Mahmoud Abbas getting ready to eat

George Tarabishi and Western correspondents in the Middle East

One of the manifestations of the inadequacy of Western reporting on the Middle East is the ignored passing of one of the most influential or read Arab intellectuals of the 20th century, the Syrian George Tarabishi.  He died a week ago and I didn't see any reference to him in any Western media.  His intellectual transformation took him from Ba`thism to Marxism to Existentialism to a mix of liberalism/Freudism.  He was silent about the Syrian war because he--like the Syrian Adonis--never was a fan of the Syrian "revolution".  But, also like Adonis, he avoided criticizing the Syrian regime.  He authored and translated many works: almost a 100 books. He translated (not always adequately) works of Western thought (Freud and Marcuse among others) but from French translations and not from the original German or English.  He was a great stylist who wrote on many topics.  I, of course, disagreed with him politically and only met him once briefly in London.  For those who are interested  in learning more about him, the writings of Michaelle Browers of Wake Forest University include references to him.  Michaelle, who has an excellent command of Arabic, is one of the few Western experts of the Middle East who keep track of Arab intellectual debates and trends.

PS Of course, the fact that most Western correspondents can't read Arabic and can't follow Arabic intellectual debates explains the omission in coverage.

Saudi-Qatari relations: a Saudi channel moves to Doha

So former Ben Ladenite-turned Saudi Wahhabi liberal, Jamal Khashuqji (who worked for various Saudi princes over the years) decided to move the new news channel that he will be running on behalf of his patron prince, Al-Walid, from Bahrain (where it lasted for one day before it was shut down by the Bahrain tyrants) to Doha.  The amusing thing is that Khashuji during the conflict years between the Saudi and Qatari regimes was one of the most loud voices against the Qatari regime. In this interview he defines the role of the new channel:  "And he confirmed that the stances that will be adopted by the Al-Arab channel will be to serve to the policies of Saudi Arabia which we believe in".  Kid you not. 

Representative of the Israeli terrorist regime offer callous advice to Belgium

"“If in Belgium, they continue to eat chocolate and enjoy the good life with their liberalism and democracy, and do not understand that some of the Muslims there are planning terror, they will never be able to fight against them," Israel’s minister of intelligence and atomic energy, Yisrael Katz, told Israel Radio on Wednesday morning." (thanks Fred)

Russian bombing of ISIS: in comparison to US bombing

There is no question that Russian bombing of ISIS has been far more effective in crippling the capabilities of ISIS than US bombing.  The destruction of ISIS oil export abilities was undertaken by Russian bombing.  The US failed (or didn't even try to) in destroying their truck and expert facilities.

The conservative reactionary country of Jordan: the Foreign Minister didn't dare hug the crying EU foreign minister for fear of offending Muslim reactionaries

Watch the vide: the cowardly foreign minister avoided hugging the EU foreign minister because he wanted to respect the silly reactionary conservative values of Jordan's religious establishment.  

The war between Syrian regime forces and ISIS around Palmyra

After weeks--by the admission of the New York Times--of ferocious battles between Syrian regime forces and ISIS the New York Times just today decided to write a brief story. You see this contradict the conventional narrative about Syria, in which the story holds that there were never battles between Syrian regime forces (or their allies) and ISIS.  

Saudi King: his days are numbered

As-Safir published this week what it said was a medical report about the degenerative mental state of the Saudi King.  The Saudi ambassador in Lebanon issued a stern warning and denied the report and insisted that the King is in excellent health. You know what that means? The King is on the verge of dying any second now.  

UC and free speech: a victory for democracy?

Last night, after I wrote my brief post about the UC Regents decision regarding free speech and anti-Zionism, I thought about the matter. I felt that we should not be really celebrating the decision as a victory for free speech.  It should be seen as a regression of democracy.  The matter should not have come to that in the first place.  We should not celebrate the basic and axiomatic right to criticize a foreign government and an ideology.  The harm to democracy has already been done by deliberating the matter.  This was a setback for democracy regardless of the outcome.  

