Slashdot Mirror

It isn't just Israel that is targeted, the US and Americans have seen it too.

Anbar Awakens Part II: Hell is Over

I think, it’s because personal contact with Iraqis over time has disproved the conspiracy theories about how we’re supposedly here to steal oil and women.”

Half the world seems to believe Americans invaded Iraq for the oil. I hadn’t heard about Americans supposedly invading Iraq to steal women, but it makes sense now that I’ve heard it. Many Iraqis compare the American invasion of Iraq, fairly or not, to the far nastier Mongol invasion of Iraq in the 13th Century. That was the chief point of reference for many of the nation’s Arabs (but not Kurds) when the Americans first showed up.

Other strange conspiracy theories abound. I never saw an American wearing a red beret, but apparently some Iraqis believe red berets are dyed in human blood. Perhaps the most amusing theory, which I know many Iraqis believe to this day, is that American Soldiers and Marines have what they call “cold pills” so they can’t feel the blistering heat of the summer.

“I demand cold pills!” an Iraqi officer said when he barged into the office of Colonel John Steele at Camp Taji.

“Listen,” the colonel said to the Iraqi and pointed at his own forehead. “You see these beads of sweat on my forehead that are running down toward my nose? That’s because I feel just as hot as you do.”

One American soldier told me about a time he was having tea in a friendly Iraqi civilian’s house.

“It’s hot today,” said the Iraqi, “but at least you have your air conditioner on.”

“What do you mean?” said the Soldier.

“Your air conditioner,” the Iraqi said and pointed at the Soldier’s bulky body armor.

The Soldier laughed out loud.

“That’s body armor,” he said. “Not an air conditioner!”

“Come on,” the Iraqi said. “We all know those are air conditioners.”

The Soldier took off his body armor and handed it to the Iraqi. “Here,” he said. “Put it on and see for yourself.”

The Iraqi donned the armor and suddenly felt even hotter.

“Hmm,” he said. “It is pretty hot. But I’m sure it will get cold after a while.”

When was the last time N Korea arrested visitors saying they were CIA spies? On the contrary, N Korea is very welcoming to foreigners, including Americans.

Charges as CIA spies? How bourgeois. It is much simpler and a better reflection of North Korean socialist morality to just hold a trial.

2 U.S. reporters get 12 years in N. Korea - June 08, 2009

Two American television journalists today were convicted of a "grave crime" against North Korea and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor, a move that increased mounting tensions between the U.S. and the reclusive Asian state.

Laura Ling and Euna Lee, reporters for San Francisco-based Current TV, were sentenced by the top Central Court in Pyongyang in a two-day trial that started Friday as U.S. officials demanded the release of the two women.

The state-run Korean Central News Agency reported that the court "sentenced each of them to 12 years of reform through labor" but gave no further details.

Because the pair were tried by the nation's highest court, there can be no appeal.

Of course the North Koreans are not especially shy about grabbing Americans.

North Korea says it has arrested American citizen - Sun December 23, 2012
North Korea arrests American; continues shelling near disputed border - January 28, 2010
North Korea arrests US man - December 29, 2009

And foreigners? The North Korean government loves foreigners. . . in a sort of "collect them and trade them!" kind of way.

Japanese kidnapped by North Koreans return home in tears
Kidnapped by North Korea
Armed North Koreans kidnap Chinese sailors
Jenkins Photo Proof Of Kidnapping? - ". . .she is a Thai national who was kidnapped by North Korean agents. . ."
Did North Korea Just Kidnap Two American Journalists?
Kidnappers Incorporated
Japanese families fear that North Korea is still abducting - North Korea had kidnapped nationals from at least 11 other countries, including France, Italy and the United States.

It seems they want to impress them, not arrest them.

Impress them in a Potemkin village sort of way, yes.

Welcome to Lenin Disney: North Korea’s otherworldly tourism experience

The surreality of visiting North Korea begins at customs. Officials in full military dress — and there are a lot of them, judging by this clandestine video shot by a Canadian tourist — announce that anyone carrying a cell phone must surrender it, to be returned on leaving. The experience gets weirder from there, based on the numerous travelogues and reports that have emerged since the country lifted many of its restrictions on American tourists in 2010.

