The extent to which the US has become a security and surveillance state was illustrated to me that last time I travelled there, a few years back on a book tour. I had 10 internal flights to make over the course of 2 weeks. When I was pulled out of line and taken for “extra [...]
I have in the past written a number of articles (for example, here) discussing the preponderance of what I call “partisan reporters” covering the Israel-Palestine beat for the corporate media. These are journalists who have a strong emotional attachment and personal investment in Israel. Often it takes the form of the reporters serving in the [...]
Strange what things suddenly reveal to Israelis the ugliness of their political and legal systems, but this story seems to have pricked some consciences. Zaki Sabah, a Palestinian street vendor in the Old City of Jerusalem sells one of the local staples, kaki simsim or sesame cakes (not bagels, as Israelis keep referring to them). [...]
Remember when in 2009 the BBC reneged on its commitment to the Disasters Emergency Committee by refusing to run ads to raise money for the homeless and destitute in Gaza, arguing that such broadcasts were not charitable but political (presumably because that was the way Israel saw them). The BBC’s intransigence infuriated the British public [...]
The birth of the “Royal Baby” seems a good moment to consider the function of the supposedly “liberal-left” media. How well does a paper like the Guardian do in expressing the worldview of much of its readership when confronted with this kind of news event? The answer: it offers almost wall-to-wall sycophancy. Headlines include: All [...]
A little while back, I advised that we should beware feting the Guardian for its role in the Edward Snowden revelations. This is what I wrote: But please be careful about investing too much faith in the Guardian’s position. Whatever the view of the individual journalists at the paper (especially Greenwald), the Guardian as a [...]
One of the problems for “leftists” – as we are called – is that, when one criticises structures of power, people recoil because they can think only of the individuals who operate inside these structures. Exxon is a psychopathic corporation pillaging the planet, but we know someone who works in accounts or human resources and [...]
There’s a real danger in writing posts on a subject like this one of feeling like a killjoy. But here goes anyway. I’m still a sucker for a big Hollywood movie but increasingly I try to remind myself that my enjoyment is really part of an addiction that has been encouraged in me by big [...]
I can’t speak for the situation in all European countries, but it’s clear that the UK’s political system (like the US one) is now entirely captured by the corporations. Democratic institutions are the facade behind which true power – that of the corporate elites – lurks. Thinking otherwise is on a par with believing in [...]
I have expressed fears before that the only way Al-Jazeera America will get itself on US cable is once it has neutered itself to the point that it is little different from CNN. Now an email has been leaked from one of Al-Jazeeera’s senior presenters, Marwan Bishara, who castigates AJAM executives for caving into pressure [...]
Electronic Intifada has a story about the latest incident of a Palestinian citizen of Israel being refused entry to a public facility, this time a swimming pool, because he was not Jewish. I find it interesting how much people are outraged by these stories. Yes, such racism is disgusting. And these reports do reveal something [...]
One of America’s most garlanded journalists, Walter Pincus, writes an article full of falsehoods and innuendo to smear Glenn Greenwald and Edward Snowden. The article is published in one of the world’s most prestigious newspapers, the Washington Post. Greenwald points out three major factual errors in the piece. Pincus grudgingly concedes one of them, while [...]
In a far-off land with a strange name, French Polynesia, some people with dark skins – barely worthy of being considered humans – were an obstacle to France’s need to develop its nuclear weapons programme. So France tested its nuclear bombs anyway – 193 times over a 30-year period – showering them in radioactive dust. [...]
The criminal nature of the enterprises that presume to call themselves our democratic governments becomes clearer by the day. Edward Snowden’s leaks – and the drama provoked by them since – underline the lawlessness of their actions. The latest disclosure is that the Ecuadorean embassy in London – home to Wikileaks leader Julian Assange, who is [...]
The black ops by Washington to keep our minds off the content of Edward Snowden’s revelations – that the US government and its allies are transforming themselves into a global Big Brother – continues apace. We started with stories about Snowden the “high school dropout”, the guy with a lapdancer girlfriend etc. Then we had a raft [...]
One of the notable things about Glenn Greenwald is that, unlike other big-name journalists, he’s not shy about highlighting the moral and professional failings of mainstream journalism. It was a joy to see him pointing out the other day that Mika Brzezinski was using “White House talking points” during an interview, and telling David Gregory to [...]
Everything that’s wrong with our politics and media is encapsulated in this single story in the Guardian. Obama, like recent US presidents, has been a disaster for the environment. But he can give a good speech, and he has finally done so on climate change. Environmentalists in the US are in ecstasy, and the media are [...]
