Israeli support for Myanmar is the natural alliance of regimes based on ethnic supremacy

"What has not been reported in the mainstream news is the fact that, even during this ongoing genocidal campaign against its Muslim population, Myanmar has been supplied with weaponry by Israel. This is by no means the first time that the Israeli defense industry has supplied repressive regimes with the tools of their trade, from apartheid South Africa to Pinochet’s Chile and the Guatemalan dictatorship: its weapons industry, indeed, proudly boasts of the fact that its products come well “field tested”. They usually fail to mention that their weapons have been tested in repressing Palestinian resistance to an illegal occupation, conducting war against the predominantly civilian population of Gaza, or in maintaining surveillance and policing of the illegal apartheid wall that runs through the West Bank." (thanks Amir)

Having succeeded in bringing down the Syrian regime, the Atlantic Council now wants to bring down Iranian regime

Is this UAE embassy-sponsored or Saudi embassy-sponsored?

The Intercept: another mainstream news site when it comes to Syria

Did you ever think that you would read this in The Intercept?  "Radwan Ziadeh, a fellow at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, and a prolific, longtime Syrian dissident".  Do you need to read further when you see this really?

When the Saudi lobby advertises for jobs: they want "top-rated" candidates

Look at their silly language: "Master’s degree or Ph.D. from a top-rated university".  All the jobs had to insist on this category of "top-rated" university.  Is that because all the Saudi royals went to "top-rated" schools?  But they also want: "Candidates must be first-rate writers". What does that mean?  And don't you like this requirement?  "

• Ability to respond to constructive criticism and work under close editorial oversight;".  What does that mean? Ability to handle the unprofessional settings in all places working for Saudi princes?

David Duke was hosted by the Bahrain government: will there be articles about white supremacy and GCC?

David Duke was hosted by the Bahrain despotic government.  His anti-Semitism was sponsored by the Bahrain despot.

US policies on Israel and natural disasters: Pat Robertson

"Pat Robertson, who saw God’s hand in the Haiti and San Fernando Valley earthquakes, has also said U.S. political pressure on Israel causes natural disasters in the United States, and he warned that gay tourists at Disney World could cause a meteor strike. But he has been quiet about Harvey and Irma."

Despicable: A senior Al-Jazeera figure gloats over the Florida tragedy

Ahmad Mansur, close to Ikhwan and one of the key hosts of AlJazeera, writes this about the tragedy of Florida:  "The Great Flight from Florida...20 Million Americans flee in fear from Irma hurricane which smashes everything".  Then cites the Qur'an to the effect that this is God's punishment.

Ahmed Mansour

Like This Page · 18 hrs · 

 

‏الهروب الكبير من فلوريدا ..20 مليون أمريكى يفرون خوفا من الإعصار إيرما الذى يسحق كل شيء " ويريكم آياته فأى آيات الله تنكرون "

Contradictions of Arab Liberalism

My weekly article in Al-Akhbar: "Contradictions of Arab Liberalism and Modes of its Uses"

A new legislation in US Congress: You may harm the interests of UK, Germany, France, and any other country at the UN but not Israel

"A five percent withholding of any U.S. funds to a specialized agency or other U.N entity that takes official action against the national security interest of the United States or U.S. ally, including Israel."  But why is Israel the only ally named? Why not name UK or Saudi Arabia also?

The "liberal" haaretz: any name would do but Palestine

On social media, it said that the pictures was for Eretz Yisrael, on the site, they called it Holy Land.  Anything to avoid calling it by its name: Palestine.
"In Color: Amazing Photos of Jews and Muslims in the Holy Land From 1900"

Saudi regime propagandiste condemns those "journalists-for-hire"--kid you not

`Abdul-Rahman Al-Rashid, a longtime Saudi regime propagandist, condemns those "journalists-for-hire".

Falafel versus Falafel in Lebanon

The New York Times failed to mention that the family name, Sahyun, means "Zion".

NYTimes, like other US media, find Israeli acquisition of nuclear weapons to be cute and amusing

"The ousted French prime minister had just signed the letter authorizing the sale of a nuclear reactor to Israel — for peaceful purposes, he had been assured — even though he no longer had the authority to do so. It was the morning after Maurice Bourgès-Maunoury’s government fell in late 1957. To get around the problem, he wrote the previous day’s date at the top of the page as an anxious Shimon Peres, then the ever-resourceful director general of Israel’s Ministry of Defense, looked on. “I asked no questions,” Mr. Peres, who went on to serve as prime minister and president, related six decades after the event. “I said nothing at all. What was there to say?” It was, Mr. Peres said, “the most generous display of friendship I had ever known.”"  

"Behind the Guise of Adversarial Journalism, CNN’s Jake Tapper Is Taking America to War"

"However, as Trump transitions from a non-interventionist campaign platform to a crudely militaristic foreign policy, Tapper has not only let the president off the hook, he has played a central role in cultivating pro-war fever among the American public. I watched each episode of Tapper’s “The Lead” from August 1-10, as the North Korea crisis came to a head, as well as 14 editions of his show between April and July. Only two shows proceeded without an extended segment promoting regime change and expanded sanctions or hyping threats from North Korean ICBMs and Russian hackers."

