Tom Perry of Reuters is freaking out over Hariri's financial crisis

"The Hariri family's pre-eminent role in Lebanese politics is being shaken by a financial crisis at its Saudi construction firm, a development that could dilute Sunni influence in the country and leave Iran's allies even more firmly in control."  This Perry guy is so pro-Hariri that he maintained that Hariri built his reputation on "rebuilding Lebanon". Yes, he racked a debt of $60 billion while he managed the worst reconstruction plan of any post-war country anywhere.  And not one person interviewed in this article is not pro-Hariri. Not one.

Don't be alarmed: this case does not involve Muslims. It involves a Christian murderer

"An Oklahoma woman accused of killing her daughter by forcing a crucifix down her throat told police she believed the 33-year-old woman had been possessed by the devil. KFOR-TV reports that police went to the suspect's Oklahoma City home Saturday afternoon and found Geneva Gomez dead on the ground with a crucifix placed on her chest. Officers say they found Gomez's body arranged in the shape of a cross."

creepy propaganda

"A provincial governor in Egypt has ordered changes to a sculpture honoring fallen soldiers after many on social media said it appeared to depict an unwanted advance on a woman symbolizing the country." (thanks Fred)

The New York Times is too ignorant to tell the difference between a far-left person and a far-right person: on the great George Carlin

"Mr. Carlin, who died in 2008, had always been a left-leaning comic whose skepticism of government would be right at home with the Tea Party."  Ehhhh, no, he won't be at home although I understand that ideological variations are beyond your understanding based on the duality of Republican-Democrat.

Olivier Roy on Islamization of Radicalization

"I think that these guys do not become radicalized because they become more and more religious. It is not religious radicalization that leads to political radicalization. When they became radical, they are religious. They frame their wrath in a religious narrative. They think they will go to paradise. It is Islamization of radicalization. I think Islam is the framework of the radicalization; it is not the primary cause. What I am saying, which there is a lot of misunderstanding about: It is not because they pray more and more, or go more and more to a mosque, that they become radicals. When they became radicals, they choose the religious narrative and believe in it. These guys are not Salafi. The idea that this is the Salafization of Islam does not make sense because their approach to salvation is not the Salafi approach. The Salafis do not believe in suicide. They think that suicide is a sin against God, like the Jews and the Christians. If you kill yourself or put yourself in a position where you will necessarily be killed, you preempt the will of God. But in the mind of the suicide bombers, the idea is that you don’t need to be a good Muslim, you don’t need to pray five times a day, you don’t need to go for hajj. If you make a supreme sacrifice, you will go directly to paradise and there is no need to be strict believer." (thanks Nabeel)

Did you know that the Ethiopian people didn't have a cuisine until Ethiopian arrived in Israel?

According to the New York Times (which called Howard Stern a feminist), Ethiopian food is not worth unless it arrives via Israel.

The worst place to study Arabic for Americans

"It’s hard to say, but probably not Lebanon! No offense to Beirut, but I found it really hard to find people who would speak Arabic to me."

Sign of progress? Reading Deepak Chopra in Tehran?

"“It doesn’t mean that people are atheist or anti-Islam,” Behjat said. “It means the middle class is fed up with the official version of religion that is imposed on them politically.” The texts are legal and officially licensed, but the readership is small. Behjat sells fewer than 2,000 Chopra books a year."

I have signed this petition against the Ramallah collaborationist clique

The statement and signatures are here.

How Muslims are expected, nay required, to police their own communities

This is now standards in Western societies: that Muslims are required in return for tolerance toward them to police their own communities and to point out the trainers and dangerous elements among them.  Imagine if this is said, say, about the Jewish communities. That would be classified rightly as classical anti-Semitic: the typical anti-Semitic view that the Jewish citizenship in Western societies is conditional on good behavior and conduct.  And the beauty is that in all Arab American and Muslim American conventions and conferences, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security send officials to speak to those members and to urge them to intensify their police work of other Muslims.  And the audiences cheer as if the visits by government security officials is an honor for the audiences.

Liking Syrian refugees and hating Syrian people

I like how some American liberals feign love and acceptance of Syrian refugees in the West but they call for US bombing of Syria, presumably because the bombs will only kill Asad and his family, but will spare the Syrian people.

