Short Items

While I prepare my first post in response to the reasonable recent question, “Am I putting too much emphasis on Zionist influence and not enough on other causes of American policies toward other nations?”, I’m going to post these bits and pieces.
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Hard to Find News

I found it difficult to find conspicuous coverage of what was probably the most important (to Americans) news of yesterday – the deaths of some 20 U.S. military personnel in Iraq. It was even more difficult to dig up news about the cause of the helicopter crash in which 15 died – a cause which U.S. authorities said was “under investigation”. But “The Boston Globe”
(which I’ve noticed is surfacing with some of the best coverage of news) stated:

“An Iraqi witness who spoke on condition of anonymity said the helicopter was felled by ground fire.

"’I'm not sure if it was a rocket or other projectile,’ said the man, a farmer. ‘After the helicopter was fired upon, it was obvious that it was losing control. Then it crashed with an explosion and the smoke started.’ The farmer said he and others dared not approach the wreckage to look for survivors, fearing that US forces arriving on the scene might fire at them.”
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Slanted Words

AP Jan. 18
“SEOUL (AP) — A high-level Iranian delegation arrived in North Korea on Thursday, the North's media reported, as the two hard-line regimes face international pressure to give up their nuclear weapons programs.”

How does a government qualify as a “hard-line” regime”?

I would think that the G.W. Bush government would win top honors in the category, “Hard-Line Regime”.
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From ”USAToday”, January 18:

“Opening of Vast Holocaust Archive Could Take Years”

Falsification in the headline: It is not a “holocaust” archive. It is the archive of the International Tracing Service (ITS) an arm of the International Committee of the Red Cross, in the German town of Bad Arolsen. Its frequent false publicity as a “Holocaust archive” will backfire when its contents are revealed – presuming (dream on) that the whole truth will be told.
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Hypocrisy Writ Large

From the New York Times:

“Rice Speaks Softly in Egypt, Avoiding Democracy Push"

“CAIRO, Jan. 15 — In the days before Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with officials in Egypt, the news media here were filled with stories detailing charges of corruption, cronyism, torture and political repression.

“Ms. Rice, who once lectured Egyptians on the need to respect the rule of law, did not address those domestic concerns. Instead, with Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit by her side, she talked about her appreciation for Egypt’s support in the region.

“It was clear that the United States — facing chaos in Iraq, rising Iranian influence and the destabilizing Israeli-Palestinian conflict — had decided that stability, not democracy, was its priority, Egyptian political commentators, political aides and human rights advocates said.”

”Egypt’s government has piled up a long list of repressive actions, including ordering the police to block people from voting in parliamentary elections; delaying local elections by two years; imprisoning an opposition leader, Ayman Nour, on charges widely seen as politically motivated; battling with judges who have demanded oversight of elections; and imprisoning Talaat el-Sadat, a member of Parliament and the nephew of President Anwar el-Sadat, for a year in a military jail after he criticized the armed forces on television.”

All right, students. Can anyone tell the class why the Bush maladministration, in spite of its loudly trumpeted quest for “democracy” in the Middle East, cozies up to Egypt as “our friend” and a “moderate” Arab nation?