Winning hearts and minds in Iraq

"When my team tried to give away fruit tree seedlings to replant ruined orchards, a farmer spat on the ground and said, “You killed my son and now you are giving me a tree?”"

From Tunisia to Gaza

"A Tunisian delegation visiting the Gaza Strip paid a visit to the Karama Hospital. Dr.Ismail Nassar, the hospital's director, and his team of doctors met members of the delegation and took them on a tour of the hospital wings and operating theatres to see for themselves the services provided to patients by the hospital."

Coverage of Bahrain

Angry Arab chief Bahraini correspondent (her identity shall not be revealed for her protection):  "This article on Bahrain is terrible on so many different levels, but this sentence really stood out for me:

All Shiites, one was a turbaned cleric who could have been out of central casting for the part of an Iranian mullah. The second was a Moscow-trained engineer in a jacket and tie who runs a successful local contracting company. The third was a woman wearing a headscarf, though more loosely worn than the head coverings of many of the Sunni women at the event; she had formerly been a physical-fitness teacher.

Apparently the west views us only through the prism of whether we are sunni or shia, so even one woman's decision to wear the hijab more loosely than her peers is viewed through this prism. Being sunni or shia is the only part of our identity that matters to them.

The author is apparently a "Baker fellow and director of the Gulf and Energy Policy Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy." No wonder American foreign policy is so messed up - you have idiots sitting in think tanks advising them and claiming to be middle east experts. Maybe I should start calling myself a middle east expert. Apparently the bar for that is really low."

High praise for Aljazeera

Now Donald Rumsfeld is pleased with Aljazeera's coverage. (thanks Ahmet)

Tantawi seems to be campaigning

Field Marshal Tantawi visited the tomb of Jamal `Abdun-Nasser and then visited the family of Nasser.  He praised "the achievements" of Nasser.

Dumb lies of the US government

"According to a senior US official, Ali Abdullah Saleh, who had been undergoing medical treatment in Saudi Arabia, “bolted the kingdom under the pretence of going to the airport for something else”.  Neither the US nor the Saudis were aware of his planned departure, said the official, calling it a “clever, canny” trick by the president. “We are not happy at all,” he added."  This is a lie that is intended to deceive Yemenis and Arabs.  Salih left the Kingdom in the private jet of the Saudi king himself.   Racism is so deep among the Zionists in the US government that they still operate on the notion that Arabs are just too dumb to suspect lying on behalf of the US government.  Is US propaganda becoming as dumb as Mossad and Ba`thist propaganda? 

Who voted in Saudi Arabia? A fraction of 4% of the population

"Around 1.2 million male voters have registered to take part.  But the polls appeared to attract little interest on the first day of the Saudi weekend on Thursday and Friday."

Syria in Saudi and Qatari media

My latest blog post from Al-Akhbar English: Syrian developments on Aljazeera and Al-Arabiya.

Zionists in California shut down an exhibit of the art work of Palestinian children

This is a true story.  I don't know why it did not receive wide coverage.  Zionist hoodlums in California actually shut down an exhibit of the art work of Palestinian children from Gaza.  The sponsors of the exhibit, Middle East Children's Alliance, organized an alternative exhibit outside the original museum.  My wife, Farah, and I visited the exhibit.  It was most impressive.  The paintings show the feelings and sentiments of Palestinian children on the receiving end of Israeli savage bombings.  The turnout at the alternative exhibit was quite good.  Zionists in the US still foolishly think that Arab children are taught to hate Israel by their governments.  On the contrary: Arab governments do their best to tame and restrain Arab public anger against the racist Zionist entity.  We are taught to hate Israel by Israeli savage bombings, murders, massacres, war crimes and by the asinine propaganda of the state.  If you live in California, check the website of MECA in Berkeley to see when you can visit the exhibit to support the effort.  

Zionist perversions

"Bilal Tamimi (many of the village residents are part of the extended Tamimi family) said that soldiers often come to arrest villagers – including children – at night, a practice documented by B'Tselem, Defence for Children International - Palestine and other NGOs. But he said that, earlier this year, the army also came at night to photograph and record the identity details of children. He described what happened in his family:
"They came at 12.10am, and woke me up. They asked me how many children I have. They looked at my ID papers [where the children are listed] and asked me to wake up the two older ones, who are above 10 years. I said, they are sleeping. The soldiers said, wake them anyway.  "They wrote down the numbers and took pictures of the boys. Then they said they could go back to sleep.""

This guy wants to liberate Palestine for you? Are you out of your mind?

"President Mahmoud Abbas telephoned Israeli President Shimon Peres on Wednesday to wish him a happy new year, which begins this weekend according to the Jewish calendar."

How cute is the White Man when he expresses racism

"Anti-Gypsy demonstrations that began during the weekend continued to spread across Bulgaria on Tuesday evening in response to the killing of a man by a minibus whose driver is linked to a man accused of being a Roma crime boss."

Notice that UNSC resolution 1973 does not protect civilians who are victims of NATO rebels

""They are bombing us and women and children are dying," said an elderly woman, wrapping her shroud to hide her face.  Over three thousand men, women and children have fled the besieged city in the last three days. Risking their lives to cross the front lines in search of refuge, they described grim and bloody conditions inside the town.  "There is no medicine, no food, no electricity. It is a disaster," said Mohammed Omar Farjan, 37, his two young boys sitting wide-eyed on the laps of their mother and aunts crammed in the back of the car.  "I have to go to Tripoli as my wife is expecting a baby in the next week. I don't know what we will find there but the situation is too bad to stay here," said Ahmed Gaddadfa, 42.  Rebel fighters manning rows of rocket launchers said they knew they were fighting civilians, but that Sirte's residents had "chosen to die"."   (thanks William)

WARNING: THIS IS TOO FUNNY. WHEN I THINK THE MOSSAD IS DUMB, IT ONLY GETS REALLY DUMBER

"The unprecedented political changes in the Arab world have generated a flurry of electronic correspondence between young Arabs and the Israeli government, according to Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Israeli officials say that the lifting of Internet restrictions in much of the Arab world has allowed young people to access the Israeli government’s Arabic-language websites and social networking sites. This has facilitated “thousands of messages [...] with words of praise, requests for asylum [...], and even offers [by young Arabs] to serve in the [Israel Defense Forces] and Mossad”. In a carefully coordinated public relations campaign, the Ministry voluntarily released on Monday some anonymous messages —allegedly from Arabs and Iranians— to Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, which leans politically toward Israel’s center-right Kadima party. In one message, an Iraqi computer technician wrote to request political asylum, adding that Israel is the Middle East’s “only country that respects personal freedom”. "  One comment: how do you know when a usurping state is going down?  Answer: when its intelligence service becomes more dumb than Ba`thist intelligence services.  (thanks Maria)

Bahrain udpate

Angry Arab's chief Bahraini correspondent (She shall remain anonymous for her protection).  "Its just so bizarre. I feel like I am in some weird twilight zone. Today the SAME doctors that were released a few weeks ago were sentenced. Most received a 15 year jail term and a few received 5 or 10 year jail terms. Really this government is so schizophrenic. Why release them to put them back in jail again?

Oh and some other person was given the death penalty for supposedly killing a policeman.  Yesterday the sentences given to the jailed political leaders was confirmed - no surprise there."

