Literature

NOVANEWS   September 4, 2010   Gilad Atzmon Tony Blair, a man who launched a criminal war with no end, declared once again today that “Radical Islam is the world's greatest threat” He made the remark in a BBC interview marking the publication of his memoirs. Mr Blair said radical Islamists believed that whatever was done in the name of their cause was justified - including the use of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. I can’t make up my mind whether Blair’s remark is amusing or tragic for not a single  Islamic leader has ever used “chemical, biological or nuclear weapons”. If anything it is Britain and the USA who deployed weaponry that contained depleted uranium. A recent  study reveals that the Cancer rate in Fallujah, Iraq is worse than Hiroshima or Nagasaki. Blair doesn...

NOVANEWS Auto Draft I was looking for more information on the book-looting that took place during the Nakba, and quickly came across the essay below, originally published in Yitzhak Laor's Hebrew-language anti-Zionist literary quarterly, Mitaam: a Review for Radical Thought. Gish Amit wrote it, and Rebecca Gillis translated it from the Hebrew. Ideology may or may not matter to solving the conflict, and Palestinians may or may not be willing to reprise the historic compromise of 1987. But without placing the Nakba at the core of the analysis, as the starting point for judgment, it is the Israelis who look like they are giving up land for peace when in fact in 1987 it was the Palestinians who agreed to give up land for peace. Goodbye, my books! Farewell to the house of wisdom, the temple of ...

NOVANEWS There were reports the other day that Tony Blair is donating all of the proceeds of his book, The Journey, to the British Legion, which is a charity for retired British soldiers. There has been all sorts of speculation as to what his motive in making the donation was, most of which zoom in on his ego. Here are a little crop of letters from yesterday's Independent: Despite suggestions to the contrary, it is rather doubtful that Tony Blair has decided to donate the earnings from his book to appease his "guilty conscience". As we saw recently at the Chilcot inquiry, he has expressed no regret for joining Bush and Cheney in invading Iraq, and equally he has given no indication that he feels any remorse for the uncounted death-toll and wanton destruction of Iraq as a direct result of h...

NOVANEWS A Review by Karen St. John July 20, 2010  by Karen St. John YouTube - Veterans Today -Flag of My Father - Trailer Cast & Credits: John Schneider (The Dukes of Hazzard, Smallville, Nip/Tuck, 90210) as Daniel William Devane (Knot’s Landing, the West Wing, Space Cowboys, 24) as Jake Gigi Erneta as Judith Andrew Sensenig as Ben Director:  Rodney Ray R-Squared Productions presents Flag of My Father, a Rodney Ray story written by Monica Grimm, Leslie Lamb and Rodney Ray.  Director of Photography:  Neal Bryant.  The film features music composed by Daryl Wolgemuth and songs performed by Mason Granade. The army vehicles move quietly on the desert road.   As day moves into evening, the tiny band of soldiers and nurse traveling with a wounded comrade chat about home, their f...

NOVANEWS The Importance of Language on Israel/Palestine The Important Of Correct Language It is, dear reader, important that when discussing the Middle East and the Israel/Palestine Conflict, that you always use the right language. For example, as you may be aware, Israelis are never terrorists Palestinians by contrast are, as Melanie Phillips explained, a terrorist population. In the interests of fairness and according to the rules of POLITICAL CORRECTNESS the following guidelines have been drawn up. Please make sure you use them. Tony Greenstein Rule # 1: In the Middle East, it is always the Arabs that attack first, and it's always Israel who defends itself. This is called "Retaliation" . Rule # 2: The Arabs, whether Palestinians or Lebanese, are not allowed to kill Israelis. This is...

NOVANEWS The international community risks bringing Sudan not to the doors of Eden but to the gates of Hell. Another problem is that the ICC treaty does not allow for the dismissal of charges or for plea bargains, which means that the only incentive potentially on offer to Bashir is weak and conditional: his indictment would have to be delayed repeatedly, and the Sudanese have reason to worry that they might get arrested even after signing some sort of peace agreement.  It is also unclear how a Western diplomat or politician who offered to suspend the arrest warrant as a means of negotiating a settlement could withstand the withering attacks he would most certainly suffer from advocacy groups and journalists calling for justice. Instead of trying to bring Sudan to the gates of some just an...

NOVANEWS Another unintended side effect of the ICC indictment, and perhaps the most disturbing, is that it has united many Arab and African governments behind Bashir, including some that both despise his regime (and have told me so privately) and have signed the ICC's founding treaty. Two years ago, Bashir and his party were being increasingly isolated; now he has a legion of supporters who have come to dislike the ICC more than they dislike him. The Arab League and the African Union have condemned the warrant order against Bashir and announced they would not carry it out; half of the AU's members have even threatened to withdraw from the ICC over the issue. Pragmatic leaders who want a negotiated peace in Sudan see the ICC's moves as Western neocolonialist impositions. In their zeal to bu...

NOVANEWS Why the Arrest Warrant Against Sudan's President Will Serve Neither Peace nor Justice Andrew Natsios Summary: The ICC's latest move against the Sudanese president will harden Khartoum's stance, push Darfuri rebels to make unreasonable demands, and raise expectations in Sudan -- complicating efforts to secure peace and justice. ANDREW NATSIOS is Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and was U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan. next Beyond Darfur Andrew Natsios While the crisis in Darfur simmers, the larger problem of Sudan's survival as a state is becoming increasingly urgent. Old tensions between the Arabs of the Nile River valley, who have held power for a century, and marginalized groups on ...

NOVANEWS My weekly article in Al-Akhbar: "Amos Oz: Arab Liberal Love for Israel."

NOVANEWS Emmanuel Sivan You should read Emmanuel Sivan's Radical Islam to know that he has nothing to offer. This Israeli Orientalist reads Arabic but has nothing to offer explain summaries of what he reads. That is exactly what he did with that aforementioned book. There is not one original insight in that book. And he has an article in Haaretz: and he tells you about his ignorance about the Middle East right at the outset: "Due to the lack of reliable public opinion polls, authoritarian rule and media outlets that are trained what to say, it's not surprising that the assessments of the man on the street are so incomprehensible and based merely on impressions and gut feelings." See this section? This is classic Israeli Orientalists (Bernard Lewis does this in the beginning of every spee...