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'The Myrtle Tree' - 'Birds of War' - 'Iran Hostage Crisis in Context'

Middle East Panorama show on Resonance FM 104.4
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The Myrtle Tree by Jad el Hage (Banipal Books, 2007). A Novel of love and Dreams in War-Torn Lebanon. Jad El Hage comments: "The most recent of our wars began in the 1970s and ended by stages in the early 1990s, depending on how one defines 'beginning' and 'end'. This uncertainty characterised the entire conflict. The only certainty is that we killed each other for more than fifteen years." The novel, says Patrick Seale, "conveys with razor-sharp accuracy the sights, sounds, tastes and tragic dilemmas of Lebanon's fratricidal civil war. A must read .' Hear the author.

Birds of War: Hawks, Doves and Illegal Eagles is an exhibition of contemporary, visual artwork to mark the fourth anniversary of the Iraq invasion. 11-17 April 2007 at Candid Arts Trust Gallery, London. >> Listen to Tanya Tier >> Listen to Alaa Siraih

In The Iran Hostage Crisis in Context David Wearing argues that "a broad cross-section of the Western news media...have reliably undertaken their standard task of caricaturing and infantilising the official enemy. Much effort has been spent ascribing to Iran the fanaticism, aggression and various other pathologies that constitute the designated framework within which we are told its actions must be understood." Interview.

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