Domestic workers in Lebanon

"“We wanted a safe, migrant-friendly place where migrants can simply meet and use the space as their office and headquarters to organize themselves with the help of Lebanese activists,” said Ali Fakhry, a spokesman for the Anti-Racism Movement, the Lebanese group of social activists responsible for funding the Migrant House.  The ambition is to create an independent center where migrant workers can meet and organize in a country where foreigners are barred from unions and syndicates. The Migrant House will not only be open to migrant domestic workers — an almost exclusively female group — but also to migrant workers who are men, many of whom come to Lebanon to work as laborers.  To end abuses though, headway needs to be made in changing the mindsets of some in the Lebanese population toward domestic workers in a country where many refer to them as Sri Lankans no matter where they are from and negative stereotypes and prejudices still prevail.  “It is very hard to change their mentality,” said Priya Subedi, coordinator of the Migrant House, herself a former domestic worker from Nepal. “Even if they are educated — even lawyers and doctors — the girls in these houses are mistreated.”"   The article and headline are misleading: while there are efforts by brave people, like comrade Ali cited above and other organizations, the state and the rest of society don't care.         

War against women in the US: sexual assaults

"According to the 2010 Uniform Crime Report, released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation last week, there were 84,767 sexual assaults in the United States last year, a 5 percent drop from 2009...The definition of rape used by the F.B.I. — “the carnal knowledge of a female, forcibly and against her will” — was written more than 80 years ago. The yearly report on violent crime, which uses data provided voluntarily by the nation’s 18,000 law enforcement agencies, is widely cited as an indicator of national crime trends.   But that definition, critics say, does not take into account sexual-assault cases that involve anal or oral penetration or penetration with an object, cases where the victims were drugged or under the influence of alcohol or cases with male victims. As a result, many sexual assaults are not counted as rapes in the yearly federal accounting."

Oh, how nice and kind. US wants to help "new political groups" in Egypt. How sweet, really.

"Friction has been growing between U.S. officials and Egypt's military leadership, including over its efforts to halt U.S. spending to help new political groups in the country."

US pressing Egypt on Israel

"The United States on Wednesday sought to press its wary allies in Egypt's army leadership to bolster ties with Israel and stick to scheduled elections later this year, even though a new set of leaders much less friendly to the US and the Jewish state may be the winners."  Does anyone really believe that the US would bother to press the Egyptian rulers on anything other than Israel?   Pressing them on elections?  Is that what they have been doing with Sadat-Mubarak since 1978?

And now a word on Saudi Arabia

"Saudi Arabia's interactions with its restive neighbors have been reliably counterrevolutionary. Saudi Arabia has historically preferred Yemen divided and weak. Although divisions within the regime on the best approach to Yemen are clear, Saudi Arabia has shown a consistent willingness to intervene in Yemen's affairs. North of the Kingdom in Jordan, where stalled political reforms and a struggling economy have led to regular protests, the Saudi regime has offered economically advantageous membership in the Gulf Cooperation Council and at least $400 million in grants to support the country's economy and reduce its budget deficit. Additionally, Kingdom forces headed up an intervention in Bahrain in March, on behalf of their allies, the ruling al-Khalifa regime.
Saudi troops helped the Sunni leaders crack down on the Shia protests and may have assisted in the destruction of a number of Shiite mosques in the country. This assistance not only helped restore stability to the closely neighboring island, but also may have served as a message to the Kingdom's own Shia population, which has long been the subject of severe discrimination by the Wahhabi sect that dominates the Saudi religious establishment. In recent years, there has been a renewal of small Shia protests in Saudi Arabia, but public protest remains illegal. The government aggressively clamps down on protest movements, and those arrested often disappear into the prison system. The only man to appear for a planned day of protests on March 11 in Riyadh was arrested; he remains imprisoned with no access to legal representation.
Saudi Arabia's record on human rights is dismal . The plight of the country's foreign domestic workers is so bad that Indonesia this year barred its citizens from working there after a particularly serious incident. Laborers not only work long hours for little pay under draconian sponsorship laws, but abuse is common, redress virtually unknown and a worker is more likely to be convicted for standing up for herself than to see her employer convicted for abusing her. Saudi citizens cannot rely on the rule of law either, as the legal system is still built largely on un-codified religious law and royal decree. Even codification efforts seem aimed toward formalizing injustice. Despite some recent changes, women in Saudi Arabia have diminished legal standing; a woman's voice carries half the weight of a man's in court proceedings and women require the supervision of a male family member for many activities. They are also not permitted to drive, which is the only rights issue for which U.S. politicians have applied any public pressure on the Saudi regime.
Nevertheless, last fall, the U.S. came to an agreement with Saudi Arabia on a $60 billion arms deal, the biggest such deal in U.S. history. It includes a large package of new fighter jets, upgrades to older jets and a variety of attack helicopters, as well as equipment, weapons, training and support for all systems. It hasn't been finalized, but Congress raised no objections when the deal was reviewed last fall. In fact, in July there were reports that the deal was being expanded to include an additional $30 billion to facilitate upgrades to the Saudi Navy. An agreement of this scope and magnitude shows a clear commitment by the United States to its future relationship with the Kingdom. Upgrading their fleet will allow them to take a stronger posture against Iran and those attack helicopters will be useful for limiting spillover from the chaos in neighboring Yemen."

The return of Salih

Comrade Fawwaz writes about the return of `Ali `Abdullah Salih and the US/Saudi roles in Yemen.

When NATO writes out history

Comrade Amer provides the best critique I have read of NATO's "liberation" of Libya.  Somebody should translate.

Israel's dirty hands in Syria

I believe that Israeli dirty hands are involved in every case in the Arab world, or Africa or beyond, where there is a civil war or turmoil of any kind.  The assassination of the nuclear physicist in Syria yesterday has the footprints of Israeli Zionists who most likely also assassinated scores of Iraqi scientists before and after the American invasion.  

The Saudi League will replace the Arab League

Egypt will be joining the GCC? (thanks Sultan)

Arab Spring Tourism

"I am indeed speaking of frustrations because “we” as “locals” have been experiencing a situation, time and again, of being reduced to becoming at best “service providers” for visiting scholars, a term I borrowed from my colleague, political scientist Emad Shahin, at worst like the French would put it, as the “indigène de service”, for ironically the right cause of the revolution. To rather cater for the service of our Western expert colleagues who typically make out of no more than a week's stay in Cairo, a few shots and a tour around Tahrir, the ticket to tag themselves with the legitimacy and expertise of first hand knowledge." (thanks Nicholas)

Is this terrorism? Toward a new official US definition

As you know, the US government has restricted the movement of the Syrian ambassador in DC.  But the regime of Bashshar Al-Asad is not only repressive: it is a regime that is drenched in humiliation.  It does not know what self-respect is even if it hits in the face.  It has hitherto refused to utter one official word against the Saudi government when the Saudi media have launched an all-out campaign against the Syrian regime.  Yet, the US ambassador in Syria roams the country freely without any attention to diplomatic reciprocity.  Today he was pelted with eggs:  Saudi media are reporting (hoping to provoke the US government to order a bombing campaign of Syria) that he was pelted with stones.  Now, is pelting a US ambassador with eggs or tomatoes a terrorist act?  I am waiting for the next terrorism report from the US Department of State to see a broadening of the definition of terrorism to include "all acts of throwing eggs or tomatoes or other similar vegetables or food in the direction of an American or European.  Such acts would be considered crimes against humanity if directed against an Israeli (armed or unarmed).    

