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Brian Whitaker Profile
Brian Whitaker

@Brian_Whit

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1,528
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868
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42,007
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Journalist, former Middle East editor of the Guardian newspaper. Author of 'Arabs Without God: Atheism and Freedom of Belief in the Middle East'.

Joined February 2009
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
4 years
"Don’t ask why people tore down a statue of a slave trader - ask why it was put up in the first place."
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
7 years
Man tries to burn EU flag. Flag doesn’t burn because of EU regulations on flammable materials
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
6 years
Interesting how Assad apologists endlessly question mainstream media reports then, when an unnamed doctor tells Robert Fisk there was no chemical attack they accept it without question.
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
5 years
Lots of revolutionary talk coming out of Egypt under these two hashtags. There's a feeling that something is afoot, but nobody quite sure what. #نازلين_بعد_الماتش #ميدان_التحرير
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
4 years
Here's John Pilger denying the Ukrainian plane was shot down ... just before Iran said the opposite.
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
7 years
Rainbow over Cairo
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
5 years
Massive demonstration in Aden, Yemen. The flags are those of the former southern state.
@HaniBinbrek
هاني بن بريك
5 years
شعبنا اليوم يؤكد التفافه حول قيادته السياسية المجلس الانتقالي بقيادة سيدي الرئيس عيدروس الزبيدي القائد العام للقوات الجنوبية مفوض شعب الجنوب في الرابع من مايو 2017م لقيادة الجنوب. من كان جنوبيا ومشروعه الاستقلال فمكانه هنا، وأي جنوبي مشروعه غير ذلك فليحترم إرادة الغالبية العظمى.
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
8 years
UK has 8 Muslim MPs. Six of them, including Sadiq Khan, voted to allow same-sex marriage ()
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
3 years
Amid a crackdown on fake qualifications, Kuwait appoints minister with a bogus degree
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
6 years
A comment, from someone who was there, on Brexit minister David Davis's talk at RUSI today
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
5 years
Guardian newspaper was warned it was target of a Saudi hacking unit after Khashoggi killing
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
7 years
An important part of British values is that we don't force people to take oaths of the kind proposed by Sajid Javid
@BBCPolitics
BBC Politics
7 years
Holders of public office should swear an oath to British values, minister Sajid Javid says.
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
6 years
BBC says there is enough evidence to be confident that at least 106 chemical attacks have taken place in Syria since September 2013
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
7 years
BTW, Andrew Napolitano, who spread the GCHQ story on Fox News, is a 9/11 Truther
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
2 years
"Call me old fashioned, but I’d rather Boris Johnson wasn’t prime minister when Russia invaded Ukraine. Serious times call for serious leaders and Johnson is a profoundly unserious person."
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
7 years
Prime mInister Theresa May explains why leaving the EU is a very bad idea
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
3 years
I have sent a formal complaint to Edinburgh University about the nonsense propagated by Professor Paul McKeigue.
Tweet media one
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
8 years
London’s Muslim mayor is nothing new: 1300 years of Muslims who ran major European cities
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
4 years
The incompetence is unbelievable. It's time for a multi-party national government in Westminster, plus extension of Brexit transition period.
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
6 years
A useful directory of people defending the Assad regime, compiled by @KesterRatcliff
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
6 years
Assad defender Vanessa Beeley showed this slide during a talk at Uppsala University in Sweden, according to students who were present. Disgusting if true.
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
8 years
Should Obama declare Agrabah a no-fly zone for carpets?
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
2 years
Why do people who espouse one fringe belief often end up espousing others? In this article for @newlinesmag I've been looking into some seemingly unlikely connections between anti-vax campaigners, 9/11 truthers and defenders of Syria's Assad regime.
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
3 years
My new e-book, "Denying the Obvious", is out today. Read it here ...
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
5 years
A Brexit Party candidate who lives in the south of France has been elected to represent the northeast of England in the European parliament.
