Naomi Klein interview

Bradley Manning synes "katatonisk" iflg. ven

Interview with Libyan opposition

The Battle for Zawiyah

Skandaløs Hvidvaskning.

Jeg har i dag en artikel på Modkraft.dk's webmagasin Kontradoxa omhandlende den Reagan-klub som Søren Pind, Lykke Friis og Uffe Ellemann-Jensen stiftede på hundredeårsdagen for Reagans fødsel. Jeg kritiserer i artiklen Reagan-klubben for at male et glansbillede af Reagan og jeg anklager dem for forsøg på hvidvaskning og revisionisme. Artiklen kan læses på Modkraft.

Fortsatte massive protester i Bahrain.

Titusinder af demonstranter omringede i søndags regeringsbygningnerne i Manama, Bahrains hovedstad, for at lægge pres på den royale familie for at der gennemføres omfattende reformer. Protestbevægelsen kræver regeringens afgang, reformering af den herskende orden til et konstitutionelt monarki, løsladelse af alle politiske fanger, reformering af valgsystemet, etablering af en ny overgangsregering og en uafhængige undersøgelse af syv protestanters dødsfald siden sammenstødene mellem magthaverne og protestbevægelsen startede for over en uge siden.

Bahrain er en ø-nation som er en vigtig strategisk allieret for USA, idet det amerikanske militærs femte flåde har base i landet hvor man administrerer op mod en femtedel af landarealet. Man støtter fortsat op om den autokratiske kongefamilie, mens man dog iflg. Wall Street Journal, fra officiel side har hævdet, at denne støtte ikke er ubetinget og godt kan ændre sig såfremt styret ikke møder protestbevægelsen med tilbageholdenhed i magtanvendelsen, eller, hvis der kommer oprør i gaderne i stor skala. Sidstnævnte bør imidlertid vække skepsis idet hele 40 pct. af Bahrains befolkning var på gaden samtidig i den hidtil største demonstration mod styret. Hvis ikke 40 pct. af befolkningens simultane protest er et stort nok oprør, hvad er så?

[Check i øvrigt denne interessante baggrundsartikel om den amerikanske alliance med Bahrain, skrevet af den amerikanske mellemøstekspert og professor i politologi Stephen Zunes].

The Military-Industrial Complex from Eisenhower to Obama

Fortsatte forfølgelser og mord i Irak.

For fem dage siden skrev jeg et indlæg med titlen "USAs dobbelte standarder" hvor jeg omtalte, at der ugen før var omfattende - og i nogle tilfælde dødbringende - repression rettet mod prostestanter i Irak, hvilket den amerikanske regering ikke fandt grund til at kritisere, mens nabolandet Irans stærkt kritisable, men meget lignende forfølgelser, blev mødt af skarp kritik. Den irakiske regerings repressive virke synes desværre at fortsætte. Om det vil blive mødt af nogen nævneværdig kritik fra officiel hånd vil tiden vise, men indtil videre er hverken mediedækningen eller de vestlige magters kritik på et tilfredstillende endsige prisværdigt niveau.

Orientalisten Thomas Friedman.

Den verdenskendte klummeskribent og politiske kommentator ved New York Times, Thomas Friedman, havde den 2. marts en klumme i avisen hvor han postulerer, at revolutionerne i Mellemøsten blandt andet kan tilskrives Obamas nu så berømte Cairo-tale, samt hans mellemnavn og hudfarve, og at dette var blandt årsagerne til at egypterne rejste sig mod deres (amerikansk støttede) diktator. Denne og Friedmans øvrige årsagsforklaringer gendrives på Counterpunch af Esam al-Amin som anklager Friedman for at være orientalistisk anlagt.

Dagens citat: Geroge Kennan

“USA rummer 50 pct. af verdens rigdomme, men kun 6,3 pct. af dens befolkning. I den situation kan vi ikke undgå at være genstand for misundelse og vrede. Vor egentlige opgave i den kommende tid vil blive at udforme de relationer, der tillader os at bevare denne ulighed, uden at det sker på bekostning af vor nationale sikkerhed. I den hensigt må vi se bort fra al sentimentalitet og dagdrømmeri og over alt koncentrere vor opmærksomhed om vore umiddelbare nationale formål. Vi har ikke behov for at bilde os ind, at vi har råd til uegennytte og velgørenhed. Vi må holde op med at tale om så vage og urealistiske mål som menneskerettigheder, højnelse af levestandarden og demokratisering. Den dag er ikke langt borte, hvor vi må handle ud fra ren magtstrategi. Desto mindre vi hæmmes af idealistiske slagord, desto bedre.”