And everyone raced to shake Sisi's hands

I love this sentence in the Times: "Ethiopia, while an American ally and an economic leader by African standards, is notoriously repressive."

"Ethiopia, while an American ally and an economic leader by African standards, is notoriously repressive. The minority Tigrayan regime has jailed hundreds of bloggers, journalists and opposition figures, keeping itself in power by intimidating political opponents, rigging elections and violently putting down protests. Since November of last year, according to Human Rights Watch, state security forces killed more than 400 protesters in the Oromia region, which surrounds Addis Ababa. Protests have recently spread to the Amhara region, as well; in August, security forces shot dead roughly 100 demonstrators and injured hundreds more. Thousands of Oromos, a minority group that makes up about a third of the population, have been jailed without trial on suspicion of supporting the Oromo Liberation Front, a secessionist group. The Ethiopian marathoner Feyisa Lilesa, who won the silver medal at the Olympics this year, drew global attention to the government’s abuses when he held his crossed arms over his head at the finish line in solidarity with his fellow Oromos; he says he fears returning home and is seeking political asylum." This paragraph only forgets to mention Israel.

"the Saudis pretty much subsidized everything"

As Des Roches reminded me, the U.S. government is the official vendor for weapons sales on behalf of corporations such as Boeing and Textron. “We levy a surcharge for the U.S. government’s involvement,” he explained, reminding me that the sale of the F-15s and other assorted items ran to $60 billion. “Seven percent of that is a significant amount of money,” he continued. “That basically covers U.S. government operating expenses to run things like training for the Bolivian armed forces in counternarcotics, and stuff like that. Up until very, very recently, the Saudis pretty much subsidized everything. People do not realize how much benefit we get from our interaction with them.” (thanks Morgan)

To Obama from General Sisi: please shake my hand

Watch this video NOW.

This is a picture of an Israeli satellite being launched...into the ground. Hahaha

Do you know the story of the former Minister of Religious Endowment in Jordan?

He once missed a meeting at his ministry, so he simply photoshopped himself into the head of the table (although the shadow showed someone else).  True story.

Saudi-Israeli relations

Jamal Khashuqji (who works for Prince Al-Walid bin Talal) argues against Saudi normalization with Israel.

Do you remember me telling you that all Arab normalizers with Israel (and their number is very small) are all anti-Semitic? I am never wrong there

This Saudi columnist, Siham Al-Qahtani, made an argument from the perspective of national security, that normalization with Israel is good for Saudi Arabia.  But this very same columnist had written that she believes in a "Jewish conspiracy against the Arabs".  I am not kidding.

US-backed coalition fighting alongside al-Qaeda

"Journalist Safa al-Ahmad, reporting for the BBC, said she saw Emirati forces from the Saudi-led coalition fighting alongside al-Qaeda, together battling Yemen’s Houthi rebels." "The U.S. and U.K. have played a pivotal role in the catastrophic war. The Obama administration has done more than $110 billion in arms deals with the Saudi monarchy. The U.S. military continues to refuel coalition planes and provide intelligence, and American and British officials have physically been in the room with Saudi bombers. The New York Times editorial board noted, “Experts say the coalition would be grounded if Washington withheld its support.” "

"Israeli-Palestine" in Western liberal discourse

It so annoys me when I see liberals and leftists in the West refer to Palestine as "Israel-Palestine".  I totally reject the term.  Now they may say: but we need to accept the Jewish population on the land. Of course, I agree and the historic term of Palestine can accommodate all faiths and non-faiths, as it did historically.  Imagine if we refer to Algeria as "France-Algeria" or to Vietnam as "US-Vietnam".  It is Palestine and that is all there is to it.  

Pro-Israeli creepy propaganda

"For the second time in the last five months, Vice has run a bizarre, titillating photo spread of “girlish,” “teenage” Israeli soldiers that manages to be obtuse and borderline creepy at the same time." "Some observers of the Israel/Palestine conflict have found these glamorous spreads offensive, saying they both normalize and glamorize a military that levels daily humiliations and violence aimed at Palestinians. Author and activist Steven Salaita said, “Vice again provides a hip, glamorous appeal to those who enforce Israeli settler colonization.” Journalist Zab Mustefa tweeted, “Another Vice story trying to normalize Israeli occupation by romanticizing female IDF ‘defiant’ soldiers.” " (thanks Amir)

James Stoker's new book on Lebanon: the most important book to come out on Lebanese civil war in many years.