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
5 years
Fintan O'Toole: Are the English ready for self-government? via @IrishTimesOpEd
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
10 years
Irish govt should take action against racism/Islamophobia emanating from Israeli embassy in Dublin http://t.co/MoZL3R3ZO5
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
8 years
A shocking photo from Yemen on the front page of The Times today
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
4 years
More than 20 ex-Muslim organisations from around the world have joined forces to mark today (August 22) as the first annual International Apostasy Day. #ApostasyDay
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
6 years
Just because false WMD claims were used to engineer war with Iraq in 2003, it doesn't logically follow that all claims relating to WMD in Syria today are false. You have to look at the evidence. Some people find this hard to grasp.
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
6 years
If the worst is proved in the Jamal Khashoggi affair, the US and the UK will have a case to answer too
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
6 years
Vanessa Beeley — the Syrian conflict’s goddess of propaganda
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
7 years
A press release from Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, via Thomas Friedman
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
3 years
Why can't Jordanian royals just air their differences on the Oprah Winfrey show like the British ones do?
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
2 years
The conspiracy theorists who were spreading disinformation about Syria have now mostly turned their attention to Covid. But the disinformation techniques that they use haven't changed.
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
2 years
@RhonddaBryant British MPs were paid up to £1,000 for a single appearance on RT.
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
7 years
US makes formal apology to Britain after White House accuses GCHQ of wiretapping Trump Tower via @telegraphnews
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
6 years
A British student has been detained for the last five months in the United Arab Emirates "without explanation" after a research trip, his wife says.
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
4 years
For first time in Saudi Arabia, Covid-19 recoveries exceed new infections
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
4 years
Coronavirus trend in Iraq is clearly upwards. Two people have died so far and cases are spread widely.
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
5 years
Worth watching again: a discussion between Jamal Khashoggi (six months before his murder) and Ali Shihabi of the Arabia Foundation (which closed down suddenly yesterday).
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
6 years
Ivanka Trump and the fugitive from Panama -- a fascinating investigation by Reuters via @SpecialReports
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
2 years
Noam Chomsky "views the Syrian struggle – as with every other struggle – solely through the frame of American imperialism. He is thus blind to the specificities of Syria’s politics, society, economy and history".
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
2 years
@redsteeze @TheSpectator Wrong. It's not the first.
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
3 years
Just came across this ...
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
2 years
Britain’s media regulator, Ofcom, has revoked Russian-backed television channel RT’s licence to broadcast in the UK with immediate effect.
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
3 years
BBC: Dozens of people have been detained as a string of protests begins across Russia in support of jailed opposition politician Alexei Navalny.
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
2 years
Exclusive: @newlinesmag ’s @michaeldweiss obtained documents showing $1 billion in Russian loans issued to the Assad regime, which will largely benefit Gennady Timchenko and Yevgeny Prigozhin, two sanctioned oligarchs.
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
5 years
“For the Conservative party’s Manchester conference, the slogan was 'Get Brexit done'. Yet again, Boris Johnson swears blind he’s going to withdraw on schedule. A promise an unspecified number of single mothers have heard before.”
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
6 years
Middle East humour: the thoughtful silliness of Karl reMarks
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
2 years
Also worth recalling how his Edinburgh colleague, Prof Paul McKeigue, passed info to someone who he mistakenly believed to be a Russian agent.
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
1 year
1) My latest article for @newlinesmag discusses a recent @OPCW report about the chemical weapons attack on Douma, near Damascus, in 2018. The report blames Syrian government forces and also resoundingly demolishes claims the attack was faked by rebels.
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
2 years
A British academic whose Twitter account is tagged as "Iran state-affiliated media" was the main author of a report on Islamophobia published last week with funding from the EU's Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme.
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
6 years
Losing their religion: The number of ex-Muslims in America is rising via @TheEconomist
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
7 years
A college linked to the Trump/Russia affair has been making hasty deletions on its website
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
2 years
@ChrisDYork Don't forget Professor Paul McKeigue who falsely claimed Syrian rebels were using gas chambers and passed information to someone who he mistakenly believed to be working for Russian intelligence.
