Daily Archives: December 14, 2016

News

Robert Fisk is an Islamophobic ass

The only explanation for the respect given the journalism of Robert Fisk on Middle East politics is a profound cognitive disorder which has not yet been classified in the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. That’s a good thing because it cannot come out flattering.

Fisk is an ass–& an ass of a special breed. He profoundly disrespects Arabs & Muslims & to cultivate this detestable quality became a journalist covering the Middle East so he could poison the rest of us about Arabs & Muslims.

As east Aleppo sustains retribution by the Syrian Army, Fisk (who was embedded with the Syrian Army) published an article titled “There is more than one truth to tell in the terrible story of Aleppo.” Fares Shehabi, the Assad official in Aleppo, liked it so much he posted it on social media.

Fisk is trying to play both sides of the street–just like the Hands Off Syria Coalition that is touring Assad propagandist Eva Bartlett. But when it comes to dictatorship, carpet bombing of civilians, retributive violence against civilians, there is only one side for those who stand with the oppressed. There are no tolerable equivocations, no ‘yes buts.’

Our deepest regrets that international antiwar forces have been disoriented & misled & to now have proven unable to organize massive, public support for our brothers & sisters in east Aleppo & elsewhere.

News

Assad propagandists are out in force

As credible reports pour out of east Aleppo about violent retributions inflicted on civilians by the Syrian Army, the chorus of Assad propagandists are out in force. That’s probably why Assad official Fares Shehabi wined & dined the most venal of them in Aleppo. He expects them to sing for their supper.

Their mantra now crescendos to fever pitch: “Don’t trust mainstream media. It’s all lies” & they post photos of happy little children in east Aleppo giving the victory sign as if they hadn’t just survived several years of carpet bombing & seen people die before their eyes. It’s called war crime propaganda.

For the popular Syrian movement against the Assad dictatorship, the fall of east Aleppo is a defeat which weakens but does not destroy the movement. For international antiwar forces, for the Palestinian solidarity movement, & for socialists, east Aleppo is a watershed moment. Either you choose to stand with the oppressed in east Aleppo or you choose to side with bombers & the Assad dictatorship. There is no middle ground & no zone where ignorance is a worthy plea.

“All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned, & humanity is at last compelled to face with sober senses their real conditions of life & their relations with their kind.”

There will be time to grieve for our brothers & sisters in east Aleppo but our sorrow must be channeled into organizing & rebuilding the international antiwar movement to demand:

–the immediate cessation of Syrian & Russian bombing of civilians; the immediate cessation of US bombing;
–the immediate end of funding, arming, training of militias by Syria, the US, Russia, Iran, & other foreign agents;
–the immediate, unconditional withdrawal of all foreign military forces in Syria–overt & covert, by land, sea, & air.

News

Go ahead! Make my day!

Can’t tell you how often some throwback to another era decides to smart out on my Facebook wall–almost invariably combining a smart-mouth & contempt for women’s intelligence with political ignorance. Mine is the generation that knows full well how it feels to be talked down to like we’re all halfwits; mine is the generation that put on combat boots (in the metaphorical sense) & set out to end that crap.

We did a good job despite the backlash. More women learn early in life not to take any guff & they learn to dish it out. But our mission is not yet accomplished. When you meet these lowbrow minds on social media, sometimes you feel pity for them cause you know if they don’t back off you & other women will make chopped liver out of them. No one wants to reduce a grown man to public weeping. But if you force us to, we must admit to secretly savoring the moment. Senior women can be the most ruthless because we don’t give a damn about your conceits.

You don’t have to agree on everything we say but you do have to disagree like you’re talking to fully-formed adults & not halfwits. I don’t really know women who aren’t kind but most I know are entirely capable of running a smart-mouthed punk around the block. For his own good of course. And for the betterment of humankind.