One assignment I'm working to bring to fruition is a trip to Zambia and Angola to witness this year's voluntary repatriation of refugees displaced by civil war.

I'm hoping it'll make a half hour radio documentary for the BBC World Service.

One of the main reasons I'm planning on going is because MAG are helping to organise the logistics.

The UN has just published an article on the landmine problem in Angola -- it explains that "Angola's decades-long civil war is over, but the presence of landmines and other unexploded ordnance (UXO) remain a major obstacle to recovery."

Hoder has a new photoblog, entitled "Vagrantly."

Among his early entries is a photo taken at CBC's Toronto studios when we both took part in a discussion on blogging for the BBC World Service.

Winning the battle but losing the war:
WaPo: Dissension Grows In Senior Ranks On War Strategy Dissension Grows In Senior Ranks On War Strategy (Registration Required)

This, coupled with the predicted release of more shocking material from Abu Ghraib -- not to mention the growing media condemnation of his handling of the prison abuse scandal -- surely mean that Donald Rumsefld is now on borrowed time.

Deepening trouble and strife at progressive talk radio network Air America -- chairman Evan Cohen and his deputy Rex Sorensen have resigned and there are staff payroll problems.

It's the second executive shake-up in as many weeks, following the departure of Chief Executive Mark Walsh and programming head Dave Logan.

Will Air America become the XFL of radio?

Chicago Tribune: Chairman, partner leave Air America (Registration Required)

The US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld may still enjoy the support of President Bush despite the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal but The Economist insists he should go.

"Responsibility for what has occurred needs to be taken ? and to be seen to be taken ? at the highest level," it says in a leader column. "It is plain what that means....Rumsfeld should resign. And if he won't resign, Mr Bush should fire him."

The Economist wanted this war -- it should accept the consequences of it.

In a piece of stunningly unoriginal journalism Sky News are going big today with a story about sex tourism in Cambodia.

The headline from the special "Sky News Investigation"....er.....there are paedophile sex tourists in South East Asia. Astonishing. (Regular readers will know that ever since I visited Cambodia last year I've had a bee in my bonnet about this one.)

Kaveh's name is among those to be added to the Freedom Forum Journalists Memorial in Arlington, Virginia.

Reopening this posting, the New Jersey Star-Ledger asks whether news helicopters are more trouble than they're worth.

The Star-Ledger believes, correctly, that on many stories the choppers are more about showbiz than they are about genuine newsgathering.

Yet more on the Abu Ghraib/Stanford Prison Experiment similarities:
NY Times: Simulated Prison in '71 Showed a Fine Line Between `Normal' and `Monster'

...but Vikram Dodd of the Guardian says the American soldiers in Abu Ghraib were simply using well-established CIA interrogation methods.

Read the CIA manuals concerned for yourself here and here.

Both make fascinating, if at times terrifying, reading.

President Bush has told al-Arabiya that the US will "fully investigate" the alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners by military personnel and "justice will be served."

What, like the "full investigations" and subsequent handing down of justice following the deaths of Tariq Ayyub, Taras Protsyuk, José Couso, Mazen Dana, Ali Al-Khatib and Ali Abdel Aziz?

Don't hold your breath.

METANEWS



It's news imitating life imitating news at its most self-referential.

A helicopter owned by New York TV station NewsChannel 4 dramatically spins out of control and crashes onto a rooftop while filming a shooting.

The crash is captured on tape by another news crew (great pictures) -- and so becomes the lead story on NewsChannel 4.

Later, the removal of the helicopter wreckage becomes the follow up story -- filmed by a cameraman on board...er....a NewsChannel 4 chopper.

Keep this up and rolling news networks won't have to cover any other news at all. They can just report on crashes involving their own newsgathering vehicles and the deaths of their own staff. Journalists will then be able to interview themselves for eyewitness accounts of what happened in a never-ending loop.

BBC News Online picks up on the similarities between the Iraq prison abuse photos and the Stanford Prison Experiment -- only six days after this posting.

Around 50 retired American diplomats have followed the example of their British counterparts and written to President Bush to complain about America's policy towards the Middle East.

No doubt the US press corps will be scanning the names closely, looking for any similarities to those uncovered by the Sunday Telegraph, which reported on the weekend that several of the key signatories are paid by pro-Arab organisations.

