Turkey and Israel

"As more natural gas comes online for Delek, Israel may pipe as much as 20 billion cubic feet of gas annually to Turkey, he said. Zorlu runs three power plants in Israel and is the second biggest buyer of Delek’s natural gas behind state-owned Israel Electric Corp." (thanks Jamal)

Morsi and sham courts of Egypt

So the Sisi regime shot at Ikhwan protesters and killed hundreds of them (perhaps thousands, no one knows) and then they put the Ikhwan leaders on trial for the shooting? Is there anyone out there choking on this irony?

Bashshar leaving in 2014?

Syria watcher, Karim Pakradouni, pointed out on New TV yesterday that there is no mechanism for transfer of power in Syria once the term of Bashshar ends.  So if Bashshar completes his term, and no election takes place, he stays on as president. 

Bashshar's popularity?

The media office of Bashshar has recently been peddling a lot of fabrications and inventions.  They now appear on regular basis every week.  This one claims that Bashshar was found to be popular among the residents of the Za`tari camp in a recent public opinion survey, according to this story in As-Safir.  I asked UN sources who work with the refugees and I was told that no such survey was ever conducted, and that residents are too afraid to even admit they like Bashshar, if they did.

Syrian women versus Saudi women, again

Regarding the post below, comrade Dirar sent me this:
"I did some research based on your post, not to compare Syrian woman to Saudi women, but to American women, and by the time Najah al-attar was minister of education in Syria in 1976, there had been only 3 women in the US appointed a cabinet level secretary. And as meaningless as it might be in reality, she's the vice president, while a woman never held such a post in the US.
And this link lists some Syrian women with prominent roles, and laws the pertain to women's rights in Syria. "

Teaching Arabic

Aljazeera has a new website to teach Arabic.  The website is written in Arabic.  So how do you expect a non-Arabic speaker to learn or even navigate the site?  How dumb is that?

Syrian women versus Saudi women

  Yesterday, I mocked the silly Western report about the countries that are most unfair to women, and how it ranked Syria behind Saudi Arabia.  You can also add that in Syria, women are allowed to fly planes of the national airlines, while in Saudi Arabia they can't even drive cars, or even fly kites.

Atheists in Egypt

A delegation of Egyptian atheists asked to meet with the Committee of 50 which is tasked by the Sisi dictatorship with drafting the Egyptian constitution but the Committee (under the leadership of the cowardly and shifty Amr Musa) refused. 

A resignation that won't register in US media

All news that are damaging to the cause of the Syrian "revolution" is expunged from US media.  Take this item today: the head of Revolutionary Military Council of the Fee Syrian Army, `Abdul-Jabbar-`Akidi, has resigned.  This is big news by the standards of the Syrian rebels and it is widely discussed in social media. 

Saudi King and Hitler's dagger

"The original report about Abdullah’s dagger comes from a 2004 book by Lebanese-American political science professor As’Ad AbhKhalil, “The Battle for Saudi Arabia.” Writing on the brief flirt between Nazi Germany and Saudi Arabia’s first monarch Ibn Saud, AbhKhalil cites a “private American source” who has visited the Saudi royal palace several times. He says that Abdullah “keeps in his displayed possessions a dagger given to him by Hitler.” "  The dagger was given to his father, and my source is a former US ambassador in Saudi Arabia, who often sat with the King in his private office, where the King (crown prince at the time, freely smoked--against Wahabiyyah morality).

Gen. Giap: a hero remembered

"Giap, the one classically trained member of Vietnam’s revolutionary cadre, with degrees in philosophy, history, law and politics, stood out in his country’s faceless collective leadership. He was a lover of orchids and French literature — even after the French tortured his wife to death. He braved Vietnam’s censors to speak the truth. No wonder hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese attended his funeral. He ushered in the modern, post-colonial world. He stood for independence and self-determination. What he said was meant to be a force for good in the world, and what he left unsaid is ours to discover. "

Deported from the US for daring to be tortured by Israeli terrorists

"In Prisoners for Palestine: A List of Women Political Prisoners, Odeh describes her experiences being arrested by Israeli security forces and then tortured,


“It was the Id al-Adha and all the family was present. They came at midnight when we were asleep and burst open the front door. "Where's Rasmiya? Where's Rasmiya? " My father asked them for their warrant, but they shoved him aside, entered the girls' bedroom and pulled me out of bed. I opened my eyes to see the room full of soldiers, my sisters petrified. They asked me at once, "Did you put the bomb in the supermarket? " I said I knew nothing. They wouldn't let me dress so I just put a coat over my nightgown as it was raining. As soon as we got into the car they started slapping and punching me. They took me to the Ramallah prison for one or two hours—I'm not sure how long. Then they blindfolded and handcuffed me and took me to a place that I thought very far, because we drove for so long, but I learnt later that it was the Moscobiya, the torture factory.”