I have started writing a series of critical review of the new book by James Stoker, titled: Spheres of Invention: US Foreign Policy and the Collapse of Lebanon, 1967-1976" by Cornell University Press.    I will not write my critical review here as I am writing in full details in Arabic in Al-Akhbar but will share a few remarks: 1) it is an excellent read. The author is unusually adept at narrating.  2) I don't know James's politics: we communicated but I don't know his politics but that does not detract from the value of the book.  I did tell James that I did not like his references to Israeli attacks on Lebanon, that he does not seem to realize the extent to which Israeli terrorism in Lebanon since the 1960s inflicted damage and fear and destruction on the lives of people of South Lebanon. I told him that my grandfather's house in Tyre was bombed three times by Israeli terrorists.  His bent on the civil war also lacks an appreciation of the socio-economic component. 3) the author is a diligent researcher: he searched for materials in a many archives which explains why he has come up with the most revealing story of US intervention in Lebanon.  At some point, I was not sure that James realized how important those materials are.  To me, the materials clearly implicate the US government in igniting and prolonging the Lebanese civil war--at least in the first phase of 1975-76 which is covered in the book.  4) The font of the print of the book is lousy. Cornell University Press should be criticized for the faint font, which strains the eye of the reader--especially the reader who read the book twice in a row.  5) The author is too cautious in his conclusions: he is too reserved to implicate the US, and is at pains to reiterate that there was no smoking gun that the US armed the right-wing militias of Lebanon. But the arming does not occur solely through embassy channels and often happens through CIA and DIA channels.  The US government was quite adept at covert civil war involvement (then and now).  6) The author did such extensive research that this book had unusually a very small number of factual mistakes.  (In some cases, due to reliance on the diplomatic dispatches, which is also the case in transliteration).  7) The author (who told me that he studied Arabic in Damascus for a year and later with tutor) should have consulted more Arabic books. Lebanese Leftist literature on the origins of the war has been validated by Stoker's findings.  8)  The author seems to maintain that Kissinger was not that interested in the Lebanese civil war but that is contradicted by the recent release of CIA presidential briefs from the administration of Ford which shows that the president was provided with a daily update about the developments in the Lebanese civil war.  9) we learn so much about the role of King Husayn and Israel in arming and supporting the right-wing militias and with the full knowledge and approval of the US.  10) Hafidh Al-Asad during his military invention in Lebanon in 1976 was close to the US government than had been previously thought, and his relations with the USSR was worse than had been previously thought. He clearly was trying to build up a relationship with the US government but then figured that the fruits would not be big given the US condescending treatment of Sadat at the time.  11) King Husayn was the chief advocate of the Syrian regime vis-a-vis Washington. 12) the US government clearly saw the war in Lebanon as it was: not as Muslim-versus-Christian but as right-versus-left and supported the right as part of the US cold war strategy.  13) The Lebanese government was an accomplice in the Israeli war on the Palestinian resistance and the American war on the left.  Maronite political leader clearly launched the war with the full support and encouragement of US and Israel and the reactionary Arab regimes.  14) Lebanese leftist rhetoric about the war back then was correct but the lousy leaders of the left (George Hawi, Kamal Jumblat, and Mohsin Ibrahim) foolishly did not prepare for a war that was imminent. 15) Yasser Arafat clearly did not want to be involved in the Lebanese war, and he was dragged into it. 16) Lebanese left should have listened to George Habash who tried early on to arm and support the Lebanese left, which was more under the sway of lousy Arafat.  17) Kissinger ran his policies on Palestine and the PLO totally in opposition to the entire rank of Arabists at his department of state. 18) Since the 1960s, Lebanese presidents and Maronite leaders were begging for a US military invention in Lebanon.  

...as opposed to the West, which is full of liberals--especially in the US

"We might not like them, because they are not liberal".

How the US ignited the Lebanese civil war

My weekly article for Al-Akhbar: "This is how the US ignited the Lebanese civil war".

