The death of the Portuguese writer José Saramago has just been announced. As he won the Nobel Prize in 1998 and had in recent years acquired a status something like that of a secular seer we are in for a couple of days in which the media will carry eulogies praising his humanity and intelligence.
Archive for June, 2010
An important piece of reportage in the New York Times:
The attacks on Ali Rash and at least a dozen other Kurdish villages have continued for more than a month and have included a foray by Iranian tanks one mile into Iraqi territory. But they have elicited only a tepid protest from Iraq’s government, including the release of a statement pleading with neighboring countries to honor its borders.
The Iranian government has said its bombing campaigns are necessary to weaken Kurdish guerrillas that strike in Iran and take refuge in Iraq. The only confirmed casualty has been a 14-year-old girl.
Read it all. And don’t hold your breath for any aid convoys, flotillas or what have you to the Kurdish people victimized by Iranian aggression.
Via Richard Landes, who has some worthwhile thoughts on the latest debate concerning Islamophobia.
Via Terry Glavin. More on Libby Davies, deputy leader and house leader of the opposition New Democratic Party in Canada, here.
ENOUGH
by Matt Godwin and Sam Konig
You have no doubt been reading about recent comments made by the NDP’s Deputy Leader, Libby Davies, who stated very clearly at an anti-Israel rally that the occupation of the Palestinian territories began in 1948, rather than in 1967. This kind of rhetoric is tantamount to declaring that Israel has no right to exist at all. As if this were not enough, she further declared her support for boycotts, divestment, and sanctions against Israel. Many progressives and fellow New Democrats, including the NDP’s other Deputy Leader Thomas Mulcair, have condemned her remarks.
The publication of the Saville Report into an atrocity carried out by the British Army in Northern Ireland in 1972 has tempted Andrew Sullivan to write a post of remarkable stupidity.
It’s not too late to support AJC’s campaign urging the UN Human Rights Council to end its silence on Iran. Here’s why you should:
Which may remind you of this earlier version…
First-class reporting from German broadcaster Südwestrundfunk below. The members of the German leftist party Die Linke don’t seem remotely bothered that they were traveling with the Islamist IHH “charity,” nor with the fascist, antisemitic BBP Party. Once again, the sordid nature of the alliance between Islamists and so-called leftists is plain for all to see.
Watch and spread the link.
Haaretz is reporting that David Trimble is going to be one of the foreign observers participating in Israel’s inquiry into the Mavi Marmara affair.
… at least for the time being. That’s not the view of the hairier elements of the Israeli right, it’s the view of the Mahmoud Abbas, President of the PA.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is opposed to lifting the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip because this would bolster Hamas, according to what he told United States President Barack Obama during their meeting at the White House Wednesday. Egypt also supports this position.
The rest here
The Times of London is often sensationalist, which means that one should use a pinch of salt when reading its reports on military or intelligence affairs. With that caveat in mind, here’s Hugh Tomlinson:
In the week that the UN Security Council imposed a new round of sanctions on Tehran, defence sources in the Gulf say that Riyadh has agreed to allow Israel to use a narrow corridor of its airspace in the north of the country to shorten the distance for a bombing run on Iran.
UPDATE: The Saudis now deny it. To misquote Mandy Rice-Davies, “Well, they would, wouldn’t they?”
Watch this report from Richard Landes on PJTV. (You can’t embed their material so click on the link.)
Just a short note to say that I’ve started writing over at the Huffington Post. You can read my first piece, on Iran and the UN Human Rights Council, here.
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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who lost authority over Gaza three years ago this month in the very bloody Hamas coup, is suddenly asserting responsibility for the 1.5 million Palestinians living there. His nemesis, Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, already was way ahead in feeling the world love as European governments, in the wake of the May 31 flotilla clash, joined with the ranks of traditional Hamas backers in the Arab and Islamic worlds in calling for lifting the blockade of Gaza. President Obama, meeting with Abbas, put icing on the Hamas cake by calling the situation in Gaza “unsustainable.”
This is a guest post by Winston Pickett.
For media watchers familiar with the White House Press Corps, the saga of Helen Thomas is has served up a pungent lesson on how antisemitic ideas can pollute and ultimately force a 58-year career to crash, burn and splutter to an inglorious conclusion.
