Eric Margolis – USA and Canada

Linked with GLASNOST IN LONDON – WAR FEVER IN WASHINGTON.

Eric S. Margolis is an award-winning, internationally syndicated columnist. His articles appear in the New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, Times of London, the Gulf Times, the Khaleej Times and Dawn. He is a regular columnist with the Quebecor Media Company and a contributor to The Huffington Post. He appears as an expert on foreign affairs on CNN, BBC, France 2, France 24, Fox News, CTV and CBC … A native New Yorker, he maintains residences in Paris, New York and Banff but spends much of his time traveling the globe on assignment. (full text).

… He is a contributing editor to the Toronto Sun chain of newspapers, writing mainly about the Middle East, South Asia and Islam, and appears frequently on Canadian television broadcasts … // … His political views: Margolis identifies his politics as « Eisenhower Republican ». Though his domestic political persuasion is moderately conservative (he is a staunch anti-communist and a supporter of capitalism), Margolis’ views on the Middle East are sharply at odds with the neoconservatives. Margolis is best known from his coverage of Palestine and Kashmir. Margolis’ mother, Nexhmie Zaimi, was also a journalist who spent a long time in the Middle East documenting the plight of the Palestinians during the 1950s[1]. Her influence, plus Margolis’s role as a foreign correspondent in the Mideast and travelling with the mujahideen during the Soviet-Afghan War, invested Margolis with a strong interest in the Muslim World … (full text).

His personal website.

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Eric Margolis – USA and Canada

watch this videos:

He says:

  • … People have to realize that violence emanated from the Muslim world due to a combination of factors. It has a lot to do with a history of Western colonialism. America inherited a business model created by the British when they ruled India. One of the most galvanizing moments came when the Soviets were driven out of Afghanistan and the Muslims found itself with a victory. It’s the first they had in hundreds of years. That victory also allowed Muslim radicals to formulate jihadism as a way to drive Western influence out of the area … and: As for Muslim influence in Pakistan, Islamic people never commanded more than 12 per cent of national votes. It’s real backwards fundamentally. In north Pakistan, bullets are whizzing, and tribes think unbelievers are those who come from another part of Pakistan. The problem is the Pakistani military keeps bombing Pashtun areas, inflaming opinion against the central government and thus creating more extremism. The only way out is for the U.S. to broker a political settlement. And neither presidential candidate is impressing me right now. I’m disappointed with Obama for taking such a shallow view of the area with little understanding of the problem. McCain was using Cold War rhetoric when he was debating with Obama about Russian and Georgia. That’s worrisome. Washington doesn’t understand the ethnic politics of region … (full interview text, Oct 4, 2008).

… Margolis also warned that Comparisons with the Warsaw ghetto uprising will inevitably be made … (in Canadian journalists castigated by media watchdog, Jan 26, 2009).

… His viewpoints always supply a real historical background to the typical trouble spots in the world — the Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia. This perspective usually points out the past European colonialist involvement in these areas — the maps of their former colonies were drawn to suit European needs. All of this is a moot point since, for the past 50 or more years, as the European colonialism has diminished, Americans have increasingly taken their place. The continued U.S. embargo of Cuba is a prime example of America’s colonial attitude in Latin America — which the U.S. seems to consider as its own property. America comes off looking nothing better than a bully of the first magnitude. Margolis is right, with President Obama in office, who was elected on the basic premise of change, this would be a perfect time to end this ridiculous struggle. (full text, 21st January 2009).

Find him and his publications on flickr.com; on Lew Rockwell.com; on Big eye.com; on his website: political commentaries, on writer’s notebook, on media/video, on publications; on Google Video-search; on inauthor Google-search; on Google Book-search; on Google Scholar-search; on Google Group-search; on Google Blog-search.

… You’ve seen Margolis on THE AGENDA WITH STEVE PAIKIN. It might seem odd to have this renowned journalist who’s faced war, bullets and the threat of kidnapping sitting down with a coffee to talk movies. More evidence that movies strike a chord with just about everyone. Eric’s film of discussion is MISSING starring Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek … (tvo.org).

He writes:

