Mahler's Prodigal Son

If one takes a step back and reflects on geo-politics, and politicians in general, the words double standards readily come to the fore. Take but one example. In practical terms the Iranians, like the Iraqis, have done nothing to threaten the Americans. On the other hand the Saudis have in a variety of ways been behind the scenes in various actions against the US and its interests. Of course there are the ever-present oil reserves the Saudis possess. Whilst the US Administration talks loudly, and often, about democracy, justice, freedoms in all its guises, equality among citizens, etc. etc. one country which essentially possesses none of them is Saudi Arabia. Does that deter George W from visiting his Saudi friends during his current swing through the Middle East? Nope! As Amitabh Pal, writing in The Progressive " Bush Visits His Odious Saudi Friend " says: "How do you punish the principal global purveyor of fundamentalist Islam, someone who backed ...

The "news" will hardly come as a surprise to anyone who has read beyond the headlines in the media - the media has not accurately portrayed either the Iraq or Afghanistan wars. So concludes Project Censored, as reported on truthout.com : "The papers, the corporate media are not giving their readers a full understanding through this powerful visual medium of the real cost of the war." - Andrew Roth In an interview with Truthout's Geoffrey Millard, Assistant Professor Andrew Roth discussed his recent study of pictures that appear on the front pages of major newspapers and their portrayal of the Iraq and Afghanistan occupations. In "Covering War's Victims: A Content Analysis of Iraq and Afghanistan War Photographs in the New York Times and San Francisco Chronicle," Roth and his colleagues Zoe Huffman, Jeff Huling, Kevin Stolle and Jocelyn Thomas detail the importance of visual media - specifically photogr...

Australia's appalling and disgraceful treatment of so-called illegal immigrants is nowhere better evidenced than by the detention centres to which people, of all genders and ages were confined, many for years, or the shipment of detainees to Pacific Islands. PM Howard and people like Amanda Vanstone, Philip Ruddock and Kevin Andrews - all Ministers in the Howard Government - will be remembered as the disgraceful and inhumane people they are and how they conducted themselves and their Government's policies. An example of how the lives of one family have been ruined emerges from this report in the SMH : "The Iranian who came to symbolise the debate over asylum seekers during the Howard government era has been awarded compensation of more than $800,000, double previous payouts. Parviz Yousefi, 40, gained national attention for sewing his lips together, attempting suicide four times and going on hunger strikes after authorities separated him from his wife and son at Woomera...

In Australia, recently released former Guantanamo inmate, David Hicks, has called for the dismantling of the place. His calls are being echoed around the world - as Gitmo enters its seventh anniversary - by law-abiding people concerned about justice, decency and humanity. Salon has this piece, " Our Shameful Guantanamo Anniversary ", reproduced on CommonDreams: "Today, America’s Guantánamo era enters its seventh shameful year. If we are ever to regain our standing as a nation committed to the rule of law and fundamental human rights, we must close the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay now, reaffirm our commitment to international treaties and our own Constitution, and either release or prosecute fairly the men who have been held so long in a legal and moral black hole. Six long years ago, the first orange-clad, shackled and blindfolded prisoners arrived at Guantánamo’s Camp X-Ray. The Bush administration’s plan was to fashion Guantánamo quite literally as an i...

George W is continuing his swing through the Middle East and has even suggested he will return next May to celebrate Israel's 60th anniversary. His intention is, to say the least, insensitive - for Palestinians view the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 as having caused the displacement of many of them either driven off their land or dispossessed of it. Yet again, the US shows its one-sided position and approach to the Palestinian-Israel conflict. Writing in The Guardian, Jonathan Steele, a veteran journalist in the region, puts the Bush visit into some sort of context: "Bush's engagement in the world's most intractable dispute is late, piecemeal and phoney. Above all, it is one-sided. As Ghassan Khatib, a former Palestinian minister, remarked this week: "Palestinians agree that in the history of the United States, Bush is more biased toward Israel than any other American president." In any conflict, responsibility for making the largest concess...

What more need be said or added to this from the NY Times ?: "Normally, Garrido v. Krasnansky, a divorce case playing out in Vermont family court, would be of little interest to anyone but the couple involved. But the court has ordered the husband to stop posting blog items about his wife and their crumbled marriage, possibly turning an ordinary divorce into a much broader battle over free speech on the Internet. The husband, William Krasnansky, posted what he calls a fictionalized account of the marriage on his blog late last year. His wife, Maria Garrido, complained to the judge overseeing their divorce, who ordered Mr. Krasnansky to take down “any and all Internet postings” about his wife and their marriage pending a hearing next month. Mr. Krasnansky, 51, says the order amounts to a prior restraint, a rare restriction of speech before publication, and a violation of his constitutional right to free speech. His lawyer, Debra R. Schoenberg of Burlington, Vt., has asked Judge Tho...

The detention - or is it actual imprisonment?- of Saudi Arabian blogger, Ahmad Fouad al-Farhan, continues to make news around the world. Even CNN has taken up the issue and reported on it extensively. Reporters Without Borders reports on its web site today : "Reporters Without Borders and the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (HRinfo) wrote today to the King of Saudi Arabia, Abdallah Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, to request the release of blogger Ahmad Fouad al-Farhan, who has been held for the past month. Letter sent on 10 January to the King of Saudi Arabia, Abdallah Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, by Reporters Without Borders General-Secretary Robert Ménard and HRinfo Executive-Director Gamal Eid. “Your Majesty, Reporters Without Borders, an international press freedom organisation, and the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, HRinfo, would like to share with you their concern about the case of Ahmad Fouad Al-Farhan, a blogger who has been held by your Ministry of Interior...