Saudi beheadings

Last week, Saudi government beheaded a Sudanese man accused of sorcery.  This week, it beheaded a Jordanian man accused of selling drugs.  Notice that the House of Saud only beheads Arabs and dark skinned immigrants.  You may be an American or a European White Man who is bringing a barrel of cocaine to the Kingdom and who may practice magic in downtown Riyadh and they would not dare punish you.

Israel's last year

I was reading in the Israeli press. That 2011 was a bad year for Israel.  I know. It was indeed a bad year. And I hope that next year will be worse and the following even worse. On and on until the demise of the Zionist usurping entity is accomplished.  

Pepperdine University's poll of Syria

Saudi and Qatari media have been touting a "poll of Syria".  It got my attention because I try to follow public opinion surveys in the region.  Then I heard on a Saudi news channel (Al-Arabiyya TV, owned by King Fahd's brother-in-law) that it was conducted by Pepperdine University.  Of course, Arab viewers don't know anything about this university (it has a great campus in Malibu by the way).  They don't know that it is a fanatically right-wing university with ties to Zionist evangelists.  This is the university that hired Edwin Meese and Ken Start, for potato's sake.  So I got more curious because I know that the university has no background in Middle East studies whatsoever.  I then learned that the poll was conducted "in secret" (don't tell anyone) by Pepperdine University in conjunction with a Zionist outfit in LA, called Democracy Council.     The best part of the CNN report (see link) about the survey is the reference to James Prince (a Zionist non-expert of the Middle East) as "leading expert on Arab civil society".  If that does not get you a chuckle, Family Guy is not your show.  Regarding the results?  They don't matter. The entire affair is suspect, and the notion that they were able "to train" a staff (that reads to me that they are Lebanese right-wingers) and send them to Syria is not credible.  Did they survey people in Dir`a for example?  And how did the face-to-face interview go?  My favorite part of the bogus survey is that a mere 5% of Syrian had negative opinions of the protesters.  That is really delicious.  So according to the survey, the regime has fallen and all `Alawites are now opposed to the regime.  We need to establish a center to monitor and critique Middle East news analysis in the Western press and point out the daily dosage of trash.

Feltman and his fascination with wealth

I have written about Feltman recently in Al-Akhbar English.  I said that we now know so much about him from the thousands of Wikileaks that were written by him.  He reveals himself as a petty man with obsessed with gossip in his reporting from the region.  He has no connection whatsoever to the world of ideas.  Not one report by him contained insightful analysis of the Middle East.  More than that, he is exposed as someone with weakness toward billionaires and their lifestyle.  Commenting on one Wikileaks document, Najib Miqati recently told an interviewer (New TV) about one conversation: he was meeting with Feltman.  And then Feltman asks him about his next travel.  Miqati said that he will visiting Monaco.  Feltman then asks: where do you stay in Monaco? Do you stay at a hotel or you own a house?  Miqati answers: no, I own a house. Feltman then asks: oh, how much did your house cost?  These are the interests of the man in charge of Middle East policy.  But since when Zionists appoint on the basis of qualifications?  

Question of the Day from Gulf Bank: Can you live in Kuwait without a maid?

Look to your right at the question of the day. (thanks Achille)

Students for Justice in Palestine

Help support Students for Justice in Palestine. (thanks Farah)

Sistani: Cleric of the Occupation

This diary of the July War of 2006 by an aides to Nabih Birri reveals that the latter had to pressure the Sistani to issue a statement about the Qana Massacre II.  Sistani  must have been scared of his American sponsors.  I have said it before and I say it again: Sistani will be remembered in Middle East history--or should be remembered--as akin to Antoine Lahd.

Shi`ite clerics who are crooks

Apparently, the report about Shi`ite clerics in Lebanon who are crooks (which was published in Al-Akhbar) generated tons of angry responses from people.  I posted a link to the article yesterday.  Somebody should volunteer to translate it.

Zionists for Obama

"Mr. Koch noted that the last time he was invited to such an event was when he was mayor and Ronald Reagan was president. In the e-mail, Mr. Koch wrote that Mr. Obama deserved praise for intervening to protect Israeli diplomats in Cairo and for providing Israel with military equipment and cooperation “far exceeding his predecessors.” He declared that he was “now on board the Obama Re-election Express.”"

Militants?

"Militants on Tuesday attacked a pipeline carrying natural gas from Egypt to Jordan and Israel. "  Militants? Why militants? How did the New York Times know?  Then the paper says:  "The authorities did not name suspects in the attack."  Oh, no.  They did name suspects but withheld their names.  I shall here for the first time reveal their names:  Karim potato and Husni potato.  Those two are the lead suspects.  

Beheading of a Jordanian in Saudi Arabia

A Jordanian is beheaded in Saudi Arabia.  He was charged with selling drugs. (thanks Shihab)

Israeli connections

"Jacob Fattal expressed surprise and gratitude that the Israeli press did not report on his son's Israeli connections."  Well, the US press also did not report on his Israeli connections. Anything for Israel and Israelis--in the US media.  

new locations for the Israeli occupation embassy

"A team of five Israeli diplomats, headed by Consul General to Egypt Yaakov Dvir, visited Cairo for a few hours on Tuesday, in search of possible new locations for the Israeli Embassy, Germany's DPA news agency reported.  According to the report, the mission spent only a few hours in the Egyptian capital, exploring alternative locations for the facility."

Lebanese Shi`ites don't do parties or arts: from the New York Times

"To Beirut’s art-and-party crowd — which consists mostly of French-educated Maronite Catholics but includes doses of Christian Orthodox, Sunni Muslims and Druse — the question of whether the new government will regain some kind of productivity doesn’t appear to matter." (thanks Jenny)

Occupation facts: West Bank

"522 roadblocks and checkpoints obstruct Palestinian movement in the West Bank, compared to 503 in July 2010.

So far in 2011, an additional 495 ad-hoc ‘flying’ checkpoints obstructed movement around the West Bank each month (on average), compared to 351 in the past two years.

200,000 people from 70 villages are forced to use detours between two to five times longer than the direct route to their closest city due to movement restrictions.

One or more of the main entrances are blocked to Palestinian traffic in ten out of eleven major West Bank cities.

Palestinians holding West Bank IDs require entry permits to enter East Jerusalem and are limited to using four of the 16 checkpoints along the Barrier.

62 percent of the Barrier is completed, with 80 percent of the Barrier route built inside the West Bank, with highly limited access to areas behind the Barrier.

Four of the five roads into the Jordan Valley are not accessible to most Palestinian vehicles.

Almost 80 percent of land in the Jordan Valley is off-limits to Palestinians, with the land designated for Israeli settlements, ‘firing zones’ and ‘nature reserves’.

122 closure obstacles shut off the Old City of Hebron from the rest of the city.

Palestinian access to their private land around 55 Israeli settlements is highly restricted."

Never trust the Turkish government

"Intelligence information and cooperation with Turkey prevented a great inconvenience," said Amnon Shmueli, who heads the Population and Immigration Authority's Ben Gurion Airport division.


The cooperation between the Israeli and Turkish authorities is unusual considering the deepening diplomatic rift between the two nations."

Oppression of Roma people

"French police on Tuesday rounded up more than 160 members of the Roma minority from a camp in Marseille, sparking the ire of rights groups some six months ahead of presidential elections."

