The British Embassy’s Iranian staff are caught in a tricky position. They remain Iranian citizens living in Iran, yet serving a foreign government, leading to suspicion about their loyalty, and as they are not diplomats they enjoy none of the immunity that such a status would afford them
Browse The Production Lines
Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire, and the Auteur trap
You can be one of the finest filmmakers the world has ever known but still sail straight into the ego-inflated folds of the Auteur trap
Other articles in Culture
The US minimum wage debate is bogus
All of the tongue-clucking of the economists will never convince voters that granting more power to business will improve their lives. They know from bitter experience that what employers want is more work for less pay, and they will use the means at their disposal to reverse the trend
Other articles in Economics
The left-wing media fallacy
It is a mistake to imagine that media corporations are impervious to all complaints and criticism. In fact, senior editors and managers are only too happy to accept that their journalists tend to be ‘anti-American,’ ‘anti-Israel,’ ‘anti-Western,’ indeed utterly rotten with left-wing bias
Other articles in Media
Iran accuses the British embassy in Tehran of fomenting unrest
The British Embassy’s Iranian staff are caught in a tricky position. They remain Iranian citizens living in Iran, yet serving a foreign government, leading to suspicion about their loyalty, and as they are not diplomats they enjoy none of the immunity that such a status would afford them
Other articles in Politics
Social networks blur reality and representation
Social networks are not real but are increasingly treated as such
Other articles in Psychology
Other articles in Religion
Other articles in Art
On being a physicist
When the entire yearly budget of the National Science Foundation is less than what we squander in one month in Iraq, our leaders have the nation’s priorities wrongly set
Other articles in Science
What They Really Mean
John Pilger on Obama in Turkey
What Obama Said:
“I am honored to pay tribute to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, a man whose vision, tenacity and courage put the Republic of Turkey on the path of democracy and whose legacy continues to inspire generations around the world.”
Barack Obama’s inscription in the visitor’s notebook in Anitkabir, Ataturk’s mausoleum
What He Meant:
“I am honoured to pay tribute to Turkey’s national hero as part of a campaign by all US administrations to force the European Union to accept Turkey as a full member, regardless of its appalling human rights record, especially against the Kurds, so that US and NATO bases in Turkey can play a more aggressive role in the Middle East and Central Asia.”
John Pilger
(14 rating, 16 votes)
Loading ...
John is a multi-award winning journalist who has won the British Journalist of the Year Award twice, reported from all the corners of the world, and won two academy awards for his films. He writes a column for the New Statesman, as well as regular contributions to the Guardian. Salman Rushdie has written: "Pilger's strength is his gift for finding the image, the instant that reveals all: he is a photographer using words instead of a camera". Noam Chomsky on the Cuban embargo and “democracy promotion”
What They Say:
“After 47 years… the unilateral embargo on Cuba has failed to achieve its stated purpose of ‘bringing democracy to the Cuban people’”.
Republican Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN), in his introduction to a report on Cuba by his senior staffer, Carl Meacham.
What They Mean:
Lugar carefully says “stated purpose.” He is an intelligent man, and surely knows that the actual purpose was completely different. No one familiar with US practices in the region or elsewhere can possibly believe that the goal of intensive US terror operations against Cuba and harsh economic warfare was intended to “bring democracy to the Cuban people.” That is just propaganda, unusually vulgar in this case.
The actual reasons for the terror and economic warfare were explained clearly at the very outset: the goal was to cause “rising discomfort among hungry Cubans” so that they would overthrow the regime (Kennedy); to “bring about hunger, desperation, and overthrow of the government” (Eisenhower’s State Department). The threat of Cuba, as Kennedy’s Latin American advisor Arthur Schlesinger advised the incoming president, is that successful independent development there might stimulate others who suffer from similar problems to follow the same course, so that the system of US domination might unravel. The liberal Democratic administrations were outraged over Cuba’s “successful defiance” of US policies going back to the Monroe Doctrine, which was intended to ensure obedience to the US will in the hemisphere. To a substantial extent, US terror and economic warfare has achieved its actual goals, causing bitter suffering among Cubans, impeding economic development, and undermining moves towards more internal democracy. Exactly as intended.
The case is an interesting one. For decades a large majority of Americans have wanted to establish normal relations with Cuba. In more recent years, substantial US business interests (agribusiness, energy, others) are in favor of that too. Of course, the US is entirely isolated in the world in maintaining the embargo; at the UN it can only garner support, reflexively, from Israel and a few Pacific dependencies. But the policy persists, and in fact became harsher under the Democrats in the 1990s in order to cause Cubans to suffer more after Russian assistance evaporated.
