“PROPAGANDA ALWAYS WINS…IF YOU ALLOW IT.” British investigative journalist John Pilger quotes Leni Riefenstahl, whose World War II era movies helped smooth the way in public opinion for the rise of Hitler. She credits a form of “liberal fascism” of that time that succumbed to her form of propaganda. Just so, the main stream [...]
AMERICANS ARE A SIGNIFICANTLY “THREATENED” PEOPLE. A new Gallup survey of “1015 adult Americans” shows that 99% perceive Iran’s nuclear development a threat to U.S. “interests.” 83% of them (97% of Republicans, 79% of Democrats) view this threat as “critical” while another 16% see it as “important.” Nor is this fear confined to [...]
SRI LANKA IS “COUNTRY OF CONCERN” TO BRITISH FOREIGN OFFICE FOR ITS HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES; BUT A MAIN BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY FOR U.K. ARMS DEALERS. Expose article by U.K. Independent shows that millions of pounds worth of small arms have flown into the country, many of them used in the escalated violence of the government [...]
THE DARK NIGHT OF A VIOLENT SOCIETY IS RISING IN AMERICA; AND VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES AND HOLLYWOOD MOVIES ARE CONTRIBUTING TO THAT. Movie critic Mick LaSalle comments on effects of movies like “Dark Knight Rises” and the possible causal connection between it and other media products in promoting events the likes of a movie [...]
BLACK EMANCIPATION: LINCOLN’S HORSE-TRADING OR FREDERICK DOUGLAS’S STRUGGLE? Louis Proyect deconstructs the message behind the Stephen Spielberg movie “Lincoln” based on a screenplay by Tony Kushner. While ostensibly about the 16th U.S. President, the Kushner/Spielberg effort seems more like an indirect ode to the present one, depicting Lincoln as, like Obama, a wheeler-dealer [...]
AUSTERITY-PROTESTING CHAOS IN STREETS OF SPAIN, PORTUGAL AND GREECE—AND NEW YORK TIMES CHOOSES MOSTLY THE FACT THAT MARKETS “FALTER” IN THESE COUNTRIES AS THE NEWS “THAT’S FIT TO PRINT.” As European central bank demands austerity measures cutting benefits to people as condition of buying up their bad debts, riots occur across southern Europe and [...]
“OUR SITUATION IS NOT EASY-WITH NO ONE HELPING US.” (IPS News) A refugee in southern Mali from civil strife in the north of the country voices this complaint. The World Food Programme is attempting to address the situation in a recent addition to African scenes of humanitarian crisis; but the help is slow in being delivered [...]
IT’S AIPAC-BLOSSOM TIME IN WASHINGTON, D.C. (New York Times) Candidates for President—the incumbent and his GOP rivals—stand in line to address the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. While the Republicans pander the jingo votes with a tough stands against the possibility of Iran gaining nuclear weapons and becoming a more ominous “existential” threat to Israel, Obama condemns [...]
THOSE AFGHAN PROTESTS: PRESS COVERAGE TO THE CONTRARY, IT ISN’T JUST ABOUT THE “INADVERTENT” BURNING OF SOME KORANS. (Salon) News coverage tends to marginalize as religious fanaticism the grievances of Afghans against the United States, covering the fact that the U.S. is perceived as an invader of their country and that it is their duty [...]
AMIDST THE OSCAR NARCISSISM OF CELEBRITIES, A GLIMMER OF BRILLIANCE IN THE BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM WINNER. (Asia Times) Middle Eastern writer Pepe Escobar so views the choice of Ashgar Farhady’s “A Separation” for this award. In Escobar’s view, this was actually the best film in ANY language, the exactly needed antidote to the Islamophobia [...]
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