Egyptians mock the stroll by Tantawi in civilian clothes

(Caption says that Military Council fulfills his promise and surrenders power to a civilian government). (thanks Ahmet)

Women in France

"Although women make up a fast-growing segment of France's workforce, they continue to earn less than men — nearly 18% less in 2008 — and they hold disproportionately fewer top jobs. According to the most recent statistics, from 2008, published this year by the Ministry for Solidarity and Social Cohesion, women made up about 30% of business managers, and 17.1% of chief executives in private industry were women."

Thomas Friedman: still sobbing over the fall of Mubarak

"If clashes erupt between Israelis and Palestinians today, there is no President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt to absorb the flames."

History of Israel: massacres and cover-ups

"The cover-up began when photographs of the two terrorists being led off the bus alive were published. That raised an international storm that led to two investigative committees, both of which came up with nothing: the Shin Bet, which presided over a concert of lies recited to both committees, succeeded in hiding the fact that Shalom had given the order to kill the two."

Muslim clerics for hire: the Case of Saudi Mufti

An alert Saudi dissident inside Saudi Arabia pointed this out to me.  Here, the Saudi Mufti opposes the political participation of women or their inclusion in the Shura council.  And here, the Saudi Mufti supports the decision by Saudi King to include women in the Shura council and calls his speech "valuable."

US and Yemen

I read that the US government is feigning surprise at the "sudden" arrival of `Ali `Abdullah Salih to Yemen.  I mean, you think that Saudi Arabia would arrange for the private jet of the Saudi King to take Salih back to Yemen without informing the US, which has been desperate to keep the Yemeni regime intact--with or without Salih, although it still prefers Salih.

They both are very very pleased to meet one another

They are genuinely happy to meet one another.  (AP)

Shi`ite clerics/crooks

Al-Akhbar has a report on the phenomenon of Sh`iite clerics in Lebanon who are crooks.

Kissinger on Dayan

"I had breakfast with Dayan the other day. He was in Toronto and I invited him here. I was struck by what he said: He said there was hope. [...]I was also struck by another thing he said. He mentioned Jerusalem; he said, "Jerusalem is no problem." To say this! [p. 8]" (thanks Reagan)

The regional role of Turkey

I feel that the article by Shadid in the New York Times about Turkey's regional role is a year too late.  My impression is that Turkey's appeal in the Arab world has waned.  Turkey a year ago dramatically raised Arab popular expectations regarding challenging Israel and then settled on demanding a lousy apology.  

Turkey in the New York Times

Notice how negative and sarcastic the coverage of Turkey in the New York Times (but not in the articles by Anthony Shadid) has been since Turkey became critical of Israel.  I remember how favorable the coverage of Turkey was in the New York Times during the days of the dictatorship of the generals.  I bet that Zionists really miss the days of Turkish generals.

The record of the Egyptian Military Council

"The honeymoon between military and protesters did not last long. Tahrir Square, once the scene of wild celebrations, turned into a battlefield as the army moved to disperse activists beating them with clubs and electric rods, and even firing live ammunition, leading to many casualties. Hundreds have been thrown in jail. Between 28 January and 29 August, almost 12,000 civilians were tried in military tribunals – far more than Mubarak managed in 30 years of dictatorship. Torture by police and military personnel remains widespread, with hundreds of reports of beatings, electrocution, and even sexual assault." (thanks Raed)

You don't hear calls for reform in UAE in Western capitals

"Five pro-democracy activists on trial in the United Arab Emirates returned to court Monday, two days after the oil-rich Gulf nation held elections for an advisory council that wields little real power.  While the United Arab Emirates has not seen street protests like those that have roiled other Arab nations, including nearby Bahrain, authorities have moved aggressively to silence pro-reform advocates and to keep demands for political change, inspired by Arab Spring uprisings in the rest of the Middle East, out of the Gulf federation that includes glitzy Dubai."

PA police: they have other duties besides serving Israeli war crimes?

"Police launched a crackdown on Monday on residents of Jenin with unpaid debts, a police statement said.
Police said 13 men were arrested in Jenin and al-Yamon village in the northern West Bank."

Abu Mazen has not stopped serving Israeli occupation

"Security coordination between the Israel Defense Forces and Palestinian security forces has proven its effectiveness in the face of heightened tensions over the Palestinian Authority's application for membership at the United Nations last week. Large-scale demonstrations in PA-controlled towns were kept from spilling over into other areas of the territories that are controlled by Israel."

The state that terrorizes children: Israel

"A little more than a year since the reopening of an Israel Prison Service holding facility for unaccompanied minors, most of whom are refugees from Sudan and Eritrea, the prison service's own data reflects major problems at the facility - problems that constitute a violation of the international Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Israel is a signatory.  Haaretz has learned that since the facility has been in operation, there have been 19 serious suicide attempts among the 179 children that have been held there. Those 19 cases do not include other attempts that the authorities characterized as efforts to attract attention."

Zionism-is-racism

"The Jerusalem Legal Aid Bureau of the Justice Ministry filed a complaint in the Tel Aviv Labor Court on Sunday against the Kimat Hinam (‘Almost Free’) grocery chain on behalf of 13 Arab Israelis who claim the chain fired them because they are Arabs."  I am sure that the chain will be rewarded by the US Congress.

Tantawi in civilian clothes

Tantawi, hopefully, will pay dearly for his dishonest testimony in the Mubarak trial.  Here, he is walking "among the people" in civilian clothes, hoping that this gimmick would earn him some credit.  (thanks Ahmet)

Saudi propaganda in Beirut

A reader sent me this from downtown Beirut.  Hariri stooges are celebrating the Saudi national day. (thanks Ali)

Aljazeera

"Many were nostalgic for the network's heyday, in the mid-2000s. During that period, the Emir of Qatar, who finances and hosts Al-Jazeera, was on the outs with the Saudi royal family, so he allowed the network to carry anti-authoritarian voices, including those critical of Saudi policies.As’ad Abu Khalil, a columnist for the Beirut-based Al-Akhbar daily and a professor of political science at California State University, wrote:

The network thrived and grew when the conflict with Saudi Arabia gave it a wide margin of freedom, when it was able to articulate the grievances of most, if not all, Arabs." (thanks Sultan)

Anti-Israeli feelings in Egypt

""Whenever America takes a big stand toward what happens in Israel, immediately you get this kind of reaction," Aly said Friday, speaking by phone from an expo for start-up companies in Alexandria sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development. Ten years after the intifadeh, Cairo is now full of brand-name American products, from Guess jeans to Starbucks cappuccinos. Several Egyptians told TIME they would now avoid buying those items, particularly if there was a local alternative readily at hand. Starbucks, for example, has faced stiff competition from Egypt's local Cilantro coffee shops since the U.S. chain opened in Cairo two years, in part, says one local business owner, because of anti-Israeli feeling."

AP pushes Israeli propaganda

Look at this: "Suspected Islamist militants on Tuesday attacked a gas pipeline in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula that transports fuel to neighboring Israel and Jordan, officials said."  Who said "suspected Islamists"?? No one knows who is behind it although most believe this is the work of local Egyptians with no ties to Islamist groups? 