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
2 years
A French-Syrian man has been detained by French police on suspicion of supplying components for the manufacture of chemical weapons in Syria through his shipping company, sources briefed on the case told AFP Sunday. via @FRANCE24
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
3 years
OPCW "whistleblower" says he is NOT claiming Douma chemical attack was faked.
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
2 years
Evacuation route out of Mariupol was mined, Red Cross says.
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
7 years
Nasser's prestige "fell when he lost the 1973 war against Israel" Not surprising: he had been dead for 3 years
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
5 years
Today is the 82nd birthday of Abdelaziz Bouteflika, president of Algeria since 1999, who is seeking a fifth term to take him up to 2024. Algerians are not wishing him a happy birthday.
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
5 years
Syrian media report that Shaam al-Assad, the president's niece, not only came first in the national equestrian championship, but in second place too. Here she is, straddling two steps on the winners' rostrum ...
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
3 years
Credit to the Russians where it's due: they know a useful idiot when they see one
@DanielDumbrill
Daniel Dumbrill
3 years
An amazing presentation by Aaron Maté at the UN Security Council on the fraudulent reporting that lead to the bombing of Syria. The US and UK Ambassador got the hell out of dodge before being able to answer this question.
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
7 years
Trump executive order could block 500,000 legal U.S. residents from returning to America from trips abroad
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
2 years
The BBC has obtained recordings of what are said to be phone calls made by Tunisian president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali as he fled the country during the 2011 revolution. #Tunisie
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
5 years
Ian Dunt: Boris Johnson "finally pulled the trigger and nothing came out". via @politics_co_uk
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
7 years
@Peston Surely he was just referring to the Conservative & Unionist Negotiating Team
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
6 years
The Independent's version of Robert Fisk's report from Douma has just appeared.
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
4 years
How did Britain get its response to coronavirus so wrong?
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
1 year
Conway Hall in London is the second venue to cancel hosting of this event organised by Putin's admirers
@ConwayHall
Conway Hall
1 year
re. No 2 Nato event / Sat 25 Feb We have reviewed this booking *which was a third-party hire of our venue and not part of our programme* and informed the organisers that it will no longer be taking place at Conway Hall. 1/2
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
5 years
Details of today's protests against parliament shutdown for anyone wanting to join them.
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
3 years
Serious question for @aaronjmate You talk a lot about Douma, but is it your view that NONE of the chemical attacks reported in Syria were carried out by the Syrian government?
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
3 years
This highly critical article about Robert Fisk, by Syrian journalist Asser Khattab, was published in Arabic after Fisk's death last year and has now been translated into English ...
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
6 years
@jonworth She's had to move the location from Newcastle to London because the #RoadToBrexit is blocked with snow.
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
7 years
The curious timing of the Qatar crisis via @AlMonitor
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
7 years
"As a British EU negotiator, I can tell you that Brexit is going to be far worse than anyone could have guessed"
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
3 years
For anyone who is interested: There is a website where you can check whether universities and colleges operating in Britain are accredited or not.
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
2 years
‘They were furious’: the Russian soldiers refusing to fight in Ukraine
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
6 years
U.K. would vote against Brexit in a second referendum, study says via @bpolitics
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
10 years
The Gaza 'kidnap' fiasco. Untrue story that fooled Obama and led to more deaths http://t.co/t4Y0O1sCwS ( http://t.co/4M7unV96ka)
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
2 years
Letters between Boris Johnson and Evgeny Lebedev shed new light on how the son of a Russian oligarch and former KGB officer built such a close relationship with Britain’s prime minister.
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@Brian_Whit
Brian Whitaker
6 years
The issue with Vanessa Beeley and the @merthyrrising festival is not free speech. It's about someone who defends a repressive regime (in Syria) having been invited to take part in an event that celebrates resistance to oppression.
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