Seen in Lebanon

You would not know this because Western media and the subservient (to US government and its standards) Western human rights organizations are always at pains to cover up for the March 14 movement in Lebanon, but there is growing racism against Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Such racism is expressed and practiced by supporters of both camps in Lebanon.  And many municipalities, especially those loyal to Jumblat, are imposing a curfew on refugees.  This would not appear in reports by the Hariri-run branch of Human Rights Watch in Lebanon.  This from the municipality of Kahhalah (loyal to Michel `Awn) and its says in the banner: "It is strictly forbidden for foreign workers to walk inside the internal neighborhoods of the town starting from 9:00PM to 5:00AM."

Fee Syrian Army chief chasing Hizbullah to hell

"Free Syrian Army chief of staff Salim Idriss warned on Tuesday that if fighters from Hizbullah do not stop their military intervention in Syria, where they are backing government troops, "we will take all measures to hunt" them, "even in hell."" (thanks Basim)

The Isareli war plan

"Israel has pursued a policy of Bedouin urbanization for decades, in an effort to contain the Bedouin population on as little land as possible." "The Prawer Plan, as it became known, suggested forcibly evicting 40 percent of the Bedouin community — between 30,000 and 40,000 people — from their homes, and moving them into urban townships."

Hany Abu-Assad

I don't know where you are these days, Hany, and I have misplaced your phone number. I am not big on awards especially those dispensed by the White Man to natives, but I wish to congratulate you.  I know first hand how much you resisted the temptations of lousy commercial ventures in Hollywood and for that I salute you, comrade. 

In the Hamas police (non) state, it is illegal to criticize Qatar's cleric, Qaradawi

"A former minister in Gaza's Hamas-run Ministry of Interior was briefly detained on Sunday for allegedly insulting an influential Muslim cleric, his wife said."

Takfiri

Hasan Nasrallah talked about Takfiri groups in Syria.  Takfiris are those who rush to declare the infidelity of their opponents, even if they are fellow Muslims who don't share their particular exclusivist and conservative view and practice of religion.  It is not in any way exclusive to Sunnis: Hizbullah itself under Subhi Tufayli was a takfiri party.

Munib Al-Masir

I wish that Munib Al-Masri would just shut up.  If he wants to dance and perform for the pleasure of the Israeli occupiers, let him do that, but not on behalf of the Palestinian people.

Israeli calculations in Syria

""The model that Israel had been using, the predictions we had been making, were based on far more defections from the Assad regime, and more fighting prowess and organization from the rebels," said one Israeli military official, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because of Israel's strict military censorship laws." "If Syria is going to fight, and if they are going to fight with deadly weapons, better they busy themselves fighting each other than fighting us.""

Citing Hizbullah "sources" in Western media

In the last few weeks, Western media were full of reports about the war in Qusayr in which Western reported cited "Hizbullah fighters" or "Hizbullah sources" or "sources close to Hizbullah" or in the case of Nicholas Blanford "every singe fighter of Hizbullah who reveals secrets to me because I am so beloved by them", etc.  Not a single Western media mentioned that the head of the information department at Hizbullah, Ibrahim Musawi, said this week that all those citations are fabricated.  Is that to embarrassing to concede? 

Those foreign fighters in Syria don't get the attention of Western reporters

"A total of 12 fighters from Chechnya were killed Friday in Syria's central Hama province, activists said. The fighters were killed when two rockets landed in the al- Hamra village in the eastern countryside of Hama, the Britain- based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said."

"The government in Dushanbe says three Tajiks fighting on the side of Islamist rebels in Syria were recently killed." "Officials in neighboring Kyrgyzstan meanwhile said the following day that two Kyrgyz men who were fighting with Islamist rebels were brought back from Syria by Kyrgyz security officers this week." (thanks Amir)

a two-child limit for Muslim families

"Authorities in Myanmar's western Rakhine state have imposed a two-child limit for Muslim Rohingya families, a policy that does not apply to Buddhists in the area and comes amid accusations of ethnic cleansing in the aftermath of sectarian violence." (thanks Richard)

rehabilitation of Saddam

There is a new phenomenon going on in oil and gas media: the rehabilitation of Saddam, and for purely sectarian purposes.  The same media, out of service to US imperial interests, demonized Saddam during the Bush's years.  Now the tyrant is being portrayed in glowing terms, especially in Al-Arabiyya, the sleazy website and station of King Fahd's brother-in-law.

a regime that kills its own people: the US III

""The United States has killed four of its own citizens in drone strikes in Yemen and Pakistan, the Barack Obama administration has formally acknowledged. 

Eric Holder, the US attorney general, said in a letter addressed to congressional leaders on Wednesday that three of those killed were not targets of the strikes involving drones in Yemen and elsewhere."" (thanks Luke)

Israel's calculations

"Israel's calculations are more complicated, given that it had a good working relationship with the Assad regime and is concerned about a failed state emerging next door. But on balance, a conflict that undermines Iran, further divides the Arab/Islamic world, and distracts people from the continued colonization of the West Bank is a net plus."

“of course we will allow Israel to use Jordanian air space for another attack on Syria”

"A senior Jordanian official has confirmed that the Hashemite Kingdom is allowing the Israelis to fly unmanned drones over its air space as part of the Israeli monitoring of the situation in Syria.
The official, who is close to King Abdullah, told the JC that the two countries are “working as one over Syria”. He also said that, if the need arose, “of course we will allow Israel to use Jordanian air space for another attack on Syria”." (thanks Asa)

Dem nom de guerre? nom de guerre? what guerre, damn it?

"Der Autor, bekannt unter dem nom de guerre "Angry Arab" - durch das gleichnamige Blog -, wird seinem Namen gerecht, indem er seinen Zorn auf die von politischen Interessen und Beschränkungen verstellte Berichterstattung im Westen wie in arabischen Ländern äußert. Die westlichen Medien seien diesbezüglich wieder einmal ahnungslos und die, entweder vom saudi-arabischen oder vom katarischen Herrscherhaus dominierten, arabischen Medien würden den missliebigen Trend ignorieren."

clumsy reporting on Syria

Anne Barnard and other Western reporters writing on Syria clumsily write (based on what they are told by March 14 stringers and contacts in Lebanon) that Hizbullah is now announcing the death of its fighters in Syria.  The situation is more complex.  They do now announce that so and so (and the numbers have been far less than in the ridiculous claims by Syrian armed groups) died performing his (no women allowed in Hizbullah's sexist struggle) "Jihadi duties".  But yesterday, there was an interesting situation: a Sunni member of the Hizbullah fighting team in Qusayr died and he was to be buried in the Sunni new cemetery in Sidon but the Sunni Ikhwan and Salafite forces made a fuss and refused to bury him.  His family had to agree to bury him in a Shi`ite cemetery. 

The Syrian-Qatari Observatory for Human Rights must have stumbed on Nicholas Blanford's secret Hizbullah's sources

The Observatory, which relies on a network of activists inside Syria, cited unidentified "sources close to the militant group" for its Hezbollah death toll Monday." Is this statement not enough to discredit anything that comes out of this Center? I mean, really.  (thanks Basim)

He changed his name from Bashshar

"Ms. Rifai said that among the refugees, she had encountered a 4-year-old boy named Bashar who said he was ashamed to have the same given name as Mr. Assad and had decided to call himself Mohammed instead."  Yes, because he would be beaten up in that camp and in that vicinity for that name, just as families who named their children Saddam in Iraq later had to changed the names of those sons especially that some of the parents switched sides and fought with the "liberators.

dumb response to Massad's article

Not pleased that this piece appears on Mondoweiss: "What is interesting about the article is that it – as is usual – identifies Jews as Ashkenazim only.  For all that Massad has relationships with Mizrahi Jews, his thinking remains monocausal and racist. Jews never lived in the Middle East and all discussion of Jewish identity and Zionism must be tied exclusively to Europe."  Comrade Joseph has written extensively on the distinction between Ashkenazim and Mizrahim, but he is talking about the leadership of Zionists who were and are still Ashkenazim.