*TED TURNER’S SUICIDE*

*LOYA JIRGA BLUES*

*BYE TO POLITICALLY INCORRECT*

Months ago, I sat in the auditorium of the New School in New York reporting on a Harpers Magazine sponsored symposium on the Middle East. In attendance were the Israeli consul and Noam Chomsky and other experts of all views. One of them predicted that the bloody scenario of violence and counter-violence would only end when both sides exhausted themselves, and realized there is no way to “win.” Leaving aside what winning means in this context, that ending does not seem to be in sight. The grueling tit- for-tat cycle of murder and retaliation grinds on with each incident played out a chessboard, where the rooks are people’s lives.

CYCLES OF PAIN

The last suicide bombing is just another sign that peace cannot be imposed and that there is no “military solution.” Of course it was horrific. Of course it needs to be condemned, and yet in a sick way there is a deadly dance going on with incidents like these increasingly predictable and expected — timed in this case to try to torpedo President Bush’s latest “proposal” for his version of a Palestinian state. Unfortunately each incident, bloody pictures and all, tends to get reported without much reference to the larger political context. Each is then used as a pretext for new counter-attacks that invariably lead to fresh assaults. The latest tactic from Israel is to intensify the occupation, which feeds the fury of the militants who see suicide bombings as one way out. (NY Times: “Israel announced today that it would begin seizing territoryheld by the Palestinian Authority, in response to aPalestinian suicide bombing.”)

A 75-mile Berlin-type Wall between Israel and the West Bank is no more likely to bring security than all of the arms that Israel deploys. In fact, all of the escalations in the name of security invariably produce more insecurity. That is obvious. But what is the alternative. Where are the third parties who might intervene? Where is the UN? The Europeans? The voices for peace? For the most part, they are silent, drowned out in a media war mired in rhetoric and finger pointing and sloganizing all around. In this battle, every side projects itself as the victim in a blame game without end. And the media eats it up, feeding the fury of the faithful on all sides.

TED’S “SUICIDAL” STATEMENTS?

Ted Turner, the legendary mouth from the South, may be committing political suicide on the US political scene with some comments reported in the Guardian. He has been lambasted today in Mr. Murdoch’s New York Post by Eric Fettmann, with, no doubt, more to come. “TED Turner sure picked an interesting day to accuse Israel of practicing terrorism against Palestinians. He said: …”Aren’t the Israelis and Palestinians both terrorizing each other?” he asked. “The Palestinians are fighting with human suicide bombers; that’s all they have. The Israelis, they’ve got one of the most powerful military machines in the world. The Palestinians have nothing.

“So who are the terrorists?” he demanded. “I would make a case that both sides are involved in terrorism.”

“Little wonder that a top minister in Yasser Arafat’s government, Ghassan Kattib, hailed Turner’s “more consistent approach” to news reporting. Or that a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, on the other hand, simply labeled Turner’s statement “stupid” - a far more accurate sound bite. “Stupid?” (I know Ted Turner. You can call him many things but “stupid” is usually not one of them.)

Point, counterpoint, check, checkmate! Anyone who suggests that the suicide bombings may reflect deeper causes is being baited as an apologist for them, Tony Blair’s wife Cherie is the latest high profile person to be so castigated. Pro-Israel activists meanwhile are lining up behind ultra-right winger Alan Keyes, From an email that came my way: “I just sent an email demanding that NBC keep Alan Keyes on air. He is a true friend to Israel. ”

TIKKUN: VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS

Tikkun Magazine and other Jewish critics of Sharon are trying to find a middle ground. This is their latest on the latest phase of the crisis: “We at Tikkun unequivocally condemn the attack on and murder of innocent Israeli civilians riding a bus from the occupied territory of Gilo into Jerusalem. There is no excuse for this violence. It is morally outrageous, It is humanly disgusting. It is politically the perfect gift to the most fascistic elements in Jewish life, and has already provided an excuse for the Ariel Sharon/Shimon Peres coalition government to grab back more of the West Bank and increase the misery of the Palestinian people.

” Of course, these are acts that are aimed at destroying the possibility of peace and reconciliation, and at undermining the efforts of those in the U.S. who wish to support the creation of a Palestinian state and end the occupation and provide reparations for the Palestinian people. ……

“Yet the Palestinian people also deserve some serious condemnation for not producing an alternative leadership toArafat–a leadership willing to stand up both to Israel and to other Palestinians in the name of non-violence [Earlier in the week TIKKUN editor Miichael Lerner circulated a piece by Palestinian author Edward Said from an Egyptian newspaper calling for Palestinians to dump Arafat and democratize their movements. His approach is quite different from the calls for “reform” coming from the US and Israel.]