George Kennan (1948).

Wael Ghonim: Inside the Egyptian revolution

Dokumentar: Truth, Lies and Videotape

Al Jazeera: Libyan rebels repel Gaddafi forces.

Daniel Ellsberg and Julian Assange Talk WikiLeaks.

Om Vestlig intervention i Libyen.

Det Nationale Libyske Råd har netop offentliggjort, at man har dannet en krisekomite som har til formål at strømline beslutningstagningsprocessen udenrigspoltisk og militært. Rådets formand, den tidligere justitsminister Mustafa Abdel Jalil, opfordrer andre magter til at foretage luftangreb mod Gaddafis styrker, de revolutionære libyere ønsker imidlertid selv at befri landet fra Gaddafis jernnæve, hvorfor man ikke ønsker fremmede magters soldater på libysk jord.

Dagens Citat: Aldous Huxley.

"At least two-thirds of our miseries spring from human stupidity, human malice and those great motivators and justifiers of malice and stupidity: idealism, dogmatism and proselytizing zeal on behalf of religous or political ideas."

Dagens Citat: Neil Postman.

"We were keeping our eye on 1984. When the year came and the prophecy didn't, thoughtful Americans sang softly in praise of themselves. The roots of liberal democracy had held. Wherever else the terror had happened, we, at least, had not been visited by Orwellian nightmares.

But we had forgotten that alongside Orwell's dark vision, there was another - slightly older, slightly less well known, equally chilling: Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Contrary to common belief even among the educated, Huxley and Orwell did not prophesy the same thing. Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley's vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.

What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions". In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us."

Neil Postman i "Amusing Ourselves to Death".

Kritik af Politikens dækning af Israels praksis i de besatte områder.

På det meget anbefalelsesværdig danske site Medieoplysning.dk har den generelt læseværdige og opvakte medieanalytiker, Uffe Kaels Auring, en meget interessant kritik af Politikens dækning af Israels magtpraksis i de besatte områder, nærmere bestemt af den overlagte forarmelsespolitik man fører mod indbyggerne i Gaza. Uffe Kaels Auring vurderer at Politikens dækning er præget af misrepræsentationer og udeladelser.

Prof. Stephen Zunes om USAs forhold til Bahrain.

Den amerikanske ekspert i mellemøstlige forhold og professor i politologi, Stephen Zunes, har skrevet en interessant artikel om Bahrains historie, oprørene i landet og ø-nationens alliance med USA. Uddrag:

..."The fortress-like U.S. embassy in Manama is probably the largest embassy relative to the population of the host country of any in the world. The U.S. military in Bahrain, which directs the Fifth Fleet and the U.S. Naval Central Command, controls roughly one-fifth of this small nation, making the southern part of the island essentially off-limits to Bahrainis. For more than 20 years, approximately 1,500 Americans have been stationed at the base (which the U.S. government refers to as a “forward operations center”), supporting operations and serving as homeport for an additional 15,000 sailors. As University of California–Irvine Professor Mark LeVine describes it, “If the United States is Egypt's primary patron, in Bahrain it is among the ruling family's biggest tenants.” Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral William Crowe once told me in an interview that Bahrain was “pound for pound, man for man, the best ally the United States has anywhere in the world.” [..]

In the aftermath of the nonviolent overthrow of Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak, President Obama warned other Middle Eastern leaders that they should "get ahead of the wave of protest" by quickly moving toward democracy. Even though his February 15 press conference took place during some of the worst repression in Bahrain, he chose not to mention the country by name. In the face of Bahraini security forces unleashing violence on peaceful protesters, Obama insisted that "each country is different, each country has its own traditions; America can't dictate how they run their societies." Although certainly a valid statement in itself, in this case it appears to have been little more than a rationalization for silence in the face of extreme violence by an autocratic ally. Indeed, the United States has hardly been silent in the face of the ongoing repression by the authoritarian regime in Libya, even though elements of the pro-democracy movement in that country, unlike in Bahrain, have taken up arms.

Meanwhile, on February 23, U.S. Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, came to Bahrain to meet King Hamad and Crown Prince Salman, who serves as commander-in-chief for the Bahraini armed forces. According to Mullen’s spokesman, Navy Captain John Kirby, the admiral “reaffirmed our strong commitment to our military relationship with the Bahraini defense forces.” And, despite the massacres of the previous week, he thanked the Bahraini leaders “for the very measured way they have been handling the popular crisis here.”...

Dagens citat: Voltaire.

"It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets."