dagblog - Comments for "Pressure building for UN to declare Palestine a Sovereign State in September"

Glad you also thought it was

acanuck — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 03:33:47 +0000

In reply to Thanks for tracking it down,

Glad you also thought it was worth straightening out. Right-wing blogs are all irate over ElBaradei's supposed threat, and it's just smoke and mirrors. Al-Watan didn't even interview the guy; they just cribbed something off an Egyptian TV show and stuck a tabloid-style head on it. Ynet ran with it, conservative bloggers elaborated on it, and before we know it some Tea Party congressman will be demanding that ElBaradei be put on the terrorist no-fly list. Ah journalism, I hardly knew ya.

Thanks for tracking it down,

Obey — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 01:55:13 +0000

In reply to OK, I finally tracked down

Thanks for tracking it down, AC. Much appreciated.

My fault I got the questions

we are stardust — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 01:43:55 +0000

In reply to I'm happy you got your

My fault I got the questions confused. It's hard sometimes when I've been reading, blogging and commenting elsewhere to keep these threads straight.

I will continue to kick my own arse until it's time for bed; it's been one of those days when everything I touched I messed up. Some days are like that, but as the I Ching sometimes says: No Blame.

Thanks for letting me scream. ;o)

I'm happy you got your

acanuck — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 01:34:15 +0000

In reply to 'Universal translator', ay yi

I'm happy you got your release, stardust. When you asked whether I thought NYT was engaging in selective editing, I assumed you were still talking about the alleged ElBaradei quote, which was all we'd been discussing at that point. No, I've got no serious problems with the article you cited to kick off the thread.

'Universal translator', ay yi

we are stardust — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 01:07:03 +0000

In reply to OK, I finally tracked down

'Universal translator', ay yi yi. Please let me emote about your question upthread:

BECAUSE THE ORIGINAL LINK WAS FROM THE FREAKING NEW YORK TIMES!!!!

Pardon me for yelling. I am under extreme duress, and have been alternately shaking my head in incredulity at our collective fuqued-up-edness, and banging it into walls. I did need that release.

I didn't see this picked up

acanuck — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 23:50:19 +0000

In reply to I assumed they were all

I didn't see this picked up by the Times, stardust. Just by right-wing blogs. Got a link?

Anyway, I finally found what Al-Watan posted on their website. Scroll to the bottom of this thread for the thrilling conclusion.

OK, I finally tracked down

acanuck — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 23:46:47 +0000

In reply to Pressure building for UN to declare Palestine a Sovereign State in September

OK, I finally tracked down the Al-Watan Donya story, or at least what they posted on their website. I then used Google's auto-translate function. As I suspected, "I'd declare war" is what the sensationalist headline-writer decided the interview needed. The bit of ElBaradei they actually quote just talks about opening the Rafah border crossing and consulting other Arab states about a joint reaction. Unless there's more red meat in the print version of the interview, ElBaradei didn't say what he's been quoted as saying. Which made no sense for a would-be presidential candidate, even one who was trying to pander.

http://www.alwatanvoice.com/arabic/news/2011/04/01/172451.html

You then have to click the Translate button.

I assumed they were all

we are stardust — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 21:52:34 +0000

In reply to Um, stardust, look at the

I assumed they were all different desks of the main paper; dunno. I also assume by now that some folks had some reason to gin the quote up a bit. You wouln't be thinking that the NYT is engaging in a little selective yellow journalism, would you?

El Baradei is a pandering

artappraiser — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 21:29:53 +0000

In reply to So they'll invade the regime,

El Baradei is a pandering politician. woopdeedoo. He's like the Mitt Romney of Egypt.

hah.

He's also out of the loop.

That said I dunno how much anti-Israeli pandering would do for a pol in Egypt right now. I suspect from my reading that most Egyptians don't give a shit about Gazans right now just like they don't care much about Libya or Libyans. They got their own serious problems right now and aren't used to dealing with them without a dictator. As far as politicians trying to distract them by riling up emotions about outside enemies attacking neighbors: been there done that, it grew tiresome. I've read that many, including the military, don't want to be involved in Libya much precisely because there's still hundreds of thousands of Egyptian workers there and they want them to stay there, safely of course, but not come back and add to the unemployment. Likewise, I don't think Palestinians bringing their problems to Egypt, whatever they happen to be at the time, would find much support.

Um, stardust, look at the

acanuck — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 20:22:17 +0000

In reply to No satisfying you, is there,

Um, stardust, look at the byline: Newsmax. Secondary site, not a source. And I knew Ynet supplied the translation everybody else is relying on; I was trying to pin down what ElBaradei actually said to Al-Watan. I asked an Arabic-speaking buddy to track the original story down. No reply yet; one problem is there's more than one paper calling itself Al-Watan. Oddly, if ElBaradei did say what he's quoted as saying, it's created no stir in Egypt.