It is one of the occasional illustrations of how state interests prevail over business interests; and the will of the population is as usual irrelevant. More than is usually recognized, the conduct of international affairs resembles the Mafia. The Godfather does not tolerate defiance, even from some small storekeeper. And for good reasons: the rot can spread, to use the terminology of high-level US planners (or Schlesinger, in the case cited).
Noam Chomsky
(16 rating, 18 votes) Loading ...
Noam is Professor Emeritus of Linguistics and Philosophy at the
Massachusettes Institute of Technology. In a 2005 poll by Prospect
magazine and Foreign Affairs he was voted the most important public
intellectual alive. Chomsky ranks with Marx, Shakespeare and the Bible
as one of the 10 most quoted sources in history - and is the only
writer among them still alive. Robert Trivers on religion and science
What They Said:
“It’s important for people of faith to go on record as saying we have no conflict with science. Otherwise, people may get an impression that religious people are dumb, ignorant and hostile to science.”
Rev. James Rhodenhiser, rector of St. Clare of Assisi Episcopal Church in Ann Arbor, as his congregation took part in Evolution Weeekend on the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth.
What They Mean:
“It is important for religious people to say that “we” have no conflict with science — not because we are interesting in exploring this issue — but because we need to keep up a public pretense that we are not completely out of touch with reality.”
Robert Trivers
(4 rating, 10 votes) Loading ...
Robert is perhaps the most important evolutionary biologist and psychologist in the world. Harvard professor Steven Pinker has written, "I consider Trivers one of the great thinkers in the history of Western thought. It would not be too much of an exaggeration to say that he has provided a scientific explanation for the human condition: the intricately complicated and endlessly fascinating relationships that bind us to one another."
He teaches at Rutgers University. John Pilger on Timothy Garton Ash on Obama
What He Said:
“We have entered a period of historical transition in which the United States will become first among equals, rather than simply top dog, hyperpower and unquestioned hegemon. But for Europeans, it may be a case of being careful what you wish for, because the Obama administration is likely to say, ‘Good, then put your money where your mouth is, and in the first place, put more troops in Afghanistan.’ ”
Timothy Garton Ash, on Obama’s victory in the New York Times.
What He Meant:
“We have entered a period of historical transition in which pompous columnists and other courtiers of great power are relieved at the prospect of a return to the delusion of a ‘unilateral’ US democracy. The last eight years have been hell for us because George W. Bush stripped away the facade and gave the world a glimpse of what American power really is, not what its liberal supporters pretend it is. Now, thank the Lord Obama, humanity will be once against distracted from the truth and be content with hoping — I hope.”
John Pilger
(12 rating, 16 votes) Loading ...John is a multi-award winning journalist who has won the British Journalist of the Year Award twice, reported from all the corners of the world, and won two academy awards for his films. He writes a column for the New Statesman, as well as regular contributions to the Guardian. Salman Rushdie has written: "Pilger's strength is his gift for finding the image, the instant that reveals all: he is a photographer using words instead of a camera". Noam Chomsky on the US, Israel, and Gaza
What He Said:
“Hamas has so far sustained a very heavy blow from us, but we have yet to achieve our objective and therefore the operation continues”.
Ehud Barak, Israeli Defense Minister, January 6th 2008.
What He Meant:
We should speak of US-Israeli objectives. It’s more than just symbolic that Gaza is being pounded by US jet bombers and helicopters, of course in violation of US law (not to speak of international humanitarian law).
Traditionally over the years, Israel has sought to crush any resistance to its programs of takeover of the parts of Palestine it regards as valuable, while eliminating any hope for the indigenous population to have a decent existence enjoying national rights. Probably one factor in US support for Israel is that this resonates so well with American history, a fact that has not gone unnoticed. The West Bank and Gaza are, of course, a single unit: Occupied Palestine. Israeli military control of the West Bank, now with the help of US-trained collaborators, is so effective that protest or resistance there is unlikely. But the occupied Gaza Strip — and there has not been a day when it hasn’t been occupied — still has a degree of independence, and there are reactions there to Israeli crimes, which continue daily. The reactions can be condemned as criminal and politically foolish, but those who offer no alternative have no moral grounds to issue such judgments, particularly those in the US who choose to be directly implicated in these ongoing crimes — by their words, their actions, or their silence.
Noam Chomsky
(26 rating, 32 votes) Loading ...Noam is Professor Emeritus of Linguistics and Philosophy at the
Massachusettes Institute of Technology. In a 2005 poll by Prospect
magazine and Foreign Affairs he was voted the most important public
intellectual alive. Chomsky ranks with Marx, Shakespeare and the Bible
as one of the 10 most quoted sources in history - and is the only
writer among them still alive. John Pilger on Tony Blair and Gaza
What He Said:
“I think the circumstances focus very much around clear action to cut off the supply of arms and money from the tunnels that go from Egypt into Gaza. I think if there were strong, clear, definitive action on that, that would give us the best context to get an immediate ceasefire and to start to change the situation.”
Tony Blair, ‘Peace Envoy’, January 6th 2008.
What He Meant:
“I think the circumstances focus very much around clear action finally to expel the Palestinians from their homeland and, if necessary, eliminate them from the human map. As for my own position, my arrest this morning on charges of crimes against humanity will not deter me from accepting President Bush’s Freedom Medal; I understand he and I are to have joining cells.”
John Pilger
(4 rating, 6 votes) Loading ...John is a multi-award winning journalist who has won the British Journalist of the Year Award twice, reported from all the corners of the world, and won two academy awards for his films. He writes a column for the New Statesman, as well as regular contributions to the Guardian. Salman Rushdie has written: "Pilger's strength is his gift for finding the image, the instant that reveals all: he is a photographer using words instead of a camera". Robert Trivers on the Gaza attack
What They Said:
“Israel can and must mete out a severe punishment to Hamas, one that sears its consciousness (yes, sears its consciousness) and causes it to hesitate before it fires again, and to much more scrupulously control the other organisations.”
Ofer Shelah, Ma’ariv newspaper, 29th December 2008.
What They Mean:
“Israel can and must practice torture on a truly massive — indeed ethnic scale — torture so severe as to sear into the Arab consciousness once and for all the futility of even thoughts of resistance (as well as the importance to Arabs of suppressing such thoughts in others).”
Robert Trivers
(7 rating, 9 votes) Loading ...Robert is perhaps the most important evolutionary biologist and psychologist in the world. Harvard professor Steven Pinker has written, "I consider Trivers one of the great thinkers in the history of Western thought. It would not be too much of an exaggeration to say that he has provided a scientific explanation for the human condition: the intricately complicated and endlessly fascinating relationships that bind us to one another."
He teaches at Rutgers University. John Pilger on the legacy of Iraq
What He Said:
“We have an opportunity to adopt a new perspective … There were legitimate differences of opinion about the initial decision to remove Saddam Hussein and the subsequent conduct of the war. But now the surge and the courage of brave Iraqis have turned the situation around.”
George W. Bush, December 6th 2008.
What He Meant:
“We have an opportunity to adopt a new propaganda. We’ve managed to convince the same media that swallowed our weapons of mass destruction lies that something called a “surge” is a success — when, in fact, what we’ve actually done is ethnically cleanse Baghdad and build a lot of walls and bribe the Sunni resistance. Alas, when the money runs out, as it’s beginning to, the Sunnis will go back to killing us and our quislings. Damned if the great majority of Iraqis want us to get the hell out. God bless America.”
John Pilger
(9 rating, 9 votes) Loading ...John is a multi-award winning journalist who has won the British Journalist of the Year Award twice, reported from all the corners of the world, and won two academy awards for his films. He writes a column for the New Statesman, as well as regular contributions to the Guardian. Salman Rushdie has written: "Pilger's strength is his gift for finding the image, the instant that reveals all: he is a photographer using words instead of a camera". Norman Finkelstein on Christopher Hitchens
“[Christopher] Hitchens, a wily wordsmith, ever too unpredictable for predisposition, is a wild card by any measure who in a talk-show throwaway once referred to Chávez as an “oil-rich clown.” Though I believe Hitchens to be as principled as he is brilliant, he can be combative to the point of bullying, as he once was in severe comments made about saintly antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan.”
Sean Penn, November 25th 2008, “Conversations With Chávez and Castro”, The Nation.
What He Meant:
Hitchens’s great achievement is that he’s gotten people to care about his opinions when he doesn’t care about them.
Norman Finkelstein
(4 rating, 4 votes) Loading ...
Norman is one of the most important scholars in the field of the Israel-Palestine conflict and Holocaust studies. His international bestseller the Holocaust Industry looked at how the memory of the Holocaust was being used to deflect criticism of Israeli state policy. His other works include Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict, and Beyond Chutzpah. He lives in New York City. Clare Short on the Damien Green affair
What She Said:
“In my book, Stalinism and a police state happen when ministers direct and interfere with specific investigations that the police are carrying out.”
