Eric Margolis
Encyclopedia
Eric S. Margolis is an American
-born journalist and writer. For 27 years, ending in 2010, he was a contributing editor to the Toronto Sun
chain of newspapers, writing mainly about the Middle East
, South Asia
and Islam
. He contributes to the Huffington Post and appears frequently on Canadian television broadcasts, as well as on CNN
. A multinational, he holds residences in New York, Paris, and Banff, Canada
. Margolis is the owner of Canadian vitamin manufacturer Jamieson Laboratories.
in 1947 to Henry M. Margolis
, and Nexhmie Zaimi
, an American-Albanian. His father was a New York businessman, restaurant owner, theatrical producer and investor, while his mother was a journalist and author. Eric Margolis holds degrees from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service
at Georgetown University
, the University of Geneva
and New York University
. During the Vietnam War
he enlisted in the U.S. Army
.
, an English language Pakistani newspaper, the Gulf Times
in Qatar
, the Khaleej Times
in Dubai
, New York Times and The American Conservative
. He appears regularly on such television outlets as CNN
, Fox, CBC
, British Sky Broadcasting
News, NPR
, and CTV
. He is a regular guest on the TV Ontario's
The Agenda
.
He is affiliated with several organizations including International Institute of Strategic Studies in London
and the Institute of Regional Studies
based in Islamabad
, Pakistan
.
Republican". Though his domestic political persuasion is moderately conservative
(he is a staunch anti-communist and a supporter of capitalism
), Margolis' views on the Middle East
are sharply at odds with those of the neoconservatives.
Margolis wrote about Barack Obama's
election that:
In a 2009 column, Margolis stated that an American politician he very much admires is Ron Paul
. Margolis wrote about Paul:
Margolis has said he rejects the Republican Party of 2010 due to the growing influence of the Tea Party movement
which he says now appeals to the fears and prejudices of its followers.
and Kashmir
. Margolis' mother, Nexhmie Zaimi, was also a journalist who spent a long time in the Middle East documenting the plight of the Palestinians during the 1950s. Her influence, plus Margolis's role as a foreign correspondent
in the Mideast and travelling with the mujahideen
during the Soviet-Afghan War, invested Margolis with a strong interest in the Muslim World. In a January 2009 column entitled "Eradicating Hamas", Margolis called the Gaza War a "final solution campaign" on the part of Israel
, and called Hamas
a popular revolutionary movement that had stood up for the rights of Palestinians “ethnically cleansed” in 1948.
In a November 2008 book review entitled "Deflating the Churchill Myth", Margolis in the Toronto Sun
endorsed Pat Buchanan
's book Churchill, Hitler and the Unnecessary War
as a "powerful new book". Margolis stated:
that Operation Barbarossa
was a "preventive war" forced on Hitler by alleged impending Soviet attack, and that it is wrong to give Hitler "total blame" for World War II.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
-born journalist and writer. For 27 years, ending in 2010, he was a contributing editor to the Toronto Sun
Toronto Sun
The Toronto Sun is an English-language daily tabloid newspaper published in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is known for its daily Sunshine Girl feature and for what it sees as a populist conservative editorial stance.-History:...
chain of newspapers, writing mainly about the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
and Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
. He contributes to the Huffington Post and appears frequently on Canadian television broadcasts, as well as on CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
. A multinational, he holds residences in New York, Paris, and Banff, Canada
Banff, Alberta
Banff is a town within Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. It is located in Alberta's Rockies along the Trans-Canada Highway, approximately west of Calgary and east of Lake Louise....
. Margolis is the owner of Canadian vitamin manufacturer Jamieson Laboratories.
Background
Margolis was born in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in 1947 to Henry M. Margolis
Henry M. Margolis
Henry M. Margolis was a New York industrialist, theatrical producer, and philanthropist.Margolis was born on New York's Lower East Side. He worked his way through City College of New York and New York University Law School, and was admitted to New York Bar...
, and Nexhmie Zaimi
Nexhmie Zaimi
Nexhmie Zaimi was a noted Albanian American author and journalist.-Early life and marriage:...
, an American-Albanian. His father was a New York businessman, restaurant owner, theatrical producer and investor, while his mother was a journalist and author. Eric Margolis holds degrees from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service
Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service
The Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service is a school within Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., United States. Jesuit priest Edmund A...
at Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
, the University of Geneva
University of Geneva
The University of Geneva is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland.It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin, as a theological seminary and law school. It remained focused on theology until the 17th century, when it became a center for Enlightenment scholarship. In 1873, it...
and New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
. During the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
he enlisted in the U.S. Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
.
