Situated in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, the small village of Awamiya has fallen prey to one of the most well-equipped military giants in the Gulf. This 400-year-old Muslim Shi’a district, with a population of only 30,000, has been under siege by Saudi forces since May and the government has turned the historic village into a war zone.
MINNEAPOLIS — Though it’s been nearly six years, the subject of the Syrian conflict remains as contentious as ever. While those who characterize themselves as pro-regime change have monopolized the wider conversation on Syria, even the most tame opposition against foreign intervention, or the CIA-backed rebels—who now come in varying flavors of extremism—continues to be taboo.
MINNEAPOLIS — Yemen has been devastated by asymmetrical aerial bombardment by a Saudi-led coalition, and the war on Yemen, along with a Saudi-imposed blockade, is having disastrous impacts on food and water security.
MINNEAPOLIS — The “fog of war” erupts in the confusion caused by the chaos of war. And in the media, it’s an intentional phenomenon that makes it difficult to separate fact from fiction.
While the battles over war narratives evolve, they all have a common goal: to distort reality on the ground.
Such is the case on the crisis in Syria, the new cold war with Russia, and even the buildup for President Bush’s support for Kuwait’s “humanitarian” war against Iraq.
MINNEAPOLIS — Adult recreational use of marijuana is now legal in eight states and the District of Columbia, and 29 states have embraced some form of medical marijuana legalization.
There’s even a pot plant cultivation competition at the annual Oregon State Fair.
MINNEAPOLIS — We hear it every day: “Why aren’t Muslims speaking up against terrorism?” “Where are the Muslims denouncing ISIS?”
The people asking these questions tend to ignore a major fact: Muslims are the primary victims of terrorism driven by Wahhabism, an extremist, politically motivated perversion of Islam held by groups like ISIS.
MINNEAPOLIS — Censorship, a tool often wielded by despots, is also a pastime of democratic governments and their corporate media lapdogs.
Whether journalists are operating as part of a free press or as the puppets of a repressive government, the goal is the same: control public perceptions by carefully bending information to suit a particular agenda.
And while our corporate-owned media may have thought they’d mastered the art of propaganda, a recent Gallup poll suggests otherwise.
MINNEAPOLIS — On November 24, the European Union — that self-professed haven of free speech — passed a nonbinding resolution aimed at combating Russian state-owned media.
Accusing Russia of undermining “democratic values” and seeking to “divide Europe” via its media networks, the document specifically calls out RT, despite the fact that less than 0.1% of European TV viewers even watch the network.