Saudi regime's new stance on Syria

“The Saudis now realize that the Russians could be the only party that can settle the Syria conflict,” said Mustafa Alani, head of the defense and security department at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai. “They don’t have a problem with the idea that the regime can stay.”  I wonder how those Syrians who assumed that the Saudi regime would "liberate" them feel about that now.  (thanks Basim)

Is Trump really the first White President? Hardly. Even Obama was one

"But whereas his forebears carried whiteness like an ancestral talisman, Trump cracked the glowing amulet open, releasing its eldritch energies. "  Again, I recommend the book Nixon's Piano: Presidents and Racial Politics from Washington to Clinton by Kenneth O'Reilly.  

Carnegie Endowment: no strings attached

So when Carnegie Endowment wants the Saudi regime perspective, or even the Arab people's perspectives, they invite a Saudi regime propagandist.  But when they want the Iranian regime perspective, they invite a vocal opponent of the Iranian regime. What do you call that? I call it no strings attached.

In the account by Liz Sly you would not even know who is doing the bombing and the killing of Syrian civilians here

"Amnesty International said last month that hundreds of civilians had died in airstrikes since the offensive began and that it had documented 176 deaths in June and July."

An activist in Venezuela being barred from travel is bigger news than an activist being beheaded in Saudi Arabia

"Venezuelan activist is barred from travel"

Fending off the evil spirits: will the West ever secularize?

Israel's dirty hands everywhere: Israel Arm Myanmar’s Military Junta

"Despite what is known at this point from the report of the United Nations envoy to the country and a report by Harvard University researchers that said the commission of crimes of this kind is continuing, the Israeli government persists in supplying weapons to the regime there. One of the heads of the junta, Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, visited Israel in September 2015 on a “shopping trip” of Israeli military manufacturers. His delegation met with President Reuven Rivlin as well as military officials including the army’s chief of staff. It visited military bases and defense contractors Elbit Systems and Elta Systems."

The criminal regime of South Sudan was created by the West, with Israeli blessing and arming, of course

"The top U.S. official for humanitarian aid has delivered a stern warning to South Sudan’s president that the Trump administration is reexamining its policy toward one of the world’s poorest and most dangerous countries as the African nation slides into lawlessness."

Can you imagine the reaction if Hizbullah announced they were practicing for an invasion of Israel?

"Over 10 days, Israel’s land, air, sea and intelligence forces will prepare to invade Lebanon in the event of a another war with the Shiite paramilitary organization, with which it fought a bloody conflict in 2006." (thanks Basim)

The Holocaust Museum on Syria

The story for me is not what did the Museum remove or post about Syria: the story is what business is it for the Holocaust Museum to write reports on Syria or about any other conflict?  In all those years, and after so many wars and conflicts, did the Museum produce one report about Israeli crimes and massacres?  And what prompted the Museum to become an expert on Syria?  I thought that we agree that the Holocaust should not be politicized out of respect for the victims.  And now the Holocaust Museum itself (which as you know came out as a political idea by Jimmy Carter to boost his standing after he was perceived as being not sufficiently pro-Israel) is politicizing its very mission and throwing itself into political matters?  But here I don't expect the Zionists in the US would object as long as the politicization is not harmful to Israel and its interests.

US Sports and Israel: notice that the Middle East here means only occupied Palestine

"Kraft, who is Jewish, has been heavily invested in Israel, both financially and emotionally, and is close friends with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He’s also essentially an ambassador of football in the region, and opened the Kraft Family Sports Campus in Jerusalem. That 25-acre, multi-sports venue — which includes the first three regulation-sized football fields in the Middle East — is reflective of his commitment to grow the game in the region." (thanks Michele)

Of course, US students have extensive knowledge of world geography and cultures of the world

Interview with North Korean dissident in the Intercept

Not sure of the value of the interview.  She parrots US propaganda word-for-word and is so keen on never saying a word of criticism about US policies in the region.  

Israeli expertise on the Arab world

Yet, again: Israel media confuse Lebanese Hizbullah with Iraqi Hizbullah. the Jerusalem Post had an article about Lebanese Hizbullah but the picture showed flags of Iraqi Hizbullah. They later changed it on the website.  

How Saudi media is covering North Korea

This is rather the epitome of irony.  Saudi regime propagandist, `Abdul-Rahman Al-Rashid, mocks the North Korean ruler for "killing his uncle".  But does not Al-Rashid follow the prince who ousted his cousin and put him under house arrest, and also dismissed his uncle, and kidnapped other cousins from Europe because they dissented?

Saudi/UAE funding comes with no strings attached, mind you

The Middle East Institute now carries editorials from the Saudi mouthpiece of the King's family, Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat.

The North Korean rhetoric

There is such an effort to portray the North Korean rhetoric as crazy and irrational. The statements of the North Korean ambassador in Geneva contain some explanations for the real and legitimate fears that his country has vis-a-vis US growing nuclear threat.  If the two US and North Korean leaders can't be trusted with nukes, the rhetoric of the US in the last few weeks have been more crazy that that of the constantly mocked rhetoric of North Korea.

