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Rumour has it that Alan Johnson is dead?!
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Junior



Joined: 18 Nov 2005
Location: the eye

PostPosted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 11:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Big_Bird wrote:

Looks like he is: Alan Johnston 'still alive'


Well that makes everything Ok. They probably just took him to the beach for an ice cream. Lets hear it for the kidnappers.

How is it the president gets to hear this but can't get him released? if he really wanted to do so he could.
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Adventurer



Joined: 28 Jan 2006

PostPosted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 6:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Junior wrote:
Big_Bird wrote:

Looks like he is: Alan Johnston 'still alive'


Well that makes everything Ok. They probably just took him to the beach for an ice cream. Lets hear it for the kidnappers.

How is it the president gets to hear this but can't get him released? if he really wanted to do so he could.


Junior, you were more cogent in the posts regarding Cho, because you may be understand how treating someone like him could have negative consequences.

It is possible for the PA president to hear through sources that he is alive. It is possible that those who have him are making it known they have him. There are some criminal gangs in Gaza who are trying to gain money for their clans. Gaza has a lot of poverty. Someone may see kidnapping Johnston as a way of getting revenue. They may get money, but they take away attention from the bad plight of their fellow Gazans which is very dumb. With the divisions between Fatah and Hamas there isn't a lot of order. Also, besides the split between Fatah and Hamas some split off from Hamas and that includes a certain clan that is thought to have possibly kidnapped Johnston. That is what I understand from the situation after researching the matter.

I don't think Big Bird said it makes things okay. She is relieved that he is not dead. I like people like Johnston. They give a voice to all kinds of people all over the world. He has been everywhere and put himself in danger to get the story out. You have to admire that, and I pray for him to return to his family.
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Big_Bird



Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...

PostPosted: Thu Apr 26, 2007 1:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Junior wrote:
Big_Bird wrote:

Looks like he is: Alan Johnston 'still alive'


Well that makes everything Ok. They probably just took him to the beach for an ice cream. Lets hear it for the kidnappers.


I don't condone anything these kidnappers have done. Most people will realise that, but I know from experience that I have to spell things out for posters like you and jinju. Much good it will do though. Rolling Eyes They are not acting in the interests of their fellow Palestinians; rather they are doing great damage.


Adventurer wrote:
I don't think Big Bird said it makes things okay. She is relieved that he is not dead.

Spot on Adventurer. I really hope he gets out of this, and soon.

Adventurer wrote:
I like people like Johnston. They give a voice to all kinds of people all over the world. He has been everywhere and put himself in danger to get the story out. You have to admire that, and I pray for him to return to his family.

I agree with you 100% ~ Journalists like this are probably highest on my list of people I admire, along with doctors who give up a life in a cushy practice to bring treatment and relief to sick and wounded in third world countries.
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Junior



Joined: 18 Nov 2005
Location: the eye

PostPosted: Thu Apr 26, 2007 1:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Big_Bird wrote:


I agree with you 100% Journalists like this are probably highest on my list of people I admire.


Wow thanks bigbird! i used to be a reporter Embarassed

I was careful not to give favorable bias to kidnappers, thugs and terrorists though.
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Big_Bird



Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...

PostPosted: Thu Apr 26, 2007 1:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Junior wrote:
Big_Bird wrote:


I agree with you 100% Journalists like this are probably highest on my list of people I admire.


Wow thanks bigbird! i used to be a reporter Embarassed

I was careful not to give favorable bias to kidnappers, thugs and terrorists though.


I'm talking about reporters who, as Adventurer puts it, 'give voice to all kinds of people all over the world.' People like Robert Fisk, Amira Hass or Alan Johnston for, example, who base themselves far away from the comfort of their own society and try to provide us with an insight into another world, giving us perspectives of 'the other' which we otherwise might not be exposed to.
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Junior



Joined: 18 Nov 2005
Location: the eye

PostPosted: Thu Apr 26, 2007 1:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Big_Bird wrote:

I'm talking about reporters who, as Adventurer puts it, 'give voice to all kinds of people all over the world.' People like Robert Fisk, Amira Hass or Alan Johnston for, example, who base themselves far away from the comfort of their own society and try to provide us with an insight into another world, giving us perspectives of 'the other' which we otherwise might not be exposed to.


