Liz Sly is furious

Liz Sly‏Verified account @LizSly

3. It was forbidden to take photos of Hezbollah faces. Here, they posed for us with their vehicles but hid their faces

How dare Hizbullah fighters not give their names and addresses to Liz Sly? How dare they not reveal their secret military plans to her? I think that Sly should report this to the Israeli military censor.  

GCC is split forever

You may think that the split of the GCC is now only between Qatar and the rest. In fact, there are several camps already: Saudi and UAE regimes are one front (Bahrain automatically follows SA), while Qatar is another front.  Kuwait and Oman constitute a separate neutral front but is more inclined toward Qatar.  Saudi regime started to take swipes at Kuwait neutrality.  Also, the split between Saudi and UAE regimes is not new.  There has been a very popular hashtag in the last two days saying "Son of Fahd (in reference to Prince `Abdul-`Aziz bin Fahd) whips UAE, again" (it is in Arabic).  This Saudi prince has basically been tweeting strong denunciations of the UAE and of Muhammad bin Zayid personally.  This prince has also been very vocal in support of the Palestinians and even of "Jihad" on behalf of the Palestinians and is invoking past policies of the Saudi regime.  This is a clear swipe at his own government.  There also has been a very popular hashtag among Saudis saying: "Al-`Utaybah wants Saudi Arabia to be secular", this was a swipe at the UAE ambassador in DC as he said this week that Saudi Arabia wants to be secular. People were furious at this and `Abdul-`Aziz bin Fahd has the power to express opposition.  Not sure how long Muhammad bin Salman will tolerate the opposition of this influential prince.  It is said that Ahmad bin `Abdul-`Aziz is now the center of the royal opposition but publicly it has been `Abdul-`Aziz.

Notice the TV Remote Control next to Muhammad bin Salman

What happened?

Hillary Clinton is so boring that I was bored by just reading the title of her new forthcoming book.

Bashir Gemayyel and the preparation for Sabra And Shatila massacres

My weekly article for Al-Akhbar: "George Furayhah and Bashir Gemayyel: Preparation for "Sabra and Shatila" ".

PS This is about a new book just published in Lebanon by George Furayhah on Bashir Gemayyel.  Furayhah was one of the closest aides to Bashir (and he was married to his cousin).  He was appointed chief-of-staff of Bashir after his installation by Israeli occupation as president.  In the book, he published minutes of meetings (never published before in Arabic or Hebrew) between Bashir and Begin and Bashir and Sharon.  In the meeting with Sharon (two days before Bashir's assassination) there was a detailed discussion of invading the Sabra and Shatila camps and perpetrating the massacres.  This should serve as evidence (assuming there is international justice which there isn't as long as US rules the world) of Isreali-phalange complicity in the massacres, which were planned long before the assassination of Bashir.  The notion that the massacres were a spontaneous reaction to the assassination should not be put to rest.  

Mustafa Ahmad Sayyid Salih and Ghina Mahmud Khansa of Lebanon place their domestic worker in a trunk of a car

Received (from Lebanon).

What is not being covered in Awwamiyyah by Western media: while HRW is worried about the plight of a prince

While Human Rights Watch issues a special report expressing great concern about the plight of a Saudi prince, Saudi regime forces continue their invasion of Awwamiyyah: scores have been killed and injured.  Families are being evacuated.  Men (Asian workers in this picture) are stripped naked in the street. I received those pictures.

Militias and the state in the Middle East

Western governments (and media) have a firm stance: they are in favor of state monopoly of armed groups unless 1) the government is not loyal to US; 2) if the militias are US/Gulf created. Other that, then yeah. Very much abasing militias.

