Keeping an eye on the Arabs

This Khashoggi drama sure raises a few interesting questions.

Since when does Erdogan, or Trump for that matter, give a shit about the welfare of journos?

Since about the time Khashoggi walked into that Saudi embassy, as far as I can tell.

The Khashoggi name is quite prominent in Saudi circles. My understanding is they're a clan accustomed to being close to power, and found themselves out of the ruling circle only with the ascent of MBS. That explains why they've developed a sudden interest in a free press.

America's interest in human rights is equally recent. Dave Lindorff has a story on view at Counterpunch today contrasting the US reaction to the Khashoggi murder to their reaction to the murder of Furkan Dogan by the IDF.


While I was flat on my back and hoping for the best the other day, it occurred to me that the profession of eye-doctor seems to be particularly prestigious in the Arab world. I remember reading, just as the German refugee crisis was building up a good head of steam, an interview with the daughter of Albert Speer, who had happily acquiesced to putting up a couple of Syrian refugees in her Berlin home.

They were ophthalmologists. And they were also great house guests, according to Frau Speer, the message being "hey, open your hearts and your homes, fellow Squareheads! Nothing to fear from these Syrians we've been bombing to ratshit!"

And isn't the evil Assad an ophthalmologist too?... do you see a pattern here? Maybe everybody in Syria aims for an eye-doctor career. The top grads get to bunk with Frau Speer or come to Canada to do eye surgery on the likes of me.

The guys who don't make the grade get to gouge out eyeballs in Syria's secret torture prisons, like the one Canada sent Maher Arar to for the kind of proper interrogation we can't do ourselves.



For obvious reasons.

Angela in the footsteps of Hitler

                                         1938

                                2015

Hard to see what makes Frau Merkel "Person of the Year." Maybe it's her unstinting willingness to put the interests of Washington's power elite before the interests of Germany. Yes, it's very nice that she has a big heart and takes in the refugees, but it would have been more important, more humane, and more courageous to stand up from her first day as Chancellor against the reckless US foreign policy that creates these refugees in the first place.

In 1938 Hitler had plenty of friends in Washington too.