Odeh goes on to describe her experience being tortured:


“The first time they stripped me and threw me on the floor, the room was full of men—civilians and soldiers. They laughed at my nakedness and kicked me, beat me with sticks, pinched me all over, especially on the breasts; my body was covered with bruises. Then they got a wooden stick, not a smooth one, and pushed it into me to break the hymen. They brought my father and fiancé to see me. I lost consciousness and when I woke I was in another room, lying on the floor with a blanket over my legs but my body still naked.”


This torture continued until Odeh was tried, and convicted in an Israeli military court, a court system where the average trial for a Palestinian lasts for three minutes, and has a 99.74 percent conviction rate. Odeh was sentenced to life in prison." (thanks John)

Bassem Youssef conspiracy?

From a comrade:  "Apparently, the whole banning of Bassem Yousef was a show so that Sisi can undo the ban and come out as a democrat. My sources in Cairo tell me that Bassem was part of the plot from the start, which would be hardly surprising."

Women in scandinavian countries

"Over time, Scandinavian countries became modern social democratic states where wealth is more evenly distributed, education is typically free up through university, and the social safety net allows women to comfortably work and raise a family. Scandinavian moms aren't agonizing over work-family balance: parents can take a year or more of paid parental leave. Dads are expected to be equal partners in childrearing, and they seem to like it. (Check them out in the adorable photo book, The Swedish Dad.)" (thanks Nabeel)

malfunction: just like all the American helicopters that crashed in Iraq

"An Israeli military spokesperson stated Sunday that the drone fell inside the Gaza Strip, effectively falling in the hands of the resistance. He said that the drone landed and crashed due to a "malfunction", an issue that the resistance challenged."

Palestinians in Syria

"The war has forced some 50,000 Palestinians to flee Syria, a country where they had enjoyed some of the most favorable treatment in all of the Arab world."  And this favorable treatment to Palestinians in Syria preceded the advent of the Ba`th, mind you.

UNICEF's American chief

""Lebanon has opened its borders, opened its arms."  Lebanon has led a war on Syrian refugees, and only opened its borders due to orders from the US, and it has supplied arms to both sides in Syria.  Stop your propaganda.

South Africa's post apartheid regime on Israeli apartheid regime

" "The last time I looked at the map of Palestine, I could not go to sleep. Its dots, [they're] smaller than those of the homelands," Nkoana-Mashabane added, referring to the former Bantustans, tiny territorial enclaves where millions of black South Africans were forced to live during the racial segregation of apartheid."

George W. Bush is slient on political matters except...

"Behind closed doors, he made a surprise keynote address to Jewish organizations, where attendees said he urged skepticism of Iran’s recent outreach, in effect warning Mr. Obama."

PS Don't you have to be an idiot to pay a penny for a plate to hear this man speak on any issue? I would not do it if the plate in question is fried eggplants and Karabij are served as desserts.

Israel's lawyers

"More tellingly still: would the United States have done a better job of brokering an Israel-Palestinian peace if its negotiators (a number of whom were drawn from the lobby's ranks) had not been acting as "Israel's lawyer" and if the U.S. could have made its aid to Israel conditional on an end to settlement building? If you think the lobby's clout had no impact on our mishandling of these two important problems, I've got a bridge to sell you and then a couple of books for you to read."

There is such a thing as a Buddhist mob after all

""Most of the victims have been Rohingya, a long persecuted Muslim minority in the country, with Buddhist mobs chasing them down with machetes, iron chains and bamboo clubs. The U.N. says it expects this year's exodus to be on one of the biggest on record because of the violence."" (thanks Amir)

Why the White Man can't be called a terrorist

""By now it should be clear that there is a pattern: acts of spectacular violence, predominantly by white men, are rarely termed "terrorist" even when all the evidence points in that direction according to the government's own standards.""

posts on blog

I think that the situation of posting on the blog has improved, don't you?  Answer me, damn it.  I am talking to you.  If this has been solved I have comrade Marc to thank, in particular.  And if this has not been solved, I have comrade Marc and many others to blame, damn it.

