OlehGirl.com
A mixture of many things
Well so where to start. I guess I’ll start with a serious eye-opening surprise for me. So we all know that Al Jazeera is the voice of the arab world when it comes to news, right? It takes on the U.S. and Israel on a regular basis right? It can, we can safely say, hold an extremely anti-Israel bias that could also safely be called “extreme hatred for the zionist entity” (meaning us). So it might come as some surprise to find, as Drima notes (a seriously cool blogger) in his revelationary post that –Al Jazeera uses an Israeli satellite provider. Dropped my jaw on that one.
Next up is a very well-written, intelligent, and in my opinion right on target, article written by Orson Scott Card that I put in the “must read” category. Orson Scott Card is a long-time democrat and the author of Ender’s Game, one of my all-time favourite books, among many other books he’s written. He wrote an article titled “The Only Issue This Election Day” that appears online here at Civilization Watch. If you are a Democrat I urge you to check it out –because it is a perspective that is worth thinking about and it has a lot of information in it that is worth reading whether you are a Dem or a Rep or an Indie.
You guys helped to rock the Internet on this one: Mahmood’s blog has been unblocked!
Lieberman is about to make me simply apoplectic. I’m going to spare you. My cats heard the full rant. They hid under beds and sofas.
| Print article | This entry was posted by Yael on November 5, 2006 at 5:19 pm, and is filed under Israel. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
(Photo by Dani Machlis)
about 3 years ago
I had to give up on that article because in all honesty, I think he is ranting.
Democrat/Republican – it doesn’t make a difference now. Why? Because the tide of public opinion is turning and polititians will follow the line which will get them elected. Plus the “War on Terror” was never effectively that, it bacame the “War of convenient excuse to go after Saddam Hussein”.
If they really wanted to fight a war on Terror, step number one would have been to finish the job effectively in Afghanistan first and do everything possible to eliminate Al Quaeda, show that the US really means business and can do what they say.
The second step would be the much more complicated one of ensuring that terror can’t work, by not reacting to it in a reactionary way and by not allowing the terrorists to dictate terms and decide when to go to war.
This guys thesis rests on the idea that terror and ideology can be beaten by a large Western military backed by a nation with low credibility and empty pockets. I think ideology can only be beaten by ideology and the “War on Terror” has for me shown that we are more than willing to sell out our own ideology (constitution, political freedom, due process) at the drop of a hat.
Not to say that military means don’t have their uses, it is sometimes necessary to go to war, but it provides a short term solution to a long term problem.
I would recommend reading pretty much anything by Fareed Zacharia (Newsweek). He does a great job of analysing history and looking at the successes and failures of the Western world in dealing with rogue states. His main conclusion seems to be that engagement and commerce have been better tools than exclusion and demonization when it comes to affecting and changing agressive states. Probably why current terror ideology works so hard to demonize Western culture – it is what they are most afraid of.
about 3 years ago
Sorry for the long comment.
BTW, I’m glad Lieberman is saying what he is saying – he’s bringing it out into the open. These ideas and the future of the State need to be debated openly – a lot of people have their heads in the sand regarding the Liebermans of this world.
about 3 years ago
I don’t think Americans and Jews are proactive enough when it comes to not accomadating Jihadist and their elk, the fact is Arabs/Muslims refuse many commercial transactions with Westerners due to hate, race. religion or media manipulation.
Western countries need to be far more prudent with technology sharing and access to satelites etc.
Bagelblogger
about 3 years ago
Americans and Jews aren’t proactive enough when it comes to not accomadating Jihadist and their elk, the fact is Arabs/Muslims refuse many commercial transactions with Westerners due to hate, race. religion or media manipulation.
Western countries need to be far more prudent with technology sharing and access to satelites etc.
Bagelblogger
about 3 years ago
You may want to provide a link to Drima’s blog. He has been busy with exams recently but promises to address more issues in December! He is a level-headed, rational guy, and I enjoy his posts around cyberspace and his blog.
about 3 years ago
Lisoosh –sorry for not saying more to your very thoughtful post but I do want to say that you make very good points even though on this issue I’m still with Orson (have to admit I did start skimming about 3/4ths of the way through his article though
Bagele –I think what everyone seems to find jaw-dropping, myself included, is that they are knowingly paying an “enemy” service for uh service.
Lynne –I think I do provide a link to Drima’s blog in the article…or does it not work when clicked? I have been very impressed by his posts, even though I find that I sometimes disagree, because they are always well-thought out and intelligent positions.
about 3 years ago
Yael,
The post you’re referring to shows a bit of a lack of (perfectly understandable) of how broadcast news works via satellite.
It is neither practical nor economical to ship reporters around the globe with hundreds of kg and tens of thousands of dollars worth of satellite uplink equipment, only to have to then worry about buying/renting a vehicle to mount it on.
They will simply contract uplink services from companies in the local country which have a fleet of SNG trucks, fully equipped with video editing and broadcast equipment, as well as satellite uplink capabilities.
The fact that they use RR Sat is about as shocking as the discovery that they may rent or buy their own personal cars from Israeli companies rather than shipping them from overseas.