Tony Blair's millions

"He has advised Mubadala, one of Abu Dhabi’s most prominent sovereign wealth funds, and the luxury goods concern LVMH. In the television programme, we calculate that the Blair family property portfolio alone – with seven houses ranging from his manor house in Buckinghamshire to his London house in Connaught Square – is worth over £14 million. And then comes a further reported £9 million or more from speeches.
It is impossible to tell how much Tony Blair Inc is worth exactly because his finances are carefully hidden behind complex financial structures. Mr Blair himself is on record as saying that he is worth “considerably less” than £20 million. There is some reason to be sceptical of this claim.
Mr Blair insists that his conduct since stepping down as prime minister has been honourable, above board and beyond reproach. But this much can surely be said: when Blair joined the Quartet, he was handed a priceless opportunity to earn a place in history by making a genuine commitment to world peace. He has made some progress. Yet he seems to treat his post as envoy for the Quartet as a part-time post, by allowing his private commercial interests to merge with his public duty. And – as ever – the old maestro is getting away with it."  (thanks Narima)

Saudi reforms and lashes

"A court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced a woman to 10 lashes for breaking the country's ban on female drivers.  The woman, identified only as Shema, was found guilty of driving in Jeddah in July." (thanks Laleh) 

Walid Jumblat interviewed on Dream TV

This is a good interview on Egyptian Dream TV with Walid Jumblat: unlike on Lebanese TVs, he is presented with tough questions.  (thanks Leyla)

Nada Bakri's documentation

Forget about politics.  Let us talk journalism.  Look at this passage:  "Syrian security forces killed four soldiers on Monday as they attempted to escape a military camp, and the army tightened its grip on towns across the country to quell dissent against the government of President Bashar al-Assad, activists said."  How could such a detailed story be sourced by "activists said"?  Would the editors of Bakri permit a story against Israeli occupation if it was based on what "activists said"?  I mean, really?

Saudi-Israeli alliance

New York Times praises Saudi king:  "King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia deserves credit for his long overdue decision to give women the right to vote, to run in municipal elections and to be appointed as full voting members of the Majlis Al-Shura, a government advisory group. "

Interview with Jordanian newspaper

My interview with Jordanian newspaper, Al-`Arab Al-Yawm. 

"Election in Bahrain"

So in the parliamentary election in Bahrain the other day (for the seats vacated by resignation of opposition MPs), a mere 17% voted, and we are not sure that this figure was accurate.  It could be even lower.

Saudi reforms

The enthusiasm by Western governments towards "Saudi reforms" has been just sickening but typical.  US government could not wait to shower praise on the King.  Yet, if you think about it, the new Saudi reforms (and much more) have been integrated in Ba`thist tyrannical systems for decades.  So even with the reforms, Saudi Arabia is still behind political development in Ba`thist regimes--Ba`thist for potato's sake.

Bill Clinton on the two "great tragedies" of the contemporary Middle East

""The two great tragedies in modern Middle Eastern politics, which make you wonder if God wants Middle East peace or not, were Rabin's assassination and Sharon's stroke.""

Offending Muslims

"A city councilman in San Juan Capistrano, California, has come under fire by Muslims and local council members alike for naming his dog Muhammad and later announcing it during a city council meeting. Councilman Derek Reeve is not backing down, however, stating on Tuesday that the decision to name his dog Muhammad was not meant to be offensive but was rather abut his family exercising their freedom of speech."

Moroccan initiative

"Undercover officers snapped photographs of restaurants frequented by Moroccans, including one that was noted for serving "religious Muslims." Police documented where Moroccans bought groceries, which hotels they visited and where they prayed. While visiting an apartment used by new Moroccan immigrants, an officer noted in his reports that he saw two Qurans and a calendar from a nearby mosque.

It was called the Moroccan Initiative."

Bronner and his conflict of interest

"New York Times Jerusalem bureau chief Ethan Bronner has resigned from the speaker's bureau of a Jerusalem-based public relations firm amid charges of conflict of interest."  He has asked the Israeli foreign ministry to handle all his speaking engagements.  

Zionist merenaries

"As of yesterday, in response to this call, there were 55 French citizens, both men and women, with military experience, stationed inside the illegal Israeli settlements up and down the West Bank. Organised into five separate groups of 11, their mandate is to "defend the settlements against any attack from Palestinians", and to "aid" in areas where they feel there is a lack of Israeli army personnel or police forces."  If those were Arab mercenaries, they would have been called "foreign fighters" and bombed on the spot with drones.

Don't cry for me, Abu Mazen

""I was overcome by tears as I listened to Abu Mazen’s speech, and tried not to be seen by anyone. However, the men and women in the Lebanese delegation cheered me up. I found that Lebanon’s ambassador Nawaf Salam was crying more than me, and his wife, journalist and writer Sahar Baasiri, was there with us, armed with a camera, and she took many photos of us. When I finally overcame my embarrassment with my tears, I stood and found that many eyes were tearful as well, and not all those who were crying were Arabs or Muslims.""  No one is more emotional about Palestine than I am and, yet, the Abu Mazen speech stirred in me as much emotions as Hamid Karzai does when he speaks.  What a joke. (thanks "Ibn Rushd")

Yemen: counting the dead

Notice that despite the daily death toll in Yemen, Western governments that are in love with Arab civilians, have not been making noises about the daily toll. 

This is an absolute monarchy after all

"Saudi Arabia remains an absolute monarchy. Fouad al-Farhan, once jailed briefly for his blog critical of the monarchy, led a slate of young Saudis from the cosmopolitan commercial capital of Jidda, determined to run in this year’s municipal elections to use whatever democratic openings they might afford for change. When the final list of candidates was posted weeks ago, his name had been unceremoniously removed — without anyone from the Jidda governorate run by Prince Khalid al-Faisal calling him to explain, Mr. Farhan said."

Saudi women

Look at this passage by Neil MacFurquhar in the Times:  "Saudi women, who are legally subject to male chaperones for almost any public activity, hailed the royal decree as an important, if limited, step toward making them equal to their male counterparts. They said the uprisings sweeping the Arab world for the past nine months — along with sustained domestic pressure for women’s rights and a more representative form of government — prompted the change."  Notice he spoke about--presumably on behalf of--Saudi women.  Notice how easy it is for the White Man to generalize about ALL THE NATIVES when the generalization is politically convenient.  

Saudi women and their rights

The headlines around the world (in the Western press and in the Arabic press--95% of which are Saudi-owned and the rest are Qatari-owned) would make it sound as if women have gained the rights to vote in some democracy.  This news is as earth shattering as when Saddam allowed for elections under his own government.

Look how Israeli propaganda sheet characterizes the speech by Saudi King

You still doubt that there is a strong Israeli-Saudi alliance:  "Saudi king grants women right to vote, run for political office".  Of course, both shura and municipal councils have no decision making powers whatsoever, and the Shura council members are appointed by House of Saud.  

Racist War crimes of NATO rebels

"Race has made this fight especially toxic: Tawergans say Misurata has ignored betrayals by its other neighbors, singling out Tawerga because most of the residents are black. Graffiti on their emptied homes deepens their conviction: “Misurata’s slaves” appears on many walls."

The beheading of a Sudanese man in Saudi Arabia

Don't expect Wahhabi Arab liberals (who write for the mouthpieces of Saudi princes) to utter a word against the beheading of a Sudanese man in Saudi Arabia on charges of sorcery and heresy.  I asked friends on Facebook to ask Wahhabi Arab liberals on Facebook for their reaction to the beheading of the Sudanese man.  One replied that once he asked one Arab liberal, he instantly unfriended.  A tough question, it seems. That only proves my theory: Arab liberals are nothing but timid Wahhabis.

