The Iraq inquiry should be conducted in secret
“The Iraq war was a disaster” is a familiar refrain. Unfortunately, that doesn’t tell us very much. Do we mean the concept, the planning, the implementation, the strategy, the tactics, what? Or do we want an official stick with which to beat the government?
Were the problems with the Iraq war just the basis on which we went to war, or inappropriate equipment necessitating lots of UORs ?
Do we just want to know that the whole enterprise was a bad idea, or do we want to see where and why things were done badly or well?
If we put aside the hysterical, the more reasoned problems come under three heads; timing, secrecy and outputs.
What direction will Israel take now?
Three pieces of legislation proposed recently by members of Israel’s Knesset have been making headlines: banning the commemoration of the Nakba; introducing a mandatory ‘loyalty oath’ to the Zionist state; and criminalising public declarations of opposition to Israel being a ‘Jewish state’.
None of these efforts may actually become law – the loyalty oath has already been voted down by the cabinet’s law committee. The Nakba bill though has now been tweaked, so that rather than straightforwardly outlawing any events, there will be economic sanctions for the local authorities and organisations involved.
The response in the Western media to the sight of of 47 MKs voting for prison sentences for anti-Zionists has often come in the form of a warning that Israel is in danger of turning into a racist state. Taking into account other authoritarian trends, this assessment sees Israel’s democracy as under threat by the far-right groupings within Netanyahu’s government.
continue reading… »
Melanie Phillips: the thick or nasty dilemma
I adhere to a rather offensive school of thought. Its basic premise is a simple dilemma: that those on the political right are either thick or nasty. That is, either they realise that the policies they promote and the world views they endorse mean preserving the power, wealth and privilege of the already powerful, wealthy and privileged at the expense of everyone else, or they don’t. If the former: nasty, if the latter: thick.
continue reading… »
The BBC risks losing its way
The broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby has written an article for Index on Censorship arguing that, “The BBC Trust’s condemnation of Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen has the potential to cause serious damage to the corporation’s international standing”.
He says:
The decision by the BBC Trust to censure the BBC’s Middle East editor for breaching the corporation’s guidelines on accuracy and impartiality deserve closer scrutiny than it has yet been given. Jeremy Bowen is justly regarded as one of the BBC’s most courageous, authoritative and thoughtful broadcasters; his hundreds of despatches and commentaries from various frontlines in the Middle East have been noted for their acuity and balance. Now, thanks to the Trust’s Editorial Standards Committee (ESC) — a body with the absolute and final authority of a latter-day Star Chamber — not only has Bowen’s hard-won reputation been sullied, but the BBC’s international status as the best source of trustworthy news in the world has been gratuitously — if unintentionally — undermined.
And he concludes by saying:
Of course the Bowens of broadcasting can look after themselves; they may feel aggrieved or frustrated, but they will shake off such verdicts; nor will they allow their editorial perspective and judgement to be constrained by them. But younger and less experienced correspondents will not find it so easy. At best the risk is that it becomes routine to hedge their coverage with so many cautionary “ifs” and “buts” that their journalism is denuded of genuine clarity and insight. At worst, they will simply start to regurgitate edited versions of competing press releases with an invitation to viewers and listeners to draw their own conclusions. Were that to happen, the BBC would have entirely lost its way, and we will be left a great deal poorer.
Miliband hosts far-right Israeli nationalist
Foreign secretary David Miliband will today meet the foreign minister from Israel Avigdor Lieberman. The Guardian describes him as “hardline”, but others have dubbed him as “fascist”.
So why is the foreign secretary giving time and space to someone who should be shunned by a liberal democracy?
continue reading… »
Individuals have rights, not religions
If the framers of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights were still alive to today, would they be happy with what the U.N. has become? Whilst we can’t ignore or dismiss its enormous humanitarian work and the countless lives saved as a result, what would they have made of UN’s record of defending the very principles which made these good works possible, and which remains the organisation’s one flawless foundation?
After reading the latest news, I suspect their judgement would not be kind. The U.N.’s Human Rights Council has finally approved a long-threatened motion calling on member states to outlaw the ‘defamation’ of religion.
continue reading… »
Why is the left always on the back foot?
I don’t know if the British left is doomed, but they most certainly look terrified. Whether it’s the economy, the welfare state or the military, large swathes of the self-appointed ‘liberal left’ in the UK are plagued by the Syndrome of the Back Foot.
Last week’s major overreaction over the Luton events at a parade of troops returning from Iraq highlighted the Left’s depressingly defensive approach.
Few now can deny the political discourse is increasingly set by Fleet Street. The tabloids hiss and diss and shout at every corner, rolling out story after story against ‘political correctness’, the foreigners, social workers, ‘welfare scroungers’, the Muslim or any of the usual targets.
