Al Jazeera International is head and shoulders above all competitors in the MSM and Shihab Rattansi is by far the best news anchor currently on air. There is much journalists could learn from him. In the following interview with PJ Crowley watch Rattansi straitjacket the usually slick US State Department spokesman with relentless questions about the difference in US responses to Tunisia and Egypt and the applicability of pronouncements made in one instance to the other. Crowley appears disappointed that Rattansi is unwilling to abide by the convention of Western MSM which requires a newsman to take an evasion as a cue for moving on to a different subject.
Rattansi, 7:02 :
“Because democracy would be ‘destabilizing’ to the region, wouldn’t it?”
– bingo !
One of the reasons the Hamas election 2006 election victory was so disconcerting to the US administration (that even the Gaza closure and the massacre of Cast Lead weren’t able to reverse completely).
The traditional logic is that “Islamism”, or political entities having even the faintest whiff of religious connotations, is totally incompatible with its version of democracy, therefore the “caïds” and strongmen are appreciated for their capacity to keep the populations at bay and crush any type of opposition from successfully forming (1.5 b in military aid for this type of “crowd control”).
Separation of church and state is a wonderful thing for America (I’m glad it’s there), but they are going to have to get used to the fact that other people may have other visions of what democracy exactly looks like, instead of trying to shove it down their throats. This is all contingent upon and linked to what could begin the inevitable rollback of the US empire in the region. Rest assured, they are monitoring it closely.
Washington’s reaction (overt and covert) to all this will be very instructive.
Brilliant! US exposed.
Now that is how a real reporter should conduct an interview that will evince the truth. Most US reporters are pussies and controlled by big brother.
Absolutely marvellous! PJ Crowley is even worse than I thought! Weasel words strung together- he could be an Israeli politician! Rattansi certainly deserves his reputation.