Mideast Media Sampler 06/16/2011

From DG:

1) Oh goodie, that should help them target their missiles

PC Magazine (h/t Elder of Ziyon) has a fascinating article about an American law that was meant to protect Israel.

If Google Earth maps the trees, the oceans, and the annals of history, why is a country, Israel, so hard to make out? An article from Mother Jones explores how U.S. policy makers have pixelated Google Earth and why that might change in 2013.

Israel's low-resolution e-presence can be traced back to the 1997 National Defense Authorization Act. Tucked inside the 2,870-page bill is a two-bullet point section titled "SEC. 1064. PROHIBITION ON COLLECTION AND RELEASE OF DETAILED SATELLITE IMAGERY RELATING TO ISRAEL" (page 2653)

The limit of this law is as long as there's no other commercially available imagery. Turkey is expected to start providing high resolution imagery in the next year or two.

And ...
Iran launches second homemade satellite into earth orbit, will develop high resolution maps

The report said the locally produced satellite, called Rasad, or observation, was launched successfully by a Safir missile on Wednesday. There was no independent confirmation of the launch or of the satellite achieving orbit.

It the second satellite Iran has put into orbit. The first, named Omid, was launched in 2009.
The Iranian TV report said the new satellite is designed to produce high resolution maps.

2) Jeremiah Wright's awardee

Nation of Islam’s Farrakhan defends Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi, blasts NATO ‘coalition of demons’

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan on Wednesday lambasted the U.N., the U.S., and the “coalition of demons” that he said makes up NATO, accusing them of trying to assassinate Moammar Gadhafi and promote regime change in Libya. Farrakhan said the United Nations and its 15-member Security Council, who he referred to as “the terror council,” have no legitimate right to exist for passing the resolution that has allowed NATO to take military action in Libya.

Does he feel the same way when the Security Council condemns Israel?

3) Nice letters

The Washington Post publishes a letter to the editor calling on Prince Turki for his chutzpah. An excerpt:

I suggest Mr. al-Faisal focus on his native Saudi Arabia before demanding rights for others. I am unaware of the existence of any form of self-determination in the Saudi kingdom.

It was written by Warren H. Millberg. Unfortunately it wasn't the only letter. There were four letters, only two of which were critical. The other good letter was by Jack Cooper:

Turki al-Faisal promised Israel full diplomatic recognition from the Arab world and all the Muslim states, an end to hostilities, and normal relations with all these states if Israel would withdraw from all occupied lands including East Jerusalem and reach a mutually agreed solution to the Palestinian refugees. Has Mr. Faisal consulted Hamas and Hezbollah on this promise? 

4) The sounds of silence

The Washington Post rips the Obama administration for its lackluster response to the brutal repression of the freedom protests in Syria. I believe this is the third such critical editorial in the Post.

Nearly a month later, Mr. Assad has done none of those things; instead, he has escalated his war against his own people. Over the weekend an elite Army division staged a full-scale assault on the town of Jisr al-Shoughour, forcing most of its population of 50,000 to flee. Nearby Turkey reports that more than 8,500 refugees have crossed its border. Now Syrian tanks are surrounding the town of Maarat al-Nouman, population 100,000, as well as two other towns near the border with Iraq. Human rights groups say the number killed has risen above 1,300.
It seems fair to ask what Mr. Obama has done in response, given his pledge to employ all of the “tools” at the administration’s disposal. The answer can be summed up in one word: nothing. 

The editorial also cites a criticism by the State Department's former spokesperson:

But the Obama administration has not abandoned the notion that the dictator could still steer Syria to democracy — as ludicrous as that sounds. The administration’s former State Department spokesman, P.J. Crowley, tweeted this week that it’s “odd” that Obama thinks Rep. Anthony Weiner should resignbut not Assad. Why, he wondered, does the president send the message that “sending lewd tweets violates public service, but not killing people?”

Finally, the editorial makes an observation. (Emphasis mine)

But Mr. Assad’s violence is already causing serious problems for Turkey and for Israel, which has twice faced incursions on its territory from Syria by Palestinian refugees organized by the regime.

Note, there's a lack of revolutionary romanticism in that formulation. This is a very strong editorial. It's especially strong when considering one of the arguments the Post's editors made nearly three years ago in endorsing Barack Obama.

But Mr. Obama, as anyone who reads his books can tell, also has a sophisticated understanding of the world and America's place in it. He, too, is committed to maintaining U.S. leadership and sticking up for democratic values, as his recent defense of tiny Georgia makes clear.

I don't believe that Barack Obama ever had a "sophisticated understanding" of the world. But now one institution that endorsed him seems to be having second thoughts.

5) There aren't enough government jobs to go around

The other day, Ethan Bronner reported U.N. Charts High Jobless Rate in Gaza, Despite Israel’s Easing of Blockade

A report issued Tuesday shows unemployment in Gaza standing at 45.2 percent for the second half of 2010, one of the highest rates in the world, even though Israel eased its blockade of the Palestinian coastal strip in that period. 

What is the point of this report? As I recall there were efforts to provide the Palestinians with economic opportunities when Israel withdrew from Gaza, but Hamas was set on attacking Israel, not building a better life for its people. But here's the part that's fundamentally dishonest.

Christopher Gunness, a spokesman for the United Nations agency, said, “The hope was for a growth in the private sector, but exports are at a standstill.”  

“Hamas has been able to increase public employment by at least one-fifth,” Mr. Gunness said. “The policy of weakening Hamas seems to have failed, but the policy has been highly successful at punishing the people of Gaza.”

Gunness knocks down a straw man here. The blockade was primarily directed at stopping the flow of arms to Gaza. Weakening Hamas was a secondary effect. But guess what?

Among the Palestinians themselves, Hamas is less popular than Fatah, its more secular rival.

It would seem that Gunness didn't even pick on an accurate straw man!


6) The mandate

The New York Times features a glowing review of Recep Tayyip Erdogan's stewardship of Turkey in Mandate for a new Turkish Era.

“Until now, relations were predicated very much on the status quo,” he said, pointing to Turkey’s previous foreign policy of open borders, trade and high-level exchanges such as joint cabinet meetings with neighboring countries.  

“Human rights and democracy remained in the background” under that approach, Mr. Idiz said. Now that is changing, he said, and Turkey is casting itself as a “champion of human rights and democracy” in the region. 

Some recent if little-noted events offer some insights into how Ankara’s new tack may work in practice. In the past days, Turkish officials and businessmen met with their Egyptian counterparts in Cairo to share the Turkish recipe for economic success, Mr. Kalin said. 

Last week, youths from countries around the region visited Turkey after an invitation by the governing party to observe the election campaign and learn how to run a democratic election. 

Given the suspicious numbers that last lesson seems a bit dubious.

The reporter didn't even bother to point out that Erdogan's actions have belied his words. Is throwing reporters into jail a good example of "human rights and democracy?" Is using state power to intimidate political opponents? The coverage of Erdogan's and the AKP's victory is presented as an unadulterated positive development for the country, the region and the world.

Only at the end of the article does the reporter bring up a possible problem: Turkey's belated criticism of Syria.

Overall this isn't reporting, it's public relations.

Technorati Tag: Middle East.