Why Press TV Should be Closed Down

By Effendi | Published: December 4, 2011

Nick Cohen spells it out:

If whites ran Press TV, one would have no difficulty in saying it was a neo-Nazi network. It welcomes British Holocaust-deniers such as Nicholas Kollerstrom, fascist ideologues such as Peter Rushton, the leader of the White Nationalist party – an organisation that disproves the notion that the only thing further to the right of the BNP is the wall – along with, until recently, Ken Livingstone, Labour’s candidate for mayor of London, who showed no embarrassment about the company his Iranian paymasters kept.

Press TV is not just a home for those with exterminationist fantasies about wiping Israel off the map, but a platform for the full fascist conspiracy theory of supernatural Jewish power. Other fantasies follow. The 9/11 attacks on Washington and New York and 7/7 attacks on London were inside jobs, according to its commentators. Plots emanating from Buckingham Palace, and orchestrated by that sinister figure, the Queen, threaten its journalists.

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Posted in Fascist Propganda | 10 Comments

Another Depressing Piece from Mehdi Hassan

By Guest | Published: December 3, 2011

This is a guest post by Ahmed Dinnerjacket

It is becoming increasingly difficult to takes some of the more dogmatic left-wing commentators seriously these days, especially when it comes to foreign policy. Whether it be Seamus Milne at the Guardian, Robert Fisk at the Independent or Mehdi Hassan at the New Statesman, their op-ed pieces tend to follow the same predictable rules, which are:

a) The West is always wrong
b) Outspoken enemies of the west always deserve our sympathy
c) The vast majority are on our side

Take this latest piece from Mehdi states:

“The easiest and quickest way to expose the hypocrisy of our government’s, and the wider western world’s, professed support for democracy and freedom in the Arab world is to say just two words: Saudi Arabia.”

Then, after pasting an extract from the BBC’s website about the Saudi crackdown on internal protestors, Mehdi states:

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Posted in UK Politics | 8 Comments

‘Honour’ crimes against women under-reported but rising rapidly in UK

By Effendi | Published: December 3, 2011

The numbers of women and girls in the UK who are suffering violence and intimidation at the hands of their families in phenomena known as “Honour” crimes is increasing rapidly in the UK. And according to campaigners, we are only seeing a fraction of the full picture since most crimes go unreported.

Statistics obtained under the Freedom of Information Act about such violence – which can include threats, abduction, acid attacks, beatings, forced marriage, mutilation and murder – show that in the 12 police force areas for which comparable data was available, reports went up by 47% in just a year.

The figures, shared with the Guardian by the Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation (Ikwro), also reveal that a small number of forces – including four in Scotland – are still not collecting data on how often such violence occurs.

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Posted in Misogyny | 1 Comment

Press TV is mere propaganda for Iran. It must close

By Cross Post | Published: December 1, 2011

This is an article by Houriya Ahmed which first appeared in The Times

Closing down the Iranian Embassy in London is not forceful enough. After the storming of the British Embassy in Tehran by a mob of petrol-bomb-hurling hardliners, the British Government was right to move beyond impotent expressions of “outrage” and demand that Iran’s embassy staff leave the UK within 48 hours.But Britain can do more in the face of what looks like officially orchestrated violence.

There is an arm – albeit unofficial – of the Islamic republic at work here that could be punished to show British disapproval: Press TV’s London operation should be shut down.

Launched in 2007 as an “alternative” to Western media, Press TV is an English-language satellite television channel with a licence to operate in London. It is funded by, and acts as a mouthpiece for, the Iranian regime. Muslim and non-Muslim female presenters are required to wear the Islamic headscarf in front of the camera while broadcasting from London.

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Posted in Islamism, Media | 3 Comments

“Those who support democracy must welcome the rise of the Islamic far right”

By Effendi | Published: November 28, 2011

Let’s suppose that, hypothetically speaking, far right religious nationalists were  to win the next elections in Hungary and proceed to take over the country.

Would you be just a little bit concerned by that prospect or would you rather be celebrating it as a victory of “the democratic process”? Over at the Guardian (naturally) the Director-General of al-Jazeera Wadah Khanfar goes for the latter option in the case of Arab countries from Egypt to Tunisia.

