Middle East: Political

Below you'll find a link to a must-read article by Carel Moiseiwitsch and Gordon Murray concerning the extremely biased coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict by all CanWest-owned newspapers (such as The Vancouver Sun, The Vancouver Province, The National Post, to name just three of CanWest's numerous papers across Canada).

The most telling thing in this whole article is the incredibly honest quote from CanWest founder, Israel "Izzy" Asper:

“In all our newspapers, including the National Post, we have a very pro-Israel position….We are the strongest supporter of Israel in Canada.”

Yesterday was a great day for all those of us who truly value freedom and strongly believe in the right to self-determination. The people of Kosovo are finally free. And they definitely deserve their independence and their freedom from Serb domination and oppression. Simply put, they wanted their own country and, therefore, they deserve their own country.

And, hey, you know it's a rare day indeed when I applaud a decision by George W. Bush, but, after his quick recognition of Kosovo as an independent nation yesterday, he simply must be praised... even by the likes of me. And, no, I'm not being sarcastic here.

You've all heard of The Axis Of Evil, of course, but what about The Axis of Medieval? Because, man, has it ever been a great week for them! In fact, it's been an amazing week for all admirers of the Dark Ages and all fans of Medieval systems, techniques and mindsets. First there was the report out of Saudi Arabia the other day about the Saudi Arabian "witch" being sentenced to death for, uh, "casting spells" on some guy, then there was this buffoon in the White House threatening to veto a Senate bill outlawing torture, and, finally, there was the start of the show trials for some of the most prominent tortured inmates at the Guantanamo Bay gulag. Truly a great week for Medieval lovers everywhere.

Hey all you fellow Canadians out there, as Bob Dylan once asked, how does it feel? How does it feel to have a government that is such a disgraceful embarrassment on the international stage? I mean, when your country's only real ally on a major issue is George W. Bush's America you've really got to stop and ask yourself just what the hell went wrong? And the answer, obviously, starts with the election of this Stephen Harper-led right-wing Bush-a-like government of ours two years ago. The only question now seems to be, just how far down do these jokers plan to drag us?

or Iran vs Saudi Arabia in "The Ascendancy of Asininity"

Ok, so two weeks ago you heard about the delightful tale of the 19-year-old woman in Saudi Arabia who, for the crime of being gang-raped, was sentenced to be tortured and permanently disfigured - to call flogging by its real name - followed by 6 months in prison. Well, today we're reminded that, when it comes to full-on barbaric, feudal, Dark Age Mentalities, the Saudis are relatively timid and moderate compared to their brothers in asininity in the Iranian judiciary. I can almost hear the Iranian taunts now: "Hey, Saudis, you call that a sentence? How about death to an 18-year-old for the crime of being raped by her brothers and forced into sex slavery by her parents? Bet you can't beat that, you pansies!"

It was great to learn this past week that homophobia actually has a good productive side. And it was truly great to see some fundamentalist freaks coming together in a show of solidarity. A solidarity of hatred, that is. I'm talking, of course, about the coming together in common cause of Jewish, Christian and Muslim fundamentalists in Jerusalem earlier this week to oppose that city's Gay Pride March. I mean, isn't it wonderful to see people putting their hatred aside to unite for the purposes of... er... hatred? Hatred of others though, rather than of each other. How special.

We all know who is ultimately responsible for the total and utter catastrophe that Iraq has become since being unjustly and illegally invaded and occupied three and a half years ago; I mean, the whole world knows who is ultimately guilty for the horrendous ongoing carnage and wholesale destruction in and of that country; but let's talk for a moment about some other immoral bastards. Specifically, what's with these psychopaths in Iraq torturing and murdering hundreds of innocent people a month for no other reason than they happen to belong to the other side of the sectarian divide (Shia or Sunni). Not only are these death squads slaughtering completely innocent civilians on a daily basis, but, before senselessly killing them, they're actually torturing these people for absolutely no other reason than hatred. Torture, not for information or any other purpose, just for psychotic pleasure, it would seem.

Last night I watched Avi's fourth show on CBC (The Big Picture with Avi Lewis Part 4 - Hot House), which was about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and, more specifically, at least as a starting point, the Palestinian leaders in Israeli jails. It was, as you'd imagine, a fiery debate, the most intense of the four shows so far. Avi said at the outset that if you already have a fixed perception then you'll simply see what you already know, but I couldn't help being unable to see past the fact that there are 10,000 Palestinians wasting away in Israeli prisons for supposed crimes against Israel, but no Israelis in Palestinian jails serving time for crimes committed against Palestinians - even though far more innocent Palestinians have been killed over the years than Israelis. Like everything else in this conflict it's a ridiculously unfair, unjust and unbelievable reality. Once you reject the silly notion that Palestinians killing Israelis is "terrorism" while Israelis killing Palestinians is not, you're left with the pretty asinine situation of 10,000 Palestinians in jail, while all the Israeli killers walk free, often right into the highest posts of government.

About two weeks or so into the Israeli attack on Lebanon in July, after having received my first few rants on the conflict, a friend wrote and asked me what I saw as the solution to the disaster that is the Middle East Conflict. Since then I've been asked similar questions by a couple of other friends. It would appear that just because someone chooses to rant on a topic they are expected to somehow have all the answers to solve it. This, obviously, isn't the case, as I clearly have no idea, for instance, what The Poor Dutch Fan should do come the next World Cup or European Soccer Championships, or what a Dylan fan should make of The Bob's descent into fundamentalist madness for a few years there back in the late-70s and early-80s; but, in this particular case I do, in fact, believe I can suggest some solutions for a lasting peace, however unlikely it may be that they'll ever be implemented. So, here, below, is the gist of what I wrote to that first friend back in July. It may never happen, but this, I believe, is the minimum needed for any semblance of a just and lasting peace: