Monday, July 31, 2006
So much to read, so little time
You can't spend all your time reading; if you did, it wouldn't leave any time to act. But here's a must-read article on the Qana massacre and more by Israeli writer Jonathan Cook. Among the many points he makes, there's at least one I was meaning to write about today. News reports all excuse the Israeli atrocities by referring to how Israel has "ordered" Lebanese to leave the villages of southern Lebanon. And the question you don't hear asked is, "who the hell gave Israel the right to 'order' the Lebanese people to do anything?"
Update: On a different, but certainly not unrelated, subject, over lunch I listened to part of an interview between a FOX News anchor and Joseph Cirincione of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. As with literally all such discussions on American TV (and in the corporate print media), when the subject turned to Iran, the question was not whether Iran was pursuing nuclear weapons, but when they would have them. I then happened on Iran's Ambassador to the UN Mohammad Javad Zarif on CNN, speaking to the Security Council this morning against the resolution demanding that Iran cease enriching nuclear fuel. It was a very interesting and informative speech, which as Iran has done on previous occasions, categorically denied that Iran has any intention of developing nuclear weapons. Zarif skewers the hypocrisy of the Council, highlights the aggressive behavior of nuclear-armed Israel, discusses the Iran-Iraq war, and much more, all in a very reasoned tone (which of course got him nowhere; the resolution was subsequently passed, 14-1). All but the very end is online here and here.
