Wayne Madsen analyses the Syria conflict.

Back in June, The Guardian/Observer published a front-page story based on quotes from former US naval officer and NSA employee, Wayne Madsen. The wave of publicity generated by the paper's publishing of Edward Snowden's revelations about the NSA's electronic espionage activity was still cresting. The new 'evidence' from Madsen, naming six European countries as having secret deals with the US to hand over information to the NSA when requested, would certainly have let them ride that wave for a little longer.

Except that within seconds of the story going live on their website, the interwebz lit up with a mixture of indignation and derision that a serious (ahem) publication could so unquestioningly carry the claims of someone who, a quick Google search would have revealed, is a paranoid, 9/11 truther, anti-Obama fanatic, 'Zionism'-obsessed, conspiracy theorist.

In short, simply not sane or reliable enough to have a contribution to the letter's page published, let alone dominate the front page. The Guardian/Observer quickly took down the website story. But it was alas too late for the print edition.

Now Madsen has given us the benefit of his thoughts on US involvement in the Syria conflict. This is a screenshot from his site taken tonight:

The heading of the otherwise paywalled column is:

Obama's "Rosh Hashana War". Obama's war on Syria is made out of whole cloth from a talit prayer shawl.

Now what could he possibly mean by that?

Just how far will Stephen Hawking take his boycott of Israeli academia?

Professor Stephen Hawking has withdrawn from the Fifth Israeli Presidential Conference, in order to support the academic boycott of Israel.

The conference organisers do not need me defending them. They're doing that perfectly well themselves:

The academic boycott against Israel is in our view outrageous and improper, certainly for someone for whom the spirit of liberty lies at the basis of his human and academic mission.

Ably supported by the Fair Play campaign:

Prof Hawking could have joined the Conference and explained his views on the conflict in the region, just as many other participants have done. By boycotting the conference, he has thrown away this opportunity and will help nobody.

But if he'll forgive me the indulgence (and the assumption that he's an avid reader of this blog), I've got a couple of questions.

Just how far are you prepared to take this boycott? Would you, for example, boycott the academics, and urge others to do so, who are currently working on a phase 2a dose-escalating trial to evaluate experimental stem-cell therapy in ALS, at the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem?

As you know, ALS stands for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

UPDATE
Hawking trip NOT cancelled due to Israel boycott:

Professor Hawking's spokesperson has confirmed that he will not miss the conference in Israel due to a boycott, but rather because of health reasons.

So now the question is, will BRICUP apologise?

FURTHER UPDATE

Nope. He really is supporting the boycott. Thereby proving, yet again, one of Fox's Iron Laws of Politics: that it takes really clever people to be really, really stupid.

Is the awarding of World Cup 2022 to Qatar a Zionist plot?

There has been much disquiet expressed over FIFA's decision to award the 2022 World Cup finals to Qatar. The New Statesman's Mehdi Hasan even goes as far as to call it Qatarphobia.

And in the same week that saw the usual idiocracy suggesting that Wikileaks' latest information dump is all part of Israel's undue influence on world affairs, I'm amazed that there haven't also been calls to boycott Qatar 2022 because of this:

"A few years ago, the Qatari Olympic Committee helped fund the construction of a new football stadium for the most successful Arab club in the Israeli premier leage, Bnei Sakhnin (اتحاد أبناء سخنين‎). While I am sure that there were political overtones to this, I thought that this was a wonderful gesture. Northern Israel, where Sakhnin is located, has a slight Arab majority (about 52% Arab +/- 5%) and is very much underdeveloped."

Perhaps the conspiracy theorists are too busy finding the sweeper system to be suspiciously cosmopolitan. Or something.