juan cole takes on christopher hitchens

[Moddey Screbbagh]

juan cole is all worked up today (and rightly so, it seems) about an attack from hitchens regarding the build up for war in iran and the mistranslation issue. apparently hitchens or his cronies hacked into a private academic chatroom and he got access to some of cole's essentially private emails, which he uses in the article, published on slate.<br><br>here is the link to informed comment (can't find a permalink, just scroll down to the hitchins post):<br><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.juancole.com/" target="top">www.juancole.com/</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--><br><br>and what the hell happened to christopher hitchens anyway? i have to admit i used to enjoy some of his stuff, way back when, before he turned all venomously right wing on us. did someone catch him with his pants down somewhere? he is playing a role i never would have guessed he would.... <p></p><i></i>

[chiggerbit]

Do you suppose it is possible that Hitchens had some hacking help from an alphabet agency? <p></p><i></i>

[Ted the dog]

Man...they are really going after Juan Cole lately, aren't they? A year or so ago, most bush-bot whackos didn't even know who he was. Now he's popping up all over the place....and always sounding like the voice of reason.<br><br>As much as they try to smear him, they're just bringing Cole's excellent blog more readers and more attention. If that also means more attention from neocon fuck-wads, then IMO, so be it. I know they like to "gang tackle" the comments sections on lefty blogs that they "discover" through reading some fabricated, regurgitated attack piece written by whatever hack they're praising on a given day, but lol @ a typical moronic bush-bot chump trying to argue with someone like Cole. <br><br>They just end up getting dismantled by reason, logic and actual real life middle eastern experience. <p></p><i></i>

[johnny nemo]

<!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>and what the hell happened to christopher hitchens anyway? i have to admit i used to enjoy some of his stuff, way back when, before he turned all venomously right wing on us. did someone catch him with his pants down somewhere? he is playing a role i never would have guessed he would....</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>I agree and I've thought the same thing about former-left-wing-comedian-turned-W.-fanatic Dennis Miller.<br>I don't buy his sudden "I've seen the light after 9/11" crap and I'm convinced that they have pics of him <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>in flagrante</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> with some toddlers. <p></p><i></i>

[streeb]

Hitchens is a beautiful writer and charismatic man, but he's also a showboat and a social climber in my opinion. I've been reading an anthology of his brother's writing and it's didactic and shrill with little of CH's nuance. But it's interesting because I think in both cases they just like to win arguments, in CH's case with a little more style. I think his view on Iraq comes partly from an overzealousness about his "contrarian" pose, and I think he likes the friends he's made in Washington. Dennis Miller, on the other hand, is just an asshole. <p></p><i></i>

[friend catcher]

I've had this discussion a few years back as to what happened to Hitchens and was told that being an engaged leftist writer didn't pay aswell as being a right wing shill. It does sound mundane but ranting for the right is lucrative. The guy is in his middle age with a stupendous bar bill, he constantly circulates amongst the rich and probably thought bollocks to social justice, where's the lucre. I think Galloway had it right in <!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1486417,00.html">www.guardian.co.uk/uk_new...17,00.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br>naming him a popinjay. <p></p><i></i>

[Byrne]

Saw the post quoted below regarding selective translation of Iranian pronouncements at <!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.medialens.org/board/" target="top">www.medialens.org/board/</a><!--EZCODE LINK END-->, which mentions (in passing) the Hitchens' smear of Juan Cole. <br><br>Can anyone help with an answer to the question - Does anyone know anything about <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Nazila Fathi</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->, NYT Tehran Bureau?<br><br><!--EZCODE HR START--><hr /><!--EZCODE HR END--><br>I remember how the BBC transformed that quote into anther "threat" to Israel:<br><br>Israel condemns Iranian threats<br>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4912198.stm<br>The word "threats" in the title should have been in quotes.<br><br>And notice how they have chosen to "interpret" the remarks made by President Ahmadinejad:<br><br>On the IRNA site:<br><br>Full text of President's address- Part Three<br>""Peace and harmonious relations can only be based on towhid, human dignity and justice. Oppressions and aggressions are not compatible with human dignity and justice. The Zionist regime is a clear example of oppression and its fundamental nature represents actual and permanent threat. The very purpose behind the <br>establishment of this regime was to put in place a permanent threat in the region. Therefore, the continued existence of this regime is premised on the persistence of this threat. It will have no existence without threat and aggression and it is not inherently capable to survive in an atmosphere of peace and tranquility. Even if it manages to remain in one square meter of the Palestinian land, it will continue to be a threat to the region. "<br>...<br>"The supporters of the Zionist regime prefer to remain silent in face of this reasonable proposition. But I tell them that regardless of what they desire, the Zionist regime is falling apart. <br><br>"The young tree of resistance in Palestine is blooming and blooms of faith and desire for freedom are flowering. <br><br>"The Zionist regime is a decaying and crumbling tree that will fall with a storm. <br>http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-22/0604141529205548.htm<br>BBC version:<br><br>"The Zionist regime is an injustice and by its very nature a permanent threat. <br><br>"Whether you like it or not, the Zionist regime is on the road to being eliminated." <br><br>"[It] is a decaying and crumbling tree that will fall with a storm," he added. <br>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4912198.stm<br>You'll notice that the NYT published their translation of the speech before the BBC article. I have been signed up to the NYT e-mail headlines for ages. I received the e-mail at 09.36 am Spanish time, meaning the edition and logically the article had been published before that time. The BBC article is timed "Saturday, 15 April 2006, 14:46 GMT 15:46 UK". <br><br>The next point is that the article and therefore the translation was done by exactly the same individual who mistranslated the Israel to be "wiped off the map" phrase, one Nazila Fathi of The New York Times Tehran bureau.<br><br>Notice how the NYT translation and the BBC's are exactly the same:<br><br>"The Zionist regime is an injustice and by its very nature a permanent threat," Mr. Ahmadinejad said during his speech at the conference. "Whether you like it or not, the Zionist regime is on the road to being eliminated." He referred to Israel as a "rotten, dried tree" that would collapse in "one storm."<br>Origianl here (pay to view):<br>http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50C15FB3D5B0C768DDDAD0894DE404482Copy here:<br>http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/tree.htm<br>Makes one wonder what the Farsi translators who work for the BBC World Service and BBC Monitoring actually do?<br><br>It would be a scandal of the highest order if the BBC were taking as fact translations from a NYT reporter in Tehran who could well have his/her own agenda, or even be working in some capacity for someone else's agenda. I mean try doing a search to find out something about Nazila Fathi. Nothing but articles. Nothing on the person. No bio. Nothing. Makes one wonder. The BBC have their own Farsi translators, why don't they use them?<br><br>Then there's the fact that in Hitchens' smear of Juan Cole he (Hitchens) had this to say: "I am using the translation made by Nazila Fathi of the New York Times Tehran bureau, whose Persian is probably the equal of Professor Cole's"<br><br>The only thing I can find on her is that she has a sister Golnaz Fathi<br><br>http://www.persepolis.com/programs/artists/gallery.asp?AID=58http://zaneirani.blogspot.com/2003/09/today-on-hoders-blog-i-came-across.html<br>Does anyone know anything about <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Nazila Fathi</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->? <br><!--EZCODE HR START--><hr /><!--EZCODE HR END--><br><br> <p></p><i></i>