Jacqui Smith, British Home Secretary, December 1 2008, on the arrest of parlementarian, Damien Green.
What She Meant:
“I know that people think we are Stalinist in using the power of the state to bend everyone to our will, but we aren’t really.”
Clare Short MP
(1 rating, 1 votes) Loading ...
Clare is an MP in the British Parliament representing Birmingham Ladywood. She was Secretary of State for International Development in Tony Blair's cabinet for six years before she resigned in protest against the war in Iraq. She is author of "An Honourable Deception? New Labour, Iraq, and the Misuse of Power". From The Factory Floor
Iran accuses the British embassy in Tehran of fomenting unrest
The British Embassy’s Iranian staff are caught in a tricky position. They remain Iranian citizens living in Iran, yet serving a foreign government, leading to suspicion about their loyalty, and as they are not diplomats they enjoy none of the immunity that such a status would afford them
Iran Fantasies
It’s of course a question of solidarity. But solidarity is different from cheer-leading, the Party Line isn’t always the correct one, and leftists seem to have gotten taken for a real ride. Not the outcome anyone wished
Irregular Army: The rise of neo-Nazis in the US military
Carter F. Smith is a former military investigator who worked with the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command from 2004 to 2006, when he helped to root out gang violence in troops. “When you need more soldiers, you lower the standards, whether you say so or not,” he says. “The increase in gangs and extremists is an indicator of this.” Military investigators may be concerned about white supremacists, he says. “But they have a war to fight, and they don’t have incentive to slow down.”
The coup d’etat in Honduras
Well. I would say that if the behemoth just to the north has a military base in your country, and funds your military and major pro-US parties, then you probably do have to get their permission before overthrowing the government
Concerned citizens should join the International Solidarity Movement in Palestine
During the December-January Israeli attack on Gaza the sickness many people felt about the massacre was compounded by a feeling of helplessness. But there is a way to help out and attenuate the crimes of the occupation – what you realize in Palestine is that just having a foreign passport instantly civilizes the IDF when they are in your presence
Will the cat above the precipice fall down?: Slavoj Zizek on Iran
Whatever the outcome, it is vitally important to keep in mind that we are witnessing a great emancipatory event which doesn’t fit the frame of the struggle between pro-Western liberals and anti-Western fundamentalists. If our cynical pragmatism will make us lose the capacity to recognize this emancipatory dimension, then we in the West are effectively entering a post-democratic era, getting ready for our own Ahmadinejads. Italians already know his name: Berlusconi. Others are waiting in line
40-year ‘Stonewall’ Anniversary: What we can learn from the gay rights pioneers
The dramatic events of June 1969 are widely seen as marking the birth of the gay liberation movement, and they continue to inspire admiration and respect today. In the United States the aftermath of the riot saw an explosion of gay organizing
Why are the Iranians dreaming again?*
Iran is currently in the grip of a new and strong political movement. While this movement proves that Ahmadinejad’s populist techniques of deception no longer work inside Iran, it seems they are still effective outside the country. This is mainly due to thirty years of isolation and mutual mistrust between Iran and the West which has turned my country into a mysterious phenomenon for outsiders. In this piece I will try to confront some of the mystifications and misunderstandings produced by the international media in the last week
EXCLUSIVE: The US military must tighten regulation on neo-Nazi recruitment
I don’t need to spell out here how dangerous it is for the US troops, Iraqi civilians and even the domestic US population that white supremacists and neo-Nazis are being allowed to operate freely in the US military. The new Obama administration hasn’t made any comments on the state of the US military after nearly eight years of continuous war. The time is now
Interview with Iranian dissident about working in notorious Evin Prison
Any soldier who helps with the execution is rewarded with two days holiday. There is so much competition to do this that the junior soldiers never get to do it. If, for example, eight people executed, six or seven soldiers are required for duties. The chair has to be set up, and the rope has to be fastened around the neck, and someone must pull the chair. And someone has to put the dead body in the bag. You cannot imagine how I felt as I watched the soldiers being eager to do these things
Art: ‘Love’ and ‘Hate’
Here are a couple of images I did about the G20 protests. They are collages of images from the Daily Mail’s coverage of the incident, which was entitled “Love and Hate”. They contrasted the “Love” of Gordon Brown Meeting Barack Obama with the “Hate” of police clashing with protesters — I thought the feature was pretty stupid.