But instead of challenging the right’s myths and suffocating narrative, instead of regaining the initiative, the cornered liberal left appear permanently on the back foot, lest they cause an all-out conflict with the right wing media or get branded as ‘loony’, ‘traitors’ or similar.
continue reading… »
Jack Straw’s right, Cabinet Government matters
Jack Straw has decided not to appeal a decision and instead the Cabinet has voted, using the power allowed it by law the law, to prevent the release of documents, for the first time since the FOI Act was passed.
Y’know what? I disagree with Justin, Jennie and most Lib Dems on this. He’s right to do so. We can, and should, be attacking this, but not because Cabinet minutes aren’t going to be released. Cabinet minutes should not be released, it’s one of the basic principles of our Parliamentary democracy.
Here’s how it’s supposed to work:
continue reading… »
Report: UK companies linked to Israeli settlements
A new research paper has identified 68 British companies which have direct or indirect relationships with illegal Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory; 49 of which have their head office in the United Kingdom and 19 of which are British subsidiaries of companies based in Israel or other countries.
The report focuses only on Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. It does not examine settlement products emanating from the occupied Golan Heights or whether any UK companies are involved in the construction of settlement infrastructure, including the West Bank wall.
continue reading… »
Sorry, but Abu Qatada deserves the compo
‘PREACHER of hate’, ‘truly dangerous individual’, ‘Osama Bin Laden’s ambassador in Europe’; if rhetoric alone were sufficient to secure a criminal conviction, Abu Qatada would currently be in the early years of a very long stretch. Luckily for all of us that live in Britain, any amount of declamation or hearsay is not enough to put somebody behind bars.
Yes, of course this man’s openly expressed views are utterly odious and utterly repugnant. However, until the Thought Police do finally get to run the show in Airstrip One, to endlessly reiterate that undeniable point is to miss what is at stake, namely the quaint insistence that the same rules must apply to all.
Action demanded over war crimes
Acclaimed actors, directors and other artists are spearheading a new drive for accountability over war crimes committed during the Israel-Gaza conflict.
continue reading… »
What about the Palestinian right to self-defence?
Israel’s ‘right to self defence’ has been supported, recognised and repeated ad nauseam over the last few weeks. The incessant invoking of this ‘right’ is important for two reasons: one, because of how little thought normally goes into what it actually permits and prohibits; and two because of the notable absence of any backing of a Palestinian right to self defence.
At the very least, given the surface commitment to even-handedness by the likes of the Quartet, surely ‘both sides’ should have their right to self defence affirmed?
But of course, to suggest that the Palestinians have a right to self defence is problematic, because it threatens to show up the approach of the international community to Palestine/Israel for what it is: a duplicitous farce.
continue reading… »
Making silly comparisons between Israel-Palestine and Sri Lanka
Suddenly, certain people are interested in the Sri Lankan conflict. That’s not because they’re generally interested in highlighting human rights abuses by the SL government or the LTTE’s brutality, but because it offers a cheap shot as a comparison with the outrage the Gaza invasion to the relative silence over SL. Apparently it illustrates how evil the “anti-imperialist left” is.
This is the point made by David T on Harry’s Place, who usually hates making comparisons because it implies “moral equivalence” but has made an exception here for the required cheap shot.
So why might the outrage in Britain over Gaza be higher profile than the conflict in Sri Lanka?
How about this:
continue reading… »
If Israel wants peace, why does it keep building settlements?
We were constantly told, by defenders of Israel’s recent invasion of Gaza, that the country was dedicated to peace and Hamas was the true obstacle to peace. That’s not necessarily the case; I think there are parties on both sides that have an interest in the continuing this conflict and avoiding a two-state solution.
And though Hamas’ rockets into Israel undeniably invite a retaliation, I also wonder why an Israel that wants peace would continue to build illegal settlements. Not only just build them, but expand them at a frightening rate.
continue reading… »
Palestine and the media
The problem with the Gaza disaster appeal video is that it focused itself on the Palestinians as victims rather than being a call for peace. This is not new. The media’s focus on the Palestinians as victims has been a considerable part of the problem over the last 20 years. During the First Intifada, when children threw stones at Israeli soldiers, pictures were beamed around the world and it became the biggest media story of the day, but the effect on both Israel and the Palestinians was disastrous.
The need of western-world television viewers and magazine readers was to share the suffering of a small people, but children in the West Bank and Gaza found themselves with a choice of going to school or going to where the western press scrum were gathered and be a hero before cameras that told their story to the whole world. Perhaps a billion dollars worth of media was made out of that story, by Reuters, AP and the BBC, but I doubt if the Palestinians received a single penny of that money.
continue reading… »
A left-wing case against the BBC
The BBC’s decision not to show the Gaza appeal illustrates what I’ve been saying for 18 months: that the BBC has lost its marbles. Or to put it another way it has lost its journalistic courage and is now found constantly cowering in face of right-wing whining of bias, as I say in The Times today.
This poses a problem for lefties because we want an independent media that isn’t always being swayed by commercial pressures. But if the BBC is constantly appeasing the right-wing whiners that see a conspiracy in everything, then there’s no point supporting its existence as a powerful broadcaster. The license fee is not only a regressive tax that hurts the poor most, it drowns out independent liberal-left media because most of us at least want some form of an independent media organisation.
continue reading… »
Palestinians – not human enough for the BBC
That the BBC has refused to broadcast the DEC appeal on Gaza is shocking. In other words, the BBC have given in to those just waiting to grasp at the slightest hint of bias before they’d even had a chance to. It wasn’t as if this was just going to be on the BBC; the other channels would have carried it as well.
They’ve in effect decided that the Palestinians of Gaza are not as human or as equal as those who have been victims of natural disasters; it seems it would take something far worse than the man-made carnage Israel visited upon Gaza for the impoverished and hungry citizens of a tiny, cut off piece of land to be treated the same as everyone else.
I didn’t think that the BBC’s coverage of the assault on Gaza was that bad, or certainly not as terrible as some of those on the fringes of the left thought, judging by there being another protest outside the BBC today before the march heads to Downing Street. You get the feeling that if the BBC doesn’t change its minds about this tomorrow that they’ll be a hell of a lot more there than there otherwise would have been.
BBC’s politicisation of Gaza aid is disgraceful
The BBC is defending a decision not to broadcast a Disasters Emergency Committee appeal for Gaza, saying it would compromise its political impartiality. This is complete crock. That a humanitarian disaster exists in Gaza is beyond doubt – its own website has describes the situation in dire terms. Even the British government, which has always been pro-Israeli, accepts Palestinians are facing a humanitarian disaster and pledged over £30m in aid. In fact the government has listed the DEC appeal on their website.
In effect, the BBC is trying to deflect criticism from nutjobs like Melanie Phillips, who continually accuse it of pro-Palestinian bias, by politicising the issue of aid. It never had qualms about broadcasting the DEC tsunami appeal a few years ago, even though a lot of the money went to Sri Lanka, where Tamil terrorists benefited. Those who think the BBC is leftwing is out of their minds. This decision is a disgrace.
Far more principled are student organisations, who have now launched Gaza protests and fundraising drives across eight universities.
Amnesty accuses Israel of war crimes
Human rights group Amnesty International accused Israel of war crimes on Monday, saying its use of white phosphorus munitions in densely populated areas of Gaza was indiscriminate and illegal.
continue reading… »
Anti anti war
A few thoughts on yesterday’s Gaza rally at Trafalgar Square (photo link at the end):
Actually, my main thought about yesterday’s rally pertains to the lack of inspired political leadership we have on this, and so many other, issues. I have a great deal of sympathy for the people of Gaza, but absolutely none for the self-appointed champions of their cause at this end. Absorbing their rhetoric is a bit like inhaling cement. I stand at protest after protest and wonder why the far left simply can’t connect with the human race, or learn.
But anyway – this is meant to be a brief report, not a pointless bitch, so let’s have a bit on the day’s speakers:
Lindsey German – a woman I keep thinking I want to admire for her intellect and commitment – graced us with a speech that I interpreted as a bloodthirsty ode to Hamas’ right to pursue its end of the nightmare: “This ceasefire is not a ceasefire in any meaningful sense if the Palestinians don’t have the right to defend themselves… they have to have that right to defend themselves when they are under such attack… self defence is no offence, and that applies to the people of Gaza more than to anyone else in the world today…” etc – further proof (as if we needed it) of the SWP’s genius for missing the point entirely as it sprints to salute extremism. continue reading… »
You can read articles through the front page, via Twitter or rss feeds.
» How bad is the feline obesity crisis?
» Why don’t MPs pay back tuition fees instead of increasing ours?
» Obama is right to slam BP – and why capitalists should too
» Why does Phillip Blond see civic cohesion as a security issue?
» So what if the Labour candidates went to Oxbridge?
» Last night’s Labour hustings: will it get interesting or turn to torture?
» It’s now down to Ken to win London for Labour
» The Labour people need
» Blog Nation: what would you like to see discussed?
» The Labour leadership’s token contender.. and it’s not Diane Abbott
» In defence of these fraternal nominations
|
66 Comments 20 Comments 13 Comments 10 Comments 18 Comments 4 Comments 25 Comments 49 Comments 31 Comments 16 Comments |
|
LATEST COMMENTS » Shatterface posted on How bad is the feline obesity crisis? » Shatterface posted on Complete tits » McDuff posted on Why I'm defending Ed Balls over immigration » damon posted on Complete tits » Sunny Hundal posted on Complete tits » sunny hundal posted on Why don't MPs pay back tuition fees instead of increasing ours? » Lee Griffin posted on The Labour leadership's token contender.. and it's not Diane Abbott » dan posted on Defend the urban fox! » Richard W posted on Boris rise for Living Wage left of Labour » Julian Swainson posted on How many cabinet MPs went to private schools? » sally posted on Complete tits » Joanne Dunn posted on How many cabinet MPs went to private schools? » Lovely Lynnette Peck posted on How many cabinet MPs went to private schools? » Nick posted on Why don't MPs pay back tuition fees instead of increasing ours? » Bob B posted on Complete tits |
