With the recent escalation of violence in the Middle East and a terrorist attack in Mumbai, India, the right-wing media have declared a new "world war" but have not agreed upon which world war the United States now faces: World War III, IV, or V.
World War III?
Most recently, on the July 13 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly said "World War III ... I think we're in it." Similarly, on the July 13 edition of MSNBC's Tucker, a graphic read: "On the verge of World War III?" As Media Matters for America has noted, CNN Headline News host Glenn Beck began his program on July 12 with a discussion with former CIA officer Robert Baer by saying "we've got World War III to fight," while also warning of "the impending apocalypse." Beck and Baer had a similar discussion on July 13, in which Beck said: "I absolutely know that we need to prepare ourselves for World War III. It is here."
World War IV?
On the July 10 edition of Fox News' The Big Story, host John Gibson interviewed Michael Ledeen, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), and said "some are calling the global war on terror something else, something more like World War III." But Ledeen responded that "it's more like World War IV because there was a Cold War, which was certainly a world war." Ledeen added that "probably the start of it [World War IV] was the Iranian revolution of 1979." Similarly, on the May 24 edition of CNBC's Kudlow and Company, host Lawrence Kudlow, discussing a book by former deputy undersecretary of defense Jed Babbin, said "World War IV is the terror war, and war with China would be World War V."
Other conservatives have previously suggested the "war on terror" as "World War IV." In a September 2004 article, Commentary editor-at-large Norman Podhoretz noted "World War III (that is, the cold war)" and that "the great struggle into which the United States was plunged by 9/11 can only be understood if we think of it as World War IV." And in January 2005, FrontPageMag.com hosted a symposium called "Ukraine and World War IV."
World War V?
On the July 13 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, Fox News host Sean Hannity declared: "we are loaded up today, as the Middle East on the brink of World War V, here." Hannity did not explain what he regarded as World Wars III and IV. But earlier in the show, Hannity suggested the current conflict is World War III, stating: "[I]s World War III breaking out in the Middle [East]? It may very well be."
http://mediamatters.org/items/200607140017
Hezbollah drone batters Israeli warship AP
Hezbollah rammed an Israeli warship with an unmanned aircraft rigged with explosives Friday, setting it ablaze after Israeli warplanes smashed Lebanon's links to the world one by one and destroyed the headquarters of the Islamic guerrilla group's leader.
Week's Attacks Leave More Than 250 Dead in Iraq http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,203493,00.html
Freedom's On The March?
Five years ago, President Bush looked into Vladimir Putin's eyes and thought he got 'a sense of his soul.' But Putin turned out to be less a soul mate than a traditional autocratic Russian leader. In his second inaugural address, Bush outlined his vision of global democracy: "We do not accept the existence of permanent tyranny because we do not accept the possibility of permanent slavery. ... Democratic reformers facing repression, prison, or exile can know: America sees you for who you are -- the future leaders of your free country." OK, maybe he didn't expect Hamas to be a democratically elected government during his Presidency. But for the past five years, Bush has largely turned a blind eye to Russia's increasing anti-democratic trends and now has limited means to advance the "freedom agenda" that was to mark his second term. The 2006 annual report of the watchdog group Reporters Without Borders notes that conditions for journalists in Russia "continued to worsen alarmingly in 2005, with violence the most serious threat to press freedom. ... The government tightly controls distribution of state advertising, which amounts to blackmailing independent papers that dare to discuss the war in Chechnya." Most recently, the Kremlin forced radio stations to stop broadcasting news from the U.S.-funded Voice of America and Radio Free Europe. Putin has also "eliminated the independence of Russia's governors and weakened the lower house of parliament, the Duma, by enacting laws that discourage true opposition parties and favor the Kremlin-controlled United Russia faction." The Kremlin has already started to crack down on protesters in advance of the weekend's summit, and according to participants at the "Other Russia" conference -- a meeting of prominent opposition figures -- "more than 60 activists were prevented from attending the conference and some were beaten or detained."
Quickies:
Oil surged to record highs above $78 a barrel on Friday as intensifying violence in the Middle East raised concerns of possible supply disruptions.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates the Iraq war could cost anywhere between $202 billion and $406 billion more over the next decade, depending on how quickly U.S. force levels are reduced. (Don't worry though, Iraqi oil revenue will pay for the entire war -Paul Wolfowitz tell us)
Less than two months after voting overwhelmingly to build 370 miles of new fencing along the border with Mexico, the Senate yesterday voted against providing funds to build it. Just Stupid.
Thirty-three House conservatives voted against the renewal of the Voting Rights Act yesterday, and a majority of House conservatives voted for several "potentially killer amendments" that were nonetheless defeated.
(sources: Media Matters for America, FOXnews, AP, Yahoo!, Democracy In Action, American Progress)
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