Pledge Of Allegiance

Regarding the national anthem controversy in the US: I once was invited to speak at a local club here in Turlock (and I rarely over the years spoke locally in this area--for many reasons). Before my talk, the event started with a Pledge of Allegiance. They all stood up and did the pledge, while I remained seated (facing the audience) minding my own business. People in the audience were furious: several stormed out in protest and one wanted to know why I didn't participate in the Pledge of Allegiance. I explained that I don't do religious or pagan rituals, and this was a combination of both. My explanation did not go well--I felt.

New York Times on Assange

This article is such a piece of propaganda.  First the Times faults Assange for criticizing the West but not criticizing Russia: "Notably absent from Mr. Assange’s analysis, however, was criticism of another world power, Russia".  But doesn't that criticism apply to the Times itself? That it criticizes Russia but not the US/Israel?  And this independent newspaper yet again vomits the propaganda of the US government: "United States officials say they believe with a high degree of confidence that the Democratic Party material was hacked by the Russian government".  The US government provided no evidence to its "high confidence" but the Times obliges.  But the entire premise of the article is nullified by the painful admission of the Times: "Among United States officials, the emerging consensus is that Mr. Assange and WikiLeaks probably have no direct ties to Russian intelligence services. "  OK. Make sure you remember that. Of course, it took a professor in London to remind the Times that: "He noted that intelligence services had a long history of using news organizations to plant stories, and that Western news outlets often published “material that comes from the C.I.A. uncritically.”"  And the whole article relies on the theories and analysis of a pro-US Russian "investigative journalist" (in US media, an investigative journalist in the world is anyone who supports the US government--I recently discovered that in the Panama Papers release the International committee of investigative journalists include Arab writers in Saudi media as their representative of "Arab investigative journalists"--kid you not).  And the Times faults Assange because the release of Saudi documents was damaging to Western interests: "The Saudi documents, for instance, which highlighted efforts to manipulate world opinion about the kingdom, were published months after Mr. Putin accused the Saudis of holding down oil prices to harm the economies of Russia and its allies Iran and Venezuela."  So there should be no release of Saudi documents because Putin accused the Saudis of holding down oil prices? What a stretch of a conspiracy.  And this phrasing got my attention: "Russia Today, the Kremlin-controlled English-language propaganda channel".  Would the Times refer to Radio Liberty or Voice of America as "propaganda outlets for the US government", or the designation only fits enemies of US?  

The Economist cheer Mr. Temer's achievements already

"Mr Temer now promises to revive the economy, largely by reversing her policies. His talk of privatisation, deregulation and fiscal discipline has cheered investors. “Our motto is to spend only what we collect,” he said in his first television address as president. His economic team, led by the finance minister, Henrique Meirelles, inspires confidence. The São Paulo stockmarket and the real, Brazil’s currency, have strengthened since Mr Temer took charge. The cost of insuring government bonds against default has fallen by a quarter."

This is an Israeli rocket exploding in the air as it was launching a satellite into space. If this was North Korea, US media would have mocked it

Let us all mock Israeli rocket technology.

Saudi Arabian man is jailed for 10 years and given 2,000 lashes for tweeting that he is an atheist and criticising religion

"A Saudi Arabian court has ordered a man should be given 2,000 lashes and spend 10 years in prison because he ridiculed the Koran and denied the existence of God on Twitter."

Today, Arabs were circulating this picture because the simplicity and austerity of furnishing contrasts with Gulf regime extravagance and ostentation

Lebanon's only glory: the biggest Shawarma sandwich in the world

Notice that the Lebanese Army commander-in-chief was represented in the festivities.  

An Israeli analyst and a Lebanese researcher in the US

A Lebanese researcher came to the US to join a university research center having finished his doctorate at a European university.  He was contacted recently by someone who identified himself as "a Middle East analyst" at the Israeli consulate in the city where the university is located.  He asked to meet with him to discuss matters of interest.  The Lebanese researcher didn't even bother to reply.  He showed me a copy of the official email but does not want me to share or to identify him by name.  

The corrupt Lebanese businessman who funded the Clinton political enterprises

"Nigerian billionaire Gilbert Chagoury, one of Africa’s richest men, has built a reputation as a giant of global philanthropy.  His name is on a gallery at the Louvre and a medical school in Lebanon, and he has received awards for his generosity to the Catholic Church and St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. He owns a seven-bedroom hilltop mansion in Beverly Hills, and he has a high-level network of friends from Washington to Lebanon to the Vatican, where he serves as an ambassador for the tiny island nation of St. Lucia. His website shows him shaking hands and laughing with Pope Francis. “I never imagined what the future would hold for me,” Chagoury once said of his boyhood in Nigeria. “But I knew there was a vision for my life that was greater than I could imagine.… I consider it a duty to give back.”  Since the 1990s, Chagoury has also cultivated a friendship with the Clinton family — in part by writing large checks, including a contribution of at least $1 million to the Clinton Foundation."  By the way, politically--as this article implies--he belongs to the camp which supports the Syrian regime in Lebanon.  His closest ally is not Aoun, as the LA Times suggests but Sulayman Franjiyyah.

Official: in Jordan no news media can ever refer to stories or news of the King which is not authorized by the royal court

This is an actual story which will never make it into the Western press. The Jordanian potentate issued a decree that only his royal court can discuss the King and any news media which does not carry the wishes of the court will be punished.  In other news, Jon Stewart invited Jordanian king to discuss the democratic aspiration of the Arab youth.

India’s External Affairs Minister: China should take precautions against Saudi prince’s US-backed mission

"Indian Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj who was responding to a question of Hindustan Times reporter about the visit of Saudi Arabia’s deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman al Saud to China and Japan and the important economic agreements planned to be signed between Saudi Arabia and some East Asian countries, said that India is not concerned about the Saudi Prince’s visit to Pakistan, China, and Japan. “We don’t have any strategic concern about Saudi deputy Crown Prince visiting Pakistan, China, and Japan. He has had his major strategic agreements in his last month travel to United States and no big strategic deal is likely to be clinched in this trip. I advise the Chinese officials to be cautious of Saudi prince’s US-backed mission in China,” said the minister."

CORRECTION: Wahhabi and Islamist standards: a woman is a pudendum

A parliamentary list in Jordan puts a picture of flowers instead of the face of the female candidate.

PS Some are saying that the picture above is photoshopped.  And that the image of the woman does appear.  (below)

US intervention is not intervention

"One can’t help but notice that to liberal hawks US interventions that cause massive death tolls simply aren’t acknowledged and the answer to a failed intervention is more intervention."

Who Killed Abu Muhammad Adnani?

The vague pronouncements of the US government leads me to believe that the US did not kill Adnani but it is hard for the US to admit that its enemies got to him first.  

Zionism is always racism

"Israeli Police chief: It’s ‘natural’ to suspect Ethiopians, Arabs more than others"

Lebanese court and freedom of expression

In Lebanon you can't criticize political leaders (whether they are dead or alive). The children of corrupt sectarian speaker of parliament (who allegedly for a bribe in 1982 facilitated the installation of war criminal Bashir Gemayel as president of Lebanon), Kamil As`ad, sued me in Lebanese court and won (against me and against Al-Akhbar) for criticizing Al-As`ad (who is dead).

A comprehensive review of the relations between Israel and Syrian rebel and opposition groups

Read here.

U.S. weapons used in war crimes

"Israel has for decades been the largest recipient of U.S. military aid." "Since President Obama took office, the U.S. government has done a staggering $110 billion in arms sales with the Saudi monarchy — amounting to an unprecedented increase. Like Israel and Egypt, Saudi Arabia has long been a close U.S. ally, but the U.S.-Saudi military alliance has grown dramatically since 2009. Throughout the past year U.S. weapons have kept flowing to Saudi Arabia, even while the United Nations and human rights groups have documented a slew of Saudi war crimes in Yemen." (thanks Amir)

Propaganda for UNIFIL--the protection guard for Israeli aggression in Lebanon

"Other than monitoring activity along the Blue Line, UNIFIL helps train and equip Lebanon’s army and navy to better operate in the southern border district and defend the coastline." (thanks Basim)

Polish anti-Semitic crowds: notice that Zionists are silent when it comes to real threats of anti-Semitism

Notice that boycotts of Israel generate more outrage in Western press than repugnant chants of anti-Semitic crowds in Poland.  But then again: Israel and Zionists have always been soft about European AND American anti-Semitism because the governments there are pro-Israel.