FLASH: Zionist censors in US--biggest enemies of democracy in the country--lose: UC regents reject blanket censure of anti-Zionism

"University of California regents said Wednesday that anti-Semitism has “no place” on a college campus but declined to issue a broad condemnation of anti-Zionism as a form of discrimination.  Instead, they unanimously approved a report on intolerance that decried only “anti-Semitic forms” of the political ideology, which challenges Israel's right to exist in Palestine." 

This is basically a reiteration of our stance in the pro-Palestinian community in the US: we reject any and all forms of anti-Semitism of any kind, and we don't welcome any anti-Semites in our midst.  We remain steadfast in our stiff and categorical opposition to all forms of Zionism, which is a form of racism and segregation.  This victory for free speech should energize the anti-Zionist movement worldwide.  States based on racism, exclusion, and occupation have no place in the modern world.  Furthermore, all states based on an exclusive religious identity--whether Muslim or Jewish--should be opposed as relics of medieval times.  

US partners in war crimes in Yemen

"Around midday on March 15, fighter jets from a Saudi-led coalition bombed a market in Mastaba, in Yemen’s northern province of Hajjah. The latest count indicates that about 120 people were killed, including more than 20 children, and 80 were wounded in the strikes — perhaps the deadliest attack yet in a war that has killed more than 6,000 civilians." "While the horrific terrorist attacks against civilians in Europe receive extensive media coverage, the U.S.-supported bombings of civilians in Yemen get scant attention."

U.S. media cover-up of close ties between US-armed gangs & Al Qaeda

"The twists and turns in the three major newspapers’ coverage of the issue of relations between US-supported opposition groups and Al Qaeda’s franchise in Syria thus show how major news sources slighted or steered clear of the fact that US client armed groups were closely intertwined with a branch of Al Qaeda"

Conspiracy in Syria? What conspiracy? And isn't Google in Syria part of civil society and "revolution"?

"An interactive tool created by Google was designed to encourage Syrian rebels and help bring down the Assad regime, Hillary Clinton's leaked emails have reportedly revealed." "WikiLeaks has previously been responsible for publicising links between Google and high-ranking State Department officials, and founder Julian Assange's 2014 book When Google Met WikiLeaks accused the company of helping to further the US government's foreign policy agenda." (thanks Amir)

Hannah Arendt "Zur Person" Full Interview (with English subtitles)

I am dying for someone to name for me those "democratic revolutionary forces"? who are they? I would love to know them to cheer them, really

"Its murder spree has greatly weakened the democratic revolutionary forces".

What is happening in Palmyra

This is rather curious.  There are ferocious battles going on around Palmyra between the Syrian regime forces and ISIS forces but the Western media does not cover it because it does not fit into the Liz Sly narrative: that there are no battles between Syrian regime forces and ISIS.

Saudi regime media war on Obama

The front page of Al-Hayat (mouthpiece of Prince Khalid bin Sultan) carried this headline: "Obama bows down to Catro".

Saudi Lobby in US

"When Nimr al-Nimr, a peaceful government critic, was executed in January, the Podesta Group helped the regime shape media coverage, providing a quote to the New York Times to smear Nimr as a “terrorist.” Other American consultants working for the Saudi Embassy used social media and other efforts to attack Nimr and justify the execution."

Differences between Obama, Hillary, and Sanders

Obama relies on UAE* ruling dynasty to promote a moderate version of Islam.  Sanders relies on Jordan ruling dynasty to promote a moderate version of Islam.  While Hillary relies on Netanyahu to promote a moderate version of Islam.

*I am not making this up. The US administration has assigned UAE regime to be in charge of promoting a moderate message of Islam on social media to combat ISIS.

BDS stickers in stores across Canada

"Stickers calling for the boycott of Israeli products have been spotted in stores across Canada." "They read: “Warning! Do not buy this product. Made in Israel: A country violating international law, the 4th Geneva Convention, and fundamental human rights…#BDS.” "

Saudi Arabia remains one of Britain's closest allies worldwide

"The official title of the religious police is the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. Chillingly, only two other movements in the world — the Taliban in Afghanistan and Islamic State in Syria and Iraq — have organisations with the same name. The Saudi government has always denied that it has any connection either with Islamic State or with Al Qaeda. Nevertheless, both jihadist organisations endorse the state religion which Saudi Arabia has spent an estimated $70 billion (£48 billion) exporting around the world."

Western governments and the dangers of terrorism

Western governments will spend years and years trying to deal with the dangers of terrorism but they will finally realize the ultimate contradiction in their policies: that they are aligned with the Saudi regime which remains the Number One source of terrorism i noted world (directly or indirectly, materially or ideologically).  

Basically, Western governments are relying on Saudi regime and its Jihadi fanatical Wahhabi clerics to promote a moderate version of Islam

life in Saudi Arabia

"Saudi Arabia Uncovered aims to reveal the hidden reality inside one of the world's most secretive and strict Islamic regimes and questions Britain's relationship with the country." "Saudi Arabia is a key ally of the West," "The documentary was filmed for six months undercover and also exposes the extremes of wealth and poverty in Saudi Arabia. Women are considered to be second-class citizens and police beating women is the norm."

U.S. support for apartheid regime

"Palestinians must travel on separate roads, which are patrolled by Israeli soldiers. They often walk under enormous nets that look like cages, and settlers drop objects — and even urinate — on them from their windows above. Levy described Israel’s occupation simply as a form of apartheid. “It looks like apartheid, it walks like apartheid, it behaves like apartheid; it’s apartheid,” he said." (thanks Amir)

Among the training of Syrian rebels in Syria are home-made explosives: Western responsibility

Western governments (notably US but also France and UK) have secret and not-so secret programs to train Syrian rebels: we know now (see yesterday post here) that 50% of US arms in Syria wind up in the hands of Nusrah (the official Al-Qa`idah branch in Syria).  Among the training that ISIS and Nusrah give is to make home-made explosives (from hair bleach and nail polish, as we learned from an investigation by the NYT of the Paris bombing).  Those graduates then spread around the world.  Western governments ignored those same Jihadi Syrian rebels when they were sending car bombs into Lebanon: they thought as long as they are hitting Lebanese, they don't have to worry about them.  

Repression and Censorship: the refuge of Zionists

Zionists are desperate in the 21st century.  They know that anti-Zionism is spreading among the youth of the world.  The only response they have is to try to censor expressions of anti-Zionism.  They make force the US Department of State to introduce a new ridiculous definition (since when the US Department of State become the headquarters of philosophical and political definitions?), and they can pass new laws and regulations to censor voices of anti-Zionism.  But they will never succeed in silencing our anti-Zionist voices.  And their most vulgar and crude and anti-Semitic tricks is to conflate anti-Semitism with anti-Zionism.  Those are the same people who tolerate anti-Semitism when it comes from the pro-Zionist camp (as in the evangelical Christian crowd).  Do you remember when US House member, Robert Dornan (a right-wing loud mouth of the 1980s and 1990s) referred to Soviet spokesperson (Vladimir Posner) with a grotesque anti-Semitic slur? The Zionists came to his defense at the time because of his pro-Israeli voting record.  

MESA's response to UC's attempt to muzzle criticisms of Zionism

"If anti-Zionism is conflated with anti-Semitism or treated as a covert manifestation of it, then any criticism of Israel might conceivably be perceived as harassment under these policies. This would surely constitute a violation of the First Amendment rights of students, staff, and faculty at the University of California as well as a violation of the university’s own academic freedom protections under Policy 010 of the Academic Personnel Manual. It would also undermine the principles of academic freedom that all institutions of higher education have a duty to respect and defend."

Raul Castro

It is fair to say that Raul Castro has the charisma of a Ted Cruz.  

Apologists for Al-Qa`idah?

Do people notice that US Zionists have become apologists for Al-Qa`idah and its variants (especially in its Syrian branch) as of late?