Nothing wrong with that, of course -- but it should have been made clear in the letter.

To be filed in the "stating the bloody obvious" folder, the The Committee to Protect Journalists awards Iraq the unenviable accolade of the World’s Worst Place to Be a Journalist.

The CPJ awards panel obviously haven't visited Television Centre recently.

Meanwhile, Reporters Sans Frontières says the the number of journalists killed in the line of duty rose to its highest level in nearly a decade last year.

The New York Times reports on Media Matters, a new "Web-based, not-for-profit progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media."

Looks like one to watch.

Sympathies to the prosthesis-less scuffler from one amputee to another:
NZ Herald: Hastings man has artificial arm pulled off in fight

What, exactly, were they expecting?
AP: Editor-in-chief of U.S.-funded Iraqi newspaper quits, complaining of American control

"Almost a quarter of households in the US will be prevented tonight from seeing an ABC TV network news programme that is to broadcast a list of American servicemen and women killed in action in Iraq.

"Eight affiliate stations have refused to take the programme, which is due to go out tonight in America."

Media Guardian: US TV blackout hits litany of war dead (Registration required)

Reports that the 800 Military Police Brigade is changing its motto to nos cruciatus nostrum captus cannot be confirmed at this time.

CBS News: Abuse Of Iraqi POWs By GIs Probed
BBC News: Iraqi abuse photos spark shock

In his defence, one of the suspended soldiers, Staff Sergeant Chip Frederick, says "We had no support, no training whatsoever. And I kept asking my chain of command for certain things... like rules and regulations...It just wasn't happening."

Even without guidance from above, you don't have to be General Ricardo Sanchez to realise that ordering detainees to masturbate publicly and attaching wires to a hooded prisoner probably falls outside standard military procedures.

Remember the Stanford Prison Experiment?

Discuss

FACT ME TILL I FART



Joy of joys -- ten years after it was first shown on TV, Chris Morris's news satire The Day Today has finally been released on DVD.

My copy arrived yesterday and I spent much of yesterday evening weeping with laughter.

What makes it so howlingly funny is not just the quality of the script and the performances but the fact that the spoof news programme is so close in style and content to so many of the "real" broadcast news currently on television.

THE WAR ON TOPIARY



The security service MI5 has published its terrorist threat assessment and safety advice for the first time.

The details, on MI5's website, were previously given only to a few organisations.

Take a look at the briefing from Britain's top spooks and it's easy to see why this intelligence has been labelled top secret and kept highly classified.

It advises the public to take on Al Qaeda by ensuring "good basic housekeeping in and around your buildings...keep garden areas free from dense shrubbery."

So, by neatly trimming your garden hedge into the shape of a giraffe you are helping to defeat global terrorism.

Which would make Alan Titchmarsh the front runner to replace Tom Ridge as Homeland Security supremo.

"New technology has made our job much more difficult. Now anyone can operate in a war zone, many of them with no training whatsoever, and they shouldn't be doing it...

"...The immediacy resulting from the new technology means we do not have the planning time to check medical facilities or put in place basic contingency plans. Reporters are being spurred on to get in there faster and faster and that makes our job harder." -- Chris Cobb-Smith, BBC Safety Adviser

Media Guardian: Rolling news 'threatens safety of journalists' (Registration required)

Fellow landmine victim and RBK amputee Chris Moon is planning to walk the 1284 miles between John O'Groats and Land's End for charity in June.

He plans to cover the equivalent of 2 marathons each day -- and aims to walk for 18 hours a day.

He's going to have one sore stump by the end of it.

The event is called One Walk.

The Limbless Association is asking amputees to show their support by walking a stretch of the route with Chris through London on 22nd June.

I'm hoping to be there.

I can definitely relate to this Doonesbury comic strip:

Thanks to the folks from Antiwar.com for the stats-boosting plug.

I've long been a fan of Hong Kong action hero Jackie Chan, but after reading about his current projects I like him even more.

Chan has become a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF and UNAIDS and has said he wants to highlight the worldwide landmine problem.

Not only that, he's also talking about making a movie in Cambodia,a country I reported from in November.

Jackie -- if you're looking for a one-legged co-star, my agent is waiting for your call.

A bulging in-box to clear and lots of catching up to do after the Cyprus trip.

First of all a big up to James Ker-Lindsay from the Nicosia-based think tank Civilitas Research. Frankly, what he doesn't know about Cyprus ain't worth knowing -- and most of what he does know ain't worth knowing either. He was a mine of information during my assignment and his website has lots of resources relating to South East Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean. I'm hoping to work with James on a long-term project about Greek Cypriot president, Tassos Papadopoulos...of which more if it comes off.

Also, if you find yourself in Nicosia I can heartily recommend the Syrian Arab Friendship Club, ironically just a stone's throw from the American Embassy. It serves some of the best meze I've ever tasted and after dinner you can sip a strong Syrian coffee while passing round the nargila.

Next, a couple of stories of interest -- a leading Italian TV reporter has resigned from Rai after criticising Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi over his media influence. Frankly, from the picture she looks so damned scary it's probably a blessing.

The Media Guardian (registration required) reports that two Danish newspaper journalists are facing a six-month jail sentence after they were formally charged with publishing classified government reports that questioned the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, while the US is once again laying to Al Jazeera over its Iraq coverage.

Finally, in cute kid corner, BNI regular Robert Opp e-mails over a pic of his adorable new arrival, Ana -- seen below with her big sister Rachel. All together now.......aaaaaahhhhhhhh!

Bill Horsley analyses the fallout from the Cyprus referendum and believes -- as I do -- that the response of the international community to the "yes" vote in Turkish cyprus represents a "positive landmark in the long history of the Cyprus dispute."

At Larnaca Airport. Back in London this evening.

In what’s becoming a recurring theme in my despatches from the field, the News Gods have once again unleashed their wrath on me. Either that or I’m just a crap field producer. Most probably the latter.

The Today programme, as UK readers will know, is the most prestigious and listened to programme on BBC radio. Every morning, millions of people from diplomats to dustmen tune in. The programme sets the news agenda for the day. It’s our flagship outlet -- and every correspondent wants to get on it as often as possible. Therefore when my proposal to do a report for Today on how millions of Euros of EU money will benefit the Turkish Cypriot north was accepted we (myself and Europe Correspondent Chris Morris) knew we had to do a decent job.

We crossed the Green Line into the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, hooked up with our local fixer, and set to work.

We wanted to talk to a Turkish Cypriot businessman and ask him to explain the problems he faced doing business in the TRNC – no direct flights to anywhere but Turkey, trade embargoes etc. Our fixer, Serkan, did the business and drove us to the offices of one of northern Cyprus’s most prosperous entrepreneurs.

We chatted to him, told him what we wanted to talk about, and I set up my equipment to record an interview.

I reached into my bag of recording kit and pulled out a minidisk machine and leads. I looked for my microphone. Then I looked again.

Then panic set in.

I’d crossed over from Greek Cyprus to Turkish Cyprus, negotiating checkpoints on either side of the Green Line….but I’d left my microphone in the Nicosia Hilton. No microphone = no Today programme package = professional humiliation.

To dash all the way back to the hotel, through the checkpoints twice, would have taken a couple of hours – and we just didn’t have the time.

We explained the predicament to our interviewee. He rummaged around in a cupboard and pulled out a microphone you’d attach to a computer. The microphone I normally use costs several hundred quid. It can pick up everything from a subsonic rumble to a high pitched squeak. He was offering me a piece of plastic crap worth about 50p. It was all we had, though, so I gave it a whirl. Not only did it work….it actually worked rather well.

Once we’d done the interview we nipped back to the government press centre to see if we could borrow a mic from one of the other international hacks working there.

I came across the microphone used to relay press conferences by senior Turkish Cypriot politicians. No one was looking. I grabbed it and stuffed it in my pocket.

I now had two microphones to choose from – the mickey mouse computer one and the stolen government one. Both were totally inadequate – but they were all I had. I pressed on.

Switching between the two we managed to record another handful of interviews. The quality wasn’t outstanding but it was passable. Before heading back across the Green Line I dropped the purloined microphone back at the government press office. No one seemed to have noticed it was missing.

With a bit of digital jiggery-pokery on the laptop I was able to turn the interviews into a half decent radio package. The News Gods had smiled on me again.

Here’s the finished product:
Audioblog: Today Programme Northern Cyprus Package (.wma) -- 533Kb download

When you listen to it, bear in mind that a piece for the BBC’s flagship radio news programme was put together with two of the shittiest microphones known to broadcasting. No one is more surprised than me.

No surprises, then, over the outcome of the Cyprus referendum. The only unexpected factor was the size of the “no” vote in Greek Cyprus. The overwhelming margin of the no vote – 3 to 1—means the chances of a second referendum or a new Annan plan seem slim for some time to come.

The international community believes Greek Cyprus has thrown away the best chance for a generation of finally solving the Cyprus Problem.

The UN negotiators here in Nicosia who drafted the Annan Plan are packing their bags and preparing to leave – they’ve tried for the past four and a half years to reunite the island but their efforts have failed. The mood when I visited the headquarters of the UN Force In Cyprus – or UNFICYP – was one of overwhelming disappointment, of high hopes ultimately unfulfilled.

I spent most of yesterday across the green line in the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. For 30 years this enclave has been a pariah state, shunned by the international community. Now the international community, and the EU in particular, wants to reward Turkish Cyprus for voting “yes” in the referendum.

At the moment you can only fly into Northern Cyprus via Turkey – the lone country to recognise the TRNC as a genuine state. Senior Turkish Cypriot politicians I’ve been talking to want to see direct flights to other countries within a week. I think they’re likely to be disappointed.

The international community has to tread a fine line -- assisting the TRNC without making it look like it’s recognising it as a legitimate country. Even so, the EU earmarked more than 200 million Euros for the reunification of Cyprus. With the island still divided, most of that money is likely to go to the north – the diplomatic equivalent of sticking two fingers up at the Greek Cypriot president, Tassos Papadopolous.

Turkish Cyprus is looking forward to more prosperous times ahead – trade restrictions with the rest of the world eased a little, an influx of EU money and a chance to attract some investment and tourism. It’s not suddenly going to be welcomed into the community of world nations – but it’s a start.

Meanwhile, Tassos Papadopolous can expect an icy reception when Greek Cyprus joins the EU on May 1st. He’s going to be about as welcome as a case of the clap around the top table of heads of state in the enlarged European Union – but he’s only got himself to blame.

An audioblog – compiled for the PM programme. It’s of a Greek Cypriot woman from the town of Morphou who was forced to leave her home after the Turkish invasion in 1974. It’s her memories of that times and gives a sense of her hope of returning there one day. After the referendum, the chance of that happening any time soon seems very unlikely.

Audioblog: Morphou -- Memories of 1974 (.wma) -- approx 600Kb download

Photo: Crossing the Green Line with Chris Morris
Photo: North-South Buffer Zone
Photo: Vote Yes Poster in Lefkosia

Apologies for the lack of updates since I arrived in Nicosia -- the demands of my "real" job have meant that I've been unable to blog as much as I'd hoped and the upload of the audio I've been gathering will have to wait.

Having spent the past couple of days talking to politicians, diplomats and ordinary voters it's clear that most people here regard the outcome of today's referendum as a foregone conclusion -- the Turkish Cypriot north of the island will vote in favour of Kofi Annan's reunification plan but the Greek Cypriot south will reject it. That will mean that the Greek Cypriot half of the island will join the EU on May 1st -- with a UN-patrolled buffer zone keeping it apart from the Turkish Cypriot north. The Ledra Palace checkpoint, which marks the frontier between the two sides of Nicosia, will become Cyprus's European border.

Many people I've spoken to from the "yes" camp have accused the Greek Cypriot government of deliberately misrepresenting Kofi Annan's plan in order to secure a "no" result....and of limiting media access to those in favour of reunification under the current plan. When I spoke to the Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister, George Iacovou, though, he strenuously denied the allegations.

The Greek Cypriot administration seems determined to ignore the overwhelming pressure from the international community to accept the Annan plan. Even though the UN Secretary General has insisted this is Cyprus's last chance for peace, the government here seems to think otherwise. It's insisting that six months from now it'll be able to restart negotiations and try to secure a better deal.

When I spoke to Kofi Annan's Special Adviser on Cyprus, Alvaro de Soto this morning, though, he made clear there is no "Plan B." He said that if Greek Cypriots reject the current plan the current chance for reunification will be lost for many years to come.

With the rejection of the Annan plan in the south of the island almost guaranteed, attention is already shifting to the percentage of people who'll vote "yes." Officials are saying privately that if the yes vote is around 35-40% the diplomatic push to reunite the island will continue.

To Nicosia in the morning ahead of Saturday's referendum on the reunification of Cyprus.

See you there.

Before I go, a quick word on a story that's going to be playing high in the bulletins tomorrow, the release from prison after 18 years of Israeli nuclear whistleblower, Mordechai Vanunu.

Some, like Shimon Peres and Israeli Justice Minister Tommy Lapid, call Vanunu a spy and a traitor to his homeland. Such views are understandable -- and will have been boosted by the Shin Bet interview released this week in a clumsy attempt to sway public opinion even further against him.

Vanunu may be about to be released from his prison cell but he certainly won't be a free man.

The restrictions placed on him by the Israeli authorities under the terms of his release punish him for offences he has not even committed and breach basic principles of due process.

Very, very many congratulations to loyal BNI reader Robert O on the birth of his second daughter Ana, a sister to Rachel.

Ana weighed in at a healthy 9lbs at noon yesterday.

USA Today reports on Iraqi bloggers.

Iraqi amputees make it into the funnies:

AP: Comic strip characters lose legs in Iraq war

The cartoons in question are here and here (thanks for the links, Bruce and Robert).

Blogs as a business? -- Chance would be a fine thing.

The Washington Post also investigates.

Spare some change?

American forces in Iraq are sending mixed messages to journalists.

First they criticise the pro-Arab Al Jazeera, accusing the channel of "simply lying" in its coverage.

But then they shoot dead employees of the pro-American Al Iraqiya network.

Most confusing.

Hamas has -- understandably -- refused to name the successor to Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi "for security reasons" but sources tell me it's Mahmoud Zahar.

Zahar has already survived one Israeli attempt on his life. He may not be so lucky next time.

Artist Al Braithwaite e-mails with a proposal.

I'll let him tell the story:

"Having heard you on the radio I thought I should get in touch. I am a young artist who knew Kaveh Golestan in Tehran when we were putting on an exhibition there in November 2002. I was deeply grief-struck by news of his death last year.

"As a release of my sadness I made a large artwork entitled 'The Death of Kaveh' while I was in Jordan at the time, full of nail and massive warm grey explosive brushstrokes, which I exhibited there (in the Orfali Gallery) hoping to sell and give half the proceeds to landmine charity MAG, which I understand you are now involved with.

"It was the centrepiece of the show and commanded much local press attention, but remained unsold. So now the piece is back in England, residing in a Clapham studio, and gearing up for our London show in June."

The details are the painting are:
Title: Death of Kaveh
Date: May 2003
Medium: Mixed Media
Size: c. 6ft by 3ft
Exhibited in May 2003 at Orfali Gallery, Amman, Jordan
price: £2000 (50% to MAG)

Here's what it looks like.

I really hope someone out there takes a shine to the piece -- not least because it means £1000 for MAG.

Drop me an e-mail if you're interested in finding out more and I'll forward you Al Braithwaite's contact details or visit Visions of Islam for more information about his work.

No surprise that Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi has become the latest victim of Israel's judge, jury and executioner policy of assassinating its opponents. Israel had vowed to try to kill the entire Hamas leadership and the firebrand Rantissi was their number one target after he became head of Hamas in Gaza.

Israel sees the absence of any significant retaliation for the assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin as proof that it has seriously weakened Hamas.

The organisation now faces a power vacuum. Four of the founders of Hamas in 1987 -- Yassin, Rantissi, Ibrahim Makadmeh and Salah Shehadeh -- are all dead.

Emboldened by the free hand given by George Bush earlier this week, Israel will now seek to crush Hamas completely. I expect three remaining senior Hamas officials in Gaza -- Ismail Haniyeh, Said Siam, and Mahmoud Zahar -- to be next in Israel's crosshairs. Two have already escaped assassination attempts.

For its part, Hamas's exiled leadership (which is considered more radical) will play an increasingly central role, with the balance of power shifting further towards figures like Khaled Meshaal, the head of Hamas's political bureau. Israel's assassination policy means that Hamas's armed wing will now have to be directed not from Gaza but from a leadership in Beirut and Damascus.

Discuss

Bob Woodward's account of the run-up to the Iraq war is imminent. If it's anything like his last book it'll be a must-read for anyone wishing to understand the behind the scenes story of the Bush presidency.

