From the monthly archives:

January 2008

The ‘Times’ Takes a Healthy Lesson From the Blogosphere

by Philip Weiss27 January 2008

I loved the Times editorial Friday that endorsed McCain and slagged Giuliani: The real Mr. Giuliani, whom many New Yorkers came to know and mistrust, is a narrow, obsessively secretive, vindictive man who saw no need to limit police power…….

3 comments

How Many Years Before U.S. Policy Toward Palestinians Shifts?

by Philip Weiss26 January 2008

My friend Dan Swanson wrote a book about South Africa called Freedom Rising. It came out in the mid-80s, and ten years later, apartheid ended in South Africa, in good part because of U.S. sanctions, which leftists and blacks here…

35 comments

Conflation Again: Lieberman Says Israel Is the ‘Strongest Roots’ of U.S. Foreign Policy

by Philip Weiss26 January 2008

Remember when everyone used to worry about inflation? Now the problem is conflation. The Miami Herald reports that, campaigning for the Jewish vote for John McCain in Florida, Joe Lieberman has linked hawkish U.S. activities in the Middle East with…

29 comments

‘The Israel Lobby’ Has Become an Outsider Narrative. Unhealthy

by Philip Weiss25 January 2008

The Israel Lobby has entered the political discourse in a big way. The problem is that it is completely ignored as a factor in the mainstream media, and completely glommed by the outsider media. Here is Paul Craig Roberts, a…

32 comments

Was I Wrong to Vote for Nader?

by Philip Weiss24 January 2008

At least three Democratic associates of mine, one of them my mother, regularly give me withering lectures on the fact that I voted for Nader in ‘00. I just got that lecture now. These people hold me responsible for George…

32 comments

Those MIT Students in West Bank

by Philip Weiss24 January 2008

In my capacity as Arabist and flak, I want journalists to know that two MIT students are in Ramallah, Palestine, this week to promote MIT to young Arabs, in Gaza by teleconference on Saturday morning, and to West Bank students…

29 comments

Big Change in Media: Arabs Are Suddenly Human Beings. Israel Is Becoming South Africa

by Philip Weiss24 January 2008

Three straws in the wind: –Last night on National Public Radio’s “Marketplace”, Kai Ryssdal did a wonderful interview with Palestinian economist Youssef Dauod about prices in Rafah, in which Dauod was allowed to say that the Israelis had created a…

50 comments

I’m Wrong About ‘Nakba.’ The Spelling, Anyway

by Philip Weiss23 January 2008

Dan Sisken of Mideast Brief has corrected my spelling of the Arabic word “nakba,” referring to the disaster of ‘48. I spelled it “naqba.” I think it’s important to try to use accurate transliterations of Arabic. It should be “Nakba”…

18 comments

What Does ‘Pushback’ Mean? An Email from Dersh

by Philip Weiss23 January 2008

Some time back I reported that Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, the former chief of staff to Colin Powell, said at the Middle East Institute (responding to Jim Lobe actually) that Walt and Mearsheimer’s paper contained the “blinding flash of the obvious,”…

27 comments

Israeli Press Shames Settlement Czar Leviev (Will American Press Shame Sarandon?)

by Philip Weiss23 January 2008

The boast by settlement czar and diamond dealer Lev Leviev that he gave money to Oxfam, which Oxfam says is not true– “To the best of our knowledge Mr. Leviev has not been a donor to Oxfam or any of…

7 comments

An Antisemitic Joke From My Youth, and What It Says About the Elite

by Philip Weiss22 January 2008

Another thing historian Ilan Pappe said is that the “elites” of the world have made a mess of Israel/Palestine. He meant the American elite too, the political establishment, the Israel lobby. I went for a walk today and got thinking…

31 comments

There Won’t Be Peace in the Middle East Till There’s a Naqba Museum in the U.S.

by Philip Weiss22 January 2008

I keep thinking about things that the historian Ilan Pappe said in a forum on Israel/Palestine at Oxford last summer. He said that peace could not be achieved in the Middle East until the three A’s occur: Acknowledgement, Accountability, and…

10 comments

Are Leftleaning American Jews in Denial About the Zionist Dream’s Tailspin?

by Philip Weiss22 January 2008

One of the most important reporters on neoconservatism, Jim Lobe of IPS, has an item on Freedom’s Watch in which he notes the mainstream press’s lazy and fearful shorthand re neoconservatism–”strong supporters of Israel.” Why don’t those reporters spell out…

40 comments

Reagan Enters Bipartisan Pantheon, Joining FDR, HST, JFK

by Philip Weiss21 January 2008

I don’t think Obama misspoke when he praised Ronald Reagan over the weekend and was then attacked by the Clintons, of course, for doing so. He’s on to something. Reagan himself won in part by invoking great Democratic presidents, FDR…

21 comments

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