Thursday, September 28, 2017
Barazani
Notice that Western media--and purely because Barazani is an ally of Israel--never talks about the massive corruption, cruelty, and repression which characterize the rule of the Barazanis.
There are no enemies of the Arabs with which Masoud Barazani and his father did not strike alliances
Liz Sly reporting from Beirut: she wrote that there were demonstrations in Sidon
'A Lebanese court just sentenced the Islamist cleric Ahmed al-Asir to death for his role in 2013 clashes. Demonstrations in Sidon now."
Ahmad Al-Asir, the fanatic Al-Qa`idah style Islamist was sentenced to death. Liz Sly reported "demonstrations" in Sidon in response. I asked people in Sidon, and they reported no demonstrations and said that only wives of the gang of Asir showed up and then were disbanded. See picture from what Liz Sly calls "demonstrations in Sidon".
And this is the picture that people sent me from Sidon.
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
Saudi "reformers" who support the regime are praised and lauded in Western media
But Iranian and Syrian "reformers" who support their regimes are mocked and dismissed as stooges and shabbihah.
Do you think that Western media would be as excited if Iranian regime or Syrian regime were to announce a certain reform?
Bravo to MBS for this big step on women's rights. Hope he moves on other reforms, too, and creates a truly modern KSAhttps://nyti.ms/2k1eNOp
Get a hold of yourself. You are about to fall over.
Why Declan Walsh (and many Western correspondents) are clueless about the Middle East: on Mashrou` Leila
"Mashrou’ Leila is a wildly popular band across the Middle East,". No one who knows anything about Arab culture would say that they are wildly popular. They have their fans but not to the ridiculous degree described here. Yesterday, when I read this, I asked a well-known Lebanese musician and singer about this. He said that they are popular in underground music circles in big urban cities. But certainly not "wildly popular". If you pick 100 Arabs at random and ask them about Mashrou` Leila: I would be surprised if more than 1% have heard of them. Western correspondents are not always reliable on Arab politics, and they are certainly less reliable on Arab culture, especially given the language deficiencies.
US government urges "dialogue" in response to the secession of Kurdistan
So US government urges Iraqi to engage in dialogue in response to the declaration of independence by the Kurdish tribal feudal and corrupt leadership of Barazani. How did the US federal government react to the secession of the South? By dialogue?
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
To put things in perspective: Latifah An-Nadi (From Egypt) got a license to drive planes back in 1933
Cherif Bassiouni died
I never met Bassiouni but heard about him and read about him over the years. What is missing from obituaries about him are references to his role in Anwar Sadat's trip to Israeli occupation state. Bassiouni was very close to Anwar Sadat and I don't know the origins of the relationship but I know that he managed to have Sadat visit Chicago in 1975 during Sadat's trip to US. He was very close to him during the period which led to the Camp David accords, and even wrote in a Chicago paper in support of the peace agreement and referred to the moderation of fanatic Menachem Begin. He "crowned" his career by a lousy commission for the Bahraini regime, which basically legitimized its repression and oppression.
Colonialism and Third World Quarterly
I am rather shocked about the controversy regarding the pro-colonialism article in Third World Quarterly. I met the editor of TWQ, Shahid Qadir, when I was still a graduate student at Georgetown University. I received support and encouragement from Shahid who struck me as a progressive thinker who wanted to bring attention to Middle East issues and causes. He also invited me to contribute to the annual Third World Affairs. I never doubted his commitment to "Third World" issues. But I always got the impression that he exercises editorial authority beyond the powers of a regular editor of an academic journal, which makes him doubly responsible for the publishing of that piece.
He was banned from UAE for being a born Shi`ite, and yet he provides justification for UAE-Saudi sectarianism
Look at this passage: "I am also a Shiite Muslim born in Lebanon. The U.A.E., like Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Arab states, are worried about Iran’s regional ascendance and its influence over Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen. This anxiety fuels a fear that virtually any Shiite in the region could pose a security threat — and could be linked to Iran or its allies." Imagine if one were to provide similar justification for a ban on Jewish people.
Monday, September 25, 2017
"No, only one side claimed victory"
From Basim: "Hezbollah and Israel fought a month-long war in 2006 that caused heavy casualties, and both sides claimed victory."
Court ok's Hebrew country-club denying membership to surrounding Arabs
From Eyal: "With court approval, Kokhav Yair to continue restricting entry of Tira
residents to the swimming pool
"The Lod (A-Llyd) District Court rejected the petition on grounds of discrimination and authorized that the local country club to sell 90% of its subscriptions only to residents of the settlement (Kokhav Yair - Tzur Yigal). The judge wrote: 'The fear that opening the registry may
harm the sense of belonging is legitimate.'"
And note that:
* If you think the 10% will actually materialize - don't worry, they're apparently allowed to discriminate further in pre-registration for membership.
* The settlement is named after Yair Stern, leader of the Stern Gang (Lehi); it was unified with Tzur Yigal several years back. They are built on the western side of the 1967 green line - just North of Qalqilya.
* Many top Israeli military officers live or have lived in Kohav Yair, including Lt. Gen. Ehud Bakar, Lt. Gen. Shaul Mofaz, Shin-Bet head Danny Yatom, Shin-Bet head Gideon Ezra, Maj. Gen. Menahem Einan and Maj. Gen. Uzi Dayan."
Racists, anti-Semitic, Holocaust-deniers love Israel
"But, like many far-right parties in Europe and elsewhere, the AfD presents itself as staunchly supportive of Israel. According to a wide-ranging poll commissioned by a group promoting German-Israeli relations, most AfD politicians profess to care deeply about Israel’s security, support Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s demand that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state, reject unilaterally recognizing a Palestinian state, and generally support a stronger relationship between Jerusalem and Berlin. Nearly 90% of the 35 AfD members who were surveyed totally or somewhat support Chancellor Angela Merkel’s dictum that “Israel’s security is Germany’s raison d’etre.” "
New Feminists? By the great Joan W. Scott
""Many of these new feminists and nationalists turned their attention to the veils worn by Muslim women, arguing that they were the very symbol of the immigrants’ purported backwardness, the sign of an intolerable gender inequality alien to the West. The push to rescue Muslim women, Farris argues, was the result of what she terms the “ideological convergence” of calls for gender equality with xenophobic anti-immigrant campaigns—the “femonationalism” mentioned in the subtitle of her book. Femonationalism, she explains, “describes, on the one hand, the attempts of Western European right-wing parties and neoliberals to advance xenophobic and racist politics through the touting of gender equality while, on the other hand, it captures the involvement of various well-known and quite visible feminists and femocrats in the current framing of Islam as a quintessentially misogynistic religion and culture.” ""
Casually, the Washington Post provides justifications for Israeli bombings
"Analysts and former senior Israeli military officers say Israel is showing that it will act with force to protect its interests, while using just enough of it to limit its enemies without sparking a war."
Who is the objective observer cited in an article on Hizbullah in the Washington Post?
A fellow at the Rafiq Hariri center at the Saudi-Hariri-UAE-funded Atlantic Council.
U.S. arms most dictatorships in the world
"The United States currently supports over 73 percent of the world's dictatorships!" (thanks Amir)
Sunday, September 24, 2017
The original book by Bachir Saade on Hizbullah
"Clearly there are many truths in this, but it seems that most understanding of Hizbullah have invariably assumed the existence of a coherent ideology that informs the party’s actions, political practice, and agenda. It is definitely the case that Hizbullah is more effective in a variety of domains, than other political organizations in the region, and so looking at the nature of the ideological and its importance in the political process seemed to me timely more than ever. I gradually discovered through my studies of early writings and media production, that an overarching understanding of ideology was far from being a given, and that in the place of seeing coherent slogans being brandished, it was a particular use of these discursive materials that seems more important to the political process rather than taking at face value their content.
Soon enough, the book became a contribution to a new understanding of what we mean by “ideology” through the study of what I thought was a fascinating political phenomenon of the last three decades. The objective was to explore what is meant by the ideological, in the case of Hizbullah, and on the other to engage in an intellectual history of the party, especially focusing on the early years. As I explain in the book, what was articulated early on became the main template for later ideological production. "
Look how Western liberal media celebrate Saudi regime schticks, no matter how small and shallow
"Saudi Arabia allows women into stadium as it steps up reforms". What is next: the Guardian will honor the Saudi royal family for allowing women to ride bicycles?
This is how Saudi regime stances evolved over the decades
King Faisal: Calls for Jihad and anti-Semitic discourse against Jews and vocal condemnation of Jewish people for their contribution to communism.
King Fahd: while Jihad calls continued, he proposed a solution named after him, which proposed the right of Israel to exist in return for a transitional period in the West Bank and Gaza, followed by a mini-state.
King Abdullah: the Beirut summit proposal, according to which Israel would get full peace AND normalization (as if Saudi regime speaks for all Arabs) in return for a mini-state in West Bank and Gaza. And he also used "religious dialogue" as a cover for Israeli-Saudi meetings.
King Salman: a declaration of the end of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The irony, is that Israel throughout this period and evolution of the Saudi stance, did not cede one inch of Palestine, and didnt desist in its aggression and war.
King Fahd: while Jihad calls continued, he proposed a solution named after him, which proposed the right of Israel to exist in return for a transitional period in the West Bank and Gaza, followed by a mini-state.
King Abdullah: the Beirut summit proposal, according to which Israel would get full peace AND normalization (as if Saudi regime speaks for all Arabs) in return for a mini-state in West Bank and Gaza. And he also used "religious dialogue" as a cover for Israeli-Saudi meetings.
King Salman: a declaration of the end of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The irony, is that Israel throughout this period and evolution of the Saudi stance, did not cede one inch of Palestine, and didnt desist in its aggression and war.
Saturday, September 23, 2017
Zafir Al-Khatib
My weekly article n Al-Akhbar: "Zafir Al-Khatib: The Lebanese Hero who should be (widely) known".
