U.S. to set up 5 bases in northern Iraq & pays Kurdish militia

"The source disclosed certain paragraphs of the agreement signed between the US Department of Defense and the Iraqi Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga ministry, including establishment of 5 US military bases in the region. “One of the bases will be set up in Atroush region, two in Harir region and two large bases in Erbil and Duhok,” the source, who called for anonymity, told Iraq’s al-Ma’loumah news agency. “Based on the MoU, the Americans should pay the salaries of Peshmerga forces and train and equip them for 10 years,” he added." "Meanwhile in Baghdad some Iraqi MPs have considered the move a violation of the sovereignty of Iraq and have asked the Iraqi government to take a stance against the deal." (thanks Amir)

Backlash against feminism in Egypt

Misogynistic courts and clerics in Egypt are fighting back: in response to date about domestic violence, they cooked a kooky study that 66% of husbands in Egypt are beaten by their wives.  Kid you not.

Anne Barnard officially inaugurates a new journalistic practice: a fighter is an activist and an activist is a fighter in Syria if he belongs to the opposition

"an opposition activist, fighter".  Can you imagine if she were to refer to a Hizbullah or Hamas fighter as "an activist"?

The democracy requirements of NATO

From a reader: "During the metapolitefsi coup in Greece the constitutional officers of the HNS Velos mutinied and sailed to Italy to claim asylum. They quoted North Atlantic Treaty preamble which says: "all governments ...are determined to safeguard the freedom, common heritage and civilization of their peoples, founded on the principles of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law".

US-armed/financed/supported child killers in Syria (I mean, moderate child killers in Syria)

From Ricardo:  Have you seen this article  

about the child-beheading rebels in Syria? After reassuring us that the US no longer supports them and that the culprits will face a judicial process, the journalist ends with a quote from a senior member of Jaish al-Fatah. So we learn that the US supported this group because it hoped it would fight against al-qaida, and after they commit such an atrocity western journalists go and ask al-qaida what they think about it!"

American media hypocrisy about Turkey

American media are aghast that Turkey may reinstate the death penalty. The argument is that democracies don't allow the death penalty--unless the democracy is the US.
American media are aghast: there is a state of emergency in Turkey, which is incompatible with democracy--unless the democracy is France.

Once again, the Nation Magazine proves it is an enemy of the Palestinian people

It now features a writer who supports the Israeli apartheid wall: "But the “security fence” (or “apartheid wall,” as some call it) has ended the threat of large-scale suicide bombings."

If those were Muslim clerics, they would have been made famous on US TV and there would have been calls for "reforming" Islam

"Israeli rabbis who are both Zionist and ultra-Orthodox have published a letter opposing Thursday’s gay pride parade in Jerusalem, calling the event a “parade of abomination.”
The president of Jerusalem’s Har Hamor Yeshiva, Rabbi Zvi Tau, published the letter Wednesday with Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, the head of the Ateret Yerushalayim Yeshiva in the Old City’s Muslim Quarter."

Crimes of Israel: don't forget, don't forgive

"On July 21, 1973, Israeli secret agents shot dead a man they believed was a Palestinian terrorist in the Norwegian town of Lillehammer. They had misidentified their target, however, and the man they killed was not arch-criminal Ali Hassan Salameh, but rather a Moroccan-born waiter named Ahmed Bouchiki."

Saudi regime continues to spread moderation

"Top clerical body republished 2001 edict to address illegal downloads of Pokémon Go, stating game promotes gambling, evolution and polytheism". (thanks David)

“Mohamed Ahmed, Seat 25-A: I will be watching you.”

"A Muslim man was removed from an American Airlines flight after a flight attendant publicly announced his name, seat number and said she would be “watching” him. Mohamed Ahmed Radwan had boarded a plane in Charlotte, North Carolina and the flight attendant went to the tannoy and said: “Mohamed Ahmed, Seat 25-A: I will be watching you.”

How the Saudi regime spread secularism around the world

"At that point, the Saudis lost control of global Salafism, if they ever really had it." This would be touching if true but the newly released 28-pages of the Sep. report refutes this notion entirely.

CNN hosted two "experts" on Turkey: both are from the Washington Institute

Human Rights Watch director in Beirut blames the murder of a Palestinian child by a Syrian rebel group on "lack of discipline"

Nadim Houry (@nadimhoury)

7/20/16, 9:31 AM Beheading of child by Nour al-Deen Zenki fighters horrible; shows depravity of many fighters these days. No discipline, rampant cruelty

Sinan Antoon on Karrada

"Many Iraqis were also bitter about a world whose solidarity and empathy are largely restricted and reserved for victims in the West, where terrorist attacks are framed as assaults on humanity and elicit immediate, collective grief. The death of Iraqi civilians at the hands of terrorists has been normalized. In May, a string of bombings killed more than 200 people. Dozens more have died in terrorist attacks in Baghdad since the Karrada bombing. According to the Mercer Quality of Living Survey, Baghdad is one of the world’s least-safe cities, alongside Damascus, Syria."

