Saturday night special

Glenn Greenwald has moved over to The Guardian.  In this article he points out that taking the stance that the Israel Gaza thing is very bad and hoping it will all work out and why can't they stop fighting and make up overlooks the fact that the whole mess is the fault of the U.S. The U.S. press is not doing a good job of reporting on this frightening development of a possible all out war dragging in Egypt and Syria and Turkey but is instead focusing on internal politics, the budget and so on.

Greenwald also recommends this wonderful interview with Jeremy Scahill. I was just remembering that on the last Nation Cruise Scahill  rescued someone from drowning and was very shook up about it. His emotions are always close to the surface.

 

The problem is that we Americans have accepted a liberal point of view that well, we have to have these wars and interventions and we can at least try to pinpoint the killings with drones and minimize "collateral damage." Scahill talks about this. An article in the NYT talks about poor tactics on the part of Israel rather than calling for an end to the hostilities. He has some chilling things to say about the way we have capitulated to the surveillance state, where there is no privacy, and "suspect" persons are always being spied on and interrogated. He also has some good recommendations for serious journalists.

I've started reading Oliver Stone's book, The Untold History of the United States. I read a couple of pages, digest it, read two more pages, and so on. It's a fine piece of work, a great reference and memory jogger for the periods it covers that I actually lived through. What this book provides is the comprehensive alternative history we need to understand the nature of American imperialism and the way the American public has bought into the idea of American exceptionalism and being the best hope of the world and so on. It's the companion book to a ten part series running now on Showtime, which I'll buy when it comes out on CD.

Greenwald adds this update:

According to Haaretz, Israel's Interior Minister, Eli Yishai, said this about Israel's attacks on Gaza: "The goal of the operation is to send Gaza back to the Middle Ages." Let me know if any of the US Sunday talk shows mention that tomorrow during their discussions of this "operation".

Comments

[Brandon]

"...internal politics, the budget and so on."

What I've seen on the news: a lot about Petraeus and his mistress, the Benghazi hearings, the fiscal cliff, and scattered coverage of the conflict in Israel. CNN has interviewed Hanan Ashrawi, among other Palestinians, and Fox News, Israeli VIPs like Danny Danon and the Israeli ambassador to the UN.

[Hattie]

It's getting too big to ignore.

[wisewebwoman]

Ah the distractions, making sure the populace remain dumb and underserved. This whole Israel thing is beyond frightening and could plunge us into WW3 very very quickly. The ultimate distraction.
XO
WWW

[Rain Trueax]

To me the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a tough one. On the one hand we can understand Israel not wanting rockets coming from Iran blasting into their cities. On the other hand, what led to that happening? Human interactions are never easy and the most violent reaction to something is often not a clue as to what got it to that point. I like to listen to Scahill's take whenever I see him talking. He and another like him are ones who really do know from being places. But this is such a complex situation. I read that some of the CNN footage is not current but just set up to arouse passions. Americans do love aroused passions. The one thing that seems for sure-- innocents pay for it all with their lives-- collateral damage and that's us in any such disaster.

[Hattie]

Rain: I have not heard that rockets from Iran are blasting into their cities.

[Rain Trueax]

The missiles being fired are from Iran according to the articles I read. they were trucked in through Egypt. It's a complex situation. Daily Beast has had some good articles on the complexity if you haven't caught those. Now a lot of the missiles have been destroyed by the Israeli reaction, were less effective than they might've been without the shields, and I am not sure what will happen if Israel does invade as appears imminent.

I cross posted that video to my facebook and will use it in a blog next week on the writing one regarding romance novels and political issues. It's something that often isn't supposed to be in romance books but can be as one more way to get people to think.

[Rain Trueax]

I am not sure if i phrased that poorly and you thought I meant the missiles were being fired from Iran. I mean created there. Here's the article that I had read regarding it-- arms wit longer reach bolster Hamas

[Henry Hank Chapin]

I would say it is the fault of the Palestinians and the Israelis.

[Rain Trueax]

The link I intended to post here didn't work but it was NY Times and called Arms with longer reach bolster Hamas.

[Poppa Zao]

I check in with Max Blumenthal's Twitter account and sometimes with
http://www.antiwar.com/.

[marja-leena]

Here in Canada, we have similar ignoring or distorting in the media, though with the odd refreshing and truthful report, such as this one:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/israels-attack-underlines-helplessness-hopelessness-of-gaza-palestinians/article5363472/

[barbara]

From my way of thinking, Jeremy Scahill was right on with his words in the UTUBE interview. Thanks for providing that reality visit to our war world. I hope the idea of young folks getting into "true" journalism catches on. You are a life line to what is really going on in this mad world. -- barbara

[Hattie]

Thanks, everyone, for the comments and the links.