Friday News Roundup - Hour 2
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-01-20/friday-news-roundup-hour-2
Heavy fighting continued near Syria's capital as opposition fighters tried to drive out government forces; Israel said striking Iran over its nuclear program is "very far off"; and the search for 21 people still missing in the Costa Concordia shipwreck continued. Michael Hirsh of National Journal, Karen DeYoung of The Washington Post and Abderrahim Foukara of Al Jazeera join Diane for analysis of the week's top international news stories.
Guests
Michael Hirsh
chief correspondent, National Journal magazine; author of "Capital Offense: How Washington's Wise Men Turned America's Future Over to Wall Street."
Karen DeYoung
senior diplomatic correspondent, The Washington Post.
Abderrahim Foukara
Washington bureau chief of Al Jazeera Arabic.
Comments
Please familiarize yourself with our Code of Conduct and Terms of Use before posting your comments.
If the ongoing demonstrations in Bahrain were happening anywhere else in the world, the whole world would be outraged. The 225-year dictatorship held an airshow this week, trying to show everyone that everything is normal, but the human rights abuses continue on an almost daily basis, the BICI Report notwithstanding. In the event the protesters do succeed against such high odds, do any of your guests feel a democratic Bahrain government would continue to host the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, especially considering how cold the Obama Administration has been to their calls for more participation in their country's government?
The news discussed the departure of security contractors from Iraq. How comprehensive is that order?
This conversation reminded me one one of the biggest, most dangerous hypocrisies coming bout of the GOP today. They keep jumping on Obama about 'undeclared' wars, yet HW invaded Iraq in 1991 and W in 2001. Where do they get off calling out the Democrats on this topic when it seems to me, as I look back through our history, more wars have been started or perpetuated by Republicans than Democrats.
The panelists (and I) appear to have been caught off guard by the onslaught of thoughtful, nuanced, and informed phone calls. It's heartening that so many people are coming to awareness about the covert war NPR is waging on the truth, and us.
Of course, for the next 40 years, right wingers will be using the presence of an Al Jazeera as proof of NPRs radical, maverick tendencies. Of course, like with most things, they have it exactly backwards. I've been aware for some time (mostly as a result of their coverage of Libya, that Al Jazeera is now licking the hand that bombed them. Here is an interesting article about that: http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/01/13/whatever-happened-to-al-jazeera/.
Why are they doing this? Is a seat at a table surrounded by fools really that valuable , that prestigious? No, there is more here at stake. You can tell how compromised somebody's integrity is by how frequently they appear on NPR. Thanks for providing the barometer.
Regarding the Iranian nuclear effort: Since the release of the Nicholas Cage movie, "Lord of War", I've suspected Iran of possessing nuclear weapons purchased from ex-Soviet militarists. I view Iranian nuclear research as a jingoistic smoke screen and an effort to funnel Iranian oil wealth into the hands of friends of the Revelutionary Guard. Therefore, it would seem imprudent to provoke Iran over their false pretenses.
My great fear is that they will launch a surprise attack on one of our carrier fleets. The sinking of an American carrier would be an unimaginable horror. Please give voice to my caution.
FYI: The innocent Iranians are not the problem. The problem is a bloody and corrupt mullah mafia, which is heavily supported by the Russian and the Chinese regimes. This mullah mafia is not the "Iranian" nation, it is heavily populated by con artists and psychopaths. A very good way to bring down this mullah mafia is not to allow the mullahs to deposit their stolen money in foreign banks.
It's always fun to read the posts about "evil" Iran. These posts are about how Iran is not a bosom buddy of the U.S. and this is why we must make war on them. And why isn't Iran our bosom buddy? Because we have been waging war on Iran for the last 30 years. And why have we been waging war on Iran for the last 30 years? Is it because Iran has been pursuing nuclear weapons for the last 30 years? No, it's because they had the temerity to oust the dictator we installed 30 years before that. We can't accept a Government that displaced a dictator that we installed/supported or a democratically elected Government that does not put the profits of our corporations at the top of the priority list; we must wage war on these countries for as long as it takes to overthrow these governments and replace them with Governments that will put U.S. Corporate profits over the needs of the countries' people. Whether that takes more that 60 years (N. Korea), 50 years (Cuba), or 30 years as with Iran, it is essential that these countries bow before the mighty U.S. before we will cease our wars against them and let them lick our boots in the proper subservient manner (e.g., Colombia's mass murder of potential labor leaders to ensure a docile workforce for U.S. multinationals). (Just a note: This is not a partisan issue -- Democrats and Republicans alike love the idea of ruthless governments torturing and murdering their people to advance U.S. corporations.)
Iran is entitled to have a nuclear program. There is no conclusive evidence it has a nuclear weapons program. Karen DeYoung should inform herself better. Are we seeing more Judith Miller reporting? Propaganda for more war?
Why is Israel sanctioned for its nuclear weapons program?
See the column by Professor Juan Cole today:
http://www.juancole.com/
The capital gains tax is a tax on changes in value in long-term capital assets. As a forester, I find that as much of my 1960's planting value growth is as much inflation as wood growth value. The same thing happens in houses or equipment owned a long time. So the capital gains tax becomes a tax as much on the inability of government to maintain a stable currency as on asset value change. Net income indexing would help offset this tax bias against long-term capital gains.