U.S. Media Distorted View of Mideast Conflict

FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting) reports (here) about an article (here) telling how the US media is so one sided about the current Middle-East conflict.

And then you wonder why the US population supports Isreal so much...


Posted in: _Democracy , _Geopolitics , _USA

The emperor has no clothes

This clip (here) lasts 3 min. Watch it! It is taken from the President's press conference of Aug, 21st.

It is amazing to see W. making a fool of himself. It would be funny if thousands of people would not have (and continue to) die because of him).

Teaser extracted from the press conference:
REPORTER: What did Iraq have to do with that?
PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: What did Iraq have to do with what?
REPORTER: The attack on the World Trade Center?
PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: Nothing, except for it's part of -- and nobody has ever suggested in this administration that Saddam Hussein ordered the attack. Iraq was a -- Iraq -- the lesson of September the 11th is, take threats before they fully materialize, Ken. Nobody has ever suggested that the attacks of September the 11th were ordered by Iraq.


Posted in: _Bushisms

Living in America

Here is what happened to a journalist called Christopher Bollyn working for the American Free Press (here, and here). He was basically harassed and beaten by undercover cops.
Here you can find some of the articles he wrote...


Posted in: _USA , _Society , _HumanRights , _Democracy

U.S. Helped Plan Israeli Attack on Lebanon

Seymour Hersh discussed one of his latest piece on DemocracyNow.org (here).

He reports in this week's issue of the New Yorker that Israeli officials visited the White House earlier this summer to get a "green light" for an attack on Lebanon. The Bush administration approved, Hersh says, in part to remove Hezbollah as a deterrent to a potential US bombing of Iran.

This corroborates the previous post I wrote about the article from the Guardian (here).
The kidnapping of the 2 Israeli soldiers is an excuse and much greater plans were at works in this conflict.

Another thing that will never make it to the mainstream media...


Posted in: _Geopolitics , _Palestine

200th post!

This is my 200th post! Not bad for a blog I started a bit over a year ago, in july 2005 :)

I am not sure how many people other than my friends follow this blog or end up on one of its posts through a Google search, but at least it is a very neat way for me to structure all the info I come accros and I want to keep a trace of!


Posted in: _General

More Propaganda Than Plot

More and more people are starting to doubt the official version of the British government about the terrorist plot they say they unfolded last week at London Heathrow.

The different people are among others a former British ambassador (Craig Murray) in a interview with DemocracyNow (here) and on his blog (here) and Bruce Schneier on his blog (here).

I invite you to have a quick look at what they say because it seems that the plot is indeed hugely exaggerated. The supposed terrorists had no tickets, and some did not even have passports!
Questions have been raised over whether British authorities were pressured by the United States to make the arrests.
I will let you guess to what extend... :)


Posted in: _Democracy , _Geopolitics , _General

Was Israel invasion of Lebanon planned?

The Guardian (here) reports on the circumstances of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the fact that it has nothing to do with Hizbullah capturing 2 Israeli soldiers. Interesting!

A little summary of the article:
"The assault on Lebanon was premeditated—the soldiers' capture simply provided the excuse....
Since Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon in May 2000, there have been hundreds of violations of the "blue line" between the two countries. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) reports that Israeli aircraft crossed the line "on an almost daily basis" between 2001 and 2003, and "persistently" until 2006....
In October 2000, the Israel Defence Forces shot at unarmed Palestinian demonstrators on the border, killing three and wounding 20. In response, Hizbullah crossed the line and kidnapped three Israeli soldiers. On several occasions, Hizbullah fired missiles and mortar rounds at IDF positions, and the IDF responded with heavy artillery and sometimes aerial bombardment. Incidents like this killed three Israelis and three Lebanese in 2003; one Israeli soldier and two Hizbullah fighters in 2005; and two Lebanese people and three Israeli soldiers in February 2006. Rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel several times in 2004, 2005 and 2006, on some occasions by Hizbullah. But, the U.N. records, "none of the incidents resulted in a military escalation"....
So why was the Israeli response [to the July 12 raid] so different from all that preceded it? The answer is that it was not a reaction to the events of that day. The assault had been planned for months."


Posted in: _Palestine , _Geopolitics , _HumanRights

QOTD

"In archaeology you uncover the unknown. In diplomacy you cover the known."

- Thomas Pickering

The 1956 Suez Crisis

Nice report from The Economist (here) about the Suez crisis in 1956.

Since it happened 50 years ago, most of what really took place is known and unveiled here.
It is interesting to see how the different states involved manipulated each others and what the said to the press to achieve their goals. And how much power the USA already had at the time.

Indeed, Israel, UK and France agreed in secret that Israel would invade Egypt, giving UK and France an excuse to come to the rescue and then stay and control the Suez Canal (since Nasser wanted to nationalize it and since the French and the British didn't manage to stop this through diplomacy). The USA was kept in the dark on this and when found out, got mad and blackmailed UK to withdraw (which it did). This got the French so pissed off that they started the creation of the EU the next year, in order to build something big enough to balance the USA's power.

2 conclusions to this:
- Governments will bullshit each others and their citizens if needs be (I hope this doesn't come as too much of a surprise to you people :) ! ) and can hide the true motives of their acts (Iraq anyone?).
- Never underestimate the consequences of a little invasion (again, Iraq and the way the whole Middle-East looks now with the redistribution of power since 2003).


Posted in: _Geopolitics , _Democracy

QOTD

"Too bad the only people who know how to run the country are busy driving cabs and cutting hair."

- George Burns

Israel Dropping Cluster Bombs

DemocracyNow.org reports (here) that Israel is using cluster bombs and white phosphorous against Lebanese civilians.

I am simply speechless when I see such stupidity from a sovereign state.
Not that Israel is the first sovereign state to violate the Geneva convention, but still...


Posted in: _Human Rights , _Palestine

French fries are back!

According to the BBC, French fries are back on the menu in the US House of Representatives, three years after the name was ditched in favor of "freedom fries".

I have to admit that with renaming the fries to freedom fries, some Congressmen set a new record for how ridiculous one can be. Especially that now they are using the original term again! Would they be in need of the French in Lebanon?? :)

The BBC story is here.


Posted in: _USA