A source on politics, war, the Middle East, Arabic poetry, and art.
Saturday, August 01, 2009
The scandal: Arab and Western media are silent
"Exiled Uyghur dissident Rebiya Kadeer accused China today of trying to lay a veil of silence over the disappearance of “about 10,000 people” during the unrest in Urumqi, Xinjiang. The head of the World Uyghur Congress has also reproached the United States for its silence over the matter as well. Ms Kadeer arrived yesterday in the Japanese capital to urge the international community to provide support to her people, “massacred” by the Chinese." The Arab media are not outraged because 1) they are only allowed by their lousy Arab governments or oil sponsors to protest Danish cartoons; 2) becasue some treat China kindly because they think it will emerge as the next Super Power and liberate Palestine for the Arabs; 3) because the Uyghurs are not seen as equal Muslims. Western media are not interested in the story and CNN is not busy with the story as it was covering Iran, and the New York Times did not assign "independent observers" in the region to cover the story for it because China loans the US some $2 trillion a year.