Tourism is an opportunity for North Korea, whic

- He is already a real dictator.

So, you're thinking they couldn't do worse?

Nasser’s Biggest Crime - December 19, 2005

“In Egypt you can walk wherever you want,” he said. “There are no rules or laws here.”

Well, I thought. There are laws against involvement in politics. But I knew what he meant. The Egyptian government doesn’t micromanage its citizens. Good on Hosni Mubarak for that one, at least. Egypt may be a police state, but at any given moment it doesn’t feel like one......

Can we talk about politics out in the open?” I said.

“Yes,” he said. “We can say whatever we want.”

“Is it because we’re speaking in English?”

“No,” he said. “We could do it in Arabic, too.”

“You’re not worried about the secret police?”

“Not any more,” he said. “It is a real change from last year. Last year there was no way. But it’s better now, more open. Do you know why?”

“No,” I said. “Tell me.”

“Because of pressure from George W. Bush.”....

I wanted to know what he thought of the Muslim Brotherhood. Was it even possible that they are as moderate as they want everyone to believe?

“They are moderate because they don’t have guns,” he said. “They don’t kill people. It’s true. But most of the armed terrorist groups we see now were born out of the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood.”

“At some point,” I said, “if you want to live in a democracy you’re going to have to accept the fact that conservative religious political parties exist. You may never like them, but they won’t always be a terrorist threat. Democracy has mellowed out the Islamists in Turkey, for example.”

“Yes,” he said. “But Turkey has a secular constitution. They want to enter the EU, so the Islamists are forced to play by the rules of the game. They cannot step on the freedoms that the Turkish people take for granted. The Egyptian people, though, since the time of the Pharaohs, have been a flock. They follow the shepherd.”

“My biggest fear,” he continued, “is that if the Muslim Brotherhood rules Egypt we will get Islamism-lite, that they won’t be quite bad enough that people will revolt against them. Take bars, for example. Most Egyptians don’t drink, so they won’t mind if alcohol is illegal. The same goes for banning books. Most Egyptians don’t read. So why should they care if books are banned? Most women wear a veil or a headscarf already, so if it becomes the law hardly anyone will resist.”

“How many people here think like you do?” I asked him.

“Few,” he said. “Very few. Less than ten percent probably.”

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood eyes unity gov't without Mubarak
The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest opposition group,is in talks with other anti-government figures to form a national unity government without President Hosni Mubarak, a group official told DPA on Sunday....

Gamal Nasser, a spokesman for the Brotherhood, told DPA that his group was in talks with Mohammed ElBaradei - the former UN nuclear watchdog chief - to form a national unity government without the National Democratic Party of Mubarak.

Oh, sorry, he's already taken. Bashar Al-Assad would get jealous.

It's a fake crisis, like so many others. Photoshopped news is not that rare. And often, it's for more than just aesthetics

http://www.speroforum.com/a/34500/Reuters-admits-to-doctored-photos-of-Gaza-Flotilla
(after all the story was that Israel attacked "unarmed" protestors, can't have huge knives in the hands of protestors, especially when they appear to be using them on soldiers)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Lebanon_War_photographs_controversies

http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/184452.php

I guess in some cases, these fotos are simply "fake, but accurate", right ? And then there are the tings never shown :

http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/2009/02/a-dispatch-from.php

Of the three Iran is the biggest threat because their is the religious fundamentalism aspect, but the drive for power far outweighs that.

Michael Totten just posted an interview today with a former member of Iran's Revolutionary Guards. This is the latter's insightful perspective:

"If you look more deeply into the thought processes of the people controlling the [Iranian] government, these are people who strongly believe Islam will conquer the world. Every act they commit is in that direction. They don't just want a nuclear bomb to make them untouchable. They think it will be the trigger for Islam conquering the world....

Thirty years ago they were told the Mahdi [i.e., the prophesied redeemer of Islam] wants them to proceed with the nuclear project, and that's why they're not bending. They think they're untouchable and that the Mahdi wants it."