  • … Meanwhile, social unrest was simmering across Europe as unemployment surges and government handouts fall sharply. Britain, whose capitol had become a haven for every sort of financial piracy, is in particularly bad shape. A recent visit to Canary Wharf, London’s new financial center, showed a dreary spectacle of mass firings of financial workers and entire floors in banks gone dark. European and Asian governments are now increasingly concerned that President Barack Obama’s multi-trillion dollar economic rescue package may prove far worse than the sickness it is meant to cure. Politicians everywhere are panicking as voters demand they do something to keep their debt-driven economies running in high gear. This is impossible. The debt bubble has burst. But politicians are afraid to tell voters the hard truth: the party is over. Retrench, stop borrowing, cut spending, start saving, live smaller … // … Obama should cut government spending and half the Pentagon’s bloated budget (50% of world military spending when there are no enemy regular military forces left to fight). President Roosevelt launched mass social welfare schemes in the 1930’s similar to ones that Obama now proposes. Roosevelt’s New Deal may have staved off popular revolution, but it did not revive the economy. It took goading Japan into war to end the Depression. Let’s hope President Obama does not intend to follow this example in Afghanistan … (full text, February 09, 2009);
  • … With delicious irony, Putin took special aim at the United States for allowing Wall Street fraudsters to build a financial house of cards that wrecked capitalism. Meanwhile, social unrest simmers across Europe as unemployment surges and government handouts fall sharply. European and Asian governments are deeply concerned that President Barack Obama’s multi-trillion dollar economic rescue package may prove far worse than the sickness it is meant to cure. Politicians everywhere are panicking as voters demand they do something to keep their debt-driven economies running in high gear. This is impossible. The debt bubble has burst. But politicians are afraid to tell voters the hard truth: The party is over. Retrench, stop borrowing, cut spending, start saving, live smaller. The U.S. economy, 25% of the world’s total, had become fatally addicted to the steroid of debt. Consider this: America’s total national debt (liabilities) amounted to 3.5 times its gross domestic product (assets). The U.S. treasury kept running on loans from China and Japan. Now Obama and his team of Democratic Keynesians hope to spend the U.S. out of deep recession by dishing out $2.2 trillion in aid and stimulus packages … (full text, 8th February 2009).
  • … After invading Afghanistan, the Soviets used to brand the Afghan mujahidin resisting them, `Islamic terrorists.’  The US hailed them as `freedom fighters.’ Ironically, the US and its Afghan Communist allies now Taliban-led forces fighting western occupation, `Islamic terrorists.’ Iraqis and Afghans who oppose US and/or NATO occupation should properly be called `the resistance,’ not `insurgents’ or `terrorists.’ The US invaded both nations and overthrew their recognized governments. One might as well have called the French resistance in World War II, `insurgents.’ I hope President Obama will heed Miliband’s good advice and end Bush/Cheney’s Orwellian lies.  Americans need the truth about their foreign wars. They need to know that al-Qaida was never more than a handful of anti-western extremists. It has yet to be proved that bin Laden was the author of 9/11. That these attacks on the US were likely a one-off event. That crimes like Guantanamo, torture, kidnappings and stomping small countries create more enemies of the West than Osama bin Laden ever dreamed of … (full text, January 26, 2009 );
  • In 1961 I went to Spain to visit my godfather, Count Ilyas Toptani, who had married the Duchess of Valencia. This fierce, regal woman, was a leader of the Carlists, Spain’s royalist party. They were in residence at one of the Countess’ castles, this one in Avila, surrounded by an entourage of priests, duenas, liveried servants and assorted flunkies. It was all wonderfully medieval. The duchess and fellow Carlists had attempted a coup against Spain’s dictator, Gen. Francisco Franco. They seized Madrid airport, and waited for Spain’s exiled king, Don Juan, to fly in from Portugal. But Don Juan got cold feet and returned to Lisbon, claiming bad weather. The Duchess grabbed the air controller’s microphone, according to Count Toptani, and furiously yelled at the king, `Your majesty, a king should die for his country, not a country for its king!’ Soon after, she was imprisoned … (full text, June 06, 2007);
  • Presidential State of the Union addresses often strike me as embarrassing spectacles of imperial pomp and crass jingoism unworthy of the great American republic… Watching senators and congressmen jump to their feet at every presidential cliche and applaud like clapping seals cheapens what should be a dignified event … The essence of America’s political system that has been a beacon to the world for two centuries is the remarkable system of checks and balances conceived by its founding fathers to prevent the emergence of an autocrat, despot, or monarch. It is precisely Congress’s duty to stop a president and vice-president who have lost touch with reality, violated the constitution, and are taking America over a cliff (on ihr.org, February 2007);
  • … Eric Margolis writes in his June 8 Toronto Star column that he has been contacted by individuals and groups of angry retired intelligence officers. “According to intelligence sources outraged by the corruption and perversion of the national intelligence function for political reasons, the main source of lies and distortions about Iraq was Iraqi exiles, many on the payroll of the U.S. government. “These anti-Saddam exiles fed the Pentagon and New York Times a stream of phony claims about Iraqi WMD. Though scorned by the CIA, they were closely linked to American neo-conservatives in key positions within the Bush administration. “When the CIA couldn’t find hard evidence of Iraqi WMD a new intelligence unit, the Office of Special Plans, was created … (full text, not dated, but old).

links:

AM640TorontoRadio;

Media Backspin, weblog of honnest reporting;

a Washington life.com-page;

the Morgan Report (on free masonry watch);

Categories on wikipedia: Canadian newspaper journalists; Newspapers published in Canada; Canadian non-fiction writers; American military personnel of the Vietnam War; Canadian libertarians.