Superman is giving up his American citizenship (Whatever that means for a fictional guy born on the planet Krypton. Talk about troubles in getting a birth certificate).
Don't worry; the iconic character hasn't really given up on truth, justice and the American way. The real story here is that America has given up on those old-time American values; particularly, that pledge to "pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty."
Comic books have always been overtly political and this Superman storyline is only a more publicized example. Captain America, the Sub-Mariner and the Human Torch all went toe-to-toe with Hitler's goons in the war years. The Hulk smashed communist villains for most of his early run. Iron Man's origin has been retconned in recent years to include Al Queda terrorists. The medium poses larger-than-life contests between the forces of good and evil, infused with contemporary political themes that even children...More >>
As events unfold in the Middle East, a key indicator of the prospects for post-authoritarian regimes will be how new governments opt to address the status of women going forward. The rights afforded to women in a society are intrinsically reliable indicators of both economic prosperity and of social cohesion and sustainable development.
Eminent Middle East historian Bernard Lewis recalled in a recent interview with The Jerusalem Post (February 25) the insightful words of Turkish writer Namik Kemal from around 1880: “We fell behind the West because of the way we treat our women. By the way we treat our women we deprive ourselves of the talents and services of half the population. And we submit the early education of the other half to ignorant and downtrodden mothers.” (hat tip to Terry Glavin for the JP article).
Lewis points out that at the time, the Muslim world had already been asking for over a century, “What went wrong? Why did we fall behind the West?” Yet still today, a quick scan of...More >>
Facing mass protests across all of Egypt, the 82-year old embattled dictator President Hosni Mubarak decided to make Omar Suleiman Vice-President of Egypt. The new Vice-President is known for his diplomatic work with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and he was the former chief of Egyptian Intelligence. Incidentally, Vice-President Suleiman just happens to be 74 years old.
Perhaps the biggest weakness of Egypt’s ruling regime is that the highest echelons are filled with men above the age of 60. Considering two thirds of Egypt’s population is under the age of 40, Egypt’s rulers have quite the age gap to overcome. Egypt isn’t the only dictatorship facing an old age problem.
Tunisia’s ousted dictator, President Ben Ali, was 74 years old. In Saudi Arabia, King Abdulliah is 88 years old and his successor, Crown Prince Sultan, is 82. There is the Supreme Ayatollah Khameeni of Iran, 71. Then there is Libya’s leader and “Guide of the Revolution” Al-Gaddafi, 68. And finally there is Syria’s Bathist Prime Minister al-Otari, who can be considered young at 66...More >>
The tempo changes almost hourly, the numbers by the minute. Each radio broadcast, each news flash, reflects higher numbers of the dead and the wounded, (now in the hundreds) as rioters continue to protest their lot in Suez, Alexandria and Cairo. Police brutality is mounting.
What started in Tunisia has spread across the Arab world, if not in deed, then in thought. Arab and Islamic leaders from Tehran to Istanbul to Rabat are nervously watching the situation. For Mr. Mubarak in Egypt, it’s too late. The Egyptian Government has heeded the calls of the rioters there, and has resigned. Mubarak himself is still clinging to power; who knows for how long? Perhaps just until the next flight out.
My friends Al & Robert from San Francisco had a great 10 days in Israel, and flew to Egypt on Wednesday for what was planned to be a two-week extension of their vacation, with a Nile cruise and more. Today I had a tense call from them as they waited in line at Cairo airport, desperate to board a flight to London....More >>
The Propagandist is excited to announce that the hard-hitting Z Word blog is going to continue its fight under the banner of our magazine.
As many of our regular readers will know, Z Word was created by the American Jewish Committee as an online journal dedicated to exploring the moral, philosophical, political and historical issues arising from the conflicts in the Middle East, particularly - although not exclusively - as they relate to the issues of Zionism, anti-Zionism and antisemitism.
These issues have also been taken up by The Propagandist from the very beginning in our “Zionist Propaganda” section. We introduced this category noting:
Why focus on stories about one particular ethnic group and country (Jews and Israel) in this section? You might ask the same question of countless millions of propagandists from the other side who single out the “Zionists” while ignoring everything else – in particular, the fascists living right next door to the Middle East’s only democracy.
Henceforth, our “Zionist Propaganda” section changes to Z Word. This section will continue to...More >>
Superman is giving up his American citizenship (Whatever that means for a fictional guy born on the planet Krypton. Talk about troubles in getting a birth certificate).
As events unfold in the Middle East, a key indicator of the prospects for post-authoritarian regimes will be how new governments opt to address the status of women going forward. The rights afforded to women in a society are intrinsically reliable indicators of both economic prosperity and of social cohesion and sustainable development.
Facing mass protests across all of Egypt, the 82-year old embattled dictator President Hosni Mubarak decided to make Omar Suleiman Vice-President of Egypt. The new Vice-President is known for his diplomatic work with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and he was the former chief of Egyptian Intelligence. Incidentally, Vice-President Suleiman just happens to be 74 years old.
The tempo changes almost hourly, the numbers by the minute. Each radio broadcast, each news flash, reflects higher numbers of the dead and the wounded, (now in the hundreds) as rioters continue to protest their lot in Suez, Alexandria and Cairo. Police brutality is mounting.
