A.Loewenstein Online Newsletter

Media that doesn’t spread fear of Islam

Posted: 06 Feb 2011 04:20 AM PST

Only on Al-Jazeera (almost impossible in the Western, corporate media): Tariq Ramadan and Slavoj Zizek on the future of Egyptian politics:

Why Macy Gray should not play Tel Aviv; occupation rules

Posted: 06 Feb 2011 04:11 AM PST

Max Blumenthal has become one of the leading American Jewish voices against Israeli oppression.

So maybe Israel simply isn’t worth it

Posted: 06 Feb 2011 03:39 AM PST

Magnes Zionist with beautiful poetry:

In fact, I would argue that the ambivalence that some Jews are feeling [towards Egyptian democracy] can itself be turned into an argument against a Jewish state. For if the price to pay for a Jewish state is acquiescing in tyranny and injustice for reasons of realpolitik – as Israel did with apartheid South Africa – then arguably that price is too high, especially if you feel, as I do, that there are alternatives to a Jewish state for the survival and thriving of the Jewish people and its heritage.

No wonder Egyptians don’t trust the West, why should they?

Posted: 06 Feb 2011 03:06 AM PST

Robert Fisk on the infantile comments of our leaders towards the Egyptian streets. Perhaps it’s time to throw out our democratically-elected men with some serious people. They couldn’t be much more obsequious:

Only when the power of youth and technology forced this docile Egyptian population to grow up and stage its inevitable revolt did it become evident to all of these previously “infantilised” people that the government was itself composed of children, the eldest of them 83 years old. Yet, by a ghastly process of political osmosis, the dictator had for 30 years also “infantilised” his supposedly mature allies in the West. They bought the line that Mubarak alone remained the iron wall holding back the Islamic tide seeping across Egypt and the rest of the Arab world. The Muslim Brotherhood – with genuine historical roots in Egypt and every right to enter parliament in a fair election – remains the bogeyman on the lips of every news presenter, although they have not the slightest idea what it is or was.

But now the infantilisation has gone further. Lord Blair of Isfahan popped up on CNN the other night, blustering badly when asked if he would compare Mubarak with Saddam Hussein. Absolutely not, he said. Saddam had impoverished a country that once had a higher standard of living than Belgium – while Mubarak had increased Egypt’s GDP by 50 per cent in 10 years.

What Blair should have said was that Saddam killed tens of thousands of his own people while Mubarak has killed/hanged/tortured only a few thousand. But Blair’s shirt is now almost as blood-spattered as Saddam’s; so dictators, it seems, must now be judged only on their economic record. Obama went one further. Mubarak, he told us early yesterday, was “a proud man, but a great patriot”.

Israelis enjoying themselves shows the importance of BDS

Posted: 06 Feb 2011 12:12 AM PST

Here’s a tip for the Israelis who made this almost comical anti-BDS video. Featuring people having fun in Israel utterly misses the point. Increasing numbers of people globally are boycotting Israel for this very reason; fun-loving Israelis are loving life while Palestinians are brutalised down the road in the West Bank and Gaza under Israeli rule.

It’s not that complicated:

America isn’t leaving Iraq for years to come

Posted: 05 Feb 2011 11:58 PM PST

Don’t believe the political and media hype that Washington is on its way out. Quite the opposite, explains private military contractor writer David Isenberg:

You thought private security and military contractors were downsizing in Iraq? Think again.

On February 1 the  Senate Foreign Relations Committee released a report “Iraq: The Transition from a Military Mission to a Civilian-Led Effort.”

In accordance with the 2008 U.S.-Iraq security agreement, the American military is scheduled to withdraw its  remaining 50,000 troops by December 2011. What does this mean for PMSC?

To start with, the diplomatic mission that remains will  be of unprecedented size and complexity. It is projected to consist of some 17,000 individuals on 15 different sites, including 3 air hubs, 3 police training centers, 2 consulates, 2 embassy branch offices, and 5 Office of Security Cooperation sites. According to the report, “roughly 17,000 individuals are expected to be under ‘‘chief of mission authority,’’ mostly third-country nationals working as life-support and security contractors.” Good luck in making sure that you have people you can trust; the report notes “Thousands of critical life-support and security personnel contractors need to be vetted and hired.”

Current planning calls for 5,500 security contractors to be employed by the State Department in Iraq, roughly double the current number. About four thousand of these will be third-country nationals serving as static perimeter security for the various installations, a continuation of current practice at both civilian and military sites.  Though the numbers remain in flux, current plans call for about 600 guards in Irbil, 575 in Baghdad, 335 each in Kirkuk and Mosul, and about 3,650 in Baghdad. Most of State’s security contractors, both perimeter and movement, will be hired through the Worldwide Protective Services (WPS) contract, the successor to the current Worldwide Personal Protective Security (WPPS II) contract. However, some of the specialized security functions ill be contracted separately.

