More Missing Coverage

The American media "forgot" to cover the massive Iraqi protests this past week, but that wasn't their only oversight. While huge dollops of attention are piled on the DeLay debacle and the impregnation of the nation's most infantile performer, little has been said about Mr. Rumsfeld's recent visit to Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan is interesting for a number of reasons, most of which you can brush up on in this article from the Village Voice. Foremost among these is its proximity to Iran, a nation in the cross-hairs of the neo-conservatives' controversial attempt to restructure of Middle East. Azerbaijan is also a major player in the global oil market, which would explain, to some extent, why its brutal dictator is allowed to carry on doing what he does best—terrorize his people—without much noise from the US DoD or State Department. It's nice to know that our President is keen on spreading freedom around the world, I'd just like to see him enforce his commitment consistently.

In any case, the core message of the Voice article is one that the American media is not interested in dealing with: The impending war on Iran (and probably Syria too). We'll get the same spiel: Authoritarian leaders, WMD (which in Iran's case would be believable) etc., etc. It would all be commendable if it weren't so damn hypocritical. In any case, don't expect this story to get more than a few nanoseconds of coverage before the fit hits the shan, if you get my drift.