Glenn Greenwald's Blog, page 46

Cowardly Firing of Australian State-Funded TV Journalist Highlights the West’s Real Religion

A TV sports commentator in Australia, Scott McIntyre, was summarily fired on Sunday by his public broadcasting employer, Special Broadcasting Services (SBS), due to a series of tweets he posted about the violence committed historically by the Australian military. McIntyre published his tweets on “Anzac Day,” a national holiday — similarto Memorial Day in the U.S. — which the Australian government hails as “one of Australia’s most important national occasions. It marks the anniversary of the f...

No One Compared Charlie Hebdo to the Nazis, and It’s a Logical Sin To Say So

Person A says: “Everyone shorterthan 5’8″ is an admirable person who deserves political support. Hillary Clinton is 5’7″. Therefore, we should support her.”

Person B says: “Adolf Hitler was 5’6″, and he’s not an admirable person, and doesn’t deserve support, thus disproving your argument.”

Has Person B equated, or even compared, Hillary Clinton and Adolf Hitler? Has Person B suggested that those two figures have anything in common beyond their height?Everyone with the mostminimal understandin...

Read the Letters and Comments of PEN Writers Protesting the Charlie Hebdo Award

Below are the key documents giving rise to the controversy that has erupted inside PEN America over the award the group is bestowing on Charlie Hebdo, which you can read about here. They includethe key correspondence between the writer Deborah Eisenberg (pictured, above left) andPEN’s Executive Director Suzanne Nossel (above, right), which sparked the controversy, as well as the full comment given to the Interceptbythe writer Teju Cole, who has withdrawn as a table head.The Intercept has also...

Writers Withdraw From PEN Gala to Protest Award to Charlie Hebdo

As I was close to finishing my own story, The New York Timespublished a long article last night about the rather intense and fascinating controversy that has eruptedinside PEN America, thegroup long devoted to defending writers’freedom of expression from attacks by governments. In essence, numerous prominent writers who were to serve as “table heads,” or who are longtime PEN members, have withdrawn from the group’s annualawardsgala and otherwise expressed anger over PEN’sdecision to bestowits...

The Key War on Terror Propaganda Tool: Only Western Victims Are Acknowledged

In all the years I’ve been writing about Obama’sdrone killings,yesterday featuredby far the most widespread critical discussion in U.S. establishment journalism circles. This long-suppressed but crucial fact about drones was actually trumpeted asthe lead headlineon the front page ofThe New York Times yesterday:

The reason for the unusually intense, largely critical coverage of drone killings yesterday isobvious: the victims of this strike were Western and non-Muslim, and therefore were seen...

What Explains the Power of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s Middle Finger?

The penalty phase of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s trial began Tuesdayin a federal courtroom in Boston. Already convicted of 30 felony counts relating to the 2013 bombing of the Boston Marathon, an attack thatkilled 3 people and maimeddozens more, the 21-year-old will now have thejury effectively decide whether he should spend the rest of his life in a maximum-security prison without the possibility of parole, or be executed. Federal prosecutors arevehemently arguing for the death penalty.

Paying even...

Jeb Bush Praises Obama’s Expansion of NSA Surveillance

One of the most glaring myths propagated by Washington — especially the two parties’ media loyalists — is that bipartisanship is basically impossible, that the two parties agree on so little, that they are constantly at each other’s throats over everything. As is so often the case for Washington partisan propaganda, the reality is exactly the opposite: from trade deals to Wall Street bailouts to a massive National Security and Penal State, the two parties are in full agreement on the bulk of...

NBC’s Conduct in Engel Kidnapping Story is More Troubling than the Brian Williams Scandal

(updated below – Update II)

Throughout 2012,numerous American factions were pushing for U.S. intervention in Syria to bring down the regime of Bashar Assad, who throughout the War on Terror had helped the U.S. in all sorts of ways, including torturing people for them.But by then,Assad was viewed mostly as an ally of Iran, and deposing him would weakenTehran, the overarching regional strategy of the U.S. and its allies. The prevailing narrative wasthus created that those fighting against Assad...

Religious Fanaticism is a Huge Factor in Americans’ Support for Israel

A new poll from Bloomberg Politics contains afinding that, if you really think about it, isquiteremarkable:

Almost half of all Americans want to support Israeleven if its interests diverge from the interests of their own country. Only a minorityof Americans (47 percent) say that their country should pursue their own interests over supporting Israel’s when the two choices collide. It’s the ultimate violation of George Washington’s 1796 Farewell Address warningthat “nothing is more essential th...

Iranians Are Much Talked About on Sunday Morning TV, But Never Heard From

Sunday morning news television is where Washington sets its media agenda for the week and, more importantly, definesits narrow range of conventional, acceptable viewpoints. It’s where the Serious People go to spout their orthodoxies and, through theillusion of “tough questioning,” disseminate DC-approved bipartisan narratives. Other than theNew York Times front page, Sunday morning TV was the favoritetool of choice for Bush officials and neocon media stars to propagandize the public about Ira...