Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Westi's Wild Ride -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Peter Dierks who wrote (11713)	6/17/2005 3:32:41 AM
From: sandintoes	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12762

Reuters: "US Double Standard" I thought I’d seen media bias at its very worst. Little did I know that the Reuters wire service was preparing to release—in “Top News,” not in their opinion section—a piece about Condoleezza Rice’s upcoming trip to the Middle East that’s so blatantly slanted it sets a new benchmark. Starting with the headline: US double standard to hamper Rice Mideast drive. (Hat tip: realwest.) It’s advocacy journalism reaching its devolved, ugly, self-loathing rock bottom. In the course of this nakedly anti-American article, with no background at all on his supposed “experts,” Reuters writer Saul Hudson quotes radical leftist University of San Francisco professor Stephen Zunes and radical Arabist Columbia University professor Rashid Khalidi. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration’s different standards for its friends and foes could hurt the credibility of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s push for democracy in the Middle East on a trip that starts on Saturday. President Bush pledged this year to make democracy and human rights a central plank in relations worldwide, and particularly in the Middle East where Washington has traditionally tolerated allies’ repression and abuses. Critics and supporters of the campaign say it has so far delivered little, because Washington has tempered its criticism of nations such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia for fear of losing support on policies ranging from the war on terrorism to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to oil supply. To much of the Arab world, the Bush administration appears hypocritical as it hammers longtime foe Iran over its flawed presidential election set for Friday but refuses to call Egyptian election reform the sham most political analysts say it is. “U.S. contradictions on democracy aren’t new, but rarely has an administration been so self-righteous in its rhetoric — and that only exposes for the world its double standards,” said Stephen Zunes, a politics professor at the University of San Francisco. Analysts also say the U.S. diplomatic campaign is hamstrung because: Washington has lost credibility due to U.S. abuse of detainees; it is reluctant to back real reform that could bring anti-American forces to power; and it has exaggerated the role of elections in establishing democracy to the neglect of other key elements such as the rule of law. The elections the administration has touted this year have produced problems. Euphoria at Iraq’s vote has given way to disappointment as parties bicker along ethnic lines over a constitution. Palestinian and Lebanese elections have strengthened Hamas and Hizbollah, anti-Israel groups the United States calls terrorists. Rice, who will visit Saudi Arabia and Egypt for the first time as secretary of state, will also face widespread U.S. unpopularity due to the invasion of Iraq and traditional American favoring of Israel in the conflict with Palestinians. GAP BETWEEN RHETORIC AND PRACTICE Rashid Khalidi, a Middle East expert at Columbia University, complained the U.S. campaign was a “public relations exercise with little substance.” When Reuters needs expert opinion on US policy, they turn to Stephen Zunes and Rashid Khalidi. Are they also the unnamed “analysts” cited by Reuters? Just ... wow. littlegreenfootballs.com