On the hamas leader see: http://www.michaeltotten.com/2010/02/more-like-this-please.php

Michael Totten is a foreign correspondent and Michael Yon is a combat correspondent who have reported from Afghanistan and Iraq, and who are funded mainly from reader donations.

The worst airline in the world. If you read the following, it will change your outlook forever.

http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/2009/03/the-worst-airli.php

I braced myself. "How do you feel about the U.S. bombing this mosque?" I [asked the mosque's caretaker]. "I don't know," he said, as if he had never even pondered the question. "It's okay, I suppose. I am grateful. If they had not done it this place would still be a toilet."

As you see, the guy's attitude is almost one of indifference. As if bad things are going to happen no matter what, and he'll just keep doing his thing, whether it is because of Baathists or Al Qaeda or Americans, makes little difference to him.

OK, so I take it you have no actual evidence as to what the populace thinks, you are just making stuff up based on what you think. So, in the spirit of information, I will turn you to the website of someone who has been to Iraq.

Here is a good overview of the Anbar region of Iraq, and here is a rather gruesome description of life under Saddam. The situation is significantly more nuanced than you understand. Unfortunately no one takes polls of the Iraqi people so it is hard to get a good general overview of what people think, but anecdotal evidence beats what you have, which is guess work.

Read through that guy's website, and you'll see he does actual interviews with Iraqis living in Iraq. Of course not every Iraqi likes Americans being there, but once again the reality is much more nuanced than you seem to understand.

OK, so I take it you have no actual evidence as to what the populace thinks, you are just making stuff up based on what you think. So, in the spirit of information, I will turn you to the website of someone who has been to Iraq.

Here is a good overview of the Anbar region of Iraq, and here is a rather gruesome description of life under Saddam. The situation is significantly more nuanced than you understand. Unfortunately no one takes polls of the Iraqi people so it is hard to get a good general overview of what people think, but anecdotal evidence beats what you have, which is guess work.

Read through that guy's website, and you'll see he does actual interviews with Iraqis living in Iraq. Of course not every Iraqi likes Americans being there, but once again the reality is much more nuanced than you seem to understand.

You know, I pretty much agreed that paid newspapers did better investigative journalism until that whole ACORN scandal broke. That was just some guy who set up his own investigation and made a video to prove it. It was some of the best investigative reporting I've seen in a while.......compare it to mainstream media, which investigated such hard hitting stories as, "was Obama really born in the US?" and "Why was Mark Sanford not in his office?" or "Was Joe Wilson's apology enough?"

Another good example of investigative journalism is Michael Totten, a blogger who actually went to Iraq (he literally drove across the border with no prior plans. That takes guts. Later he went in again with the US army). He has gone all across the middle east, talking to average people on the street, and seeing what they have to say. It is some of the best reporting of the Iraq war I've seen, and he is directly supported by his readers.

Compare that to some of the fun stuff the mainstream media does. It seems every few years the New York Times has to fire someone because they've been caught reporting unethically.

That said, there is some news content I am willing to pay for, the clearest example is the Wall Street Journal. They do a good job, but with Rupert Murdoch in charge now, it may not last much longer and is already going downhill.

It would be very interesting to close off part of a disused city or even a whole city and leave it as it is to see how nature would take over without human influences. Would it decay as some predict?. Would nature take over tower blocks for high rise living? ... The nearest experiment we have is Chernobyl...

Actually, there is also the town called Varosha in Cyprus. It was being built up by the Greek Cypriots as a resort town right before war broke out . The Turks ended up controlling it, the Greek Cypriots fled, and the Turks wrapped it in barbed wire and didn't let anyone in. Apparently, the Turks thought the newly finished hotels would be a valuable bargaining chip in the upcoming negotiations. Of course, there were no negotiations and 30 years later the town is still empty and gradually being reclaimed by nature.

There's a cool book called The World Without Us that goes in detail into what would happen if all humans suddenly disappeared (it's nonfiction). The book talks about Varosha, among other things.

You might call mainstream journalism crap, and some of the writing along with the various media biases are certainly worthy of that term, but the mainstream media is still the place where we get the boots on the ground to actually find out what's happening in the world. Take that away and I don't know how much 'reporting' the blogosphere can actually support.

