Author Archives: James North

Moral dilemmas in everyday life in Egypt

Posted on January 14, 2012 by James North

Greatest danger to Egypt’s future is not politically-sophisticated Muslim Brotherhood but military/industrial elite– called “felool”, or “remnants”

Posted in Arab Spring, Egypt, On the ground reports | Tagged | 6 Comments

Egypt’s history through British-colored glasses

Posted on January 11, 2012 by James North

Muslim Brotherhood began as anticolonial movement. And Nasser had audacity to demand nationalization of canal Egyptians died to build

Posted in Arab Spring, Egypt | 16 Comments

Learning from Egypt: the case of the criminal billionaire Ahmed Ezz

Posted on December 27, 2011 by James North

Prison sentence for corrupt billionaire Ahmed Ezz is yet another way the Arab spring can school American progressive movement

Posted in Arab Spring, Egypt | 4 Comments

Bias in the Great Library at Alexandria?

Posted on December 21, 2011 by James North

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina, in Alexandria, Egypt, was blasted for having the ‘Protocols of Elders of Zion’ in an exhibit. A reporter visits and finds a very different scene.

Posted in Egypt, Israel/Palestine, Middle East | Tagged | 66 Comments

Terrific young Israeli journalists are indispensable

Posted on October 17, 2011 by James North

Some of the young Israeli journalists who started the vital web-based magazine 972mag.com are in the United States to promote their new venture, and I was lucky enough to meet them here in New York City, at the premises of … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel/Palestine | 15 Comments

Two strikes for Ethan Bronner; does he get a third?

Posted on September 25, 2011 by James North

Once again, the New York Times’s public editor has taken the paper’s Jerusalem bureau chief, Ethan Bronner, to the woodshed for conflict of interest. This time, Bronner was caught (by the tireless Max Blumenthal) getting paid to give speeches by … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel/Palestine | 16 Comments

‘Liberal Orientalism’ is also misleading

Posted on September 9, 2011 by James North

Liberal Orientalism can be just as misguided as the more conservative variety. One recent example, a book by a young American journalist/poet named Eliza Griswold, sold briskly in hardcover and is just now appearing in paperback. The title summarizes the … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel/Palestine | 29 Comments

Shamai Leibowitz, a moral giant

Posted on September 6, 2011 by James North

Daily newspapers are supposed to put the most important news right at the top.  But today’s New York Times article about Shamai Leibowitz leaking documents to blogger Richard Silverstein waits until the 6th paragraph, on an inside page, to tell us … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel/Palestine | 42 Comments

Bad interventions, and a few good ones– which was Libya?

Posted on August 28, 2011 by James North

The Qaddafi family is apparently about to fall in Libya, and I am still not sure exactly what I think about the Western military intervention to support the rebels. What does it matter what I, an American citizen with no … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel/Palestine | 42 Comments

‘NYT’ ‘analysis’ buries connection between protests and settlement project

Posted on August 6, 2011 by James North

Did you see Ethan Bronner’s analysis of the tent protests in the New York Times today? It’s not what it says, it’s what it doesn’t say. Not until the last paragraph does he tentatively raise the connection between Israel’s construction … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel/Palestine | 17 Comments

Richard Achi should not exist (but he does, in Cote d’Ivoire)

Posted on May 12, 2011 by James North

When you see a picture of an African man in the news, he is often carrying an automatic rifle. So the remarkable life story of my friend Richard Achi, a social worker in his mid-30s who guided me around during … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel/Palestine, Middle East | 1 Comment

Central Africa’s horrors, without the Orientalism

Posted on May 6, 2011 by James North

One of the most powerful scenes in Jason K. Stearns’s outstanding new book about the Great War in central Africa takes place in eastern Congo, where the violence was the most horrible. Stearns makes his way to the village of … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel/Palestine, Middle East, US Politics | 6 Comments

A question for our pro-Israel visitors . . .

