How the Anti-Semites of Hezbollah Have Sent Anne Frank Back Into Hiding

Robert Fisk / Truthdig Dec 5, 2009 "This young woman who upsets people " was the headline in Lebanon's L'Orient Littáraire yesterday The teenager was Anne Frank, who died of typhoid at Bergen-Belsen in 1945 after being betrayed to the Nazi authorities, along with her family, in her Amsterdam "safe house"The Jewish Holocaust is not a subject which Arabs have learned to live with. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

India May Hold the Whip Hand in Dubai Power Game

Robert Fisk / Truthdig Nov 28, 2009 There are two basic truths about Dubai which, predictably, have not found their way into market speculation or newspaper analysis The first is that Dubai may soon find itself a satellite not of its Abu Dhabi capital but of India. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

America Performs Its Familiar Role of Propping Up a Dictator

Robert Fisk / Truthdig Nov 7, 2009 Could there be a more accurate description of the Barack Obama-Gordon Brown message of congratulations to the fraudulently elected Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan? Now we have the venal, corrupt, sectarian Karzai in power after a poll far more ambitiously rigged than the Iranian version, and – yup, we love him dearly.Could there be a more accurate description of the Barack Obama-Gordon Brown message of congratulations to the fraudulently elected Hamid Karzai? Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

End of an Era for Lebanon’s Free Press

Robert Fisk / Truthdig Oct 24, 2009 For decades, Lebanese journalism has been applauded as the freest, most outspoken and most literate in the heavily censored Arab world Alas, no more The Lebanese media are being hit – like the rest of the world – by the Internet and falling advertising revenues But this is Lebanon, where politics is always involved Is something rotten in the state of the Lebanese press? For decades, Lebanese journalism has been applauded as the freest, most outspoken and most literate in the heavily censored Arab world . Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

Israel Should Pay Attention to a Man of Justice

Robert Fisk / Truthdig Oct 1, 2009 Israeli investigations of the Gaza war, its government officials announced, were "a thousand times" fairer than the Goldstone investigation—a preposterous claim, given Israel's constant inability to conduct fair inquiries of its own—and that his mission "gave legitimacy to the Hamas terrorist organization."I met Judge Richard Goldstone at The Hague at the height of the Bosnian war, a small, dapper man whose belief in the righteousness of justice shone through his every word. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

‘Lebanon’s Madoff’ Goes Bankrupt After Bouncing Check to Hezbollah

Robert Fisk / Truthdig Sep 8, 2009 Everyone trusted Salah Ezzedine. A billionaire Shiite Muslim businessman and financier from southern Lebanon, he organized pilgrimages to Mecca, ran a major Beirut publishing house and a children's television station, held major investments in east European oil and iron conglomerates and -- much more to the point -- was a close personal friend of very senior leaders of Hezbollah. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Lessons in Justice in the Middle East

Robert Fisk / Truthdig Jul 27, 2009 Let us now praise famous men and their fathers that begat them. The famous man -- he should be much more famous -- is the Israeli historian Avi Shlaim whose wonderful "reappraisals, revisions and refutations" is coming out in September under the simple title: "Israel and Palestine."Writers like T.S. Eliot, Edward Said and Israeli historian Avi Shlaim know how to string words together, according to this author. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

Civilians Pay the Price of War From Above

Robert Fisk / Truthdig May 11, 2009 Of course there will be an inquiry. And in the meantime, we shall be told that all the dead Afghan civilians were being used as "human shields" by the Taliban and we shall say that we "deeply regret" innocent lives that were lost. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

British Government Gives Iraq Story a Final Spin

Robert Fisk / Truthdig May 3, 2009 "We acknowledge," the letter says, "that violence has claimed the lives of many thousands of Iraqi civilians over the last five years, either through terrorism or sectarian violence. Any loss of innocent lives is tragic and the Government is committed to ensuring that civilian casualties are avoided. Insurgents and terrorists are not, I regret to say, so scrupulous." Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

If Only the World Had Listened

Robert Fisk / Truthdig Mar 29, 2009 Tom Hurndall was one of a bunch of "human shields" who turned up in Baghdad just before the Anglo-American invasion in 2003, the kind of folk we professional reporters make fun of. Tree huggers, that kind of thing. Now I wish I had met him because Hurndall's journals show a remarkable man of remarkable principle. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

Human Rights Defenders Have It Tough in the Mideast

Robert Fisk / Truthdig Mar 22, 2009 Dr Salim el-Hoss is 80 now but remains a staunch defender of human rights and democracy, an opponent of the death penalty and an outspoken supporter of Palestinians. When I recommended to him a long article on American torture, he read it right through to the end and then put the paper down with a slap on his knee. "Terrible, terrible," he muttered. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

Consider the Source

Robert Fisk / Truthdig Mar 1, 2009 Now a lot of folk will go along with the line that the Holy Father is so stupid -- so utterly out of touch with Planet Earth -- that he has no idea how disastrously his actions are received. Hmmm. Well, I wonder. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )