In the March 25 Washington Post, Trilateral Commission ideological guru and former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski once again sounds like he was bitten by a radioactive Noam Chomsky. What's really sad is that the remnants of the American left are so rudderless and gullible that they fail to recognize this intra-elite squabbling on the proper maintenance of Empire as what it is, and fall for the pseudo-populist rhetoric. They will doubtless eagerly lap up this Trilateralist ejaculate, as they do the vile propaganda of Mearsheimer and Walt—never stopping to question the reactionary source. Writes Zbiggy (more commentary to follow):

Did you happen to catch this one? What a sad story. This Miss Israel contest really does represent the culture of narcissism and objectification, as well as an oppressive colonialist state. But young Ms. Fares seems to have had few other options—and those opposing her choice seem to also represent something rather oppressive. From the Toronto Globe & Mail, March 15:

The March 24 New York Times features a profile of Iraq war propagandist Kanan Makiya, with the somewhat misleading title "Critic of Hussein Grapples With Horrors of Post-Invasion Iraq." Makiya was more than a "critic of Hussein," which implies a principled dissident—he was a prominent cheerleader for foreign military aggression against the country of his birth. The Times account portrays him as somewhat humbled:

A suicide bomber in a truck with explosives hidden under construction materials was waved through a checkpoint in southern Baghdad, where he detonated his payload, killing at least 20 on March 24. The attack was the deadliest of a wave of such bombings around Iraq that day that killed at least 47, including many police. Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, top US military spokesman in Iraq, said last week that the number of car bombs in Baghdad reached a record high of 44 in February, out of 77 nationwide. (AND, March 24)

John Dugard, a UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories likened Israel's treatment of Palestinians in the occupied territories to "apartheid," and said that failure to address the situation will make it hard to solve abuses elsewhere.

During his unannounced visit to Baghdad, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon felt the shockwaves of a nearby rocket attack while giving a press conference. Ban and his staff left the press meeting shaken but unscathed. Iraqi deputy prime minister Salam al-Zubayi is undergoing surgery for stomach and shoulder wounds after being injured in a bomb attack while he was attending prayers near the Green Zone in Baghdad. (Madrid11, March 23)

The Somali government says al-Qaeda has appointed a young militant as its commander of the resistance forces in Mogadishu. Deputy Defense Minister Salad Ali Jelle told a news conference the insurgency is being directed by Aden Hashi Ayro, an Afghanistan-trained fighter in his 30s. "The government is being targeted by those who used to work with terrorists, the so-called Islamic Courts," Jelle said. "And after they had a long consultation with al-Qaeda, they named Aden Hashi Ayro as head of (al Qaeda) operations in Mogadishu."

From the St. Petersburg Times, March 20:

Al-Arian's gaunt condition stuns his family
Sami Al-Arian has been on a hunger strike for 58 days to protest being held beyond his prison sentence. On a water-only diet, he has lost 53 pounds. The former University of South Florida professor can no longer walk, speaks in a whisper and trembles constantly because of low body temperature, said family members who visited him last weekend at a federal medical prison in Butner, N.C.