Bukko in Australia,

I have been reading Fisk’s articles and reports for close to 30 years. At first I was greatly impressed as he seemed a lone voice in the wilderness.

But as you know one over time, things slightly change. Fisk is not a bad man or a bad journalist in my estimation. However what ticks me off is that his inborn political and cultural biases show here and there and thats what ticks me off.

As a student of history he clearly understands what colonial, neo colonial and imeprialist / zionist domination of the ME have done to the people of the area and by extension to us. However he has a fixed reference point for the solution to the core social / political / economical problems of the ME and he is unable to understand or accept the homegrown natural phenomenons of various ME societies. For that is a great shortcoming of an accomplished western journalist.

He is well advised to continue on with an objective reporting of events without his pseudo intellectual analysis of political events that he seems to be having difficulty understanding or appreciating.

France accused over Rwanda genocide
Tue, 05 Aug 2008 19:59:29 GMT

French soldiers on patrol passing by ethnic Hutu troops in 1994 French troops were directly involved in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide in which 800,000 people were massacred, Rwanda’s justice ministry says.

It named 33 senior French military and political figures including late president Francois Mitterrand (president from 1981 to 1995), two former prime ministers Dominique de Villepin and Edouard Balladur of direct involvement in the massacres from April to July 1994 and said they should be prosecuted.

Hutu militias slaughtered minority Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus.

The report threatened to further mar relations between the two countries, which severed diplomatic ties in November 2006.

France has refused to comment on the report and had previously denied any involvement. France has acknowledged making “mistakes” in Rwanda but denies any responsibility for the killing spree.

The French foreign ministry told the BBC it would only respond to the fresh allegations after reading the report, which was released on Tuesday afternoon.

Rwandan Justice Minister Tharcisse Karugarama, presenting the 500-page report in Kigali, said: “French forces directly assassinated Tutsis and Hutus accused of hiding Tutsis… French forces committed several rapes on Tutsi women.”

Karugarama said his country had no immediate plans to issue indictments, but the report “could be the basis for potential charges against individuals or the state.”

He added that it took more than two years for a special commission assigned with probing France’s involvement in the genocide.

The report further said that France was aware of the preparations for the genocide, contributed to planning the massacres and actively took part in the killing.

Elsewhere the statement said that considering the seriousness of the alleged crimes, the Rwandan government has urged the relevant authorities to bring the accused French politicians and military officials to justice

Cyrena,

I was refering to the recent list of candidates. Actually Ron Paul is pretty decent:

1- He is clearly anti war and doesnt mince his words either.

2- He does not support the imperial project.

3- He does not advocate a military invasion, attack, or any acts of aggression on Iran or anyone else.

4- He supports trade, cultural exchanges, and other peaceful and humane norms of interactions between nations and states that would actually promote a lot of badly needed global harmony.

5- He clearly opposes interference in the internal afairs of other countries.

Eventhough he is in the republican party and i am no fan of the party and its leadership that doesnt mean we should not be able to put aside our feelings and see things the way they are.

When I look at his positions right through these last 8 years and I find consistency, clarity, courage, and integrity I find it hard to just brush him aside and denegrade his credentials just because he is a republican.

To a large extent I feel the same way about Kucinic.

Junna and Robbie,

Right on.

Hopefully, Iran and Syria together can neutralize the genocide by Israel. That and that alone should be any peace loving person’s goal. Until Israel is gone completely and the people are put back on a boat and set adrift, the world, and especially the children, will never be safe.  The insanity of countries who support Israel, to their own destruction, demonstrates why we must get out of the ME and leave those people alone.

President Ahmadinejad of Iran is not a crackpot. The article is good but I wish people would quit putting him down. He has worked hard to keep Iran from being invaded and he has the intelligence to keep ahead of those intent on ruining his country as well as keeping his economy going in spite of all the sanctions.He has been strong and determined and won’t back down while surrounded by warships and ememies on every side. He has spoken out adamantly on issues no one else will touch. Where else do we see this kind of courage today?

Fadel Abdallah,

The problem is not that we dont have an MD runing for president. We actually do have one: Ron Paul. See what they did to him.

The system is incapable of reform. Pure and simple.

Cyrena,

Im with you on that.

As usual Mr. Fisk proved his credentials as an imperialist mouthpiece. He clearly spouses the imperial game plan and was hoping that the recent visit by Assad to Iran would deliver the goods to the zionists and imperialists. I guess we are all allowed to be stupid here and there.

As far as Syrian relationships with Iran are concerned I cant see why the Syrians would abandon Iran for the sake of israel or US or because Sarkozy asked him to do so. Its pure lunacy. Their allaince has proven durable, strategic, well managed, and their enemies have been beaten time and again.

Mr. Fisk I suggest you go get drunk in Beirut and daydream of the colonial rule of Lebanon. Its over old man.

I’m curious if Mr. Fisk believes Syria will be hit, along with Iran, by Israel or the U.S.
I’m sure the success of Mr. Assad is problematic for the USIsraeli axis.

President Bashar al-Assad of Syria is playing a fairly important and constructive role in the affairs of Middle East. President Assad’s latest trip to Paris and the welcome he received from President Nicolas Sarkozy - seals his place in history. Syria’s President, Bashar al-Assad reception in Paris lead to new openings across the Middle East. Nicolas Sarkozy’s invitation to Assad was controversial in France. The US remains suspicious, citing Iran, President Bashar al-Assad, still shunned by the US as a backer of terrorists and a close ally of Iran, had been boycotted in France and cold-shouldered by the EU since the 2005 assassination of Rafiq al-Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister, in a bombing that was widely blamed on Syria. “This is for me a historic visit: an opening up to France and to Europe,” President Assad told Le Figaro. Nicolas Sarkozy’s shift on Syria reflects the constructive role Assad is deemed to have played in reaching May’s Doha agreement ending the impasse in Lebanon between his ally Hizbullah and the western-backed Beirut government, as well as the re-launch of peace talks with Israel. Syria and Israel negotiated for several years in the 1990s but failed to reached agreement over the Golan Heights, occupied since the 1967 war. New talks, mediated by Turkey, began after Israel bombed what the US has said was a nuclear reactor built by North Korea in Syria. Israel hopes to weaken Syria’s strategic alliance with Iran and its support for Hizbullah and the Palestinian Islamists of Hamas. Assad has insisted he will not abandon these relationships. “If you want stability and peace in the region we must have good relations with Iran,” he told Le Monde Diplomatique. The US remains suspicious, citing Iran, Hizbullah, Hamas and the movement of fighters from Syria into Iraq. Damascus may find rapprochement with Europe takes time. “They must accept that we are part of the solution not just in Lebanon but also in Iraq and Palestine,”  President Assad told Le Figaro, a very influential newspaper of France.