• Superbe #Teju_cole !

    Reading The Times With Teju Cole - NYTimes.com
    http://www.nytimes.com/times-insider/2014/12/10/reading-the-times-with-teju-cole/?_r=0

    Q. The big news today is the Senate’s scathing report on the C.I.A. and its torture program. It’s hard to know where to start here. General thoughts?

    A.
    A1 is screaming. It’s great that The Times has left behind the ugly euphemism of “enhanced interrogation” and generally now calls torture “#torture.”

    But I was disappointed that the headline itself omitted that word. It’s a missed opportunity.

    (...)

    Q.
    What was most surprising piece about the report? The most outrageous detail reported?

    A.
    (...)

    Perhaps the most outrageous detail might be one The Times omits: the case of #Gul_Rahman, who froze to death in a #torture chamber, who was a victim of mistaken identity and shouldn’t have been in custody at all, and for whose death no one was, and no one will be, held responsible. [Mr. Rahman was mentioned in this article.]

    Imagine if Iran did this to an American! We’d exhaust the dictionary with our synonyms for condemnation.

    (...)

    Q.
    In its own editorial The Times called the C.I.A.’s conduct depravity beyond comprehension. Does that surprise you?

    A.
    No. The Times gets it right sometimes. The paper’s #fabrications and support for the Iraq war is a generational shame that shouldn’t be too quickly forgotten. It should haunt us for a long time. But the paper’s prestige means that when it comes out with a strongly worded statement in defense of human values, it is always welcome.

    (...)

    #New_york_Times #CIA

  • Reporting on the Front Lines in Ukraine - NYTimes.com
    http://www.nytimes.com/times-insider/2014/08/27/reporting-on-the-front-lines-in-ukraine

    On Tuesday, we drove in this fashion through a narrow corridor more than 70 miles long (and of unclear width) that was recently vacated by the Ukrainian Army, which left empty checkpoints and blown up military vehicles behind, as we moved south from Donetsk to the Azov Sea shore to cover reports of Russian or pro-Russian soldiers crossing the border from Russia to attack a town there.
    (…)
    Now, we’re focusing on the counteroffensive staged from across the Russian border that started over weekend. The Ukrainian retreat could bring pro-Russian forces to the outskirts of the city of Mariupol soon.

    The city is packed with refugees from elsewhere in eastern Ukraine and an important steel industry center. With both sides putting out a good deal of misleading information, it’s important to observe events firsthand, and we might relocate south to cover this development.

    À force de l’annoncer, il semblerait bien que l’intervention russe — et la retraite ukrainienne — se précise et semble viser une ligne Donetsk-Novoazovsk.

    >>>>>

    US Department of State : Russia directing counteroffensive in Donbas
    http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/us-department-of-state-russia-directing-counteroffensive-in-donbas-362310.

    U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki says that Russia is directing a counteroffensive in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Voice of America reported in the early hours of Thursday, Aug. 28.