Religion offends every bone in Dawkins's rational, atheist body. "You can see why people may want to believe in something," he acknowledges.

"The idea of an afterlife where you can be reunited with loved ones can be immensely consoling - though not to me. But to maintain such a belief in the face of all the evidence to the contrary is truly bewildering."

If individual faith is, for Dawkins, an expression of an ignorance, collective faith and organised religion embody something much more pernicious.

That is what drove him to make two films for Channel 4, the first of which was shown last night, and to write his new book, The God Delusion, to be published in September.

Dawkins describes these projects as "consciousness-raising exercises" but the films come across as full-frontal assaults. Protestantism, Catholicism, Judaism and Islam all get both barrels. Powerful and well-argued, they are; subtle, they ain't.

Richard Harries, Bishop of Oxford, gets a walk-on role as the liberal voice of religion, but mostly it's the fundamentalists of all faiths who fall under Dawkins's scrutiny.   more »

In Israel, a leader lies in hospital. In Iraq, 130 people were blown up last Thursday. In North Korea, promises of nuclear disarmament have withered.

In Iran, the nuclear scientists resume their work. This may be the most dangerous time since superpowers threatened mutually assured destruction.

The world, once an atomic Athenaeum, has become a bomber's eBay, full of murky bidders with pseudonyms and of nukes for auction.

The nuclear aristocracy is dead, destruction is democratised and Iran, angry at the West's hypocrisy on the nuclear race, believes that what's good for Totnes is good for Tehran.

There is also hope. American voters may elect a President who realises, as Blair must too, that the West has to reduce its own arms if it is to persuade others to do likewise.

But, for now, Cold War politics looks easy. The abyss was always safer than the quicksand. This time, we cannot simply walk away.   more »

WE'RE ENSNARED IN THE PROPAGANDA MATRIX

What might be generically termed as ‘red scares’ or to bring it up to date, the ‘global terror network’ have an extremely long pedigree, some five hundred years to be exact.

In fact, the idea that there are secret networks with the objective of overthrowing the ‘established order’ can be traced back to the witch hunts against women that first appeared in the 15th century, not coincidentally with the rise of capitalism.

Over these five centuries, the demons have changed genders, names and means, but one thing has stayed constant, ‘secret terror networks’ whose one objective is the destruction of the state.

Interestingly, in spite of trying for five hundred years, not a single one has come anywhere near to succeeding, indeed, as the historical record shows, the existence of these alleged ‘networks of terror’ are either totally fictitious or actually created by the state in the first place.

Almost without exception, such ‘threats’ emerge at times of crisis, crisis that is to the established order, either of an economic or political nature, or, where the state needs to pursue an immensely unpopular policy that needs a justification that the ‘normal’ means of persuasion is incapable of delivering.   more »

We read about things done and said by the Iraqi president, or the Ministry of this or the Ministry of that, and it's easy to get the impression that Iraq is in the process of becoming a sovereign state, albeit not particularly secular and employing torture, but still, a functioning, independent state.

Then we read about the IMF and the rest of the international financial mafia -- with the US playing its usual sine qua non role -- making large loans to the country and forgiving debts, with the customary strings attached, in the current instance ending government subsidies for fuel and other petroleum products.

And so the government starts to reduce the subsidies for these products which affect almost every important aspect of life, and the prices quickly quintuple, sparking wide discontent and protests.

Who in this sovereign nation wanted to add more suffering to the already beaten-down Iraqi people? But the international financial mafia are concerned only with making countries meet certain criteria sworn to be holy in Economics 101, like a balanced budget, privatization, and deregulation and thus making themselves more appealing to international investors.

In case the presence of 130,000 American soldiers, a growing number of sprawling US military bases, and all the designed-in-Washington restrictive Coalition Provisional Authority laws still in force aren't enough to keep the Iraqi government in line, this will do it.   more »

Israel is playing hardball to prevent Washington from cutting a deal with Tehran that could benefit America, but deprive Israel of its military and strategic supremacy.