Propganda promotion of Israel in US popular culture

To me it is rather inexplicable the extent to which there is a (propaganda) obsession with Israel in American popular (especially--but not exclusively--film) culture. Michele and I have been watching the thrilling series Blacklist on Netflix (I love James Spader) and suddenly they throw in a Mossad agent. And it doesn't even make sense: there is a counter-terrorism FBI operation, and they invite an agent of a foreign intelligence agency to sit in and participate in US operations on US territory? Even in pro-Israeli US, this does not happen. And the character does not even add to the story--she in fact detracts from it (and fittingly, they chose an Iranian-American to play the role of the Israeli). And the story has to mention the Iranian nuclear program (but certainly not the Israeli nuclear arsenal--well beyond a program). But what is key is that those insertions of Israel into American popular culture were never innocent: they are often by design. Arnon Milchan, the famous Hollywood producer (behind such hits as "Pretty Woman"--the disgustingly sexist movie), was revealed later in his life to be an Israeli secret agent who assisted in the Israeli nuclear program. Menahem Golan (the producer of most of the sleazy and trashy racist hits of the 1980s, like Delta Force series) was an Israeli too. And now I read that Netflix will be commissioning a movie about Ashraf Marwan, the Israeli spy.

By Nabil `Anani

Chanting against Saudi royal family and King of Jordan in Jerusalem

Watch here

I don't like flags, I don't like nationalism, I am not a man of religion but...for Palestine and the Palestinians anything and everything

a mass grave in Jurud `Irsal

There was discovered a mass grave by Al-Qa`idah in Jurud `Irsal.  Al-Qa`idah, as is now well-known, enjoys the sympathy and support of Israel and Washington, DC Zionists.

Genocidal ideology

"Yisrael Ariel, the chief rabbi of the Temple movement, articulated an apocalyptic end times scenario in 2015. “[God] is the one who commanded us to go from city to city conquering them, and to impose the seven laws [of the Sons of Noah] throughout the world,” Ariel said. Ariel added that if Muslims and Christians “raise the flag of [surrender] and say, ‘From now on, there is no more Christianity and no more Islam,’ and the mosques and Christian spires come down,” then they would be allowed to live. “If not,” he warned, “you kill all of their males by sword. You leave only the women.” “We will conquer Iraq, Turkey [and] we will get to Iran too,” Ariel proclaimed. Ariel is the founder and head of the Temple Institute, the government-funded group that has published detailed blueprints and a computer animation of what the Temple, to be built over the ruins of al-Aqsa, will look like."

Downplaying U.S./Israel involvement in the region

"In order to do so, the film grossly downplays US involvement in the region, treating Saudi Arabia as though it acts independently of the US. It also fails to ever mention Israel, totally removing one of the most important players in the Middle East from its “Cold War” narrative." "Instead of challenging and informing the public, corporate media speak directly from the perspective of the CIA, and act as handmaidens to empire."

CIA boss confirms U.S. plotting against Venezuela

"The head of the CIA has suggested the agency is working to change the elected government of Venezuela and is collaborating with two countries in the region to do so." "The US, which is currently gripped by allegations that Russia sought to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, has a long history of interfering with democratically elected governments in Latin America, from Chile to Nicaragua, and Argentina to Haiti." (thanks Amir)

This is great news for the New York Times: more important than the fact that Saudi regime bans female singing

"Venezuela President Assailed for Political Remix of Song ‘Despacito’"

