Diana Buttu on the Palestine Papers

In this segment of Palestine Studies TV, Diana Buttu, a former member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Negotiations Support Unit, spoke about the recent leak of thousands of internal Palestinian documents concerning the ongoing negotiations with Israel. They were published and covered extensively by Al Jazeera and The Guardian.

Top 10 Wikileaks Palestine Nuggets

Yousef Munayyer of the Palestine Center put together a nice list of Wikileaks gems on Palestine. Here, they are in summary form:

#1. Qatar’s Prime Minister met with Senator John Kerry and discussed a variety of issues including Qatar’s views on the Palestinian issue. read

Democracy Lives in Egypt…

… just not in the government. read

Google’s Fighting the War on Terror Online

Google will be employing additional staff to review content before and after it goes live on Youtube, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said recently. This came after the company moved to remove al-Qaeda videos, including some by Yemeni-American preacher Anwar Al-Awlaki.

AIPAC’s Implosion

When you’re at the top, you have no place to go but down.

For so long, the top dog of pro-Israeli lobbying has ruled the roost. With power barely checked and the ability to pretty much whip Congress into line on Israel, it was only a matter of time before internal divisions led to breaks within, threatening the regime’s reign over the Hill.

If it were only so.

Slavoj Žižek on Riz Khan

Slavoj Žižek, the renowned writer, discussed his views on the state of modern capitalism in this recent Riz Khan episode on Al Jazeera English. We’d never hear such views on an American broadcaster, so it was a bit strange and refreshing to hear his critique.

VIDEO The History of America’s Unconditional Support for Israel

Lawrence Davidson spoke on Palestine Studies TV (video and transcript) about American Presidents and pro-Israel foreign policy.

His article, “Truman the Politician & the Establishment of Israel” showed how a “strong domestic Zionist lobby” interacted with President Harry Truman’s “wants and needs in order to influence his decision making.”

Hizb-i-Shay Defeats Great Satan

Congrats to the Tea Party for defeating the great imperialist despot, Barry Obamaski, in the midterm elections. Thank you for saving this country from the clutches of doom.

A divided Congress is historically unprecedented and your great benefactors shall be very pleased, especially if they get more tax breaks out of it.

Addendum: Politics dressed like entertainment

After seeing my essay on the Stewart-Colbert rally posted up on Al-Jazeera’s website, I realized I should have done more to specify what I think should be done about the problem I identify.

In a sense, I was guilty of what Jon Stewart is when he launches his criticisms of uncivil punditry and the scream culture of cable news — the lack of a clear remedy.

Wikileaks: U.S. Actively Ignored Iraqi Torture

This Al Jazeera English report summarizes some of the conclusions that can be made from the latest Wikileaks document dump. They show extensive torture by the Iraqi government and American complicity. Most telling is the gap between the government’s public statements about Iraqi torture not happening and what they actually knew.