It’s titled “Those who support democracy must welcome the rise of political Islam”. Should we really? It also contains this execrable pre-emptive get-out clause:

However, political Islam has also faced enormous pressures from dictatorial Arab regimes, pressures that became more intense after 9/11. Islamic institutions were suppressed. Islamic activists were imprisoned, tortured and killed. Such experiences gave rise to a profound bitterness. Given the history, it is only natural that we should hear overzealous slogans or intolerant threats from some activists. Some of those now at the forefront of election campaigns were only recently released from prison. It would not be fair to expect them to use the voice of professional diplomats.

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Posted in Islamism | 2 Comments

Statement by Ambassador Rapp

By Effendi | Published: November 28, 2011

This is the statement by Ambassador-at-large for War Crimes, Stephen Rapp in Dhaka about the Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal. This is taken from David Bergman’s blog, who is reporting the events of the tribunal from Dhaka.

This is my third visit this year to Bangladesh to learn about your International Crimes Tribunal and to offer ideas to ensure that the trials it holds will be fair and open.

I know of the horrible crimes committed in the country in 1971– of the hundreds of thousands of victims who were murdered and raped, of the pain inflicted and the property destroyed. The victims of these crimes deserve justice, and those accused of these acts deserve trials where they can test the evidence and present witnesses on their own behalf. Those who are innocent should be found not guilty and be freed. Those who are responsible for these crimes should be found guilty and punished. Given the historic importance of these trials to Bangladesh, the region, and the world, the proceedings should be conducted in a manner that is open and accessible to all.

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Posted in War Crimes | 1 Comment

Mona Eltahawy Assaulted in Cairo

By Effendi | Published: November 25, 2011

Here’s Mona Eltahawy discussing being physically and sexually assaulted by the Cairo police yesterday:

My right hand is so swollen I can’t close it.

5 or 6 surrounded me, groped and prodded my breasts, grabbed my genital area and I lost count how many hands tried to get into my trousers.

They are dogs and their bosses are dogs. Fuck the Egyptian police.

Yes sexual assault. I’m so used to saying harassment but those fuckings assaulted me.

The past 12 hrs were painful and surreal but I know I got off much much easier than so many other Egyptians.

God knows what wuld’ve happened if I wasn’t dual citizen (tho they brought up detained US students) & that I wrote/appeared various media.

The whole time I was thinking about article I would write; just you fuckers wait.

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Posted in Democracy | Leave a comment

Everything you always wanted to know about sex with children (but were afraid to ask)

By avicenna | Published: November 24, 2011

Posted in Sharia | 12 Comments

Freedom of Expression and Thought on Trial in Tunisia

By Cross Post | Published: November 22, 2011

Potkin Azarmehr on the banning of ‘Persepolis’ by the Ennahda party in Tunisia:

I was so saddened to learn about the trial in Tunisia over the broadcasting of the animated movie, Persepolis. The Tunisian revolution which was supposed to be about the overthrow of a dictator will soon descend into a religious dictatorship, if the secular Tunisians remain silent about this sort of thing. Once again, my favourite quote by Edmund Burke “Evil Only Prevails, When the Good Remain Silent” manifests itself in our own times.

The animated movie, Persepolis, is not about attacking sacred values at all. Only a religious zealot moron could come to such a conclusion. It is in fact a brilliant depiction of how a revolution against dictatorship is hijacked by such extremists. It is a movie that pre-warns ordinary people what will happen if they remain silent and allow the extremists to take over.

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Posted in Freedom of Expression, Islamism | Leave a comment

Pakistan: The Technical Term For Such A Country Is ‘Shithole’

By Cross Post | Published: November 22, 2011

This is a cross-post of an article by Terry Glavin:

In the years to come, the history of the so-called “war in Afghanistan” will be little more than a footnote in a chapter about the lies successive American governments told themselves and the world about Pakistan – that American-subsidized, nuclear-armed, military-industrial crime syndicate with a bribe market for a parliament that masquerades as a UN member state. All we can hope is that chapter won’t be in a book about a nuclear holocaust that ended a sickening, paranoid hoax of a country that had held most of its 170 million “citizens” hostage and barely alive on less than $2 a day in the final years before it all went up in flames.

Here’s a rare and horrifying glimpse of the reality behind the lies: The Ally From Hell. Excellent journalism from Jeffrey Goldberg and Marc Ambinder.

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Posted in Islamism, Terrorism | 7 Comments

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