Turkey rejects European plea to join E.U.
June 21st, 2010 § 1 Comment
Erdoğan feigns interest in PKK threat during visit to southeast Turkey, enjoys being even farther away from Europe.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recently categorized as “black propaganda” the claim that Turkey is shifting its foreign policy orientation away from the West, especially in the aftermath of the May 31 Israeli murder of 9 Turkish humanitarian activists on the Mavi Marmara.
Explaining that his administration’s policy of improved relations with neighbors—manifestations of which include the waiving of visa requirements for citizens of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Libya—has drastically increased tourism revenues, Erdoğan has also reminded the West of Turkey’s application for European integration, pending since 1963, and has threatened the European Union with the label “Christian Club” in the event that Turkey is not admitted.
An AIPAC tool in progressive clothing
June 21st, 2010 § Leave a Comment
Florida Congressman Alan Grayson has emerged as something of a progressive hero in recent months. He also made a cameo on Democracy Now. Some of his initiatives, such as the “War Is Making You Poor” do indeed merit support. But as our friend Max Blumenthal revealed, the man moonlights as an AIPAC tool while off camera. In the US it is not uncommon for people to be progressive and extreme Zionists at the same time. They rarely get called on it (I don’t believe Bill Maher or Greg Palast have ever been). But Grayson finally had his comeuppance when he appeared on Scott Horton’s Antiwar Radio. Listen for yourself:
Reel Bad Arabs Floating Overhead
June 21st, 2010 § Leave a Comment
One of the sillier lines deployed to take the wind out of a cultural boycott of apartheid Israel is ‘art is above politics.’ It’s not an argument, just a line. To see how far from an argument it is, just substitute Israel with something we all agree is unacceptable. Would it have been a good idea for an artist to travel to Auschwitz while the chimneys were pumping, not to witness but to entertain the Gestapo? What about singing for Stalin during collectivisation? Or dancing for Pol Pot as he filled Cambodia’s fields with corpses? O, but those were atrocities! They were criminals! Which brings us to the nub of it. Those false liberals and mercenaries who proclaim the nobility of their ‘engagement’ with Zionist colonialism believe that Zionist crimes are ok. The ethnic cleansing of Palestine, the caging of the refugees, the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, the annexation of the Golan Heights and Jerusalem, the savage, repeated bombardments of Lebanon, the cheerleading for the destruction of Iraq - none of it matters much, because ‘art’ floats high above it.
The Future of Journalism
June 21st, 2010 § 1 Comment
Lewis Lapham enjoys the well-deserved honor of being regarded as one of the greats of American journalism while they are still alive. People would be hard-pressed to locate the same degree of knowledge about history, art and culture possessed by Lapham in today’s generation of well-known journalists. The former editor of Harper’s Magazine, Lapham now edits a quarterly with each issue focusing on one theme. His essays are always beautifully written and rich with historical information which Lapham connects with current events with a smart sense of wit and irony. Critics call Lapham bitter and arrogant (he called for the impeachment of George W. Bush and refused to indulge in Obamamania), but they also often base their critiques on interpretations of his personality rather than his body of work. This always tells you something.
First ever boycott at US port in solidarity with Palestine
June 21st, 2010 § 2 Comments
See:
- Daybreak outpouring of Bay Area picketers stops unloading of Israeli ship. (Henry Norr on MondoWeiss)
- Victory at Oakland port: Israeli ship blocked from unloading. (Gloria La Riva on PSLWeb)
- Update from Oakland: Victory! (Henry Norr on MondoWeiss)
Irish folk legend Tommy Sands joins the Sheikh Jarrah Protest
June 21st, 2010 § 2 Comments
mariosavio — 19 June 2010 — Irish folk legend Tommy Sands performed in front of a crowd of hundreds of Israelis and Palestinians who came to the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in East Jerusalem for the weekly Friday demonstration to protest against house evictions of Palestinians by Israeli courts and settlers.
After the performance, the demonstrators marched in the streets of the neighbourhood. Israeli police tried to prevent them from marching, but was unable to stop them due to the large numbers of demonstrators.
McChrystal faces ‘Iraq’ moment
June 20th, 2010 § Leave a Comment
Gareth Porter, one of PULSE’s 20 Top Global Media Figures of 2009, discusses Afghanistan.
TheRealNews — 20 June 2010 — McChrystal confronts the specter of a collapse of United States political support for the war
The Only Democracy in the Middle East: 18.6.10
June 20th, 2010 § 1 Comment
Fifteen year-old paramedic volunteer arrested by the IDF, while on duty, cuffed in discordance with regulations. ~Photograph by Gal Lugassi
Five paramedics (one of them [image to the left] a minor, the age of 15) and one member of the press- all marked with vests according to their duty, all residents of the village of Ni’lin- were arrested during the weekly demonstration. I later chanced upon the 6 at the Beit-El (settlement) police station. We managed to talk to them a bit and take some pictures before the guarding officer started yelling for the police to come and take us away. Anarchists Against the Wall Reported the following:
One of the soldiers punched the cameraman and a medic, and another threw a large rock at the a radio receiver belonging to the medics. The arrestees were taken to the Shaar Binyamin police station. Two of them were accused of assaulting the police, and four were released.
The latest report is that the remaining journalist and paramedic were both released, with no conditions.
Football on the wall in Bethlehem
June 20th, 2010 § Leave a Comment
AlJazeeraEnglish — June 19, 2010 — Israel’s separation apartheid wall, twice the height of the former Berlin Wall and more than 750km-long, is a much hated barrier in the Palestinian West Bank.
Now, a restaurant owner in the occupied Palestinian West Bank has come up with unique way to please World Cup fans: he has been showing every match of the tournament on a section of the wall, transforming it into a giant screen.
An Evening with Karen Armstrong
June 20th, 2010 § Leave a Comment
Karen Armstrong is the author of the classic The History of God.
UCtelevision — 17 June 2010 — One of the world’s leading commentators on religious affairs, Karen Armstrong discusses the intersection of religion and secularism in contemporary life. She explores the ideas that Islam, Judaism and Christianity have in common and their effect on world events. Series: Walter H. Capps Center Series