Why the Western media are ignoring Hizbullah's victory against Al-Qa`idah

It is not surprising that Western media (especially the Western correspondents in Beirut-one of the worst bunch of journalists ever assembled) would ignore Hizbullah's victory against Al-Qa`idah. Their sympathies are really with Al-Qa`idah.  Also, Hizbullah's fight against Al-Qa`idah or against ISIS (and the fight between Russia and its allies against them) have been strictly ignored in order to create the propaganda myth (created by Gulf regimes) that those never fight except the "moderate rebels"--who have largely been the figment of the imagination of the Western correspondents in Beirut. A friend made the observation that Hizbullah fought differently when not hampered by the participation of the brutal Syrian regime on its side. The was was concentrated against fighters (ignore those social media ramblings which could not even tell the difference between `Irsal and Juruda `Irsal (the fight was against the latter where Al-Qa`idah has been headquartered in Lebanon).  Also, Hizb had an agreement with the less extreme among the Syrian rebels (like Saraya Ahl-Ash-Sham): Nasrallah said yesterday that those fighters were even allowed to go back to refugee camps and to their families in `Irsal.  None of the warring groups in Syria (local and foreign) had those terms in the on-going war.  Amnesty was even offered to Al-Qa`idah fighters if they surrendered.  Nasrallah yesterday stressed that they won't touch `Irsal or the camps where Syrian refugees are located.   And you can say this regardless whether you approve or disapprove of Hizbullah's intervention in Syria.  But one thing is clear: the Zionist lobby prefers a terrorist organization like ISIS and Al-Qa`idah--both of which are strictly inactive against Israel--to any Arab resistance group which is focused on Israeli occupation and aggression.

PS The worst parties in Lebanon against Syrian refugees have been the Maronite patriarchate, Lebanese Forces and the Awni Movement plus all municipalities (Sunni, Shi`ite, Druzes, and Christians) which have practiced blatant discrimination and repression against Syrian refugees.

I lived to the day when the terrorists of Al-Qa`idah are now referred to by DC pundits as "pragmatist"

 MiddleEastInstitute Retweeted

Ibrahim al-Assil‏ @iAssil  2m2 minutes ago

.@Charles_Lister: al-Qaeda adopted a pragmatic strategy in Syria, it wasn't a moderation of AQ, but a more intelligent one @MiddleEastInst

The King of Jordan is scared

He assembled his son and his national security team today.  The anger in Jordan at the recent Israeli shooting at the embassy in Amman caused popular uproar.  It was made worse not only with the whisking of the Israeli terrorist back to occupied Palestine but by the reception given by Netanyahu to the killer.  In the funeral of the Jordanian victims, there were calls for Jihad and for closure of the Israeli embassy.  Now the King is trying to backtrack when it may be too late.

PS Forgot to mention that he cut his US vacation short.

I don't recall anything like this: Deep divisions within GCC and within countries of GCC

It is unusual that Prince `Abdul-`Aziz bin Fahd is allowed to tweet strong insults against Muhammad bin Zayid.  Also, he has been tweeting calls for Jihad for Palestinians.  Muhammad bin Salman is not strong enough within the royal family crack down against him.

Whenever you think that Human Rights Watch could not sink any lower, it does

When people are being beheaded in public squares in Saudi Arabia, and thousands languish in jail, long prison sentences are issued for the crime of tweeting (or even retweeting), and when regime goons are shooting at civilians almost daily in Qatif, Human Rights Watch issues a special report expressing its concern over the plight of a prince.

PS Of course, the irony is that Muhammad bin Nayif has an atrocious record in human rights violations.

What does it take for someone to write in Newsweek Magazine? The ability to be stupid? Is that it?

"He even directly challenged  Hezbollah on its home turf a day after its recent provocative tour on Israel’s border, by carrying out the first official visit by a Lebanese prime minister to south Lebanon in decades." (thanks Basim) Every prime minister has visited the South since I don't know when.

As a message to Turkish government, Saudi regime sends one of its propagandists to meet with Fethullah Gülen

See here.

The prime minister of Lebanon today transferred what is left of his fortune to Donald Trump.

American obsession with Israel and its crimes: do you know that there is a street in NYC named after Israel Bonds?

You will only hear this in Washington, DC: a pundit claims that Saudi regime allows "hands-off" approach to social media

I never knew that there is freedom on Saudi social media until I heard this.

Muhammad bin Nayif under house arrest

Netanyahu warmly welcomes the terrorist who shot a 16-year old Jordanian

When will they stop teaching and practicing hate? Who will change their curricula?