I expect it to get acres of column inches in the press next week. I've put my order in.

USA Today: Woodward book says Bush secretly ordered Iraq war plan

Assignment news....to Nicosia next Wednesday ahead of Saturday's referendum on the reunification of Cyprus, which is likely to be passed in the Turkish-Cypriot north but rejected in the Greek-Cypriot south, meaning only the southern half of the island will join an enlarged European Union on May 1st.

COALITION OF THE BILLING

Returning to my posting about private military companies, Peter Warren Singer, author of a book on the subject, has written a lengthy, extremely comprehensive and very enlightening two-part series on corporate warfare:

Salon Part 1: Warriors for hire in Iraq

Salon Part 2: Outsourcing the War

Prepare for unexpected bouts of severe nausea on both sides of the Atlantic at around 5 o'clock this evening, when President Bush and Tony Blair are due to hold a circle jerk, sorry -- joint news conference, at the White House.

Place your bets please on the number of times the following words are spoken: "special relationship," "unity," "resolute," "sacrifice," "enemy," "the war was a mistake and we are pulling our troops out of Iraq immediately" (OK, maybe not the last one.)

Reopening yesterday's posting about propaganda by public subscription.

Before you dip into your wallet bear in mind that you're probably wasting your money because no one's going to be watching.

Those dumb Iraqs aren't as stupid as you'd like to think and after decades under Saddam they know what bullshit smells like.

As promised, here's my discussion with Hoder, which will be broadcast on the BBC World Service next Thursday.

The broadcast version will be shorter than the MP3 below (which is 19 minutes long) but I thought Hoder's readers (who are far more numerous than mine) would like to be able to hear the whole thing.

Save it onto your hard drive then listen, enjoy, discuss.

Stuart Hughes/Hossein Derakhshan.mp3 (2.2Mb)

Don't read too much into this report, which has been totally overwritten. We're assessing the situation hour by hour in the light of the latest security advice -- but it's premature at this stage to talk about pulling out....although that could, of course, change at any time if the situation on the ground changes.

Slow on the uptake as always, I start tuning in to Air America Radio just as the station hits a cash crisis (Air America's side of the story is here.)

Blame my decorator -- I've only just been able to reconnect the speakers to my PC because he's been painting the study.

My early impressions weren't favourable, although they weren't helped by the time difference which meant I was tuning in to some of their graveyard shift weekend output. Their environmental issues programme and a show called The Satellite Sisters were uniformly turgid.

Al Franken and Randi Rhodes lifted my opinion of the network somewhat with some lively exchanges and were a refreshing change to both the froth-spewing right-wing talkers and the All-Bran radio of NPR -- good for you, but impossible to digest. Yesterday's reaction to the Bush news conference was pacey and well-aimed.

My untutored Limey ears, though, can only listen to talk-radio from the right or the left in short bursts. After about ten minutes of full-on opinion I feel like I've been battered about the head with a plank of wood and need to put on a Carpenters CD and have a lie down.

With $60m in the coffers Air America can probably weather this particular financial hiccup -- but from the sound of its commercial breaks it's in need of some big money advertisers.

Just back from Bush House, where I recorded a discussion with Hoder for next week's edition of the World Service programme, The Word.

But you won't have to wait for a week and then clamp your crackly old shortwave to your ear to hear it. Oh no. In a clear breach of copyright I'll encode and upload it this evening.

NO WONDER HE'S SMILING



"The General Assembly...Resolves that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible." (UN General Assembly Resolution 194)

"The Security Council...Affirms that the fulfilment of Charter principles requires the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East which should include the application of both the following principles: (i) Withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict." (UN Security Council Resolution 242)

"The Security Council...determines that the policy and practices of Israel in establishing settlements in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967 have no legal validity and constitute a serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East." (UN Security Council Resolution 446)

"In light of new realities on the ground, including already existing major Israeli population centers, it is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949....It seems clear that an agreed, just, fair and realistic framework for a solution to the Palestinian refugee issue, as part of any final status agreement, will need to be found through the establishment of a Palestinian state and the settling of Palestinian refugees there, rather than Israel." (President Bush, 14th April 2004)

Discuss

Time was when governments were prepared to pay to disseminate their propaganda.