Reader-supported independent reporters Michael Yon and Michael Totten have been doing an extraordinary job with their reporting from Iraq, Afghanistan, and other locales.

http://www.michaelyon-online.com/
http://www.michaeltotten.com/

"How many bloggers are embedded in Falujah?"

Here's one who's doing at least as much hot-spot in-country reporting as your typical NYT correspondent: http://michaeltotten.com/ There's no particular reason you need to be a full-time employee of a print publication to report from warzones.

David Simon is probably right that there will always be major media organizations who maintain pools of employed reporters to deploy to newsworthy locations, but why "large" has to equal "print" I'm not quite so sure.

As it is patently obvious to anyone who followed the Georgia/Russia conflagration to any degree, it was the Georgians who launched a surprise attack on South Ossetia...

This is patently obvious to anyone? Hardly. Before accusing another poster of ignorance, perhaps you yourself should read up on the subject. Here is a good place to start:

Michael Totten's report from Tbilisi, Georgia

You may find the truth is more complicated, and different, than you believe.

Don't be so sure about Georgia being the aggressor. True that is how it was reported but Russia has a lot more resources to put forth their side of the story and Putin has been planning this for months (Issuing passports, hiring mercenaries, supplying weapons) Russia had their version ready for news crews while Georgia was in the midst of chaos. Russia clearly won the PR war.

At least one independent journalist in the area reported that Russians invaded with a full armor column on the 6th and the Georgian "Attack" on South Osseta was the Georgian military's attempt to halt the tank column from Russia after the Russian shelling of Georgian villages began.

http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/2008/08/the-truth-about-1.php

It gives a VERY different perspective on the conflict. Well worth a read. Makes you understand why both candidates are angry with Russia. They are both briefed by the CIA with the full story while we are limited to what gets reported in western newspapers.

"Yes, Georgians did attack"

Well, not quite. The separatists and russian troops combined an attack on the 6th of august, and this is what the Georgian troops reacted to by going through Tskhinvali.

Care to provide better source then a blog site? The site you referenced doesn't say anything about attack of Russian troops, it only says "the Russian military sent its invasion force bearing down on Georgia from the north side of the Caucasus Mountains". They also don't mention that South Ossetia denied the they started the attack. I don't think both Georgians and Ossetins can be trusted here, but it seems that the referenced site trusts everything that Georgians say. Can you really trust them, if they declared ceaseire on August 7th, and attacked in 5 or six hours? And the last thing - in my opinion planning the attack on South Ossetia would take at least a few days, so Georgia started planning it before August 6th. I wonder if Russia knew about this impending attack, and sent their troops a few days in advance?

Except the Georgian military did not start moving into the region until AFTER additional Russian troops started invading. Despite what the Russians are saying, the Russians did not counter the Georgians. Quite the opposite. These rather important details were left out of most of the news reports I read.

The so called Russian peace keeper troops also supplied arms to the rebels.

All kinds of background information and details can be found here: http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/2008/08/the-truth-about-1.php

Military aggression, in this case Georgia's attack on Ossetia is not equivalent to "wearing a dress". How does this escape you?

Because his mind started melting sometime around the late nineties. I'm afraid you won't get much more than vitriol and general inanity from that guy.

For a more grounded version of events, I found this item to be illuminating.

-FL

"Yes, Georgians did attack"

Well, not quite. The separatists and russian troops combined an attack on the 6th of august, and this is what the Georgian troops reacted to by going through Tskhinvali.

Seriously, you would think that the US would take a more "global" approach to space and start truly cooperating with other countries, say like uh.. Canada, UK, Japan, China, India, etc...

I think that's why it's called the International Space Station because some 15 nations are involved in its construction.

Problem is Russia is acting like a thug and saying "we're an irreplaceable ISS partner so suck it..." We have to show Russia that she isn't irreplaceable otherwise she'll keep behaving like a thug. Since we don't want to start shooting, replacing Russia in places where she can be replaced is one of the things we'll have to do instead.

There are plenty of places on the web for anyone that wants to be better informed about what is happening in Iraq. Just for starters...