NSA's partnership with Israel

"And in a delicate spy-versus-spy dance, sharing takes place even with governments that are themselves important N.S.A. targets, notably Israel.  The documents describe collaboration with the Israel Sigint National Unit, which gets raw N.S.A. eavesdropping material and provides it in return, but they also mention the agency’s tracking of “high priority Israeli military targets,” including drone aircraft and the Black Sparrow missile system. "

Hamas conspiracy behind every corner in Egypt

Fahmi Huwaydi yet again exposes the kooky "Hamas conspiracy" element in the propaganda of the Sisi dictatorship.  (thanks Yusuf)

The Most Unfair Countries to Women in the World: Why you can't trust any of those Western rankings

I have never seen a Western (governmental or private, conservative or liberal) ranking of countries using different criteria that I trusted.  In fact, I always look at them to confirm my suspicions that they are unreliable.  There are political considerations employed in all those ranking, without exception.  Look at this one on "The most Unfair Countries to Women".  1) Who with his/her right mind would believe that Syria ranks behind Saudi Arabia on women's right and status? Who but a propagandist?  2) Notice that this silly ranking lists Saudi Arabia as having "a parliament".  I kid you not.  The rest is trash.  (thanks Saad)

The surveillance state

"“The bill that the intelligence committee voted on this week would expressly authorize this bulk collection for the first time, and that would be a huge step backward for the rights of law-abiding Americans,” said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), one of four committee members who voted against moving the bill."

Bandar's friend in the Washington Post

As you know, Bob Woodward is a close friend of Prince Bandar (who in Washington DC press corps who has received lavish gifts from Bandar is NOT a friend of Bandar?  There will come a time when someone like James Bill in The Eagle and the Lion will write about how the Shah's embassy in Washington, DC lavishly spent on the Washington press corps) and here he presents Saudi displeasure at the US as a national security crisis for the US.  Notice that not one word in a long article is even mentioned about the atrocious human rights record of the House of Saud.  I like this line:  "Although the Saudis and others in the region have been supplying weapons to the rebels since the fighting in Syria began more than two years ago and have cooperated with a slow-starting CIA operation to train and arm the opposition..."

War on Burma’s Rohingya

"The anti-Rohingya violence has since affected other Muslims in Burma. In September, a Buddhist mob rampaged through a Muslim neighborhood of Kamein ethnicity in Thandwe, a town in Rakhine state. Among those killed was a 94-year-old grandmother. Attacks have been reported in dozens of locations across Burma. In the central town of Meiktila, for example, a mob massacred middle-school students and their teachers, among others. Survivors told investigators from Physicians for Human Rights grisly details of beatings, stabbings, decapitations and immolations while scores of police officers watched and hundreds of bystanders cheered and shouted such things as, “Kill them!” A key catalyst for the violence is the rising influence of the 969 movement, a campaign led by Buddhist monks that preaches religious purity and urges boycotts of Muslim-owned businesses.

The threat of future violence is acute against all Muslims in Burma but particularly the Rohingya. Burma’s 1982 citizenship law does not include the Rohingya among the country’s officially recognized ethnic groups, so they are essentially stateless. They are widely reviled throughout Burma as illegal immigrants. They must obtain official approval to marry and to travel, even to neighboring villages; in some areas, they are prohibited from having more than two children. Many Rohingya, including children, have been forced to work without pay for government and military authorities. Rohingya routinely face arbitrary arrest and detention, confiscation of property, and physical and sexual violence.

Perhaps most outrageous amid this violence against Rohingya and other Muslims has been the tacit support of Burmese authorities. Investigations by Physicians for Human Rights and others have found that Buddhist monks and local politicians incited and led many of the attacks. State security forces have failed or refused to stop incidents of violence and sometimes participated in it. While hundreds of Muslims have been jailed for supposedly instigating the violence, few perpetrators have been arrested. It has become evident that there is little risk in Burma to those who attack Muslims. "

As I predicted

None of the Western media that I looked at today bothered to mention the shooting at poor Workers in Tripoli just because they are `Alawites. 

The prophetic vision of Geroge W. Bush

"Bush told Republican governors in the fall of 2002. “Afghanistan and Iraq will lead that part of the world toward democracy.”"

Bassem Youssef and Arab Liberals

The scene over the last few days has been grotesque: Western media and Arab liberals, who for months have ignored the clamp down on "Ikhwan media" in Egypt and the murder of Egyptians by the Sisi regime, have suddenly discovered that the Sisi regime is anti-democratic after all.  What a late and lame arrival at the truth. 

Steve Jobs and Capitalism

My weekly article in Al-Akhbar:  "Steve Jobs and Capitalism in the Technological Age".

For the first time, I find myself in full agreement with Barry Obama

"Obama meditating on drone strikes and telling his aides that he’s “really good at killing people”".