Power to the Egyptian people in song

Posted: 05 Feb 2011 11:49 PM PST

Don’t tell Washington or Israel; the Egyptian people don’t care what you want in their country:

Cables of a failed war

Posted: 05 Feb 2011 11:42 PM PST

Just one of the latest Wikileaks-related cables, this one from London in 2009:

Prime Minister Brown was “very pleased” by President Obama’s December 1 speech describing the way forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and HMG would like U.S. and UK public statements to remain in synch, Philip Barton, Director, Afghanistan and Pakistan, in the Cabinet Office’s Foreign and Defence Policy Secretariat, told the Political Minister Counselor December 2.(Barton’s boss, Foreign Policy Advisor Simon McDonald, passed the same message to the Ambassador in a telephone call, noting that U.S. and UK positions were very much in synch and this was appreciated by PM Brown). Barton outlined the UK’s goals for the January 28 international Conference on Afghanistan in London, which include discussing ways to empower the Afghan authorities, addressing reintegration of Taliban elements, and determining the most effective mechanism for international civilian leadership in Afghanistan. According to Barton, Prime Minister Brown is “personally involved and engaged” in planning for the Conference. The UK will invite foreign ministers, and President Karzai and UNSYG Moon have said they will attend. The Conference will provide an “opportunity” for participants to announce civilian or military contributions but the Conference should not be a donor or force-generation conference, Barton stated. During his December 3 meeting in London with Pakistani Prime Minister Gilani, Prime Minister Brown will press Gilani on the need for Pakistan to: expand its fight against extremism; target terrorist sanctuaries; develop a plan for governance and development in the FATA; and, increase dialogue with India, Barton stated. HMG believes that now is an opportune moment to engage Gilani since his power is increasing at the same time that President Zardari’s power is declining. End Summary.

Once upon a time there was an atheist Jew talking about religion

Posted: 05 Feb 2011 11:30 PM PST

This Sydney event later in the week sounds fun and I’m happy to be invited:

Thursday, February 10 · 1:00pm – 2:00pm

Upper Chapter House, St Andrew’s Cathedral; Sydney

Panel Discussion : Imagine no religion: Would we be better off?

Simon Smart, Antony Loewenstein & Jane Caro

Format: Each month the City Bible Forum will have a panel issue. During the following weeks would be a series answering many of the discussion points.

Panel: The panel will not be a debate, but an interactive discussion with our moderator, Kari Seeley, and the audience. We would have key people set in the audience who have a specific view on this topic to set in motion the conversation. The panel is to be a mix of differing view points. Authors, columnists, historians, Christians, Atheists and other beliefs will be participating. The experts we are contacting are not desiring to recruit for their own cause, but willing to intellectually discuss their view with an audience and others in a panel atmosphere.

We stand with Assange in Australia

Posted: 05 Feb 2011 10:42 PM PST

I attended this Wikileaks rally in Sydney to show support for Julian Assange and what Wikileaks stands for:

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has the support of the “greatest minds in the world”, according to his stepfather Brett Assange.

Speaking at a rally held at Sydney’s Town Hall in support of the 39-year-old Australian, Mr Assange urged people to support his stepson as he prepared to face a London court this week.

The court will decide whether Julian Assange will be extradited to Sweden to face sexual-related allegations.

 

There is growing concern the internet whiz will then be extradited to the US, after a catalogue of high-profile leaked diplomatic and military cables were published on the WikiLeaks website.

Mr Assange said that the Swedish government had abused his stepson’s human and his legal rights by “having him in line” for this extradition.

“They should be ready to grant him shelter instead,” Mr Assange told the crowd assembled at the rally on Sunday.

“He’s been nominated for a Nobel Prize so how could he be a criminal?

“He’s exposed global corruption everywhere, he’s done no harm except to those who do harm the people,” he said.

Julian Assange was nominated for the Sydney Peace Foundation’s gold medal and the Nobel Peace Prize on the same day last week.

Both Julian Assange’s mother and stepfather have criticised Prime Minister Julia Gillard for washing her hands of him.

“She’s made a huge mistake by disowning him, because he’s broken no laws. People say that he’s broken laws; Gillard, (Barack) Obama say that he’s broken laws.

“Nobody seems to know what these laws are that he’s supposed to have broken,” Mr Assange said.

“The greatest minds in the world support him, how the hell could he have done anything wrong?”