. Wouldn't like to miss out or what.