Robert Fisk has for a long time courted more than his share of detractors.
Israeli's from the settler end of the political spectrum hate him because he thinks Palestinians have rights too.
Turks hate him because he never tires of writing about the Armenian massacres.
The Afghans beat him to a pulp because... well, mainly because he was a Westerner and he was there.
And on it goes.
I've always liked Fisk because he has the balls to tell it like he sees it regardless of who hates him.
That's a commendable quality in a journalist.
But I must admit he gets a bit self-indulgent at times. His dad admired Mussolini? Who cares? My dad admired Julia Child.
But who cares? That's not journalism, that's indulgence.
He's got a whole pack of Fisk-haters on his case now. Apparently he's been too chummy with Assad's military. Actually, he's doing a classic Fisk; talking to the people nobody else will talk to. What other Western journalist has risked talking to the regime? Assad is a rogue who butchers his own people just for fun is the standard line in Western media.
Bully for Fisk for going and talking to Assad's butchers.
The rest of the media are busy ingratiating themselves with various CIA backed "rebel" groups. Hell, even Canada's milquetoast CBC has a crew with the rebels!
So his latest column reeks of indulgence. He's off to Sweden to track down the source of those safety flares he saw in Syria.
He already knows the source of those flares. They come standard issue with every Volvo truck sold in Syria, and Volvo has been a major player in the heavy truck market in Syria, as throughout the Middle East, for a couple of generations.
Volvos come from Sweden, so Fisk is off to the second greatest Great White North.
I have no doubt that safety flares can be put to nefarious use. So can fertilizer. So can gasoline transports. So can butter knives.
But Fisk convinced his paymasters at The Independent to underwrite a trip to Sweden to get to the bottom of this story.
Hmm... the man makes his home in Beirut but suddenly he has a keen interest in exploring the provenance of some Volvo safety flares he saw in Syria...
Hey, if I lived in Beirut in these days of exploding car bombs and rival factions, I'd be looking for any excuse for a trip to Sweden too.
But that ain't journalism.
It's self-preservation.
Showing posts with label The Independent. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Independent. Show all posts
Monday, November 5, 2012
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Statesmanship can be hard work
That could be why the likes of Prime Minister Stephen Harper might prefer the company of the "Post-UN" crowd. How much more convivial to share the smug superiority of the like-minded while exchanging "humanitarian" awards.
To attend at the General Assembly on the other hand could entail hearing unpleasant truths. Just yesterday, for example, Syria's Foreign Minister accused certain of the Nations of Virtue of "supporting terrorism."
If one defines "supporting terrorism" as the out-fitting, organizing, funding, and leading of armed insurgents in a pre-meditated campaign to overthrow the government of a sovereign nation, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem is quite correct. The countries he referred to in his speech have acknowledged as much.
In today's The Independent Kim Sengupta writes at length about the dilema facing the terror facilitators as they try to pick and choose which of the terrorists they are spiriting into Syria can be relied upon to return the heavy weapons that await them in Turkish warehouses. It is one thing to claim that you are supporting "Syrian freedom-fighters."
It's quite another when those fighters aren't Syrian and would be, under other circumstances, more than happy to turn those weapons on their benefactors. Not every lesson of the Libyan adventure has been entirely lost on the Nations of Virtue.
It is beyond dispute that a great number of the foreigners the West has been empowering in Syria would in other circumstances be labelled "al Qaeda." It has also been apparent for some time that it's exactly those fighters who have been doing by far the lions share of the heavy lifting in the armed struggle against Assad.
Syrian National Council boss Radwan Ziadeh was of course quick to denounce al-Moallem as a liar. The SNC needs to preserve what few shreds of credibility it has, and rallying the West to the support of al-Qaeda terror attacks doesn't cut it. Therefore those who speak the truth are shouted down as liars, while the liars boycott the UN and spend their time showering one another with humanitarian prizes.
This would be a great time for true statesmen to stand up for truth at the United Nations. It would be a great opportunity for the Canadian delegation to prove that they are something other than docile poodles in the NATO/US/Israel axis.
Alas, that would take courage. That would be hard work. Better to close the Iranian embassy, delegate Canadian diplomatic functions to Italy and the UK, and generally disengage from the world.
To attend at the General Assembly on the other hand could entail hearing unpleasant truths. Just yesterday, for example, Syria's Foreign Minister accused certain of the Nations of Virtue of "supporting terrorism."
If one defines "supporting terrorism" as the out-fitting, organizing, funding, and leading of armed insurgents in a pre-meditated campaign to overthrow the government of a sovereign nation, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem is quite correct. The countries he referred to in his speech have acknowledged as much.
In today's The Independent Kim Sengupta writes at length about the dilema facing the terror facilitators as they try to pick and choose which of the terrorists they are spiriting into Syria can be relied upon to return the heavy weapons that await them in Turkish warehouses. It is one thing to claim that you are supporting "Syrian freedom-fighters."
It's quite another when those fighters aren't Syrian and would be, under other circumstances, more than happy to turn those weapons on their benefactors. Not every lesson of the Libyan adventure has been entirely lost on the Nations of Virtue.
It is beyond dispute that a great number of the foreigners the West has been empowering in Syria would in other circumstances be labelled "al Qaeda." It has also been apparent for some time that it's exactly those fighters who have been doing by far the lions share of the heavy lifting in the armed struggle against Assad.
Syrian National Council boss Radwan Ziadeh was of course quick to denounce al-Moallem as a liar. The SNC needs to preserve what few shreds of credibility it has, and rallying the West to the support of al-Qaeda terror attacks doesn't cut it. Therefore those who speak the truth are shouted down as liars, while the liars boycott the UN and spend their time showering one another with humanitarian prizes.
This would be a great time for true statesmen to stand up for truth at the United Nations. It would be a great opportunity for the Canadian delegation to prove that they are something other than docile poodles in the NATO/US/Israel axis.
Alas, that would take courage. That would be hard work. Better to close the Iranian embassy, delegate Canadian diplomatic functions to Italy and the UK, and generally disengage from the world.
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