Tag Archives: China

02Jun/08

Slavery and Freedom on the Internet

Freedom and the Internet, , , , ,

By Nir Boms, The Jerusalem Post

Aug. 21, 2007

The Internet – the free and open Web of ideas – has become the new symbol of freedom, or at least one of its more visible prophets. Howard Rheingold, a scholar of the early Internet era, predicted a utopian vision where the “electronic agora” would change the public space and create a free, global society, or an “Athens without slaves.”

But Rheingold’s vision remains utopian. Research shows that outside the Western hemisphere, it is the terrorist groups that have gained the upper hand on the Internet as they use its free virtual space to support radicalism and extremism rather than democracy and freedom. Today, there are more than 5,000 Internet sites affiliated with terrorist groups. Continue reading →

11May/08

Assad’s Glasnost?

Middle East, Syria, , , , ,

By Elliot Chodoff and Nir Boms
FrontPageMagazine.com | January 21, 2005

It was a busy week of hospitality for Bashar Al-Assad.  As visitors from America and China graced the halls of the presidential palace in Damascus, longer-staying guests continued to depend on Assad’s welcome and shelter to make trouble across Syria’s borders.

Senator John Kerry, still in presidential campaign mode, visited Syria last weekend and came away bearing apparent good news: Syria would like to open a new page in its relations with the U.S.  Kerry arrived in Damascus immediately following the departure of U.S. Under Secretary of State Richard Armitage.  Armitage had been there to discuss Syria’s failure to prevent armed supporters of the former Iraqi regime from entering Iraq and launching attacks against American troops and Iraqis.  Assad told Armitage that Syria is doing its best to control the terrorists and that Syrians are largely uninvolved in Iraq. Imad Mustafa, Syria’s ambassador to the United States, who also attended the meeting, asked Americans to stop their criticism of Syria in the media since “they have nothing to support” it. Continue reading →