	Matthew Levitt (@Levitt_Matt)
3/22/16, 6:15 AM Don't think this is unrelated 2 Brussels attack... Assad May Bet Russia & West Need Him More Than He Needs Them nytimes.com/2016/03/23/wor…

Terrorism in Europe: how US and Western governments nourished and encouraged Al-Qa`idah terrorists in Syria

You can really trace the current problem of terrorism hitting Europe to the beginning of the Syrian war in 2012 and the insistence of Western governments--against all available evidence--on creating the myth of "moderate Syrian rebels".  Western propaganda glamorized a non-existing Syrian "revolution" and romanticized those Muslims in the West who took the trip to fight with the various Jihadi group.  The myth of the moderate Free Syrian Army was in full swing at the time, and any opinion which warned of the dangers of rise of terrorist groups in Syria was immediately dismissed as pure Syrian regime propaganda.  The dangerous propaganda ploy of Western media continues. Look at this map from this article in Bloomberg.  Look how the areas designated as "Syrian rebels" is so widely expanded.  In fact, if you look at the areas around Idlib, the dominant force there is Nusrah Front even if it works with other militant Jihadi groups under the banner of Jaysh Al-Fath.  So basically, whenever Nusrah Front (the descenents of the terrorists of Sep. 11) align themselves with other rebel groups, Western propaganda and media outlet regard the rebels in that area as "moderate Syrian rebels" because they are not fighting under the banner of Nusrah although the banner exists.  This is one of many example but it gives you an idea.  And Zionists have been most active in this regard and in spinning this propaganda but they are not alone: some liberal and leftists have also been spinning this fable.

PS This article by the research arm of the Israeli lobby concedes the point about Nusrah Front in Idlib.

Some more additional information about Trump's foreign policy advisers

"On his LinkedIn page, Papadopolous lists among his awards and honors that he was U.S. Representative at the 2012 Geneva International Model United Nations."

The text of Bernie Sanders speech at AIPAC (which was published but not delivered)

I can't believe that some progressives are hailing the speech.  His vision of Middle East peace is exactly that of George W. Bush with an added love and admiration for the King of Jordan.

Well, Bernie Sanders does not rule out US war on Iran for Israel's sake

"we should re-impose sanctions and all options are back on the table.  Moreover, the deal does not mean we let Iran’s aggressive acts go unchecked. The world must stand united in condemningIran’s recent ballistic missile tests as well as its continued support for terrorism through groups like Hezbollah."

Flash: Bernie Sanders calls on the only Social Democratic states of the Middle East to lead the Middle East region

"What I am saying is that the major powers in the region – especially the Gulf States – have to take greater responsibility for the future of the Middle East."  If this is what the US socialist candidate thinks, imagine how bad the rest would be.

Here it is: text of the speech by Bernie Sanders to AIPAC

Let me summarize the speech for you in one sentence from his speech: "I agree with Jordanian King Abdullah".

Foundation for Defense of Democracies and Dictatorships supportive of Israeli wars and occupation

I think that people often miss how influential this shop has become in US foreign policy debates.

US Presidential candidates and foreign policy

Why don't they all make the task of reporters easier: why don't they all declare that Netanyahu is their collective and sole adviser on foreign policy?

Hillary asks: why has it taken the US so long to elect a woman who would order fighter jets to bomb children in refugee camps

"And, of course, some of us remember a woman, Golda Meir, leading Israel’s government decades ago and wonder what’s taking us so long here in America?"

Donald Trump reveals foreign policy team in meeting with The Washington Post

"“Walid Phares, who you probably know. Ph.D., adviser to the House of Representatives. He’s a counter-terrorism expert," Trump said." Some background on Walid Phares.

Saudi cleric arrested

Did I not predict to you below that the Saudi Shi`ite cleric who defended Hizbukkah would be arrested? He was arrested today. 

Only in America

Only in America is neutrality toward a conflict is considered a bad word.

When they talk about the next level of US-Israeli relations: what do they have in mind? Sexual relations?

"That’s why I believe we must take our alliance to the next level."

At AIPAC: Hillary pledges to combat freedom of speech

"and the growing effort to de-legitimize Israel on the world stage — are converging to make the U.S.-Israel alliance more indispensable than ever.

(APPLAUSE)

We have to combat all these trends"

Some people should avoid joking as they are very unfunny: Hillary at AIPAC

"although I don’t think Yitzhak Rabin ever forgave me for banishing him to the White House balcony when he wanted to smoke."  Who wrote this joke for her?