Al Jazeera & The US in Egypt

Photo credit: Al-Jazeera English

This interview presents an excellent example of what I'd like to see more of in the media: keeping it real.  As the questions are thrown at the interviewee, they are backed up by cold hard data and a persistence that only wanes when the interview tries to surpass the five or six vague policy remarks from by the U.S. Department of State.  I think the U.S. is in a tight spot in this situation, and that we should probably try to tread lightly as these events unfold.  We have a history of making a mess of things in the Middle East (Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, our fervent support of Israel, etc.).

Big Business > Planet Earth

Two Faces of Fanaticism

Loughner.

Qadri

The recent shootings in Tucson and the Pakistani Governor's brutal assassination invite some unsettling parallels regarding the nature of fanaticism in the U.S. and Pakistain.  In the case of Pakistan, we see fanatical Islam woven so tightly into the fabric of the moral culture that many, even middle-class, well-educated citizens, have risen up to support the massacre of a governor who had made statements that disagreed with the moral and legal code of a significant amount of Pakistanis. In Arizona, although the case and motive for the attack on Representative Giffords are still relatively unclear, Sheriff Dupnik's statement suggesting that a vitriolic political atmosphere has implications as a motive serves as the basis for my comparison.