Israeli propaganda outlets are desperate for good news

Israeli newspapers are ecstatic: a political club at Yale University has voted against the PA UN bid.  Yes, that should save Israel from final demise.  (thanks Laleh)

The Storming of the Israeli occupation embassy

Arwa kindly translated my recent article in Al-Akhbar: 

"The Storming of the Embassy in the Building

As’ad Abu Khalil

To Habib Shartuni, wherever you are,
On your anniversary.

No qualms about it. We hate Israel (while disliking Amr Moussa and Husni Mubarak). We hate it immensely. No shame in admitting to that. Political spite is not only justified; it fuels fundamental change. Would the apartheid regime in South Africa have collapsed had Blacks not abhorred it? Zionist propaganda not only wants to crush armed resistance, but it depicts our hatred of it as a kind of racism per se, because racism is reserved for the white man (and the Israeli – the latter strives to model himself after the white man, ignoring Israel’s non-European population). The storming of the embassy was a television and internet moment.

Every calamity that befalls the enemy is an opportunity for us to celebrate as we await the greatest celebration, when the usurping entity falls. Who didn’t rejoice at the sight of the lowering of the flag, and the competition among the Egyptian uprising’s youth to climb the building? Who didn’t notice that the enemy’s building insisted on opening in a residential building (without the residents’ knowledge or input, of course, but this was decided by the Sadat-Mubarak regime) in order to use the residents as human shields? The enemy’s embassy used the building’s residents as human shields, to guarantee it would never experience an explosion or a fire. The Egyptian government should’ve required the Israeli embassy to move elsewhere, where it would be accessible to protesters. The enemy’s embassy wants to enjoy the government’s protection and that of civilians, who are forced to bear the burden of sharing space with the enemy’s outpost in Egypt. Jubilation and congratulations about the storming of the embassy spread on Facebook and Twitter. It might be a watershed moment in the Egyptian uprising’s history. We may say “after the storming of the embassy, not before.” This has destroyed the Zionists’ dreams of peaceful coexistence with the Egyptian uprising’s outcome.

Husni Mubarak’s era represented a depraved time on all fronts including cultural production. There is a brand of art, known in Egypt as “degraded” art, that flourishes only in a degraded era like that of Sadat and  Mubarak. Compare that to Abdul Naser’s era, who was soley accused tyranny by the House of Saud. That doesn’t mean the Mubarak-Sadat era was absolutely devoid of good art. But the art that gained international recognition (in the arts and literature) was decadent. Adel Imam was an opportunist, one of the final products of the Jamal Mubarak era that never began; Imam was a Nasserite during Nasserism, a Sadatite during Sadat’s government and a supporter of Mubarak during Mubarak’s era. In his movie “Al-Safara fi Al-‘imara” (The Embassy in the Building) embodied Mubarak’s obsolete values (which still haven’t ended due to SCAF rule). The movie sought to trivialize most Arabs’ political principles (with the exception of the House of Saud’s lackeys who write in the publications of … the House of Saud). The movie tries to depict the generation of hostility towards Israel (as if that generation ended in the sixties) one that deserves ridicule. In the movie, the “protagonist’s” sexual instincts become more important than rejection of Israel. The position towards Israel’s aggression becomes a mere debatable viewpoint.

This week’s scenes of the Israeli occupation embassy’ storming inflamed the new online Arab generation. I followed it online and was relieved that the new Arab generation holds no less animosity towards Israel than its predecessors whenever the opportunity to express itself arose, and whenever the nightmare receded (this is Altantawi, the US and Israel’s dilemma in Egypt. The fear factor has disappeared, and nobody can succeed Omar Suleiman’s filthy acts, internally and externally despite the fact that the revolution has not yet ripened). Israel has secretly known the Arab world’s concealed opinions. It knew that its interests coincide only with tyrannical regimes like Sadat and Mubarak’s. The pictures from embassy were exhilarating. An Egyptian protester was sending me pictures from the site via her own phone (she holds a PhD from Oxford, and I say this only because western media has tried to depict the protesters as Mubarak’s hooligans. Politically and sexually sleazy website Elaph spread the idea that the protesters were paid by Jamal Mubarak’s cronies). Egyptian indignation towards the enemy’s embassy has several meanings: it conveys not only traditional Arab anger towards the usurping entity but it also expresses a new Arab awareness. The Arab people have become aware that Israel is Arab tyrants’ natural ally in our area while it simultaneously boasts of its own democracy (it is democratic for Jews only, and there is racism amongst Jews themselves, in the same fashion as the apartheid regime in South Africa before it crumbled). The truth about Israel’s support for repressive regimes from Morocco to Saudi Arabia was concealed from most Arabs (including military, intelligence and sometimes economic support. Let’s not forget Mauritania’s drive to normalize with Israel). All this was exposed over the last few months when the deceptive Israeli government concealed its true sentiments towards Husni Mubarak. Israel will soon regret, if it hasn’t already regretted, making its affinity with Mubarak publicly before and after his downfall. That is, it has implicitly included anti-Israeli feelings in the new definition of Egyptian citizenship. The Egyptian people have understood the trick, and they have realized that Israel and Saudi Arabia clung desperately to Mubarak’s regime to the very last minute and beyond. This explains the Egyptian masses’ approach of both the Israeli embassy and the Saudi embassy (though the Saudi embassy enjoys strong protection from SCAF, which receives Saudi money). All Arab media, and most western media, ignored the Egyptian masses’ march to the Saudi embassy because the simultaneous animosity to Israel and the House of Saud is embarrassing.

The embassy does not only represent Zionist penetration into the Arab world and an attempt to quell categorical rejection of Israel as per the no’s of Khartoum. The embassy’s large crew does (not) conceal its espionage and terrorist intentions as well as psychological warfare forcing the Arab people to accept the idea of peace with Israel; a concept supported by Husni Mubarak’s family and a a few Egyptian writers in Saudi newspapers. The Israeli embassy in Cairo is a point of penetration Arab societies as well as a nerve center for espionage operations in Egypt and other Arab countries. The Camp David regime crumbled before the Egyptian uprising completely expelled the Israeli presence from Egypt. Liberals still try to impose limitations on the discourse surrounding Camp David: it demands nothing more than amendment of Camp David’s stipulations in order to mobilize Egyptian troops in the Sinai, as Walid Junblat opined. That is, Egyptian liberals’ goal is to increase Israel’s security provided by the Egyptian army.

The details of the attack on the Israeli embassy reveal much about the essence of the ruling regime in Egypt and about Israel’s strategic status. It appears that six armed security personnel were trapped inside the embassy, or inside a bathroom, or on the rooftops, fearing the people’s wrath. Israeli press that Netanyahu and Barak called “field marshal” – what a funny title for officers who led armies to defeat; the title is better suited for south Lebanon’s youth in 2006, who deserve the title – Tantawi more than once but he refused to talk to them. When Netanyahu and his staff gave up on trying to reach Tantawi the enemy’s leaders contacted Obama and the US Secretary of Defense (and the head of Egyptian intelligence, who promptly responded to the enemy). The US Secretary of Defense tried for two hours to reach Tantawi, to no avail, he finally managed to deliver a direct threat to the Egyptian regime. This conveys the enemy’s strategic crisis: this is the Zionist state that has enjoyed a tremendous amount of aid from the US, Germany and other countries as well as monstrous western arms without the humiliating conditions imposed on Gulf regimes, which are meant to boost western economies. Despite that, the Zionist state found itself in a weak, helpless position. When the people revolt the enemy’s arsenal disappears even nuclear weapons. This was a lesson the Shah, the apartheid regime in South Africa and Husni Mubarak’s regime learned. Israel, which used to send its terrorist planes around the world to rescue a single Israel individual, calls out for help from the American administration so it commands Field Marshal Tantawi to stop the spontaneous attack on the embassy. Israel could do nothing but wait and arrange for the escape of the terrorists within (they may have dressed as farmers, as some newspapers reported). The Israeli prime minister may have allowed the embassy’s security to fire on the Egyptian masses, and they did, but SCAF certainly censored this news (there may be an American propaganda movie soon “starring” the enemy’s terrorists and depicting the Egyptian protesters’ “savagery.”)

