Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and media sharply critical of Al Jazeera

YNet reports that

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni gave an interview Monday (29/12/08) to Arab television network al-Jazeera in which she harshly criticized Hamas, saying the organization was to blame for the civilian casualties in Gaza...

However she also lambasted Al Jazeera:

[She] sarcastically noted during the interview that "when you show one-sided images from Gaza you're not helping peace. I understand that pictures which create provocation lead to anger and hostility among the citizens, but we want a better future for this region"

Al Jazeera and PressTV have been showing wall to wall coverage of the Israeli invasion from an Arab perspective. These channels are available internationally. This has angered many Israelis. I am not aware of any Israeli TV channels which perform the same function.
YNet also carries an article by Dr. Mordechai Kedar who is a lecturer at Bar-Ilan University’s department of Arabic. In it he calls for the closure of Al Jazeeras offices:

........What matters is that this is not a media channel, but rather, a jihadist terrorist channel that aims to eliminate the State of Israel. It is for good reason that Osama Bin Laden hands over his audiotapes to this channel, which cooperates with him fully.
Israeli citizens are paying with their blood for the media freedom enjoyed by al-Jazeera.
There is only one conclusion here: We must immediately shut down al-Jazeera’s Israel offices and prevent its employees from working for it. Once Israel does it, many other countries will follow suit, particularly in the Middle East, for their own reasons. They are waiting for Israel to put an end to the recklessness of this non-media channel....

Al Jazeera English is streaming live on Livestation with coverage of Israeli invasion of Gaza.

Al Jazeera English is streaming live on Livestation (A free player) with coverage of the Israeli invasion of Gaza. Admittedly Al Jazeera English looks at the Israeli incursion from an Arab perspective. Other TV channels are available on Livestation including BBC World News, Bloomberg, C-Span, Euronews, France 24, ITN, RT (Russia Today) and NASA TV. Radio stations include the BBC World Service and DW-Radio.

Livestation viewers have also bookmarked 2911 channels like Discovery Channel, CNN, and FOX 8 USA. You can add these streams to your player after you download it. Some channels may be subjected to geographical restrictions,especially in the USA. Details here

Russian invasion of Georgia is a PR disaster-Has a new Cold War begun?

Today Russian forces overran the strategic Georgian city of Gori and are attacking on two fronts. Georgian forces have have fallen back and are preparing to defend the capital Tbilisi.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the original conflict Russia is now seen as an agressor by many political observers.

Russia's ambassador to Nato declared that Mr Saakashvili "is no longer a man that we can deal with". Dmitri Rogozin said: "He must be punished for breaching international law. He is responsible for many war crimes." Vladimir Putin, the Russian Prime Minister, said that Russia would continue its military operation until "its logical end".

Obviously Russia wishes to topple the democratically elected leader of Georgia. This has very serious implications for world peace. Will Ukraine and Poland now face similar punishment? If so the West cannot stand idly by. Russia is bitterly opposed to closer links between the US and many former Communist East European countries. Putin wishes to send a threatening message to the leaders of those countries: You can have closer links with the US at your peril. Russia could quite easily sleep walk into a world war. Is that what Putin wants?

This invasion of Georgia brings to mind Russian tanks crushing the Dubcek regime in Czechoslovakia. Of course the Hungarian uprising and the workers uprising in East Berlin were also smashed by Russian tanks.
The invasion reawakens memories of the worst excesses of Stalinism. Russia has scored a huge PR own goal. Grave doubt must exist about the durability of Russian democracy.
Western European countries which had been moving towards closer economic links with Russia will now take stock.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline which is operated by BP and which transports one million barrels a day from Azerbaijan to the Mediterranean was targeted by Russian bombers. The £2 billion pipeline running through Georgia is the only major conduit for Central Asian resources not under Russian control and is of vital importance to Western Europe.

The Kremlin under Vladimir Putin, Russia's former president and now prime minister, has used gas exports to Europe as a tool of foreign policy. In 2007 Russia cut off oil supplies to Belarus therby affecting supplies to Germany and Poland amongst other neighbouring countries. In 2006 Russia demanded a hike in gas prices from Ukraine. Western Europe gets 25 percent of its gas from Russia with 80 percent of that coming via the pipeline through the Ukraine.
Thus Russia has the ability to blackmail Western Europe using energy as a tool. Increasingly Russia is seen as untrustworthy.

The invasion of Georgia further cements this view. Russian leaders need to rethink their strategy. Of course a newly confident Russia buoyed up by huge oil revenues may choose to ignore world opinion.
If so it is on a course to political isolation. A new Cold War may already have commenced.