“Of course, we don’t have to be reminded that the central stumbling block for Palestinian non-violence is the massive violence of the Occupation itself, the despair that it has engendered, not to mention the frequent response by the IDF of violence to non-violent Palestinian demonstrations. We who support Israel and want to preserve a Jewish state believe that the Israeli people will never be safe until the Occupation ends….”

SAID’s ANTI-ARAFAT SERMON

As for Said, here’s part of his take from Al Ahram: “Arafat is simply interested in saving himself. He has had almost ten years of freedom to run a petty kingdom and has succeeded essentially in bringing opprobrium and scorn on himself and most of his team; the Authority became a byword for brutality, autocracy and unimaginable corruption. Why anyone for a moment believes that at this stage he is capable of anything different, or that his new streamlined cabinet (dominated by the same old faces of defeat and incompetence) is going to produce actual reform, defies reason.

He is the leader of a long suffering people, whom in the past year he has exposed to unacceptable pain and hardship, all of it based on a combination of his absence of a strategic plan and his unforgivable reliance on the tender mercies of Israel and the US via Oslo. …

“He has announced that elections will take place in early 2003, but his real concentration is to reorganise the security services. I have long pointed out in these columns that Arafat’s security apparatus was always designed principally to serve him and Israel, since the Oslo accords were based on his having made a deal with Israel’s military occupation. Israel cared only about its security, for which it held Arafat responsible (a position, by the way, he willingly accepted as early as 1992.”

Final item on this conflict with no end in sight: The Committee To Protect Journalists has released a dossier of destruction at Palestinian TV and radio stations, allegedly caused by Israeli forces. The report is called ‘Picking up the Pieces’, and details a series of incidents during the recent West Bank incursion. See CPJ.org for more.

AFGHANISTAN: LOYA JIRGA DEVOLVES

There was a rocket attack in Kabul while the Loya Jirga is meeting to decide the country’s political future. It apparently missed its target, which may have been the US embassy. The leading suspect is a fugitive warlord who the US tried but failed to assassinate. Meanwhile in the meeting led by newly consecreated interim leader Hamid Karzai, there is mounting dissatisfaction with a political process being imposed from on high, and some say, orchestrated in the wings by the US. ,

Writing last Saturday in the Washington Post, Omar Zakhilwal offered insider’s view of the loya jirga, charging there is an intimidation campaign being waged by warlords allied to the interim government (with implicit US and UN backing) to impose apolitical solution under the guise of a democratic process.

“The fundamental question we face is this: Will the new government be dominated by the same warlords and factional politics responsible for two decades of violence and impunity, or can we break with this legacy and begin to establish a system of law and professional governance?… I asked a taxi driver what he thought of the loya jirga. The man shrugged his shoulders and pointed out the window at Kabul’s ruined landscape: ‘Thesame people who destroyed these buildings are sitting in the front row of the loya jirga.’”

ANOTHER VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS

An activist who brought medicines to Iraq in defiance of a US led embargo has been fined by the US government. His associates explain: On May 17th, 2002, the US Treasury office in charge of sanctions sent a letter to Bert Sacks, a retired engineer from Seattle WA, imposing a $10,000 fine on him for his admission that he brought medicines to Iraq in 1997 without a US license. Working with Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility, Western Washington Fellowship of Reconciliation and several local faith- based and community organizations, Bert has organized, led or assisted with successive delegations to Iraq, and helped Voices in the Wilderness campaign actions seeking to end economic sanctions against Iraq.”

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONTOR: ANTHER COUP IN VENEZUELA POSSIBLE

“Phil Gunson writes from Caracus:

“The problems for Venezuela’s embattled President HugoChávez just keep getting worse.

“Chastened by a coup in April in which he was ousted from power for 48 hours, Mr. Chávez vowed to improve relations with groups that had initiated his overthrow, including the military, business leaders, and much of the public.

“But Chávez’s opponents are as determined as ever to see him removed from office.

“On Saturday, tens of thousands took to the streets of Caracas and continued calls for his resignation….

“Now Chávez is facing another potential showdown. A second coup, possibly much bloodier than the first, is likely between now and July 5, according to experts here and military officers.” Stay tuned for more.