We can use this event to extrapolate the short term future. The enemy’s media was terrified. Israel’s international isolation has increased along with Arab people’s anger. Fighter jets that had defeated Arab regimes’ armies in the past have become useless. There is confusion in the enemy’s ranks towards the embassy crisis. The enemy’s media worked to cover up the embarrassment and the people’s rage. Israel was in no position to face that kind of reaction, a few months after the overthrow of its dear Mubarak (even American liberal writer Richard Cohen, who writes for the Washington Post, wrote a letter reminiscing about Husni Mubarak after the embassy attack). Israel’s leaders discovered that the era of Camp David supports Zionism but it’s suffers severe weakness (it is incorrect to assume Camp David is a bilateral agreement, especially since it involves several military and secret intelligence provisions that the US inserted – just ask Nabil Al-Arabi). This weakness lies in the States’ ability to secure a pro-American, tyrannical regime. Consecutive American administrations since 1979 performed their duties and flooded the Sadat-Mubarak regime with military and intelligence support. But the people’s anger is greater, as we saw. To advance its own hegemony in the area and protect Israel’s interests, the US made Mubarak’s family a Pharoah dynasty. Jamal Mubarak was prepared for his position via coordination between his father’s government and the Bush administration. American media used to race to meet Jamal Mubarak as if he were the wise man of the Nile. Obama clung on to Mubarak until the last minute. And when it became clear that Mubarak could no longer continue in power Obama tried to appease Israel with Omar Soleiman, but this also failed. Omar Soleiman’s role was the Obama’s administration last choice to extend Mubarak’s era.

Arab treatment of the scenes of the embassy attack sufficed to bring the House of Saud’s lackeys out of the woodworks to come to Israel’s rescue. Ali Salim, who calls for normalizing with Israel (who sees no contradiction in normalizing and expressing hostility to Jews as Jews in Arabic media. But aren’t all Israel’s friends in the Arab world anti-Jewish?) played the same old Saudi media broken record: the tune of warning against chaos and wars after the fall of Mubarak. Since Mubarak’s overthrow Prince Salman’s newspaper, Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, has been rife with articles and pictures warning again chaos if Mubarak were to fall and they published sleazy articles about Iranian and Hamas conspiracies to overthrow him. The editor of this newspaper, who is one of the loudest Likudnik voices among the ranks of the House of Saud’s writers, equated the burning of the embassy with the burning of Egypt. Even Walid Junblat (who returned from Libya praising the new regime just like he used to praise Qadhafi – but this time he took with him an oil expert) expressed his opinion about Camp David as harming the “civility” of the Egyptian revolt. Speaking about civility and killing with axes, is anyone more informed about that than Walid Junblat? The House of Saud’s press chose, for reasons ordinary human intelligence cannot fathom, to play the role of a guardian to democratic uprisings in the Arab world. The House of Saud’s lackeys may be confused: perhaps beheading in Riyadh’s public squares are the ideal democratic model.

The advancement, not regression, of the Egyptian uprising to the level of revolution will result in an immediate distinction between fundamental, revolutionary change and liberal change. Of course, Islamists have their own calculations according to the Qatari or Saudi governments, or both these days. Islamists (Ikhwan and Salafists) stayed away from the storming of the embassy. They actually condemned it. Jihad is resisting Abdulnaser because the Ikhwan were in a regional-global alliance that includes the Israeli enemy. But the Cold War is in the past now, albeit it is clearer why Abdulnaser opposed the Ikhwan. The liberal wing in Egypt rushed to strongly denounce the storming of the embassy. Since when were revolutions liberal? Is there a revolution in history that was created by liberals? Liberals do not sully their hands with revolutions: they just try to reap their rewards during their appealing phases, but they flee once it turns into a revolution.

The website “We are all Khaled Said,” on Google’s behalf, which secretly assured the Israeli government it would block search results of Israel’s maps in a way that only Mossad directors and Google know about – the website quickly commented on the embassy storming and described it as “amateur.” Wael Ghonem, the Egyptian uprising’s accepted face for the white man because he works in an accepted company and because he says nothing against Mubarak’s American sponsor. He also has no position against Israel) commented on Twitter denouncing the storming of the embassy. Yediot Ahronot promptly quoted Wael Ghonem as the sole representative of the uprising of millions of Egyptians. While it is true that Ghonem returned to demand the Egyptian government to take a “strong” stance after the killing of the sixth Egyptian soldier on the hands of the enemy, but a strong stance is defined by liberals as kissing the enemy’s cheeks no more than three times during formal meetings. Arab liberalism  shares some features (we shouldn’t confuse Egypt’s independent liberals with those liberals who write for the princes of Saud). All forms of Arab liberalism suffer the white man complex: they try to appease him in every way possible, especially with regard to his stance towards Israel. Popular anti-Israeli sentiment embarrasses Arab liberals because they embrace the white man (who is a Zionist) and they constantly try to prove their civility. For this reason liberals’ comment on the storming of the embassy was to stress the importance of the revolution’s peacefulness and civility.

Revolutions were never “civil.” There was no civility in any global revolts that are considered beacons for humanity, such as the French revolution. Robespierre gave no attention to the charges leveled against him accusing him of terrorism (if Robespierre were alive today the US would’ve thrown him in Guantanamo in a heartbeat). Robespierre would tell them: if I were a terrorist, you would be at my feet. How could violence towards a concrete wall (built b the enemy on Egyptian soil, with permission from Tantawi’s council) be considered violence? We’ve been told for years that the definition of terrorism according to Zionism is any violence committed against any Israel even if he were a heavily armed terrorist soldier, which would then result in a United Nations resolution. But how is the demolition of a wall considered terrorism? Also, why does the storming of the enemy’s embassy cause more noise than the Israeli terrorist soldiers’ killing of Egyptian soldiers and Egyptian civilians? Liberalism may latch on to revolutions but they do not create them. The distinction between liberals and revolutionaries is inevitable and it may have been set in motion. As Amin Rihani described this phase [in his poem "Revolution"] in “The Valleys’ Chant”: Haven’t we told them the stories of Paris / when the Bastille was smashed, and the prisoners serenaded / when the king was beheaded / and the necks of top French people were cut.”"

Ha ha ha: Israeli occupation embassy in Cairo

Are you aware that a handful of Israeli diplomats have indeed returned to Cairo but that they don't operate from the Israeli occupation embassy.  They now work from inside "an undisclosed location".  Kid you not.  