For more than 14 years, Israel has been the primary force countering Iran's nuclear advances.

Though Israel presents the prospect of a nuclear Iran as a global rather than an Israeli problem, it has compelled Washington to adopt its own red lines and not those of the non-proliferation treaty (NPT).

To Israel, nuclear know-how is tantamount to a nuclear bomb; once Iran controls the fuel cycle, Israel maintains, it can weaponize at will in spite of its obligations under the NPT.

Consequently, Israel's position has held that Iran's nuclear program should be halted well ahead of the red line of uranium enrichment, even though enrichment is permitted by the NPT and is conducted by numerous states.

What lies at the heart of Israel's campaign to halt Iran's nuclear advances, however, is not necessarily the fear of a nuclear clash, but the regional and strategic consequences nuclear technology parity in the Middle East will have for Israel.   more »

Wars are won when the people, government and army work together for a common cause in which they genuinely believe.

Whereas the people may be initially uncertain about military intervention, politicians will often be the strongest advocates - blinded by the imperatives of their political views.

It will invariably be military commanders who are most cautious about using force - for they understand better than most the consequences of engaging in war.

Although in a true democracy they must remain subordinate to their political masters, they have a clear responsibility to point out when political strategies are flawed or inadequately resourced.

Since they might also have to ask their soldiers to sacrifice their lives, they must be assured that a war is just, legal and the last resort available.

Yet three years ago this country was somehow led by the prime minister into war in Iraq where few, if any, of these requirements were met.   more »

There comes a time in people's lives when they can no longer bear injustice. This time has come for Palestinians.

What is the current situation on the ground in Palestine? The Israeli narrative that continues to dominate the international media presents an image that is absolutely at odds with reality.

The Gaza redeployment was spun as the beginning of a peace process; a great retreat by General Ariel Sharon, who was portrayed as a man of peace. Yet the fact remains that Palestine is 27,000 square kilometers, of which the West Bank constitutes only 5,860 square kilometers, and the Gaza Strip, just 360 sq km.

This is equal to only 1.3 per cent of the total land of historic Palestine. So even if Sharon really had withdrawn from Gaza, this would amount to just 5.8 per cent of the occupied territories.

But the Israelis did not get out of Gaza. A big fuss was created about the great sacrifice Israel was making and how painful it was for settlers to leave.

If you steal a piece of land and keep it for 20 years, of course it becomes painful to leave it but it is still something stolen that should be returned to its owners.   more »

10 JANUARY

Noam Chomsky: Iraq, Iran & China: A New Global Alliance?

American Propaganda Versus Iraqi Reality

What's That Smell? The Rotten Bush Regime

Jesus Christ! Was 'Our Lord' a Stoner?

Fucking Liberals! From MoveOn.Org to Hillary Clinton

Bush of Arabia: In the Shit & Up to His Lies

Iraq: The Endgame

Bush's Theatre of the Absurd

In the media frame, it doesn�t seem to matter that almost all the notable Americans invited on the networks to talk about their faith in God are supportive of bankrolling the carnage in Iraq.

This is nothing new. For a long time, high-profile talk about belief in God has been a useful fog for agendas that enrich weapons manufacturers while helping the wealthy get wealthier and further impoverishing the already poor.

In autumn 1994, just weeks before the mid-term election when the GOP won the upper hand on Capitol Hill, the executive director of the conservative fundamentalist Christian Coalition spoke at the National Press Club.

�Faith in God isn�t what�s wrong with America,� Ralph Reed declared, �it�s what is right with America.� A decade later, Reed is one of the nation�s top Republican operatives, and such rhetoric is routine.

No doubt many Americans like the profuse media talk about faith in God. If that�s the case, they should say so -- and, judging from the steady media cacophony, a large number of them do. But what about the Americans who find that talk to be cloying, simplistic and manipulative? Where�s the media space for them?   more »