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“Wiped off the map”
Staunch opponents of the Israeli occupation and advocates for Palestinian rights–I include myself in both categories–are right to critique the Israeli government when it cynically invokes anti-Semitism and security threats for political cover. But this doesn’t mean the threats aren’t real. They are. And anti-Semitism continues to be a huge problem in the Middle East. Here is a post from
Gorgeous George goes down?
The blogs are abuzz with word of new Oil-for-Food evidence against Galloway. This London Times piece–and this–offer the best synopsis. **Update: Hitchens twists the knife over at Slate.
“Torturer in chief”
It takes a brave conservative to wave around a report from the ACLU, but that is what Andrew Sullivan is doing. The details are chilling: The documents released today include 44 autopsies and death reports as well as a summary of autopsy reports of individuals apprehended in Iraq and Afghanistan. The documents show that detainees died during or after interrogations
When far left meets far right
Via Harry’s, a link to a Worker’s Liberty tirade against the scarcely believeable “Free Tariq Aziz” petition being circulated by George Galloway. Money quote: A petition calling for freedom for Saddam Hussein’s right-hand man. Signed by professional anti-Zionists, Holocaust deniers, and representatives of the French New Right — and some people who think they represent the left. That’s what Galloway
The trouble with the “liberal hawks”
“Liberal hawks” like Hitchens, Oliver Kamm and Paul Berman are much derided on the left for supporting the invasion of Iraq. I differ with them on this, but I back them fully in their case against Chomskyism, which tends to portray Islamist terror as an epiphenomenon of Western imperialism rather than a self-motivated totalitarian threat (one that disproportionately victimizes the
Resistance or terror?
A memorable exchange over at World War 4 Report. Bill Weinberg’s thumbs-up citation of Sasha Abramsky brings the “resistance” apologists out of the woodwork. Also, don’t miss Peter Hudis’s takedown of Arundhati Roy and Naomi Klein, linked by Weinberg in the comments.
An evening with Rzewski
The subject of last night’s “composer portraits” at the Miller Theater (Columbia U.) was Frederic Rzewski (pronounced “jehv-ski”), a Massachusetts-born expatriate now in his late 60s, a pianist as well as a composer. Pointedly political for many years, Rzewski wrote his solo piano tour de force “The People United Will Never Be Defeated” in 1975, and last night the formidable
Tom DeLay’s mug shot
Is here. I have to say I’m a little disappointed. They didn’t make him hold that ID plaque in front of his chest.