This is journalism: the New York Times explains to Fox News how real journalism is made

Notice that violent protest is considered laudable by Western govts/media if against anti-US governments

Look at the pictures here and notice how violent protest is treated very differently in Western media depending on the policies of the target government.  

So a Syrian rebel commander tells the Washington Post: what CIA provided was "very little" but that they need it desperately

"“The weapons and resources the CIA provided were very little when compared with what Russia and Iran have sent to the regime,” Salameh said."

Who killed whom in Syria?

I am now confused.  All along we are told that Bashshar killed 300,000 of "his own people".  And now David Ignatius is bragging that: "One knowledgeable official estimates that the CIA-backed fighters may have killed or wounded 100,000 Syrian soldiers and their allies over the past four years."  That would be a 1/3rd of all people killed.  But to kill 100,000 Syrian soldiers and "their allies", how many civilians were killed among them? Would that add like another 100,000? or Less?  Not sure.

I don't understand: why can't the Chinese government leave alone US spy planes in East China Sea, close to US shores?

"A United States Navy spy plane had to take evasive action to avoid crashing into a Chinese fighter jet that suddenly pulled up in front of the American plane in contested skies above the East China Sea on Sunday, the Pentagon said."

US embassy in Sudan promotes "Wonder Woman" movie on Facebook...in Arabic

See how the Sudanese people responded.

This what happens when a war criminal regime joins your camp

"US Praises Sudan’s Efforts in Combating Terrorism". Where are the Darfur groupies when you need them?

The human rights poseur

Kenneth Roth‏Verified account 

Hezbollah presses to return Syrian refugees to "safe" zones where no one guarantees the safety. #RememberSrebrenica http://bit.ly/2uRdgOw 

He is a political hack really.  The story he cites is by a politically biased source. In reality, this plan about the relocation of the Syrian refugees has been pushed for a few years by the Awni movement and the Maronite patriarchate. (thanks Basim)

US ambassador in Lebanon refers to Charles Malik in 1960

"it is certain that we will be called upon once more to go through the not very rewarding process of convincing the Lebanese that Charles Malik’s promise of “unlimited, unconditional American aid” is a figment of Lebanese political imagination."

Richard Dawkins, again

Richard Dawkins talks about the punishment of apostasy as one of the main evils of Islam today.  Who is doing this punishment for apostasy really? Can you give us examples? This is like faulting Christians today for the crusades.

Richard Dawkins on Islam

So among his many insults on Islam and Muslims is this: "I think Islam is the greatest force for evil in the world today".  Aside for the insult, I don't understand how an avowed atheist "preacher" like him would use the world "evil".  

Richard Dawkins and KPFA

I was not surprised or furious that KPFA-Berkeley would be hosting Richard Dawkins.  I have had a very long association with KPFA and was a very frequent guest in their studios especially in the years when I lived in Berkeley.  But KPFA has changed over the years and management did not treat the staff well and there were deep organizational and political divisions, and the station drifted less progressive.  For that, I was not really surprised that they would invite Dawkins for a fund-raisiner. Can you imagine if they were to invite an anti-Semite (and Dawkins is the equivalent of an anti-Semite) for a fund raiser?

Some elements of Qatari regime media are indeed sympathetic to Al-Qa`idah

Al-Quds Al-`Arabi, one of the most sectarian Arabic newspapers publishing today is clearly and unabashedly pro-Al-Qa`idah, especially toward the Syrian branch of the terrorist organization.

The AlAzhar (the religious university which is always for sale) opens kiosks for Fatwas

I am not kidding. Al-Azhar opened kiosks to dispense fatawas on the run.  Johny-on-the-spots

would have been more useful.

From the funeral of Muhammad Jawawdeh, 16, who was shot by an Israeli embassy terrorist in Amman

It says "death to Israel".

There is a clear division in the Saudi royal family

Yesterday there was a very popular hashtag in Saudi Arabia in defense of Muhammad bin Nayif and against the leaks by Muhammad bin Salman about his drug addiction.