Did he give a voice to Palestinian women trapped in their houses and murdered for flirting with their neighbour?

Oh I forgot- they're forbidden to speak to anyone that they're not married to.
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Big_Bird



Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...

PostPosted: Thu Apr 26, 2007 2:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Junior wrote:
Big_Bird wrote:

I'm talking about reporters who, as Adventurer puts it, 'give voice to all kinds of people all over the world.' People like Robert Fisk, Amira Hass or Alan Johnston for, example, who base themselves far away from the comfort of their own society and try to provide us with an insight into another world, giving us perspectives of 'the other' which we otherwise might not be exposed to.


Did he give a voice to Palestinian women trapped in their houses and murdered for flirting with their neighbour?

Oh I forgot- they're forbidden to speak to anyone that they're not married to.


And when you were a reporter, did you give voice to Palestinian women gunned down or blown up by the IDF? Oh I forgot - they were dead and couldn't speak to you.
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Big_Bird



Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...

PostPosted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 7:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Of interest:
Quote:
A Palestinian, with links superior to mine in the Occupied Territories leaned and whispered in my ear. "Why must these depraved individuals (referring to the kidnappers) keep placing us in these tough spots? What is even more bizarre about all of this is that everyone in Gaza knows who the kidnappers are."



Everyone in Gaza knows, I was told, including the authorities, and even the BBC received some heads up. He named names, elaborated on the demands of the kidnappers, who belong to a powerful clan, affiliated with some people in Fatah, the once leading Palestinian resistance movement which has slowly evolved into a most impressive network of power-hungry batch of individuals, factions, sub-factions, clans and so forth, a great source of national fragmentation and political discord. It turned out that other people at the press event had similar information. The kidnappers are apparently asking for five million US dollars and loads of ammunitions. My friend believes that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas must agree to the demands, to keep the rogue elements in his party in line; clan wars in Gaza tend to be politically taxing.



http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=12663
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Junior



Joined: 18 Nov 2005
Location: the eye

PostPosted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 8:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Interesting.

so the whole things about money rather than principles?

"What a surprise. "
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Hollywoodaction



Joined: 02 Jul 2004

PostPosted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 9:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Adventurer wrote:
Junior wrote:
Big_Bird wrote:

Looks like he is: Alan Johnston 'still alive'


Well that makes everything Ok. They probably just took him to the beach for an ice cream. Lets hear it for the kidnappers.

How is it the president gets to hear this but can't get him released? if he really wanted to do so he could.


Junior, you were more cogent in the posts regarding Cho, because you may be understand how treating someone like him could have negative consequences.

It is possible for the PA president to hear through sources that he is alive. It is possible that those who have him are making it known they have him. There are some criminal gangs in Gaza who are trying to gain money for their clans. Gaza has a lot of poverty. Someone may see kidnapping Johnston as a way of getting revenue. They may get money, but they take away attention from the bad plight of their fellow Gazans which is very dumb. With the divisions between Fatah and Hamas there isn't a lot of order. Also, besides the split between Fatah and Hamas some split off from Hamas and that includes a certain clan that is thought to have possibly kidnapped Johnston. That is what I understand from the situation after researching the matter.

I don't think Big Bird said it makes things okay. She is relieved that he is not dead. I like people like Johnston. They give a voice to all kinds of people all over the world. He has been everywhere and put himself in danger to get the story out. You have to admire that, and I pray for him to return to his family.


Yes, he was kidnapped by a group that nobody has heard about before, which probably means that they are after a ransom. Either the kidnappers are thugs who aren't affiliated with a larger organization, or they are using the new name as a cover. If it was purely political, chances we would have already heard of the group.
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