tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-359330079121990828.post2819740252221080506..comments2009-05-13T19:46:48.496+03:00Comments on RubinReports: The Unbearable Lightness of Wishful Thinking: Ahmadinejad and the "Two-State Solution"Rubin Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06629522573582236819noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-359330079121990828.post-49650604364678652362009-04-27T12:59:00.000+03:002009-04-27T12:59:00.000+03:00Remember a few years ago when CNN's Jordan Eason c...Remember a few years ago when CNN's Jordan Eason came out and publicly proclaimed ("admitted" is not the right word, since he apparently expected widespread approval rather than condemnation) that CNN regularly distorted its coverage from Iraq in order to get occasional interviews with Saddam Hussein? Stepahnopolous was unwilling to challenge Ahmadinejad throughout the interview, apparently so grateful to be granted time for an "exclusive" with the great man. The Holocaust exchange was especially outrageous, with Stephanopolous largely ceding that this is some sort of political disagreement rather than crackpot racism. None of this was actual journalism but then, how the heck did Stephanopolous migrate from being a political operative to a commentator to a "journalist" in the first place? This used to be the stuff of movie satire.Scotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07538106911465857954noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-359330079121990828.post-45305803072579006912009-04-27T02:15:00.000+03:002009-04-27T02:15:00.000+03:00Every American TV interview with Ahmadinejad is th...Every American TV interview with Ahmadinejad is the same. Same questions, same answers. You would think it would be pretty easy to put some pressure on him.<br /><br />When he talks about Palestinians having nothing to do with the Holocaust, why couldn't an interviewer point out to him that Haj Amin al-Husayni spent WW2 in Germany encouraging the final solution and forming a Bosnian Muslim SS division? Why couldn't it be mentioned to him that support for the Nazis was widespread in the Muslim world, including in Persia, where the Shah changed the country's name to Iran, which means "Aryan" in Farsi? Why shouldn't it be pointed out that even Anwar Sadat spent the WW2 years in a British prison for being a Nazi sympathizer while Iraq rushed to form a fascistic government modeled on Nazi Germany?<br /><br />Furthermore, why not remind everyone, including Ahmadinejad, that the Jews had a strong presence in Palestine prior to the Holocaust, having already built up the institutions of future statehood, and that in the Ottoman census in the 1850s, there were more Jews in Jerusalem than Muslims, even before the modern Zionists began returning to Palestine? Perhaps make him squirm a bit by talking about 3000 years of Jewish history in Iran and suggest that Ahmadinejad might have Jewish ancestry?<br /><br />My point is that we already know what Ahmadinejad thinks about Israel and the Holocaust. Interviewers should challenge his assumptions. Instead the audience is left with the impression that if not for the Holocaust, there wouldn't be any Jews in Israel, and that the Jews are foreign to the Middle East, imposed on innocent, peace-loving Arabs and Muslims who had no say in world events.<br /><br />And when he blames the US causing the rift with Iran 29 years ago, could just one interviewer, instead of quickly moving to the "change" in attitude with a new administration (or in earlier interviews ask about what he would like to see both sides do), tell the Iranian president that it was his side that took US citizens hostage? If he is going to come on our airwaves and lie, could someone press him on his role in the hostage situation, including torturing Americans? Could someone ask him how could a man, who says he wants peace and security for everyone, send millions of money and tons of weapons to Hezbollah? Why doesn't he let the Lebanese people have the right to determine their own affairs? And why does Hezbollah carry flags with pictures of mushroom clouds? So many questions not asked.<br /><br />So many questions not asked. Instead the US media continues to give this thug a platform for his propaganda.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com