Marxist-Leninist Writes His Judeophobic Drivel by the Grace of a Superrich Arab Amir

UPDATING at bottom

Prof Richard Landes at The Augean Stables blog has a long, mad quote from James Petras published on Al-Jazeera. Here is the link to the Augean Stables post. Prof Petras is an obsessive Judeophobe who has found solace in the warm bosom of Qatar's al-Jazeera website. For many years he published "anti-imperialist" articles [against US policy in South America, not always good policy, to be sure], particularly in the "Marxist-Leninist" Monthly Review. But there are a number of bizarre positions and inner contradictions in Petras' stance and arguments.

Petras uses the phrase: "On the key issue of a compromise on the key issue of Jerusalem..." This is the same language used by State Dept officials and anti-Israel MSM commentators about Jerusalem, as if the Arabs would make peace if Jerusalem were redivided as it was for 19 years, between 1948 and 1967, and only for those 19 years.

It is noteworthy that Petras published "anti-US imperialism" screeds in the "Marxist-Leninist" Monthly Review [which has disavowed part --only part-- of what Petras said in his favorable review of the walt-mearsheimer tract] for many years. Now, al-Jazeera operates out of Qatar, not exactly a socialist or revolutionary state, nor a poor state. The per capita yearly income in Qatar is rather high on a world scale. Al-Jazeera operates there by the grace of the Shaykh or Amir or whatever title the local potentate holds. He is not exactly a democrat [small D]. Qatar also hosts, by the grace of the Shaykh or Amir, the Middle Eastern HQ of Centcom, the high command of US forces in Iraq. So Petras is being published --indirectly to be sure-- by the grace of the Amir of Qatar who also shows his grace to CENTCOM. Further, the journalists who actually set up al-Jazeera were mainly veterans of BBC and Voice of America, which Petras' old Marxist-Leninist friends might call "imperialist" press services. If I'm not mistaken, the potentate of Qatar also holds a share of ownership in al-Jazeera [maybe a majority share] which is also a commercial TV operator, if I am not mistaken, thus a profitmaker. Curiously, the corporate headquarters of Al-Jazeera are in London, although it operates out of Qatar. Figure that one out.

Be that as it may, Qatar and the other Persian Gulf emirates and sheikdoms, etc., plus Saudi Arabia, own a great deal of capital and real estate in Western countries, including the United States. So by allowing his pen to be rented out by al-Jazeera, Petras seems to be --collaborating-- with imperialists, at least according to Lenin's definition. Lenin said that big capital or finance capital was imperialist by definition.

So Petras' role as a pristine pure Marxist-Leninist anti-imperialist would seem to be very tarnished by his association with or employment by Qatar's al-Jazeera.

UPDATING:
Here is a web article with documentation on the al-Jazeera link to the Qatar government and ruling family, as well as on the career history of most of its original journalists and editors as employes of BBC or VOA. George Bush, visiting Qatar, referred to the ruler as an "amir." However, shaykhs abound in the ruling al-Thani family. According to a book on Al-Jazeera by Hugh Miles (London 2005), the Amir and/or government of Qatar have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Al-Jazeera which is a commercial enterprise but apparently not yet profit-making [correct error above]. Hence, members of the al-Thani family and/or the Qatar govt have given al-Jazeera additional capital inputs or loans over the years [see Miles book, p 346, quoted in the web article linked to from this paragraph].
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Coming: More lies of the "peace process" and Annapolis, more on Jews in Jerusalem, Hebron, elsewhere in the Land of Israel, etc.