Posted on April 25, 2011 by James North

. . . Do you really think, if a 2-state solution is agreed on, that the Israeli military will do whatever it takes to move the 500,000 Israeli settlers/colonists from the West Bank back behind the green line, to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel/Palestine, One state/Two states | 664 Comments

Orientalism in sub-Saharan Africa

Posted on April 9, 2011 by James North

One of our regular targets here at the site is Orientalism — the misguided and dangerous outlook that the great Palestinian-American scholar Edward Said dissected so persuasively during his distinguished career.  Said concentrated on exposing Orientalism in the Middle East.  He made … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel/Palestine, Middle East | 23 Comments

Without Goldstone, Israel would have done a complete whitewash

Posted on April 8, 2011 by James North

The Haaretz journalist Aluf Benn is somewhere in the middle of the Israeli road — nowhere near his outspoken fellow reporters like Amira Hass and Gideon Levy.  Which makes his recent observations in the Guardian about Judge Goldstone’s alleged regrets … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel/Palestine | 4 Comments

What is Mohammed’s last name?

Posted on March 24, 2011 by James North

The NYT published a gripping story by Anthony Shadid, Tyler Hicks, Steven Farrell and Lynsey Addario describing their captivity in Libya. They were seized by Qaddafy forces at a checkpoint as they fled the city of Ajdabiya on March 15, … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel/Palestine | 11 Comments

Who built the Suez Canal?

Posted on February 7, 2011 by James North

My old history books gave the credit for constructing the Suez Canal to Ferdinand de Lesseps, a French developer.  But he had help. The excavation took some 10 years using forced labour (Corvée) of Egyptian workers during a certain period. … Continue reading →

Posted in Egypt, Israel/Palestine | 10 Comments

President Jimmy Carter vs. President Barack Obama

Posted on February 3, 2011 by James North

In the very first days of Jimmy Carter’s presidential administration, back in January 1977, a black American friend approached me with heartfelt enthusiasm.  “For the first time in years I’m proud of my country,” he said.  “Our president is speaking … Continue reading →

Posted in Egypt, Israel/Palestine | 36 Comments

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood vs. Al-Qaeda

Posted on January 30, 2011 by James North

All of a sudden, middle-aged American men in suits who couldn’t find their way, unaided, from Cairo’s Ramses Station down Talaat Harb to Midan Tahrir, are posing as experts, appearing on U.S. television to insinuate that the Muslim Brotherhood is … Continue reading →

Posted in Egypt, Israel/Palestine, Middle East | 60 Comments

Correcting a slur against Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood

Posted on January 27, 2011 by James North

This site has already effectively dismissed the long Goldberg/Ibish op-ed article in yesterday’s New York Times.  But one line in that tortured piece does deserve more scrutiny, especially with the uprising in Egypt.  Goldberg and Ibish contend that “. . . Gaza, … Continue reading →

Posted in Egypt, Israel/Palestine | 10 Comments

The latest from Haiti

Posted on December 3, 2010 by James North

I’m just back from Port-au-Prince, where, as always, I met people with extraordinary courage.  Here is my up-to-date report in The Nation, in which I present one of them — Pierre France, a 35-year-old electrician who, along with his friends, … Continue reading →

Posted in Beyondoweiss, Israel/Palestine, US Politics | 6 Comments

Hasan’s dilemma

Posted on November 18, 2010 by James North

Despite the efficiency of crime labs in TV dramas, or the storied deductions of Sherlock Holmes, law enforcement officials will tell you that most criminals are caught by informants. This truth extends to international terrorism. The recent effort to place … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel/Palestine, Middle East, US Policy in the Middle East | 5 Comments

NYT implies Muslims are the hostile ‘other’

Posted on November 10, 2010 by James North

The New York Times is at it again.  In an article about President Obama’s mild criticism of Israel’s plans to build more settlements in occupied Palestine, the newspaper said: Despite their efforts to build mutual trust, Mr. Obama and Mr. … Continue reading →

Posted in Beyondoweiss, Israel/Palestine, Middle East | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Memo to NYT: fix your boilerplate

Posted on November 9, 2010 by James North

Journalists use the term “boilerplate” for brief standard explanations.  Here, for instance, is how the BBC describes the West Bank settlements: “All the settlements on occupied territory are considered illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.” Simple.  Truthful.  Unbiased.  … Continue reading →

Posted in Beyondoweiss, Israel/Palestine | 12 Comments

An appeal to Arabic-speakers

Posted on November 6, 2010 by James North

To my great surprise I just discovered that the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood has its own web site — in English.  The Brotherhood is committted to nonviolence, and would probably be the largest single political force in Egypt were the U.S.-backed … Continue reading →

Posted in Beyondoweiss, Israel/Palestine, Middle East | 37 Comments