Now, though, the poor US taxpayer is being asked to chip in as well.

"News broadcasts in Iraq can be biased, inaccurate and incomplete - to put it mildly," says the Sprit of America website.

It's true -- when I was there Fox News was the only channel we could receive.

Try spouting the press freedom bull to the journalists on Al-Hawza Al-Natiqa....oh, sorry, you can't because there aren't any....you closed the paper down last month.

At least Congress was generous enough to pay for Al Hurra out of its own pocket.

THE LIGHTS ARE ON, BUT....



"I'm sure something will pop into my head here in the midst of this press conference, with all the pressure of trying to come up with answer, but it hasn't yet....you just put me under the spot here, and maybe I'm not as quick on my feet as I should be." -- President Bush's news conference, 13th April 2004 (Transcript)

Media Guardian: US military 'pressuring' journalists

The American nets are doing the honourable thing by pooling material from Falluja, thereby putting the safety of their newsgatherers ahead of professional rivalries.

The words of ABC boss Paul Slavin -- "If the competitive instinct drops to third, then so be it" -- demonstrates an admirable awareness of the dangers faced by news crews, be they staff or freelance, who are working in hostile environments.

Of course, dead journalists equal bad PR for the broadcasters involved but, even so, the willingness on this occasion to put the safety of the newsgatherers first should be commended.

I'm keen to expand the videoblogging/streaming video aspects of this site but, given the lack of revenue streams, am balking at the cost of buying in Visual Communicator -- as excellent as it looks -- and the associated hosting.

Any thoughts, anyone?

Discuss

I've been catching up with some of my contacts in the Middle East and discussing the fact that Hamas still hasn't carried out an attack to avenge the assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

After his killing, an associate of Sheikh Yassin warned that "the enemy should expect a response that will turn the ground under his feet to hell," while the Sheikh's successor Abdel Aziz Rantisi said that "the retaliation of this nation, will be of the size of this man." (Source: Haaretz) Yet three weeks on there's -- mercifully -- been no sign of Hamas turning its words into deeds.

There are reports from the Gaza Strip of Hamas organisers going door to door collecting money to carry out a strike against Israel. They're said to have raised many thousands of dollars for the purpose.

There's no doubt that the retaliation will come. The feeling in the Middle East, though, is that the time it is taking in coming is a clear sign of just how weakened Hamas is. It's believed to be having real difficulties in putting together a spectacular terrorist atrocity because so many of its key operatives have been killed or imprisoned.

Discuss

A laundry manager? He could be -- but I'm not convinced.

A watching brief on my big story for this coming Summer -- the Athens Olympics.

The Times reports that a series of site inspections has concluded that Olympic building projects will not be completed in time for the Games without cutting corners on security and crowd safety.

The Times also has a useful graphic showing which venues are ready -- and which are nowhere near completion.

Meanwhile, Paul Krugman speaks with his usual sanity in his latest NYT op-ed -- his headline, that "a year after the occupation of Iraq began, Mr. Bush and his inner circle seem more divorced from reality than ever."

The Vlog phenomenon gathers pace with Time magazine picking up on the subject.

Jeff Jarvis gets a mention.

My videoblogs from Iran, Cambodia and elsewhere are archived here, here, here and here.

Apologies for the lack of updates -- I've been making the most of the Easter weekend to get my freshly-decorated study into some sort of order. I've also been out stretching my legs, real and artificial, in Richmond Park and catching a couple of films, including the extraordinary Capturing the Friedmans.

It's a breathtaking piece of documentary-making -- unsettling, disturbing and at times almost unwatchable. It reminded me of all the reasons why I never read fiction -- because non-fiction is more compelling and it's grounded in real life. To watch "Capturing the Friedmans" is to watch a middle-class suburban family self destruct in front of the camera.

What's most amazing is the fact that director Andrew Jarecki was originally making a film about New York party clowns and stumbled across the secret past of the Friedmans almost by accident (read his explanation of how the film came about here.)

I won't spoil the film by saying too much about it (there's plenty of background here) but it's a real must see movie.

One other piece of news...I'll be taking part in a discussion about blogging with Persian super-blogger Hoder this Thursday for the BBC World Service programme The Word. We'll be talking about blogging, journalism and censorship -- among other issues.

I'm not sure of the transmission time and date yet...but I'll keep you posted.