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Al-Ahram Weekly 1 - 7 July 1999 Issue No. 436 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 1 - 7 July 1999 Issue No. 436
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Credit where it's due
Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Special Interview Travel Living Sports Time Out Chronicles People Cartoons Letters Sir- Recently I was confounded by my good luck to find a copy of the Weekly in Burlington, Vermont, having seen the paper only once since leaving Egypt 18 months ago. As I pieced through the paper, whose articles I've always found informative and insightful, the old adage, "the more things change, the more they stay the same" came to mind. In this case, the great change was America's and NATO's decision to intervene on behalf of innocent civilians being slaughtered and forced out of their homes in Kosovo by Slobodan Milosevic and his Serbian nationalist thugs, after standing back for nine years while Bosnian Muslims and others were murdered and forced from their homes.
What obviously hasn't changed is that the views expressed by columnist Salama A Salama are not shaped by any recognisable set of moral precepts or values, but rather by the principle that whatever the US does in regard to a given international situation is wrong and deserves condemnation.
In fact, Mr Salama not only criticises America at every opportunity (which is his right), but is guilty of the crime of which he accuses others (i.e. the US) in his column titled Back to the Cold War -- namely, using "propaganda and counter-propaganda... to obtain unswerving loyalty". Indeed, the article is a classic example of Mr Salama's tendency to bend and ignore facts to fit his own political perspective, while accusing others of the same offense. Frankly, I find it insulting that Mr Salama should find room to criticise America and NATO for cowardice when it is the Serb army that was murdering and forcing from their homes, thousands -- indeed millions -- of innocent civilians.
When America failed to act in Bosnia, Mr Salama and people like him accused the West of racism against Muslims. When America took the principled stand of acting forcibly against Serbian genocide, they accuse it of cowardice and barbarity. These are same folks who by the way who accused America of "imperialism" when it sent thousands of marines and spent millions of dollars in an effort to save hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Somalis. They cheered when Aidid's thugs murdered American servicemen, then accused America of racism against Africans when it did not get involved in Rwanda.
I do not know why Mr Salama and his like blame America for every wrong in the world, even when it takes the right course. Is it because they resent America's success and power in the world? Or are they fearful of confronting their own failures, and so resort to scapegoating the all-powerful American demon? Of course one can disagree with many American policies, but to accuse America of cowardice when it is spending billions of dollars and risking American lives to try and protect innocent Muslim civilians (who have no oil) reveals an agenda other than the triumph of good over evil. The sad thing, of course, is that when you fail to give the United States (or anybody for that matter) credit where credit is due, even valid criticism rings hollow.
John J Bentley
South Royalton, Vermont
US
Eritrea bias
Sir- I refer to a recent article titled "The marine who made peace" (Al-Ahram Weekly, 17-23 June) by Gamal Nkrumah, which helped jog my memory. It is clear from past articles by Mr Nkrumah in your paper that he is totally incapable of reporting anything positive when writing on matters concerning Ethiopia.
Surely he has a duty to his profession. Not only as a prominent writer for Al-Ahram Weekly, but also because of his role as president of the Pan-African Association and, most importantly, as the son of the great Kwame Nkrumah.
Certainly his readers expect and deserve unbiased reporting. Otherwise even the newspaper he is writing for is in danger of becoming propaganda machinery for the Eritrean government.
Mrs M Mohamed
Zamalek
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