The difficulty of access to the airwaves continues to be a major obstacle for us. As of Jan 1, a major NPR-affiliate in north/central Michigan dropped AR. And a station in the Twin Cities turned down our request to get on the air. A couple of years ago, the major NPR-affiliate in central Pennsylvania also dropped us. We also lost our occasional broadcasts on KQED/SF-the largest NPR station in the country. While we continue to air in SF on KALW, their signal and audience is much smaller. AR, as you may know, is offered free to all public stations. While these developments are discouraging we continue undaunted to bring progressive views to the airwaves.

In the interests of frugality and efficiency we are now only printing one catalog a year. Our complete audio and book archive is on our website and we are urging everyone to use it. However, if you would like a mini-catalog to give to friends or other possible donors just let us know.

As for programming, AR scooped the BBC and NPR by having on Pakistani voices, Fatima Bhutto and Rahimullah Yusufzai before they did. My December 2007 trip to Pakistan and India resulted in other programs as well with Vandana Shiva and Sanjay Kak.

I plan on returning to South Asia in mid-March.

And a bit of exciting news - we have discovered two important recordings of the great Edward Said :

The Palestinian Narrative, 19 Feb 2002 Edward Said says, “It is imperative to see the Palestinian narrative if we are to arrive at a state that can roughly be described as peace.” He then criticizes the media for “a series of twisted ideological fictions designed not only to disguise but to obliterate reality.” On Palestine, liberals are guilty of “moral cowardice.” He then adds, “There is no military option….The only hope is to find a mode of coexistence for what is a land with two peoples in it.” Lecture w/ Q&A. Recorded at Wesleyan University. 2 CD SET, Code: SAIE030

Palestine & the Universality of Human Rights, 19 Feb 2003 Recorded on the eve of the attack on Iraq, Edward Said says the war will be a disaster and is motivated by “resources and strategic control.” He then moves to Palestine where “building a wall will not solve the problem.” While acknowledging the “hopeless situation that encloses us all” he concludes on an optimistic note where he discusses future reconciliation and his vision of hopeful paradigms. “There are other models,” he says, pointing to his musical collaboration with Daniel Barenboim. Lecture w/ Q&A. Recorded at UC/Berkeley. 2 CD SET, Code: SAIE031

Bush's visit to the client regimes in the Middle East is a circus. It is a photo opportunity for his White House scrapbook, not an opportunity for peace as he announces. It is designed to give the impression that the US-absurdly called “an honest broker”-is engaged in something called a “peace process” with “road maps” and “confidence building measures.” It is not intended to accomplish anything except to inject more US weapons in the region and to raise false hopes. And to give his remaining months in office a little bit of glamor and to burnish his “legacy.” As to the latter, it is pretty clear he will go down as one of the worst presidents in US history. And a major war criminal who should be prosecuted for crimes against humanity. And the media while Bush roams the lands of Araby? 18 Palestinians killed- page 8 (Jan 16, 2008) New York Times. 6 Palestinians killed- page 12 (Jan 17, 2008) New York Times. Imagine the media coverage if Israelis were killed in those numbers. As Vonnegut would say, And so it goes.

Israel bombs Syria and Turkey bombs and invades Iraq. Never mind. If you are allies of the Empire you have carte blanche. And the Empire itself? As Martin Luther King said the US is, “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world.” It is above the law and has a permanent get out of jail pass. Double standards? More like quadruple standards.

Bush of Arabia. There he was in robes hobnobbing with the Saudi emirs. And holding a sword and swaying back and forth. What a spectacle. S.A. is one of the most misogynist, homophobic, sectarian, fundamentalist regimes in the world and the “Leader of the Free World” is kissing up to them begging, Please pump more oil.

As I tell people here, if a Saudi woman were to go to sleep tonight and wake up tomorrow in Iran, she would think she is in heaven.

The Saudis almost invented the Taliban with assistance from Zia ul-Haq in Pakistan. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the other emirates are not evencountries in the conventional sense. They are family-run businesses that operate petrol pumps. Recall too, that only three countries extended diplomatic recognition to the Taliban: Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Pakistan.

On his Voyage to the East, Bush is still promoting his Attack Iran symphony. Not only is Iran a danger to the US he warns, but it threatens the “security of nation's everywhere“ and it is “the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism.“ He is having trouble enlisting anyone to perform in his orchestra so he may have play alone. That's what freedom and democracy require. Resolve. Toughness. More terms of propaganda like his preposterous War on Terror. Why not declare a War on Avarice or a War on Hypocrisy? Orwell must be doing back flips in his grave. Language is manipulated to manufacture consent and to limit the bounds of permissible thought.

In Egypt, the American president cuddles with the dictator Mubarak. If he completes his current term, he will be the longest serving ruler of Egypt since Ramses II. Political opponents and dissidents are imprisoned and tortured, human rights violations are widespread, and elections are rigged. And Bush of Arabia tells Pharoah Mubarak, “I appreciate the example that your nation is setting.“

As to expansion of Israeli colonies, “settlements“ is too polite, Washington has always gone along with practically everything Israel does. There is a technical term for what Israel does. It's called stealing. Arabs, and Palestinians in particular, are a nuisance except when they kiss the hand of the Master then they are acceptable. Those in opposition to the Empire raise uncomfortable questions and inconvenient facts. They must be taught lessons in obedience and servility. The US media compliantly reflect the official line on “terrorist“ groups like Hizbollah and Hamas and aren’t “terrorist“ states like Iran and Syria. Most journalists here are poseurs. They are actually stenographers. They take Pentagon and White House press releases and change a few pronouns and adjectives around and present it as news.

Frederick Douglass, an African-America freedom fighter once said, “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has and it never will. “ That's the reality and how the world works.

I suspect you have, but if you haven't already, I suggest you read Fanon's “Wretched of the Earth.“ It explains a lot of why post-colonial societies are they way they are. Colonialism hasn't really ended. It has taken new shapes and forms. Old wine in new bottles. Do you read Eqbal Ahmad, Eduardo Galeano and Arundhati Roy? I spent a few days with her in Delhi last month. She's an inspiration.