A.LOEWENSTEIN ONLINE NEWSLETTER

• The Tony and George love affair (aka why can’t we start more wars?)
• Jews who see war through the eyes of Tel Aviv
• The Saudi “terrorist” backing Fox News
• Whistle-blowing must happen far more often
• Thank us for helping Iranian repression
• Devastating Iraq and Palestine in one cruel move
• Transparency in the US

The Tony and George love affair (aka why can’t we start more wars?)  24 Aug 2010 Pass the bucket: Tony Blair’s forthcoming memoirs will read like a ‘love letter’ to George W Bush, insiders claim. The autobiography will praise the former U.S. president, with whom Mr Blair launched the controversial invasion of Iraq in 2003, as ‘highly intelligent’ and ‘visionary’. The former prime minister is wheeling out his wife Cherie and their four children to publicise the book, entitled A Journey, across the Atlantic. They will appear at a glitzy awards ceremony in the U.S. at which Mr Blair, who led Britain into four wars, will receive a medal to celebrate his efforts towards peace. It will be the first time the whole family have been seen together since he left office in 2007. News of the publicity efforts comes as agreed to give the profits from his book – expected to be almost £5million – to the Royal British Legion simply to ensure it is not a flop. There had been fears that many would refuse to buy the memoirs rather than line the pockets of a man they accuse of having started an illegal war. Insiders who have seen drafts of the autobiography say it showers praise on Mr Bush as the only politician in the world with the ‘courage and commitment’ to take on Al Qaeda. A source said: ‘It is basically an extended love letter. Tony says he was wowed by Bush’s strength, courage and conviction and saw him as a highly intelligent and visionary friend. ‘It’s the biggest and most unapologetic defence of Bush and his ideas ever written.’

Jews who see war through the eyes of Tel Aviv  24 Aug 2010 Tony Karon @ Tom Dispatch attempts to stop the Zionist push for military action against Iran. The fact that the same frauds who pushed us into war against Iraq are now trying similar tactics against Tehran – “Iran is a grave threat etc” – should worry us all.

The Saudi “terrorist” backing Fox News  24 Aug 2010

Whistle-blowing must happen far more often  24 Aug 2010 Al-Jazeera debate about the importance, or otherwise, of the work of Wikileaks. Leaking government “secrets” – often information simply embarrassing to officials – is essential to understanding democracy:

Thank us for helping Iranian repression  24 Aug 2010 The more the West bullies Tehran, the easier these outrages will occur: Iranian newspapers have been banned from publishing the names or photos of the leaders of Iran‘s green movement, according to a confidential governmental ruling revealed by an opposition website. The move is part of a new round of censorship, which follows the recent closure of a newspaper and the suspension of two magazines. The ruling, issued by Iran’s ministry of culture and Islamic guidance on 18 August, was stamped “top secret” and “urgent”. It was addressed to the editors of newspapers and news agencies in Iran, and bans them from publishing any news about the defeated presidential candidates in last summer’s disputed election and current opposition leaders, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, and the former reformist president, Mohammad Khatami. The opposition website irangreenvoice.com has published a copy of the letter, which reads: “Keeping the society and the public opinion calm is the main responsibility of the media. Security officials have considerations about publishing news, photos and speeches of Mr Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi and Mohammad Khatami, therefore according to the clause 2 of the article 5 of the press code publishing news, photos and reports about the these people are prohibited.” An Iranian journalist who works for a government paper, and asked not to be identified, told the Guardian: “Soon after the election last year, those papers which insisted on publishing news or reports about the opposition leaders were all closed down , so after a while an unwritten ruling overshadowed the media in Iran. Self-censorship meant no journalist even dared to utter the names of the opposition leaders to their editors, let alone publishing any news about them.”

Devastating Iraq and Palestine in one cruel move  23 Aug 2010 What the US sanctions on Iraq tell us about the siege of Gaza.

Transparency in the US  23 Aug 2010 A small but important step of progress thanks to the UN Human Rights Council: The Obama administration has told the United Nations that America’s human rights record is less than perfect but stressed that the U.S. political system has built-in safeguards that promote improvements. In its first-ever report to the U.N. Human Rights Council on conditions in the United States, the State Department said Monday that some Americans, notably minorities, are still victims of discrimination. Despite success in reforming such inequities as slavery and the denial of women’s right to vote, the department said, considerable progress is still needed. “Although we have made great strides, work remains to meet our goal of ensuring equality before the law for all,” it said. The report noted that although the U.S. now has an African-American president and that women and Hispanics have won greater social and economic success, large segments of American society suffer from unfair policies and practices. High unemployment rates, hate crime, poverty, poor housing, lack of access to health care and discriminatory hiring practices are among the challenges the report identified as affecting blacks, Latinos, Muslims, South Asians, Native Americans and gays and lesbians in the United States.