Look at the colonial mentality of Human Rights Watch
He gave the Pakistan Prime Minister "a chance". Who does he think he is? Some colonial viceroy? The arrogance of a white man burdened with a sense of privilege and superiority.
I gave Pakistan's new prime minister a chance to show moral leadership against death sentences for "blasphemy." He utterly failed.
Pakistani PM Abbasi dodges question on
Friday, September 22, 2017
capitalism and war
"To be successful, Mattis and Tillerson decided they should use talking points and commentary with which they believed Trump would be most familiar: the role that the military, intelligence officers and diplomats play in making the world safe for American businesses, like The Trump Organization, to operate and expand abroad."
Al-Khalifah and Israel
"In recent years, Bahrain has begun to slowly externalize its relations with Israel." "Nonetheless, diplomatic sources claim that Bahrain’s changed attitude reflects Saudi Arabia’s stance. Statements such as the one by Bahrain’s king are not made without receiving the go-ahead from Riyadh. It is likely, they argue, that Saudi Arabia was the one encouraging Bahrain to step forward in regard to Israel."
Israel and Al-Qa`idah: if only Americans knew
"Israel has even provided air cover to Syrian al-Qaeda. In June, journalist Nour Samaha published a lengthy article interviewing Syrian rebels in the illegally occupied Golan Heights who openly spoke of how Israel has supported them." (thanks Amir)
How Western media celebrate Jamal Khashoggi
Khashoggi, who worked for various Saudi princes (Prince Khalid bin Faisal, and then Turki bin Faisal, and then Walid bin Talal, among others) never ever protested Saudi regime repression. He only spoke out when he was muzzled repeatedly and when some of his friends (pro-regime people) also spoke out. Mr. Khashoggi is clear at what he wants: he wants repression in the country to go back to what it was a month ago. Then, it was a democratic paradise for him. He was very clear when he was asked about twitter: he wanted revolutions in Arab countries but not in Saudi Arabia because he thinks it constitutes an exemplary democracy. A sample of the accolades he has been getting. Also, if a supporter of the Asad regime or the Iranian regime spoke out and said: I want things to go back to the repression of a month ago, would he/she be lionized in Western media?
| Ben Hubbard (@NYTBen) | |
|
Quite a cri de coeur from Saudi journalist @JKhashoggi: Saudi wasn’t always this repressive. Now it’s unbearable. wapo.st/2xcVSoR
| |
Another Hizbullah commander confess to an anti-hizbollah site
"a commander told Middle East Eye." Does this commander drink thick black coffee like the commander who spoke to NBC news?
Ben Hubbard does what he does best: produces propaganda for the Saudi royal family
Look he summed up the life of King Faisal: "One ruled Saudi Arabia for 11 years, outlawed slavery, spread public education and introduced television to his country." This is the man who was first to declare Jihad (in the religious fanatical meaning of the word), the man who fought progressive, secular movements thoruhogut the world, the man who was a benefactor of every reactionary anti-communist movement in the region and beyond, the man who inspired the alliance of Islamist political forces in the Cold War, the man who sponsored the fanaticism of Ibn Baz, who would inspire Bin Laden and his ilk, the man who used the oil wealth to fight the war in Yemen, the man who solidified the alliance between the house of Saudi and the religious Wahhabi establishment. King Faisal was one of the most notorious anti-Semites in the entire contemporary history of the region, and he funded anti-Semites in the world. But for Ben Hubbard, he "ended slavery and brought television". In fact, he did not want to end slavery but the regime of King Saud in its last year, championed progressive issues especially in the economic and oil sphere, and Faisal did not want to appear less progressive and Western powers supported his coup in return for the ostensible reforms which he announced. Slavery in the kingdom did NOT end in 1964.
Thursday, September 21, 2017
You know what the funniest joke on the planet? Freedom House and its ranking of freedom worldwide
In their latest report, Jordan is placed in the same category of Lebanon. But for Freedom House, having good relations with the Israeli state, earn you freedom points in its kooky scale.
And this is supposed to be the sane and rational alternative to Trump?
"Clinton says U.S. could "totally obliterate" Iran"
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
About the humiliation of the Israeli occupation army in South Lebanon in 2006
From the deputy assistant secretary of defense in the Obama administration: "especially since the 34-day war in the summer of 2006 in which it defeated Israel". (thanks Basim)
ADC Convention
How much the ADC has changed since I came to US in 1983. It was an expression of the progressive and fiercely pro-Palestinian sentiments of Arab-Americans. I read that ADC will be given the Hala Salam Maksoud award to Phalange-sympathizer, May Rihani. Why not give an award to Bashir Gemayyel while you are at it? Hala Salam was a progressive fiercely pro-Palestinian leader. Her name should not be associated with Lebanese nationalist Phalange-sympathizers.
Tuesday, September 19, 2017
Outcry at the American University of Beirut: a professor insults a student for wearing a hijab
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