Journalism
Margolis writes a regular column for the Huffington Post and also writes for DawnDawn (newspaper)
Dawn is Pakistan's oldest and most widely read English-language newspaper. One of the country's two largest English-language dailies, it is the flagship of the Dawn Group of Newspapers, published by Pakistan Herald Publications, which also owns the Herald, a magazine, the evening paper The Star and...
, an English language Pakistani newspaper, the Gulf Times
Gulf Times
The Gulf Times newspaper was founded in 1978 as the first publication of the Gulf Publishing and Printing Company in the capital city of Qatar, Doha . One of three English-language newspapers in the country [2006]...
in Qatar
Qatar
Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...
, the Khaleej Times
Khaleej Times
The Khaleej Times is a daily English language newspaper published in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Traditionally perceived as the second most popular newspaper in the UAE, Khaleej Times has struggled to keep up its circulation and entered 2011 with a print run of just under 40,000 copies...
in Dubai
Dubai
Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...
, New York Times and The American Conservative
The American Conservative
The American Conservative is a monthly U.S. opinion magazine published by Ron Unz. Its first editor was Scott McConnell, his successors being Kara Hopkins and the present incumbent, Daniel McCarthy....
. He appears regularly on such television outlets as CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
, Fox, CBC
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
, British Sky Broadcasting
British Sky Broadcasting
British Sky Broadcasting Group plc is a satellite broadcasting, broadband and telephony services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, with operations in the United Kingdom and the Ireland....
News, NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
, and CTV
CTV television network
CTV Television Network is a Canadian English language television network and is owned by Bell Media. It is Canada's largest privately-owned network, and has consistently placed as Canada's top-rated network in total viewers and in key demographics since 2002, after several years trailing the rival...
. He is a regular guest on the TV Ontario's
TVOntario
TVOntario, often referred to only as TVO , is a publicly funded, educational English-language television station and media organization in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario Educational Communications Authority, a Crown corporation owned by the Government of Ontario...
The Agenda
The Agenda
The Agenda with Steve Paikin is the flagship current affairs program of TVOntario, Ontario’s public broadcaster. The show practises what anchor and senior editor Steve Paikin calls "long-form" journalism. Each hour-long program tackles no more than two topics, and often only one...
.
He is affiliated with several organizations including International Institute of Strategic Studies in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and the Institute of Regional Studies
Institute of Regional Studies
Institute of Regional Studies was established in 1980 in Peshawar, Pakistan and registered under Societies' Act 1860 as an independent, non-profit and non-governmental entity having interest in regional and global issues concerning NWFP-Pakistan, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and...
based in Islamabad
Islamabad
Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan and the tenth largest city in the country. Located within the Islamabad Capital Territory , the population of the city has grown from 100,000 in 1951 to 1.7 million in 2011...
, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
.
United States
Margolis identifies his politics as "EisenhowerDwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
Republican". Though his domestic political persuasion is moderately conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
(he is a staunch anti-communist and a supporter of capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
), Margolis' views on the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
are sharply at odds with those of the neoconservatives.
Margolis wrote about Barack Obama's
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
election that:
"Americans did not `liberate’ Iraq, but they certainly liberated their own nation last week by sweeping the Republican Party from power. One prays America’s long nightmare of foreign aggressions, fear, religious extremism, and flirting with neo-fascism is finally at an end."
In a 2009 column, Margolis stated that an American politician he very much admires is Ron Paul
Ron Paul
Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul is an American physician, author and United States Congressman who is seeking to be the Republican Party candidate in the 2012 presidential election. Paul represents Texas's 14th congressional district, which covers an area south and southwest of Houston that includes...
. Margolis wrote about Paul:
"I came to deeply respect and admire Paul’s courage, honesty, and his refusal to accept special interest money...In fact, Rep. Paul has been a model of the type of legislators envisaged by America’s founding fathers: men of high moral standards and intellect dedicated to the nation’s wellbeing. He reminds me in many ways of the fiercely upright senators of the early Roman Republic".
Margolis has said he rejects the Republican Party of 2010 due to the growing influence of the Tea Party movement
Tea Party movement
The Tea Party movement is an American populist political movement that is generally recognized as conservative and libertarian, and has sponsored protests and supported political candidates since 2009...
which he says now appeals to the fears and prejudices of its followers.