Calm down: Israeli nukes are safe

"The article quoted “American sources” as saying the United States would not pressure Israel to give up its nuclear weapons before reaching a deal with Iran over its nuclear program, which Iran says is peaceful but which Israel believes is aimed at building nuclear weapons. "

Roger Cohen was not kidding here in defending the mainstream media

"Greenwald overstates the conformity of mainstream papers, whose investigative journalism is often vigorous and fearless."

Jihad (or Jeeeehaaaaad) Inc

From a reader:  "The two Norwegian-Somali teenaged sisters who travelled to Syria to aid the civil war effort are now being held against their will and are desperate to return home, the girls' father has told state broadcaster NRK."

"My daughters say they are held against their will in Syria"

Western powers are NOT alarmed

"The Rokkasho reprocessing facility … is capable of producing nine tons of weapons-usable plutonium annually, said Japanese officials and nuclear-industry experts, enough to build as many as 2,000 bombs, although Japanese officials say their program is civilian."

"Enlightened" Muslims should pray for the British Royal Family

From Nu`man:  "So how should an "elightened" muslim behave, according to Douglas Murray; they must pray for the royal family: "Tell them that the era of ifs and buts about the extremists must end. Tell them to put the concerns of the state foremost in the minds of young Muslims, to have a picture of the Queen and say a prayer for the royal family in mosques as it is said in synagogues every Saturday. Tell them to teach their young that if they feel an urge to get involved in a struggle, they can join up for one the best armies in the world — the British army..."

Al-Arabiyya (the newsstation of King Fahd's brother-in-law) documents its stories

"But an Israeli military intelligence website ruled out health issues are behind Khamenei’s absence. DEBKAfile reported that the supreme leader has likely disappeared to focus on drafting a “trilateral” U.S.-Russian-Iranian accord for resolving the issues of Iran’s nuclear program." (thanks Basim)

Peace as war

This is part two of comrade Joseph's article.

Make no mistake about it: when House of Saud was (and is) sponsoring and arming Islamist fanatics, the US was aware and supportive of the endeavor

From Amir:  ""If there were a prize for Most Irresponsible Foreign Policy it would surely be awarded to Saudi Arabia. It is the nation most responsible for the rise of Islamic radicalism and militancy around the world. Over the past four decades, the kingdom's immense oil wealth has been used to underwrite the export of an extreme, intolerant and violent version of Islam preached by its Wahhabi clerics. Go anywhere in the world--from Germany to Indonesia--and you'll find Islamic centers flush with Saudi money, spouting intolerance and hate."

 "Of course some of this history is well known. The blowback story—how the US armed the mujahedeen, some of whom morphed into al-Qaeda—has been told in book and film. We are also getting a sense now of how parts of the US-backed Pakistani military-intelligence complex have actively supported radical Islamists. Collusion between Britain and Islamist movements over the past century has also been explored. And of course, Israel’s support for Hamas as a counterweight to the Palestinian Liberation Organization has gone down as one of the great diplomatic miscalculations of recent history." "In Egypt, the charge was often made by the government of Gamel Abdel Nasser that the Muslim Brotherhood was in the CIA's pay."

For years I have been telling you about the Saudi-Israeli alliance

"A week or so ago, I found myself sitting on a panel about Iran with Saudi Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud and Israel analyst and former Mossad officer, Yossi Alpher."

This is a maassacre that you won't hear about: a massacre that won't outrage Western human rights organization. A massacre that won't bother the UNSC

 

The "pro-Western", March 14 thugs of Bab At-Tibbanah in Tripoli (the ones managed by the Intelligence Branch of the Lebanese Internal Security Forces which is run jointly by the Saudi intelligence service and the CIA), stopped a bus full of `Alawite workers and shot at the civilians only before circulating the pictures (proudly) on various social media.  I went to the page of the director of Human Rights Watch in Beirut, who tweets round the clock, because I knew that he won't say a word on the massacre, and I was right. Not a word.  Imagine of this was in reverse: if those `Alawites stopped a bus load of Sunnis and shot at them.  It would have led to a special meeting of the Arab League, and the president of the Security Council would have been forced by the US to issue a statement and to convene a special session.  Just as the massacre of `Alawite civilians in Latakia took place without any concern or attention in Western capitals, this one would barely get the attention of Western media because the killers and the Western correspondents stationed in Beirut are in the same trench, literally in some cases.  They are allies of the gangs of the Syrian "revolution".  Here are names of some of the victims.

The blog

I have received many tips regarding correcting the problem where only a few posts appear per page.  Thanks to you all.  Correct me if I am wrong--I never am, how dare you--but it seems better today, no?