Sunday, April 10, 2011

Confession of al-Jazeera

Since Egypt, however, Al-Jazeera’s approach has become more complicated. “They did a marvellous job in Egypt and their reporters were very courageous in getting the storyline across but when they shifted to Libya they were campaigning there,” said James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute. “Then they ducked Bahrain. It was clear there was a politics there that was playing out.”
Al-Jazeera is funded by Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the emir of Qatar, and Foukara conceded that this patronage had an effect. Saudi Arabia had “a huge vested interest in Bahrain” and aggressive coverage of unrest and repression in Bahrain could have re-ignited tensions between Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
“What does it mean for the credibility of Al-Jazeera focussing so much on Libya but not on Bahrain? I think it's raising a lot of questions and it’s something that many of us feel kind of uncomfortable with because we want people to say Al-Jazeera has taken the same interest in every story.” Full Story

Friday, April 1, 2011

There's no Business like WAR Business

Lies, hypocrisy and hidden agendas. This is what United States President Barack Obama did not dwell on when explaining his Libya doctrine to America and the world. The mind boggles with so many black holes engulfing this splendid little war that is not a war (a "time-limited, scope-limited military action", as per the White House) - compounded with the inability of progressive thinking to condemn, at the same time, the ruthlessness of the Muammar Gaddafi regime and the Anglo-French-American "humanitarian" bombing. Read Full