Archive for July 2nd, 2009
Demonising Iran conveniently hides uncomfortable truths for the West
The mainstream media narrative of events unfolding in Iran has been set out for us as clear as a fairytale: an evil dictatorship has rigged elections and now violently suppresses its country’s democrats, hysterically blaming foreign saboteurs the while. But the Twitter generation is on the right side of history (in Obama’s words), and could bring Iran back within the regional circle of moderation. If only Iran becomes moderate, a whole set of regional conflicts will be solved.
I don’t mean to minimise the importance of the Iranian protests or the brutality of their suppression, but I take issue with the West’s selective blindness when it gazes at the Middle East. The “Iran narrative” contains a dangerous set of simplicities which bode ill for Obama’s promised engagement, and which will be recognised beyond the West as rotten with hypocrisy.
Iran’s claims of Western incitement for the protests are roundly scorned in our media, and of course Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei’s scapegoating of foreigners and “terrorist groups” demonstrates an unhealthy denial of the very real polarisation within Iranian society.
Yet Iranians still have good reason to fear outside interference. It was, after all, British and American-orchestrated riots that brought down the elected Mossadeq government in 1953. And in 2007, Bush administration neocon John Bolton told the Telegraph that a US attack on Iran would be “a last option after economic sanctions and attempts to foment a popular revolution had failed”. Read More…
In blockaded Gaza, Israeli tanks kill again
A seventeen-year-old Palestinian girl has reportedly been killed and four others have suffered wounds in Israeli tank fire in the Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinians who said they witnessed the incident, Hyam Ayash lost her life after an Israeli tank fired a mortar toward a target near the al-Bureij refugee camp at a central area in the impoverished strip. Medical workers meanwhile said that one of those wounded in the attack is in critical condition. Read More…
Ireland: Gaza Report released
Gerry Adams at Israeli Separation Wall that surrounds Bethlehem
Sinn Fein’s President, Gerry Adams, has finished his report on the Gaza situation and Middle East peace process. This report will be forwarded to the US government, through George Mitchell and Tony Blair. The author of the original post publishes important excerpts of the 36 page report made by Adams. Read More…
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