I try to read the Aardvark as often as I can, as you should, but it's tough to get into 'big picture' stuff in the blog context, so I'm very happy to have a chance to spelunk at book-length depth in his thought-caves - I'm eager to learn! In the meantime, this longish piece in the Wilson Quarterly is a great introduction and well worth a read:
Al-Jazeera may have never broadcast a beheading video, but it has shown many clips of terrified hostages begging for their lives. It airs lengthy statements by Osama bin Laden and invites extremists on its talk shows. Watching the Egyptian radical Tala’at Ramih rhapsodize over the beheading of Western hostages on one popular talk show, or Americans and Iraqi civilians die bloody deaths, as shown on raw video footage, or ex-Nazi David Duke discuss American politics at the station’s invitation, it’s easy to see why al-Jazeera is such a tempting target.But these incendiary segments tell only half the story. Al-Jazeera is at the forefront of a revolution in Arab political culture, one whose effects have barely begun to be appreciated. Even as the station complicates the postwar reconstruction of Iraq and offers a platform for anti-American voices, it is providing an unprecedented forum for debate in the Arab world that is eviscerating the legitimacy of the Arab status quo and helping to build a radically new pluralist political culture.
The neoconservative Weekly Standard’s call for America to “find a way to overcome the al-Jazeera effect” gets things exactly wrong. The United States needs to find ways to work constructively with the “al-Jazeera effect.” The station is as witheringly critical of Arab regimes as it is opposed to certain pillars of American foreign policy. In its urgent desire to promote democracy and other reforms in the Arab world, al-Jazeera shares important aspirations with America. Though no friend of U.S. foreign policy, it is perhaps the single most powerful ally America can have in pursuit of the broad goal of democratic change in the Middle East.
Obviously, you are intrigued and want to read the rest yourself. Link via Nadezhda at the Excellent Group Blog Formerly Known As Liberals Against Terrorism, which now goes by the (much better for several reasons) name American Footprints. See also Lynch's recent post on Al-Jazeera and the recent Egyptian elections for an obviously relevant example.