Defending Thomas Friedman
May 24th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Having just written a book denouncing The New York Times foreign affairs columnist Thomas Friedman—slated for release by Verso in November—I now find myself in the awkward position of having to defend him.
What has necessitated the turn of events is yesterday’s opinion piece on the Israeli Ynet News site by Giulio Meotti, contributor to The Wall Street Journal and author of a book portraying Israeli civilians killed by Palestinian terrorism as the victims of a new Holocaust — despite the fact that Palestinian civilians have since the time of the original Holocaust managed to perish at a far higher rate courtesy of Israeli military maneuvers.
Yesterday’s article, entitled “The Thomas Friedman myth”, is itself mythical in nature but does contain various grains of truth, such as:
His 1989 book ‘From Beirut to Jerusalem’ has been a best-seller, as was ‘The world is flat.’”
As for Meotti’s revelation that “The famous columnist has always been a militant of the Palestinian cause”, I can only offer kudos to Friedman for deftly disguising his militancy via allegations that Palestinians are “gripped by a collective madness”.
Geoffrey Wawro on the US in the Middle East
May 23rd, 2011 § 2 Comments
In the following audio, Jeff Blankfort interviews Prof. Geoffrey Wawro, author of Quicksand: America’s Pursuit of Power in the Middle East, (Penguin, 2010) with a focus on US support for Israel, the pro-Israel lobby and whether Israel is a strategic asset or liability.
Geoffrey Wawro on the US in the Middle East: MP3
Regime Versus Alawis
May 22nd, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Amid debate with Joshua Landis in the comments section of the previous post, I wrote this:
Another point about sectarianism. Remember the fight bewtween Alawis and Ismailis some years ago in Masyaf (was it Masyaf?). There was a good piece about it on Syria Comment. Somebody at the time (perhaps Joshua) pointed out that the fight wouldn’t have reached the proportions it did if there had been respected civil society figures who could have knocked the young men’s heads together. But there weren’t any such figures, because any natural authority figure was perceived as a threat by the regime and had been removed. Masyaf is a microcosm of Syria.
Then a visitor called AK posted the following comment, which is very worth reading.
Syrians lived together even before the arrival of Al Assad family to power. Mind you, majority of Alawii are poorer now than forty years ago. You just need to visit any Alawii village (including Kurdaha) to establish that yourself..
Gore Vidal: The National Security State
May 22nd, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Gore Vidal on the history of the National Security State, produced by The Real News Network.
Chavez and the Beasts
May 21st, 2011 § 1 Comment
Today another 29 Syrians, including a child, were slaughtered in their streets. Today Hugo Chavez referred to Syrian President Bashaar al-Asad as “my brother.” He claimed that Syria is “the victim of a fascist attack,” but he wasn’t referring to his fascistic brother, he was referring to the people.
Lance Selfa at Socialist Worker analyses Chavez’s perverse stand. It should be noted that Turkish PM Erdogan has regained his popularity since he took a strong line against Qaddafi and Asad.
WHEN THE revolution sweeping the Arab world struck Libya and Syria, the governments there chose to act in the same way that the Bahraini monarchy did against its internal opposition: Open fire on unarmed crowds, arrest large numbers of people and outlaw demonstrations.
These actions have rightly received widespread condemnation from supporters of the Arab revolutions. But they have received at least tacit support from Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, who is widely considered an important figure on the international left.
Munib Masri did not throw a refrigerator
May 20th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Munib Masri, prior to being shot in the back
A curious article on the English language website of the Israel Defense Forces, entitled “A conversation with soldiers who stopped Nakba events”, begins with the following summary—in bold—of Nakba Day protests near Ramallah:
Throwing televisions, refrigerators, large stones, burning tires and more, Palestinian protestors didn’t hold rioting against IDF forces in the events of Nakba Day. Four combat soldiers and one officer in a special unit stationed in the area tell the story of what it all looked like up close”.
The placement of the term “didn’t” in the first sentence would suggest that, even though Palestinian protesters were allegedly throwing the various items listed, they were not in fact rioting. What exactly happened becomes even more unclear in the body of the article when one of the soldiers announces:
We didn’t have refrigerators thrown at us.”
Dirty Money
May 20th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
The lavish lifestyles enjoyed by dictators across the Middle East and North Africa have fuelled widespread anger at the way national assets have been looted for the benefit of the few. So what happens to all this wealth once it is spirited out of the country? Can it ever be recovered? And why does the international banking system make it so easy for corruption to flourish? Al Jazeera’s People & Power asked veteran financial journalist, Steve Levinson, to investigate.
See also a recent report by Global Financial Integrity, which estimates illegal capital flight from Africa at more than $1 trillion over the past four decades, “facilitated by a global shadow financial system comprising tax havens, secrecy jurisdictions, disguised corporations, anonymous trust accounts, fake foundations, trade mispricing, and money laundering techniques.”
On Books
May 20th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
I have always imagined that Paradise will be some kind of library.
— Jorge Luis Borges
Photo: Jasmin Ramsey
I have owned two digital readers for two years, one of which was given to me as a gift. After a few attempts to use them they were laid to rest in a drawer until I read an entire book on one of them for the first time last week. I needed the book for reference immediately and was unable to find it locally, so one of the readers was resurrected from its tomb after a long-needed charge. Besides the convenience of being able to download it in less than 5 minutes, the reader was easy on the eyes and handy with its note-taking and search capabilities. Those who advocate digital readers argue that they’re also cheaper (after the initial investment), easy to transport and better for the environment. But as someone who sometimes spends as much money on literature as she does on food, I know I will always prefer books to screens. The touch, the feel, the smell. That need to consume a good book like it’s your favorite dessert will never be inspired in me by a Kindle or iPad.
Considering the downward profit trend of the print publishing industry, print book lovers may one day (though that day is likely still decades away) become like record collectors, self-made connoisseurs of their expensive home libraries, often found scavenging through those cute independent shops. “They just sound better,” says the down-to-earth record-collector guy, met by our flimsy though no less true, “They just feel better.”