Those Westerners who shed crocodile tears over victims of Syria are silent over Syrian victims of US bombs in Syria

"At least 56 civilians were reported killed on Tuesday in airstrikes north of the besieged Islamic State-held city of Manbij in northern Syria, and residents said they believed the attack was carried out by aircraft from the United States-led coalition, a monitoring group said."

Sign about Gulen in Taksim Turkey

How a Saudi prince who is serving a jail sentence in Beirut for smuggling a plane load of drugs is spending his time in jail

Apparently, he is a prisoner in name only.

When a Holocaust survivor confronted Wiesel

"But outside the official hagiography, Wiesel was notorious for erasing non-Jewish victims of the Holocaust – Roma and LGBTQ – and defending Israel’s crimes against Palestinians. In his later years, he also became an apologist for US imperial interventions, including the calamitous invasion of Iraq."

British charity attempts to distance itself from worker who posed with weapons

"The commission was responding to a complaint about Hand in Hand for Syria made by Robert Stuart, a development officer at another charity, who claimed an employee of the charity’s now-closed Atareb Hospital near Aleppo had posted photos of himself with mortars, rifles and tanks."

One-third of Nice attack's dead were Muslim

"When a Tunisian man drove a truck down a crowded street in Nice last week in an attack claimed by the Islamic State, more than one-third of the people he killed were Muslim, the head of a regional Islamic association said on Tuesday. Kawthar Ben Salem, a spokeswoman for the Union of Muslims of the Alpes-Maritimes, said that Muslim funerals were being held for at least 30 of those who died during the Bastille Day attack, including men, women and children." (thanks Amir)

Crackdown in Israel

It is amusing that while Western media are feigning outrage over the crackdown in Turkey, none of them are ever bothering to cover the crackdown happening in the occupation state of Israel--including against their beloved NGOs.

"Syria conflict: Boy beheaded by rebels 'was not fighter'"

"A Palestinian boy who was filmed being beheaded by Syrian rebels on Tuesday was not a fighter, a pro-government Palestinian militia has said. The Liwa al-Quds (Jerusalem Brigade) said Abdullah Issa was just a 12-year-old from a poor refugee family who lived in a rebel-held area of Aleppo. Members of the Nour al-Din al-Zinki Movement are accused of killing him. It said those responsible were handed over to a judicial committee, and denounced the killing as a "violation"."  No, The group said that it was "an individuall act"--whatever that mean.

Famous Saudi cleric advises Syrian rebels to not show pictures of their murders

Muhammad Al-`Arifi says: "A whisper to my brothers--who I consider better than me--the mujahidin of Syria: Don't publish pictures of your killing of Shabbihah or your acute treatment of those who are arrested, it could send a message that could be misunderstood".

The statement by Western-supported Nur Ad-Din Zanaki rebel group about the killing of the child

Notice the last paragraph of the statement: it says that Syrian regime crimes and the siege of Aleppo has had a negative impact on the psychological state of the rebels.  So whenever they are depressed or stressed, they resort to killing Palestinian children.

PS By the way, remember early on during the Syrian war when American Zionists suddenly feigned concern for the Palestinians in Yarmuk camp? That was classic.

Saudi-UAE role in the Turkish coup

It seems that my early hunch was correct: today Mujtahid of Saudi Arabia confirms that the Saudi regime and the UAE regime were directly involved in the Turkish coup and that UAE supplied millions to Gulen movement, and that UAE and Saudi media (including Al-Arabiyya) were part of the propaganda tools of the coup according to the plot.

Western Zionist pundits and their alliance with the child-killing rebels in Syria

This dude, it seems, is admitting that he counseled the Nur Ad-Din Az-Zanaki to release a statement to apologize for killing a Syrian child.  As for as this guy is concerned, the press release should settle the matter of child killing.

Did you know that NATO has democracy requirements?

“Obviously, NATO also has a requirement with respect to democracy, and NATO will indeed measure very carefully what is happening,” Mr. Kerry said."  For some reason, they were never invoked during the era of military dictatorship.

What Western governments and human rights organizations won't notice

"Videos have emerged online that appear to show Syrian rebels taunting and then beheading a boy they say is a captured Palestinian pro-government fighter.  One video shows five men posing with the frightened child, who could be as young as 10, in the back of a truck. One of the men grips him by the hair.  The same man is later filmed apparently cutting the boy's head off.  The incident is reported to have taken place in Handarat, north of Aleppo, where there has been heavy fighting."

PS  ""The group is reported to have benefited from financial and military support from the US, UK, France, Turkey, Qatar and other Gulf Arab states in the past.""

a "moderate" Syrian rebel group beheads a Palestinian child

There is a video circulating of a beheading of a Palestinian child by a group categorized as "moderate" (the Nur Ad-Din Zanaki group) after accusing the child of serving the Asad regime.  Even some Palestinians who support the "revolution" are outraged.

Latest sexism of Nawal Saadawi: her views on Niqab

She said (I am translating verbatim): She said that "Niqab "should be categorically banned, and I--if I were head of a university--would ban any woman with niqab from entering the university because Niqab is against morals and against security, and a person isn't entitled to full nudity or to cover-up...A woman with a brain would not choose niqab as it is very harmful and its medical harm is extreme, and is considered against morals".  This makes it clear why many Western feminists have been promoting Saadawi's version of feminism for years.  She called on young Egyptian women to write more about their experiences of female genital cutting.

Of course, Western correspondents in Beirut wouldn't notice: US bombs also kill civilians in Syria

"US-led air strikes kill 56 civilians in Syrian town: Fatalities include 11 children, killed in coalition air strikes on ISIL-held northern Syrian town."

The best summary and analysis of Turkish coup developments

Muhammad Nur Ad-Din, is a Lebanese expert of Turkish politics.  Here he gives his analysis.

The Israeli-American Haim Saban explains how to buy influence in American politics (and in the Clinton family)

"At a conference last fall in Israel, Saban described his formula. His “three ways to be influential in American politics,” he said, were: make donations to political parties, establish think tanks, and control media outlets. In 2002, he contributed seven million dollars toward the cost of a new building for the Democratic National Committee—one of the largest known donations ever made to an American political party. That year, he also founded the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, in Washington, D.C. He considered buying The New Republic, but decided it wasn’t for him. He also tried to buy Time and Newsweek, but neither was available. He and his private-equity partners acquired Univision in 2007, and he has made repeated bids for the Los Angeles Times."  The article forgot to add that he also tried to buy Aljazeera.

Lebanese responses to Israeli theft and occupation

""A group of us just came from a food exhibition in France. There they were telling us that hummus is an Israeli traditional dish," he says. "I mean, the world now thinks that Israel invented hummus." Abboud could not let that stand. "I thought the best way to tell the world that the hummus is Lebanese is to break the Guinness Book of Records."" (thanks Basim)

I really like the spelling of my name in Turkish

"Suudi rejimi ve Türkiye darbesi – Esad Ebu Halil (Angry Arab)"

How to end civilization

Trump's Ghost writer speaks.

Sisi: how to cling to power

There is a well-known formula for Middle East despots. When your throne shakes, you basically follow the advice of the US Congress and get closer to Israel because that will always guarantee you more American support.  Normalization with Israel is the last refuge of Arab scoundrels.

Chinese nanny beaten, starved, treated ‘like a dog’ in wealthy Minnesota suburb

"Chinese nanny beaten, starved, treated ‘like a dog’ in wealthy Minnesota suburb, authorities say" (thanks Fred)

First use of car bombs and truck dumbs

It is established that the first person to ever use a car bomb was the AMERICAN anarchist Mario Badu, in the wake of the arrest of Sacco and Vanzetti.  He left it off on Wall Street in 1920.  But the real indiscriminate and random use of truck bombs and car bombs was really pioneered in the 1940s in Palestine by the Stern Gang.  As always, it has to be remembered that Zionist gangs in Palestine were the early pioneers of the first uses of terrorist tactics and methods (car bombs, letter bombs, bombs on busses, bombs in markets and stores, bombs in ambulances, letter bombs, barrel bombs).  ISIS and Al-Qa`idah should really acknowledge their debt to Zionist gangs.  

Only someone from a Western NGO would come up with this dumb comment about Turkey

"“Most of the people who went out in the streets to oppose the coup d’état did not use democratic language,” said Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, the director of the Ankara office of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, a research organization."  What on earth does that mean? What is "democratic language"?  How does one judge democratic language?  I am no fan of either Erdogan or the coup people in Turkey but to invoke such a litmus test seems rather excessive.  Did the people who went against the coup in the former Soviet Union in 1991 speak "democratic language"? They didn't and yet they were cheered vociferously in all Western capitals.  Special judgment is reserved for people in Muslim lands, especially if the government is not fully approved by Western governments. 

Saudi regime and Sep. 11: the 28-pages

It is rather stunning how casually the Western media passed over the damning document.  Imagine if the document contained 1% about a possible Iranian role in Sep. 11.  

Saudi role and the Turkish coup

Mujtahid on twitter claimed today that Muhammad bin Salman and advance knowledge of the coup through Muhammad bin Zayid.

A letter from Fethullah Gulen to Saudi cleric, Salman Al-Ouda

The great Ghassan Kanafani

My weekly article in Al-Akhbar: "Ghassan Kanafani: as a Virtual Symbol, and as a Revolutionary Symbol".