The scandals of UAE ambassador in DC

I have chosen to not carry the Intercept story about the UAE ambassador's personal life, based on leaked emails.  I also noticed that all US and Western media chosen to not cover the story.  I would have agreed with that decision if they would have been as restrained professionally if the story related to the private lives of Syrian or Iranian ambassadors.  If the story was about the Iranian ambassador in NYC, the New York Times would have carried the story on the front page.

The Journalism of Liz Sly

Look at this latest brand of journalism from Liz Sly: "ISIS fighters may have escaped to Iraq, despite U.S. promises to stop them".   She replied to me on Twitter when I remarked on this by saying that she also cited "Iraqi officials".  Yes, she cited a member of a local council: "said residents of Rawah told her that about 700 Islamic State fighters and their families had arrived".  The standards of US journalism, especially in covering the world, has so declined in the last few years.  Certainly, the zeal of US correspondents in Beirut (and their editors back home) in promoting Syrian rebels set aside all traditional standards.

The ISIS Caliph

He may be about ready to seek political asylum in...Tel Aviv.

Muhammad bin Salman is on the left, on the ladder

Tele-Islamist charlatan: Amr Khalid reminds me of US televangelists

Look at him. He was intensely acting piety in prayer session from Mecca and calling on God to answer the prayers of people on his Facebook page--kid you not--and then suddenly (see the shot the left) he looked at the camera for a second in a way that exposed his acting techniques. 

Why can't North Korea have leaders who are not moody? Just like the US

"Meet Kim Jong-un, a Moody Young Man With a Nuclear Arsenal"

VOA really likes SISI repression

"Another more prominent way Al Azhar has clamped down on extremist clerics in recent years, has been by preventing them from preaching at mosques it controls. Al Azhar has also sought to make preachers stick to specific sermon subjects each week, without going off-topic."

Wait: so when US-owned militias in Syria reached an agreement for a safe passage with ISIS two months ago, it was OK?

"Rami Abdul Rahman, the founder of the Syrian Observatory who is critical of all sides in the conflict*, said the airstrikes to block the convoy were not just about keeping more fighters from joining the battle in the east, where the coalition is more active. When the coalition launched its offensive on Raqqa two months ago, the Syrian Democratic Forces made a similar deal with ISIS, to allow militants to flee Deir al-Zour."

*Hardly.

Allies of ISIS in Lebanon: the pro-US/pro-Saudi camp

Because the attention of Western correspondents in Beirut is focused on serving the propaganda of the Saudi-US-Israeli camp in the Middle East, and because they are allies of the March 14 in Lebanon, there is an unreported story about Lebanon and ISIS.  As soon as ISIS emerged, March 14 figures supported ISIS and even publicly.  This guy, is a major March 14 figure (and is now the man in charge of all media for the pro-Saudi Lebanese Forces) wrote in 2013. It says: "Is ISIS against the Syrian regime: Yes.  Is ISIS against Iran? Yes.  Is ISIS against Hizbollah? Yes.  Therefore I am with ISIS".  This sentiment, by the way, was pretty much the sentiment of Western powers in the region.

The Maronite Patriarch of Lebanon and his war on Syrian refugees

During a mass last month, the head of Lebanon’s Maronite Christian church, Patriarch Beshara al-Rai, urged politicians to work on returning Syrians to their own country.  The patriarch accused refugees of “snatching (the Lebanese people‘s) daily bread from their mouths, throwing them into a state of poverty and deprivation.” (thanks Basim)

Hizbullah against ISIS

When you read Western media accounts (like this one by Liz Sly of the Post) you would not know that Hizbullah bombed the hell out of ISIS AND Nusrah front on the Lebanese-Syrian borders and forced them to submission and and he managed to expel them out of Lebanon.  Notice that all the accounts manage to focus on side-issues or to exaggerate the role of the insignificant Lebanese Army.  If this defeat and explosion of ISIS AND Nusrah was not by an enemy of Israel, there would be street rallies in the US, and Western media would be cheering the anti-ISIS forces on the front pages.

Zionist-white supremacist alliance

"Internationally, the alliance between Zionist and white supremacist groups has been growing. Steve Bannon, former senior adviser to US President Donald Trump, who is close to the “alt-right,” is set to speak at the Zionist Organization of America’s annual gala in November."

Western media obscure US/Saudi responsibility for killing Yemeni civilians

"Major Western media outlets have, however, obscured the responsibility Saudi Arabia, and its US and European supporters, bear for launching these airstrikes. There are no other parties presently bombing Yemen, so media cannot feign ignorance as to who is responsible for the attacks. But reports on the bloody US/Saudi coalition airstrikes were nonetheless rife with ambiguous and downright misleading language."

Israel alleged to have attacked Armenia from Azerbaijan

"Company officials were in Azerbaijan to promote their "suicide drone," the Orbiter-1K, and Azerbaijani officials asked for a sort of live demonstration, to launch the drone into Armenian territory. The drone operators refused, but then company officials armed and launched the drones themselves, according to the complaint.  Both are said to have missed their targets and caused no damage." (thanks Amir)