Monthly Archives : January 2011

Clueless in Washington


The Egyptian multitudes on the streets of Cairo are a stunning sight. With their banners calling for freedom and an end to the reign of President Hosni Mubarak the story these images tell is a simple one as old as time.   On the one hand we have the young, dispossessed and weak protesters. And on the other we have…

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Interview on the Michael Graham show


This afternoon I was interviewed in the Michael Graham show in Boston about the tumult in Egypt and the US response to events there.    Here is the link to the podcast.   After you’ve listened to my comments, I suggest you watch the clip below from CNN’s reporter Nick Robertson in Cairo.     

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The pragmatic fantasy


Today the Egyptian regime faces its gravest threat since Anwar Sadat’s assassination 30 years ago. As protesters take to the street for the third day in a row demanding the overthrow of 82-year old President Hosni Mubarak, it is worth considering the possible alternatives to his regime.   On Thursday afternoon, Egyptian presidential hopeful Mohammed ElBaradei, the former head of…

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The Tribal Update features Erdogan’s Honor and Abu Mazen’s Fabulous Concessions


This week on the Tribal Update, the television-on-internet satire show produced every week by Latma, the Hebrew-language media satire website I founded and edit, we feature Turkish Prime Minister Recip Erdogan in our studios explaining the nuances of Turkish hospitality and honor.   We also have a discussion of Fatah leader Abu Mazen’s fabulous concessions to Israel and the world.  …

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The aim of blood libels


For Israelis, the American Left’s assault on Sarah Palin and the conservative movement in the wake of Jared Loughner’s murderous attack in Tucson, Arizona was disturbingly familiar.   Just as the American leftist media and political leadership immediately sought to blame Palin, the Tea Party and conservative media personalities for Loughner’s actions, so in 1995, their Israeli counterparts accused the…

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Israel as the banana republic


Two documents reported on this week shed a troubling light on the US government’s attitude toward Israel. The first is a 27-page FBI search warrant affidavit from 2004 targeting then senior AIPAC lobbyist Steve Rosen, published Wednesday in The Washington Times.    The second is WikiLeaks leaked secret Sate Department cable from October 2008 signed by then secretary of state…

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Tribal Update meets the Arab street and sings of Labor’s blues


This week on the Tribal Update, the television-on-internet satire show produced every week by Latma, the Hebrew-language media satire website I founded and edit, we have a content rich extravaganza for our viewers.   We bring you to Labor Party headquarters for a muscial discourse on the challenges facing the shrunken party and we bring you an exclusive interview with…

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Tribal Update with German subtitles


Thanks to our friend and volunteer translator Robert Rickler, I am happy to announce that we will now begin posting Latma’s Tribal Updates with German subtitles on a regular basis. We will post the German versions a few days after the Hebrew and English ones.   Here’s last week’s show. Enjoy!    

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Tunisia’s lessons for Washington


If at the height of the anti-government protests in Tunisia last week, Israel and the Palestinians had signed a final peace deal, would the protesters have packed up their placards and gone home?    Of course not.   So what does it tell us the nature of US Middle East policy that at the height of the anti-regime protests in…

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