Multi-National Force - Iraq website.
          Today's top stories:
          Iraqis Displaced from Homes Now Returning in Droves
          Soccer Stadium Opens with Tourney
          Mahmudiyah Hatchery Receives First Egg Shipment
          Soldiers Distribute Fertilizer to Farmers

The Long War Journal
Michael Totten's web site
Michael Yon's web site (He has just published a new book: Moment of Truth in Iraq )

Some Iraqi bloggers:
Iraq Pundit
Iraq the Model

Some useful news of the war does slip through:
Al Qaeda chief slams Muslims for lack of support
Iraq: After the bombs, the tomatoes
Violence Leaves Young Iraqis Doubting Clerics

"First the embedded reporters disappeared..."

So, you're fine with talking out your ass???

http://www.michaeltotten.com/

The best one of those available. Let's see how you deal with the truth from the ground.

The MoveOn.Org ad was highly offensive. For one it was a partisan political attack on somebody who is not an elected official. The attack claimed that Gen. Petraeus had betrayed America, in essense accusing a Commanding officer of treason by violating his oath to defend the country. It was also published before he even gave his report to Congress, so how could they know he was lying. Having listened to his report and read it as well, it was pretty clear that he was being honest about what was and was not working.

I am not sure why you think Gen. Petraeus has run the Irag war poorly as he has only been running it since January of this year. The media named "surge" is not just an increase in US troops, it is being waged with a change tactics, and a strategy to truly knock down Al Qaeda in Iraq so that some sort of political solution can take hold. Even the NY Times has reported that has made progress.

If you follow the actual bloggers who are in Irag, they are reporting it like they see it. Several of them have reported good and bad things that have happened. They have found a lot of postive results since the summer offensive kicked off last June. Here are links to three of them of have spent a lot of time in Iraq.

http://www.michaelyon-online.com/ ( Look for dispatches who probably has spent more time in Irag than anybody else)

http://www.longwarjournal.org/ (Bill Roggio and now other in the field bloggers reporting on Iraq and Afghanistan)

http://www.michaeltotten.com/

And, to the Bush Administration, the Constitution of the United States is little more than toilet paper stained from all the shit that this group of power-mad despots have dumped on the freedoms that "goddamned piece of paper" used to guarantee.

On Friday, President Bush signed legislation that will name a new $110 million, nine-courtroom addition to the federal courthouse in Bryant's honor.

Bryant was known for his dedication to Constitutional law and believed that lawyers could stop injustice.

"Without lawyers, this is just a piece of paper," Bryant said of the Constitution in an interview with The Washington Post last year. "If it weren't for lawyers, I'd still be three-fifths of a man. If it weren't for lawyers, we'd still have signs directing people this way and that, based on the color of their skin."

It needs to return to the time where a reporter simply told what they saw,

You might look at a couple of independent weblogs by reporters who are currently embedded with the military in Iraq. They're on the ground, not beholden to corporate bosses, and telling it like it is. They give a much rosier picture than US mainstream media provides. Their personal politics are right-leaning, but if that's a concern to you, just go into it with your conservafilters turned on.

I should point out that while their reports have been published on the Fox News website, their reports are subsidized exclusively by reader donations.

The journalist label lends no more credibily to a specific individual than the blogger label takes away. There are plenty of recent events where journalists that should have been credible(The New York Times!) where not. There are also plenty of blogs that are identifed with a credible individual. To me, the journalists that lose their credibility take some credibility from journalists as a whole. The more credible the journalist to begin with, the greater the damage done. Also, it seems at least possible that someone could be both a journalist and a blogger. another.

6 - Many of the worst blogs die away as the good reading tools (and people using them) ignore them

And who decides what is crap? Some snobby elite with a political axe to grind? We have that today and call it the main stream media.

Here is the latest post from Michael J. Totten in Iraq.

http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/001064.html

Reading it, you see it gives lie to the "all quagmire, all the time" reporting that is fashionable in certain quarters. I would expect it to be ignored by those whose orthodoxy it challanges. Why would you expect that the people doing the filtering for you will include facts which are inconveniant to them?

The value of Blogs comes from a LACK of control and filtering. We don't need to impose a cathedral upon the bazzar.