SAY GOOD BYE TO POLITICLLY INCORRECT

Maverick columnist Ariana Huffington pays tribute to the soon to be departed TV program Politically Incorrect, on which she frequently appeared. The program ran into a buzz saw of criticism after an incident in the aftermath of 9/11 led critics to unfairly label it as supporting terrorism. Its cancellation by ABC is one more blow against diversity of opinion on the airwaves. Politically incorrect as I am, I was not a big fan of the show — perhaps because I could never get on — but it will be missed by many.

Writes Huffington, a Mediachannel. Advisor:

“For nine years, PI has been the best place on television to find edgy, political satire. But, because it’s a comedy show, people often forget the fact that it also offered a rare forum for certain “orphan issues” — important topics overlooked by the mainstream media.

“PI delved into such knotty matters as the ongoing madness of the war on drugs and the destructive role of money in politics not just once in a blue moon, but night in and night out. I regularly marveled at the ardor and wonkish knowledge Bill brought to these issues. In fact, he gave two rousing speeches on these topics at the 2000 Shadow Conventions that rivaled the experts in detail and far exceeded them in entertainment value. It is this blend of skills that makes him a first class satirist in the tradition of Jonathan Swift, wielding his savage wit in the service of passionate conviction.

UK VOICES TO US MEDIA COMPANIES: STAY HOME

From the UK, Variety reports: Lord David Putnam, the director and onetime Hollywood studio boss is up in arms opposing US ownership of British TV networks:

“The U.K. government’s proposal to allow American media groups to own British TV webs is running into growing political opposition, and may fail to become law.”

ATTENTION WAR CORRESPONDENTS: WANT TO CONFER IN CUBA?

Karen Wald writes: “For the third consecutive year Cuba’s journalism school and journalists’ union will sponsor a conference of and by war correspondents, in Havana in October. Do you know of progressive writers who have covered or are covering any of the world’s war zones who would want to participate in and contribute to such a conference? If you send me their email or other addresses I will pass them on so the journalism school and upec can send them an invitation…. (Write to me dissector@mediachannel.org and I will pass your notes on.)

OTHER MEDIA NEWS OF NOTE

EJC reports: “An international court has ruled a journalist should give evidence at a war crimes tribunal. Former Washington Post reporter Jonathan Randal had challenged a subpoena to testify at a tribunal in The Hague. He was called to give evidence in the case of two Bosnian Serbs accused of genocide. Randal, who interviewed one of the accused in 1993, argued his court appearance would undermine the safety of journalists in combat zones and other dangerous places.

Europe Media Reports: :”MTV Networks Europe is set to launch a second music television channel in Poland called MTV Classic, reports Advanced-television.com. The new channel aims to attracting viewers between 25-40 years old and is to be broadcast 24 hours a day. MTV Classic plans to cover the “greatest hits” of the past 40 years, and is to embrace international and domestic Polish artists along with programming predominantly in Polish. The launch of the channel follows the successful launch of MTV Polska.”

IN THE EMAIL:MORE SOURCES, PLEASE

Larry Houghteling writes: ” In today’s blog you cite Nick Peters of “The New Scotsman” asserting that US authorities know who pulled the anthrax terror scam but won’t arrest thelad.

“Two days ago you cited “The Scotsman” on documentary film by a Scot, Jamie Dolan, that alleges a major American war crime (or even crimes–it’s unclear) in Afghanistan.

“Do you know if this is the same medium (sing. Of media) and is it (or are they) reliable? It seems to me that especially on the war crimes story you just CAN’T throw it out without any attempt at a followup.

“Of course we all wondered when the prisoners, already captured, put up such a stiff fight at Mazar-i-sharaf (or whatever that place was called) what the REAL story was. But this is the sort of thing we all need to be terribly careful about.”

Agree, Larry, we need to be careful. The Scotsman is a good paper. I had another source on that film, and as readers know, I have written extensively about events in the prison uprising. See news Dissector Archive on left nav on front page of Mediachannel.

I am back on the keyboard. My dad had some surgery in Boston yesterday and, happily, is doing well. I am less sure about myself as I race back into the grind. I speak tomorrow night on a panel on media issues sponsored by the Nour Foundation at the French Institute here in New York tomorrow, and will be in Calgary next Monday. In the meantime I look forward to receiving more of your comments and suggestions. Write dissector@mediachannel.org