Bits: Sarkozy on Palestine, Media in Burma and Indians Pretend to Fly

1.

"Sarkozy Reaches Out to America, and to Its Jews" by Nicholas Wapshott, from the New York Sun

During his recent U.S. visit, French President Sarkozy was awarded the Light Unto the Nations Award by the American Jewish Committee. While calling for the existence of a Jewish state and assuring Americans that the French aren't anti-Semitic, he had this to say:

"...Mr. Sarkozy said France is ready to defend the existence of Israel, but the existence of a Palestinian Arab "nation state" is essential to end the Jewish state's differences with the Palestinians."

"The issue of Israel's security is very close to my heart," Mr. Sarkozy said. "I do not always agree with Israel's government, but their security is non-negotiable. But I also wish a viable Palestinian state. Rather than two states, you should have two nations. That may seem a semantic difference."

Thank you, Sarkozy.

2.

"Myanmar's junta prevails in the age of information" by Richard Bernstein, from the International Herald Tribune

By comparing established media responses to the recent/current protests in Burma and the protests in Vietnam in the early 1960s, Bernstein hardly mentions citizen journalism like the images Ko Htike posted earlier or from other first-person accounts from those who flee the country. This is what he has to say about it:

"There has been, as far as we know, no self-immolation [referring to AP photographer Malcolm Browne's Pulitzer winning photo of a monk immersed in flames while meditating] in Myanmar during the recent round of protests there, but what if there had been? Maybe there would have been photos of it, as there were of some other events, notably the killing by the army of the Japanese photographer Kenji Nagai, which was flashed around the world on the Internet."

"Moreover, after a few days, during which amateur photographers were able to put images of the Buddhist protest on the Web, the junta simply turned off the internet. And since then there have been no more photos, and very little news.

"In other words, Myanmar's dictators quickly learned the lessons of the hazards of openness, and it's a lesson whose importance is demonstrated over and over again."

3.

"India's flight of the imagination" by Simon Robinson, from Time

Touching, but sad.