Friday, April 4, 2008

Obstinately not Seeing Reality

A small item in the Hebrew, paper only version of Haaretz, tells of an interesting event yesterday in Nicosia (Cyprus). Apparently a 3-decade-old blockade in the center of town was taken down to general jubilation, as a mutual gesture of goodwill between Turk-Cypriots and Greek-Cypriots. And then a few hours later it was put up again, because of flaring animosities.

I know effectively nothing about Cyprus, for all it's being a mere hop away from here. Nor do I have any dog in that particular conflict, though like any reasonable person I'd prefer the Cypriots to figure out how to live together amicably, if possible. The point of this post is to poke fun at the Guardian on an issue that doesn't touch upon Israel.

The Guardian reports on the event with a 1,210-word gushing report. How wonderful! How exciting! How hopeful! And even better, the reason for all the euphoria is that both sides have Lefty leaders!

Only at the very end of the article is there one minor note of wariness:
But the day ended on a sour note last night when the checkpoint was closed on the Greek side amid claims Turkish Cypriots had violated an agreement.
You couldn't make this up. I wish I knew which planet these folks hail from.

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