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PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS ON HOW THE 'FREE TRADE' CASE FOR OFFSHORING AMERICA'S JOBS HAS COME UNGLUED Roberts on the sensational exposure of the faked "gains" and phantom stats of the free traders. Who was America's most anti-imperialist president? Try Grover Cleveland! JoAnn Wypijewski on the unlikely hero of Hawai'i's restoration movement. Alexander Cockburn reports on evangelical Christians in crisis amid fresh onslaughts by forces of darkness. The Warbler's Parable: Rosa Miriam Elizalde on the black-masked visitors to Cuba defying the US economic blockade.
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Today's Stories June 28, 2007 Bill
Quigley June 27, 2007 Marjorie
Cohn Dr.
Susan Rosenthal, MD Alan
Farago Carla
Blank Matthew
Abraham Sunsara
Taylor Russell
D. Hoffman Robert
Weissman Sen.
Russ Feingold Paul
Buchheit Website
of the Day
June 26, 2007 Jonathan
Cook Ralph
Nader Corporate
Crime Reporter Ron
Jacobs Martha
Rosenberg John
Chuckman Denny
Haldeman Anthony
DiMaggio Stephen
Fleischman William
S. Lind Website
of the Day
Paul
Craig Roberts Jennifer
Loewenstein Bob
Anderson Robert
Pollin Patrick
Cockburn Eva
Liddell Dan
Bacher Larry
Atkins Mark
Brenner James
Rothenberg Website
of the Day June 23 / 24, 2007 Alexander
Cockburn Jeff
Taylor Oren
Ben-Dor Gary
Leupp Robert
Fisk David
Rosen Russell
Mokhiber Alison
Weir Robert
Fantina D.
K. Wilson Nicole
Colson Stephen
Soldz, Steven Reisner and Brad Olson Dave
Lindorff Benjamin
Dangl Michael
Dickinson Poets'
Basement Website
of the Weekend
June 22, 2007 Andy
Worthington Sherwood
Ross Eliana
Monteforte Robert
Weissman Richard
Rhames Christopher
Brauchli Ramzy
Baroud Ehud
Krinis, David Shulman and Neve Gordon David
Michael Green Kathryn
Webber Website
of the Day
June 21, 2007 Peter
Linebaugh Natsu
Saito Ron
Jacobs Saree
Makdisi John
Stauber Scott
Liebertz Tom
Clifford Robert
Jensen Michael
J. Smith Jeb
Sprague Website
of the Day
Omar
Barghouti Andy
Worthington Margaret
Kimberley Robert
Weissman Russell
D. Hoffman Rannie
Amiri Stephen
Lendman Dave
Lindorff David
Swanson Anne
Dachel Website
of the Day
June 19, 2007 Ralph
Nader Dr.
Shepherd Bliss Bill
and Kathleen Christison Jeff
Leys Dave
Zirin Chris
Floyd Ben
Terrall Anthony
Papa VIPS Linda Flores Website
of the Day
John
Ross Paul
Craig Roberts Martha
Rosenberg Norman
Solomon Don
Santina Isabella
Kenfield James
Brooks Eva
Liddell Sam
Husseini Akiva
Eldar Website
of the Day
Alexander
Cockburn John
Halle Robert
Fisk Andy
Worthington Uri
Avnery Fred
Gardner Saul
Landau P.
Sainath Missy
Comley Beattie Alan
Gregory Walter
Brasch Website
of the Weekend
June 15, 2007 Alan
Farago Andy
Worthington Michael
Simmons Franklin
Lamb Gary
Leupp John
Ross Website
of the Day
June 14, 2007 Michael
Donnelly
Faisal
Kutty Harry
Browne Charles
Jonkel Steven
Higgs Bruce
Dixon Bruce
K. Gagnon
Website
of the Day June 13, 2007 Glen Ford Marjorie Cohn Bill Christison Charles Jonkel Silvia Cattori Richard Gott Firmin DeBrabander William S. Lind Keith Rosenthal Website of the Day June 12, 2007 Jeffrey St.
Clair Paul Craig
Roberts P. Sainath Ralph Nader Omar Waraich Dave Lindorff Harvey Wasserman Malini Johar
Schueller Ramzy Baroud Website of
the Day
June 11, 2007 Patrick Cockburn Paul Craig
Roberts Uri Avnery Norman Solomon Eva Liddell Rannie Amiri Rachel Voss Christopher
Brauchli D. K. Wilson Website of
the Day
Alexander Cockburn George Ciccariello-Maher Saul Landau Robert Fisk Brian Cloughley Ron Jacobs Ward Boston Conn Hallinan Leonard Peltier Lawrence Davidson John Ross Kate Allan Fred Gardner Stephen Fleischman Monica Benderman Geoff Bailey Missy Beattie Patrick Dyer Tim Lengerich James Irani
Gary Leupp Michael Tillery Michael Simmons Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
June 8, 2007 Serge Halimi Patrick Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair
Paul Craig Roberts William Blum Joshua Frank Lance Selfa Dave Lindorff Lawrence Ferlinghetti Website of the Day
Marjorie Cohn Soldz, Reisner
and Olson: Soldz, Reisner
Paul Craig Roberts Bill Quigley Silvia Cattori Carl G. Estabrook Ellen Taylor Corporate Crime
Reporter Brenda Norrell D. K. Wilson Kevin Zeese Website of
the Day
Alain Gresh Gary Leupp Steven Sherman Bruce Dixon Corporate Crime Reporter Brian M. Downing Ron Jacobs George Bisharat Nicole Colson Bruce K. Gagnon Website of the Day
June 5, 2007 Michael Neumann Jonathan Cook David Vest Robert Fantina Hoffman, Parsneau and Chowdhury John V. Walsh Richard Cretan Adam Engel William S. Lind Myles Hoenig Jim Minick Website of
the Day
Nizar Latif Diana Johnstone Gregory Wilpert Paul Watson Susan Rosenthal,
MD Richard Ward Eva Liddell Zahi Khouri Evelyn Pringle China Hand Karyn Strickler Website of the Day
June 2 / 3, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Marc Levy Martin Smith Diana Johnstone John Ross Uri Avnery Sunsara Taylor Richard Neville P. Sainath Missy Comley
Beattie Nisrine Abiad Rannie Amiri Margot Pepper Eric Stewart Ralph Nader Dan Bacher Shaun Harkin Richard Rhames Frederick Hudson Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
Dave Marsh Saul Landau David Phinney Robert Jensen Stanley Heller Yifat Susskind Robert Weissman Paul Buchheit William S.
Lind Sherwood Ross Stephen Lendman Website of the Day
Robert Bryce Patrick Cockburn Gary Leupp Kathy Kelly Marjorie Cohn Chris Kutalik
Corporate Crime Reporter Dave Lindorff Website of the Day
May 30, 2007 James Ridgeway Franklin Lamb Terrence E. Paupp Uri Avnery Alan Maass Rock and Rap
Confidential Ralph Nader Nirmal Ghosh Jean Daniels Tom Barry Website of the Day
Stephen Soldz Eliza Ernshire Ron Jacobs Dave Lindorff Evelyn Pringle Mike Whitney David Swanson John Holt Cynthia McKinney Martha Rosenberg Website of the Day
Bill Quigley Col. Dan Smith Cindy Sheehan Dr. Susan Block Jeeni Criscenzo Douglas Valentine Website of the Day 
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June 28, 2007 Archimedes on Eighth AvenueOnce More on the New York TimesBy VIJAY PRASHAD Poor Archimedes. Among his many interests, the Greek scientist loved levers. Pappus of Alexandria claims that Archimedes once boasted that with a good lever he could lift up the globe. "Give me a place to stand on, and I can move the earth," he is reputed to have said. From this fragment we get the philosophical conceit that a human being can observe the happenings on the earth from a distance, with omniscience. Such an objective standpoint, we now call an Archimedean point. The New York Times claims it. Its editorial page does not judge reality based on human made laws, but from the vantage of God, of the Archimedean point. In 2005, NYT Deputy Editor Ethan Bonner (who later wrote a slapdash review of Jimmy Carter's book on Palestine-Israel) was asked by the Public Editor to respond to a serious charge. Michael Brown of Partners for Peace had asked the paper why it did not take the UN Security Council resolutions as a basis for its editorial policy on Israeli settlements. Bonner responded, "We view ourselves as neutral and unbound by such judgments. We cite them, but we do not live by them." In other words, International Law is not relevant. The NYT makes its judgments based on its Archimedean perch. The diligent labor of Howard
Friel and Richard Falk show us that this is indeed true. They
have two volumes to prove it. The first, The Record of the
Paper: How the New York Times Misreports US Foreign Policy
(Verso, 2004) indicted the role of the paper in the lead-up to
the Iraq War. The second, Israel-Palestine on Record: How
the New York Times Misreports Conflict in the Middle East
(Verso, 2007) does pretty much what the title says. The Public
Editor should have these on his desk. They'll serve as sentinels
against bombast. On Sunday June 24th, the new Public Editor,
Clark Hoyt had the decency to defend the opinion page for running
Hamas spokesman Ahmed Yousef's nondescript essay "What Hamas
Wants": "Op-ed pages are for debate, but if you get
only one side, that's not debate. And that's not To take international law seriously means that one has to honor the United Nations Charter. Ratified by most countries on the planet (but for the Vatican), it is one of the few "universal" documents available. Article 103 of the Charter says that its views prevail over any other parochial laws made by individual states. The U. S. Constitution, despite what the American First-type people say, holds this position; Article VI, section 2, says, "All treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land." Since the U. S. ratified the UN Charter, it is then the "supreme law of the land." Friel-Falk take this as the basis for their book on Iraq and, consequentially, for the book on Israel-Palestine. For instance, the lead-up to the war against Iraq is shown, by recourse to the UN Charter, as a war of aggression, and therefore illegal. The NYT never raised this point. From September 11, 2001 to March 21, 2003, the NYT wrote seventy editorials but not one mentioned the phrases "UN Charter" or "international law." The standard of international law, and in this case of U. S. law, was irrelevant to the NYT. And, when the U. S. government wholeheartedly supports the Israeli state, including the settlement policy, it once more violates the UN Charter (which finds the settlements and Occupation to be contrary to international law). The NYT again disregards a well-founded international standard, and so, U. S. law. This basic argument is Friel-Falk's sharpest point. The NYT does not always ignore international law. The paper does evoke international law when it serves the interests of the U. S. government and the ruling class. When the U. S. Congress ratifies arms control treaties or environmental regulations, the editorial page applauds, as it does when leaders hostile to current U. S. interests are indicted (dispensable former allies such as Saddam Hussein and Augusto Pinochet, for example). The NYT editorial page pretends to be Archimedean when it is in fact a mouthpiece of U. S. government policies. Not only does the NYT often follow the callous logic of state power, but its actions contribute to the confusion in the public sphere. Because the U. S. media ignores U. S. governmental violations of international law, Friel-Falk argue, "this makes it relatively easy for U. S. political leaders to manipulate U. S. public opinion against foreign critics, while also increasing the supply of anti-American terrorists for reasons that escape public comprehension in the United States." The belief that the U. S and Israel are always right, and that anyone else can be doubted sanctions the undemocratic way in which decisions continue to be made in the U. S. In other words, the NYT not only facilitated the lead-up to the war against Iraq by providing content that backed up the Bush administration's spurious claims, but also by the form of decision-making that it promotes and endorses, that those in power over the U. S. state are basically right even when they violate international law. As the Occupation of Iraq turned into a fiasco, the media, including the NYT, hastily tried to slough off its responsibility for selling the war. Judith Miller, who was at the lead of the sales pitch, tried to reinvent herself as a free press icon, but that feint collapsed; we're not that gullible. A 1,100 word regret in 2006 was chock filled with bombast about the "enormous amount of journalism that we're proud of" (that's seven words that should have been used for groveling). What Friel-Falk demonstrate in detail is that all that the NYT claims to have not known after the war was well-known in credible sources long before the war began. The evidence was on the table from at least the March 1999 Amorim Panel report to the UN Security Council ("the bulk of Iraq's proscribed weapons programme has been eliminated") to the IAEA's January 2003 report ("We have to date found no evidence that Iraq has revived its nuclear weapons programme since the elimination of the programme in the 1990s"). Yet, the NYT either misrepresented these reports or ignored them entirely. In September 2002, the NYT said, "what really counts in this conflict.is the destruction of Iraq's unconventional weapons and the dismantling of its program to develop nuclear arms." If the editorial page remained hesitant about the IAEA's reports, it hastily bent down to kiss the President's ring. The day after his 2003 State of the Union address, the NYT wrote, "Mr. Bush has always done a good job of arguing that Saddam Hussein is dangerous, and he did so again last night." Friel-Falk do a good job of arguing that the NYT is the one who is truly dangerous, giving liberal cover from its pretend Archimedean perch for the project of U. S. primacy. If the NYT has done a stellar job being the culvert for Washington's innuendos and threats (over Iraq, Venezuela, Cuba, and on), it has outshined itself on Israel and Palestine. Again Friel-Falk are not interested in showing how the NYT makes mistakes in this or that story. What they do is something more fundamental. Their own claim is modest, "We allege serious shortcoming in the Times' coverage of Israel's policies in the occupied territories with respect to facts and applicable law, especially compared to the substantial reservoir of valuable information generated by the United Nations, the major human rights organizations that monitor Israel's conduct in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the British and Israeli press." It is by now taken for granted among most observant people that the U. S. press has failed a comparative test with even British papers, whose own decline runs parallel to the rise of Murdoch's English subsidiary. That the Israeli papers are also better is by now a fairly uncontroversial belief. For every Michael Freund of the Jerusalem Post, who hides his head in his ass, there are at least ten journalists at Haaretz and elsewhere who give us the relatively unvarnished truth (to this one must add the work of B'Tselem, the Arab Association for Human Rights, Adalah, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group). These journalists and human rights monitors produced an iceberg size load of documents to show a pattern of violations of international law, but the NYT Titanic rips its hull on them but goes onward, full steam ahead. Friel-Falk do the kind of work that Finkelstein does of Dershowitz (and they have a chapter on him as well) to show that the "repeated Palestinian mantras" (Thomas Friedman) about illegality of Israeli state action might not be so easily dismissed. But it is, because ideology easily eclipses reality. International law is straightforward. The Fourth Geneva Convention (Article 49.6) states, "The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies." This sentence is a rebuke to Israeli state policy since 1967, and yet it does not bother the editorial desk, or indeed any of the cap-press journalists in the field (for the NYT as much as for NPR, whose Linda Gradstein feels that the settlements are a good idea, but not "at this time, because I feel it's a provocation"). Friel-Falk tell us that these nineteen words of the Geneva Convention do not appear in the NYT from September 29, 2000 to December 31, 2006, when the settlement question was at the center of the dispute between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The question of settlements is often left to those that pepper the West Bank, cripple everyday life for Palestinians in that borough and provide the pretext for checkpoints, walls and other atrocities. But that is not a sufficient way to understand Israeli state policy. Despite the unilateral pullout from Gaza (2005) and the defeat of Israel in southern Lebanon (2000), the Israeli state forces have attempted to suffocate the two zones through a variety of means. The twin wars of 2006 show us that the Israeli state forces feel within their rights to enter two sovereign regions (Lebanon and Gaza) without any compunction. Under the pretext of security, and through the policy of "hot pursuit," Israel has kept these regions under "occupation" continuously (with forensic accuracy, Friel-Falk parse these twin wars of 2006). The NYT in July 2006 asked Israel "to minimize the damage to civilian bystanders." The paper argued that both Hamas and Hezbollah provoke the patient and peaceful Israel, and wait for "the inevitably fierce and devastating Israeli military response." This will allow them to "radicalize Arab politics." The culpability for the wars on the two flanks of Israel rests, in this analysis, with Hamas and Hezbollah; Israeli state policy that intends to flex its borders at these two limits seems to have nothing to do with the tensions and troubles. Once more, by ignoring the sustained violations of international law, the NYT is able to shift responsibility to those who are always already guilty, and thereby provide no means for the U. S. public to understand the resentment that fuel Hamas and Hezbollah, and the cavalier sense of entitlement that drives the Israeli establishment. In a speech at Stanford University, when he was still with Knight-Ridder, the NYT's Public Editor, Hoyt, sermonized, "Powerful forces are very much against our getting the truth and printing it." Friel-Falk show us the consequences of this systematic "misreporting." It is not their brief to tell us what "powerful forces" are at work to make the NYT disdain international law and sit, tongue out and paws begging, beside the posterior of power. It is not mine either. But if this is the Public Editor's public view, however conspiratorial it sounds, perhaps he should be obliged to explain himself. Because his silence prolongs the agony of those whose sufferings and oppressions are sacrificed by the NYT in the service of those who rely upon this pretend Archimedean ideological work. Vijay Prashad is the George and Martha Kellner Chair
of South Asian History and Director of International Studies
at Trinity College, Hartford, CT His new book is The
Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World, New
York: The New Press, 2007. He can be reached at: vijay.prashad@trincoll.edu
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CounterPunch Books of the Crossroads: HOW THE IRISH INVENTED SLANG By Daniel Cassidy  Click Here to Buy! How the Press Failed The Gang's All Here: Judy Miller, Bob Woodward, Rupert Murdoch, Bill O'Reilly...End Times Leaves No Reputation Unstained!  Buy End Times Now! CounterPunch Books! Saul Landau's Bush and Botox World with a Foreword by Gore Vidal  Click Here to Order!  Michael Neumann's Devastating Rebuttal of Alan Dershowitz Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Greed and Profiteering in the War on Terror by Jeffrey St. Clair           The Occupation by Patrick Cockburn   Humanitarian Imperialism By Jean Bricmont               CITY BEAUTIFUL By Tennessee Reed        Bruce Springsteen On Tour By Dave Marsh                   |