Fahmi Huwaydi has no guilt about what happened to the Israeli occupation embassy in Cairo

I have sad before that Islamist columnist, Fahmi Huwaydi, is most likely the most widely read columnists in the Arab world, although I don't agree with him on most things of course.  Here, he talks about the ambassador of Israeli occupation in Cairo and about his flight from Egypt.  (thanks Joseph)

Ethan Bronner and the New York Times

Yet, again, the New York Times comes to the rescue of Ethan Bronner.  Just imagine the Times' reaction if the violation was not about links to Israel and its army but about links to Hamas and Hizbullah by a Times' correspondent.  I doubt that the offense would merely be in the area of "appearance of impropriety".  Comrade Max Blumenthal is devoting so much of energy to track the bias of this man but I can assure Max of this: no matter what Bronner does, the paper will come to his defense.  I mean, if Max produces a picture of Bronner commanding Israeli terrorists in South Lebanon, the Times would respond by saying: the paper is confident in the professional abilities of Bronner and believes that he can maintain his objectivity while engaged in killing of Arabs in South Lebanon.  I can see the paper may be conceding that there may be an "appearance" of conflict of interest but not sufficient as grounds for reassignment.  

Anti-`Alawite bigotry

I am sick and tired of the anti-`Alawite bigotry that is filling the airwaves in Saudi/Qatari/Hariri media.  I am sick and tired that no one speaks against it.  I am not expecting the voices and tools of Saudi princes to speak, and I certainly not expecting the Wahhabi liberals to speak against it.  But Syrian opposition figures and supporters (I am speaking about the good opposition elements and not the lousy fanatical Ikhwan and their liberal March 14 clients in Syria), are obligated to speak against it, and not only for political reasons.  AlJazeera basically opens the phone lines and people weigh in with fanatical anti-`Alawite bigotry.  It is not amusing that the bigots preface their remarks but saying: I am not against `Alawites, but....   This is like American racists who preface their racism by saying: I am not against blacks, but....

If an Arabic newspapers wrote this, accusations of anti-Semitism would be featured by MEMRI

" the domestic political perils of pressuring Israel, which can alienate some Jewish voters and campaign donors."  No, really.  If any Arab or Muslim in the US, wrote this sentence, he/she would have been instantly branded as a rabid anti-Semite.

"clashes" in Yemen: killing in Syria

Western Saudi and Qatari press have now settled on this: they refer to Yemeni regime's killing of people as "clashes," while they never refer to Syrian regime's killing of people as "clashes".  Neither of them are clashes.  But they use clashes when the regime in question is a dear client for the Western governments.

French ambassador in Damascus

So the French ambassador in Damascus was pelted with tomatoes and eggs in a Christian neighborhood in Damascus (I only mention the neighborhood because the anti-`Alawite bigots would be quick to blame `Alawite shabbihah).  So what did the unesteemed ambassador say?  He accused his civilian "attackers" of being shabbihah, no less.  I am not sure if the French and US government would now be quick to count the act as a terrorist act.  Can you imagine the cheers the people would get if they pelted the Iranian ambassador in Damascus with eggs and tomatoes?  Actions--for Western governments--are not bad in themselves; they are only bad if they target clients of Western governments or their representatives.  Thus, killing an Israeli soldier is a terrorist act but killing a Palestinian child is not.     

Syrian state media

My new blog post on Al-Akhbar English.  

special bombs for a special relations

"The upcoming issue of Newsweek, which is set to hit newsstands on Monday, claims that two years ago US President Barack Obama secretly approved the transfer of 55 "bunker-busters", a form of deep-penetrating bombs, to Israel. The country had been requesting the bombs since the time of the Bush administration, the Daily Beast website reported on Friday.   According to the report, US and Israeli officials told Newsweek that the GBU-28 type bombs, which could be potentially be used in an attack on Iran's nuclear sites, were transferred to Israel in 2009, just several months after Obama came into office." 

Mecca-Nevada

""To the al-Saud monarchy, Mecca is their vision of the future – a steel and concrete metropolis built on the proceeds of enormous oil wealth that showcases their national pride.   Yet growing numbers of citizens, particularly those living in the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina, have looked on aghast as the nation's archaeological heritage is trampled under a construction mania backed by hardline clerics who preach against the preservation of their own heritage. Mecca, once a place where the Prophet Mohamed insisted all Muslims would be equal, has become a playground for the rich, critics say, where naked capitalism has usurped spirituality as the city's raison d'être...."" (thanks Nu`man)

They were convicted of being unnice to Israeli occupation ambassador

"Today 10 members of the so-called "Irvine 11" (charges against one of the original eleven students were dropped) were convicted on misdemeanor charges of disrupting a meeting and conspiracy to disrupt a meeting in a Santa Ana, Calif., court. Here's what they did, which is a crime:"... (thanks anonymous)

Death toll in Yemen

Yesterday, the Syrian and Yemeni regimes killed demonstrators.  The Syrian death toll is covered in the Western (and Saudi) press, but not the death toll in Yemen.  Yemeni dictator killed more than 30 innocent Yemeni people yesterday.  Why is that not a story?  Why don't Western newspapers cite anonymous sources in Sana`a?  

Petty New York Times

Yesterday, on the front page of the hard copy of the Times, they published a picture of Iranian president speaking to an empty hall at the UN.  And they even said that the hall was empty.  But other pictures from different angles did not show an empty hall.  Some delegations did walk out, but not all delegations walked out.  This is like the way the Times characterized polemically the Turkish prime minister's speech, versus the way they refrain from negative characterizations of speeches of hate by Israeli leaders.

`Abdul-NATO

It is hilarious.  The New York Times is hard at work to elevate the status of Mustafa `Abdul-NATO.  They do that with every US/Israeli puppet in the region.  Did they not publish fanatically glowing profiles of Hamid Karzai? Of Fu'ad Sanyurah? Of Salam Fayyad? They are doing the same with Abdul-NATO.  AlJazeera is doing the same with Abdul-NATO.  They carried his press conference today live.  He was so ill-prepared.  He was so over his head.  He was so uncomfortable and has such a weak personality.  He would say that this would be the last question, and then reporters would ignore him. But what do you expect from a former servant of Qadhdhafi? Do you think that Arab potentate allow anyone but weak personalities and untalented tools to serve them?  The New York Times actually wrote yesterday that Abdul-NATO was "the star" at the UN.  

Aljazeera's farce

Aljazeera has become such a joke.  Today, they passed a quick banner that there were "clashes" in Bahrain, and then they quickly went to witness "Abu Muhammad" in...Idlib, Syria.  

Settlers' terrorism

"In response to the UN bid, Jewish settlers are mobilising too. By day they march about, brandishing large Israeli flags. By night, activists exact what they call “price-tags”, for instance by defiling mosques, in the hope of provoking a conflict which the well-armed settlers feel sure they could win. They have also used their formidable presence in Israel’s combat units and supporters in Mr Netanyahu’s ruling coalition to press home their advantage. To ward off anticipated Palestinian demonstrations in the wake of the UN vote in New York, Israeli soldiers armed with stun-grenades, tear-gas and a foul-smelling liquid known as skunk have moved into settlements near Palestinian towns. If hordes try to enter, says a settler security officer, the settlers are licensed to shoot."

The lousy Hamas government

"Hamas closed down the largest one, Sharek, on the pretext that its youth groups encouraged premarital sex. Hamas officials also pulled an acclaimed Gazan film about Israel’s 2009 war for portraying a woman walking past the invaders unveiled."