Mahler's Prodigal Son

Anyone interested in the newly "discovered" Sarah Palin will know that post her being embargoed from speaking to the media that she appeared in an interview on American ABC. She made a credible fist of it, even if she did not know what the Bush Doctrine was! John Nichols, writing in The Nation , reveals what hasn't received much media coverage - and what Palin said ought to be of concern to anyone even contemplating this woman with a possible mere heartbeat away from the US presidency: "When everyone's attention was focusing on Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's less-than-reassuring interview about foreign policy with ABC News anchor Charlie Gibson, the Republican nominee for vice president was off delivering a speech in which she suggested a dramatically greater ignorance of recent history and international affairs than was on display in the interview. Speaking at Alaska's Fort Wainwright on Thursday, where she hailed the combat deployment of her son...

For those living in Australia it has been hard to miss all the hype of still presently-sitting [that is memeber of Parliament] former Treasurer Peter Costello and the imminent release of his memoirs - although there have been revelations already and Fairfax newspapers are publishing an extract. The Age columnist Tracee Hutchison in her op-ed piece " A tragic confession of wasted opportunity " today probably reflects the view of many Australians: "It's rare that I find myself contemplating gratitude for the length of time John Howard was prime minister. But this week, as former treasurer Peter Costello played us all for mugs promoting his book on taxpayer time, we saw all the reasons why Howard was right to withhold the keys to the Lodge. That's not to say that either man's blinding drive for power was any more endearing to observe than the other's, but Costello's self-serving revelations of all the things he would have liked the Coalition to have do...

Jonathan Cook, writing under the headline " Israel and the Dark Arts " on CounterPunch , reveals a hideous practice and shameful conduct of Israelis in relation to ensaring Palestinian collaborators in Gaza" "Israel’s enduring use of Palestinian collaborators to entrench the occupation and destroy Palestinian resistance was once the great unmentionable of the Middle East conflict. When the subject was dealt with by the international and local media, it was solely in the context of the failings of the Palestinian legal system, which allowed the summary execution of collaborators by lynch mobs and kangaroo courts. That is beginning to change with a trickle of reports indicating the extent of Israel’s use of collaborators and the unwholesome techniques it uses to recruit them. “Co-operation”, it has become clearer, is the very backbone of Israel’s success in maintaining its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Collaboration comes in various guises, including lan...

"Contradictions and double standards pervade every aspect of our social and political life. The country's economy is a shambles, but you can see more Gucci and Versace billboards than in Milan. Iranians are the most courteous people in their daily lives, but they behave like ruthless monsters when driving. Iranians don't like America, but they are the most pro-American country in the Middle East. Iran has become internationally known as a pariah state, but our president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, believes he is the most popular president in the world. Dozens of people are jailed or executed every month but the Iranian government calls itself "the Loving Government". And so on." The writer is talking about Iran - a country of which many have perceptions and views but actually know very little about. As the NewStatesman writes: "It is the country the west fears most - and knows least about. In our exclusive reports, Iranian writers describe the extraordinary ...

Watching the electioneering presently underway in the US from afar one finds it close to bizarre - people like Sarah Palin , the allegations traded, the distortions, the false advertising, etc. etc. - but if the BBC is right, a poll conducted by it worldwide shows that those outside America want Obama as US president: "People outside the US would prefer Barack Obama to become US president ahead of John McCain, a BBC World Service poll suggests. Democrat Mr Obama was favoured by a four-to-one margin across the 22,500 people polled in 22 countries. In 17 countries, the most common view was that US relations with the rest of the world would improve under Mr Obama . If Republican Mr McCain were elected, the most common view was that relations would remain about the same."

He is one of the world’s foremost scholars of Islam and the Middle East. Bernard Lewis shares his thoughts on Iraq, “Islamofascism,” the roots of terrorism, and the two biggest misperceptions about the Muslim faith. FP has an enlightening Q & A with Lewis. An example: "Foreign Policy: What do you see as the biggest misperception about Islam? Bernard Lewis: Well, there are two. Sometimes one, sometimes the other, predominates. It depends when and where. I would call them the negative one and the positive one. The negative one sees Muslims as a collection of bloodthirsty barbarians offering people the choice of the Koran or the sword, and generally bringing tyranny and oppression wherever they go. And the other one is the exact opposite, what you might call the sanitized version, which presents Islam as a religion of love and peace, rather like the Quakers but without their aggressiveness. The truth is in its usual place, somewhere between the extremes. FP: Do you believe in...

truthout.com in a piece " 9/11 Seven Years Later: US "Safe," South Asia in Turmoil " reflects on where things are at 7 years after 9/11 and al Qaida bursting on the scene. Despite all the money and resources thrown at curbing the so-called war at terrorism things aren't looking too good at all: "Seven years after 9/11, al Qaida and its allies are gaining ground across the region where the plot was hatched, staging their most lethal attacks yet against NATO forces and posing a growing threat to the U.S.-backed governments in Afghanistan and nuclear-armed Pakistan. While there have been no new strikes on the U.S. homeland, the Islamic insurrection inspired by Osama bin Laden has claimed thousands of casualties and displaced tens of thousands of people and shows no sign of slackening in the face of history's most powerful military alliance. The insurgency now stretches from Afghanistan's border with Iran through the southern half of the count...