9/11
Margolis has argued that the American government may have been behind the 9/11 attacks. On September 10, 2010, in a column on his website Margolis declares "we still do not know the real story about 9/11." Margolis' arguments include, the Osama Bin Laden tapes are fakes, questioning why the Air Force didn't shoot down the planes, asserting a lack of plane wreckage at the Pentagon, and repeating the theory that 9/11 was "staged by Israel’s Mossad and a cabal of right-wing US Air Force generals” without criticizing the theory. While saying there is no "hard evidence" that Americans were behind 9/11, he adds “What, in the end, can we conclude? … The attacks plunged America into wars against the Muslim world and enriched the US arms industry[,] boosted pro-Israel neo-conservatives [and] destroyed one of Israel’s two main enemies."Middle East
Margolis is best known from his coverage of PalestinePalestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
and Kashmir
Kashmir
Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...
. Margolis' mother, Nexhmie Zaimi, was also a journalist who spent a long time in the Middle East documenting the plight of the Palestinians during the 1950s. Her influence, plus Margolis's role as a foreign correspondent
Foreign correspondent
Foreign Correspondent may refer to:*Foreign correspondent *Foreign Correspondent , an Alfred Hitchcock film*Foreign Correspondent , an Australian current affairs programme...
in the Mideast and travelling with the mujahideen
Mujahideen
Mujahideen are Muslims who struggle in the path of God. The word is from the same Arabic triliteral as jihad .Mujahideen is also transliterated from Arabic as mujahedin, mujahedeen, mudžahedin, mudžahidin, mujahidīn, mujaheddīn and more.-Origin of the concept:The beginnings of Jihad are traced...
during the Soviet-Afghan War, invested Margolis with a strong interest in the Muslim World. In a January 2009 column entitled "Eradicating Hamas", Margolis called the Gaza War a "final solution campaign" on the part of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, and called Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
a popular revolutionary movement that had stood up for the rights of Palestinians “ethnically cleansed” in 1948.
World history
In a November 2008 book review entitled "Deflating the Churchill Myth", Margolis in the Toronto Sun
Toronto Sun
The Toronto Sun is an English-language daily tabloid newspaper published in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is known for its daily Sunshine Girl feature and for what it sees as a populist conservative editorial stance.-History:...
endorsed Pat Buchanan
Pat Buchanan
Patrick Joseph "Pat" Buchanan is an American paleoconservative political commentator, author, syndicated columnist, politician and broadcaster. Buchanan was a senior adviser to American Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan, and was an original host on CNN's Crossfire. He sought...
's book Churchill, Hitler and the Unnecessary War
Churchill, Hitler and the Unnecessary War
Churchill, Hitler and the Unnecessary War: How Britain Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the World, is a book by Pat Buchanan. The book was released in May 2008.- Synopsis :...
as a "powerful new book". Margolis stated:
"Buchanan’s heretical view, and mine, is that the Western democracies should have let Hitler expand his Reich eastward until it inevitably went to war with the even more dangerous Soviet Union. Once these despotisms had exhausted themselves, the Western democracies would have been left dominating Europe. The lives of millions of Western civilians and soldiers would have been spared".In a 2009 essay entitled "Don’t Blame Hitler Alone For World War II", Margolis endorsed the claims of Viktor Suvorov
Viktor Suvorov
Viktor Suvorov is the pen name for Vladimir Bogdanovich Rezun , a former Soviet and now British writer of Russian and Ukrainian descent who writes primarily in Russian, as well as a former Soviet military intelligence spy who defected to the UK...
that Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
was a "preventive war" forced on Hitler by alleged impending Soviet attack, and that it is wrong to give Hitler "total blame" for World War II.
Publications
- War at the Top of the World: The Struggle for Afghanistan, Kashmir, and Tibet (ISBN 0-415-93062-6) Routledge 1999
- American Raj: The West and the Muslim World (ISBN 1-554-70087-6) Key Porter September, 2008. Finalist in English non-fiction category at 2009 Governor General's Awards2009 Governor General's AwardsThe shortlisted nominees for the 2009 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit were announced on October 14, and winning titles will be announced on November 17...
for Literary Merit.
External links
- Eric Margolis home page
- Eric Margolis: Archives on LewRockwell.comLewRockwell.comLewRockwell.com is a 501 libertarian web magazine operated by Burton Blumert , Lew Rockwell , Eric Garris , and others associated with the Center for Libertarian Studies ; its motto is "anti-state, anti-war, pro-market"...
- D-Day: We Were All Allies - commentary, revealing decisive role of the Soviet UnionSoviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.