Dershowitz [tries] to take on Chomsky

MPD is absolutely no fan of Alan Dershowitz. As a lawyer he is a disgrace to his profession - and heaven-only knows why Harvard retain him in their Law School. Talk about given the institution a bad name!

Once again Dershowitz has taken on Noam Chomsky. An analysis by this lawyer in a piece on CounterPunch finds Dershowitz wanting yet again.

"For an attorney, Alan Dershowitz doesn't argue very well, at least not in his recent attempt to take down Noam Chomsky for Chomsky's recent op-ed, "My Reaction to Osama bin Laden's Death." These men have a history. Dershowitz has called Chomsky a "Holocaust denier" and has suggested that Chomsky is so out-of-touch that he lives on "Planet Chomsky." Chomsky, in turn, has accused Dershowitz of launching a Jihad because of Dershowitz's seemingly unconditional support for Israel. Regardless of whether one has a dog in this fight—for the record, I don't—one can see Dershowitz's "argument" for what it is: a collection of red herrings and other fallacies cloaked in inflammatory and nationalist rhetoric. At a time when the Middle East is in turmoil—well, more turmoil than it's usually in—the last thing we need is Dershowitz's loud, self-righteous, and not-so-subtle warmongering to influence public discourse about Osama bin Laden."

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Robert Fisk's predictions for the Middle East in 2013

There is no gain-saying that Robert Fisk, fiercely independent and feisty to boot, is the veteran journalist and author covering the Middle East. Who doesn't he know or hasn't he met over the years in reporting from Beirut - where he lives? In his latest op-ed piece for The Independent he lays out his predictions for the Middle East for 2013. Read the piece in full, here - well worthwhile - but an extract... "Never make predictions in the Middle East. My crystal ball broke long ago. But predicting the region has an honourable pedigree. “An Arab movement, newly-risen, is looming in the distance,” a French traveller to the Gulf and Baghdad wrote in 1883, “and a race hitherto downtrodden will presently claim its due place in the destinies of Islam.” A year earlier, a British diplomat in Jeddah confided that “it is within my knowledge... that the idea of freedom does at present agitate some minds even in Mecca...” So let’s say this for 2013: the “Arab Awakening” (the t

The NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) goes on hold.....because of one non-Treaty member (Israel)

Isn't there something radically wrong here? Israel, a non-signatory to the NPT has, evidently, been the cause for those countries that are Treaty members, notably Canada, the US and the UK, after 4 weeks of negotiation, effectively blocking off any meaningful progress in ensuring the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. IPS reports ..... "After nearly four weeks of negotiations, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference ended in a predictable outcome: a text overwhelmingly reflecting the views and interests of the nuclear-armed states and some of their nuclear-dependent allies. “The process to develop the draft Review Conference outcome document was anti-democratic and nontransparent,” Ray Acheson, director, Reaching Critical Will, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), told IPS. “This Review Conference has demonstrated beyond any doubt that continuing to rely on the nuclear-armed states or their nuclear-dependent allies for l

#1 Prize for a bizarre story.....and lying!

No comment called for in this piece from CommonDreams: Another young black man: The strange sad case of 21-year-old Chavis Carter. Police in Jonesboro, Arkansas stopped him and two friends, found some marijuana, searched put Carter, then put him handcuffed behind his back into their patrol car, where they say he shot himself in the head with a gun they failed to find. The FBI is investigating. Police Chief Michael Yates, who stands behind his officers' story, says in an interview that the death is "definitely bizarre and defies logic at first glance." You think?

Mahler's Prodigal Son

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