Don't you like continuity in US foreign policy?

Moroccan Tyrannical regime invites former Israeli war minister for a conference: here is how he was met by MPs

Long time Saudi regime propagandist gets an offer to write regularly for the Washington Post

Jamal Khashoggi announced that he received an offer to write regularly for the Washington Post.  He spent a career working as a propagandist for various Saudi princes.  Do you think that a man who devoted a career for serving the propaganda of Bashshar Al-Asad or Iranian regime or Putin would get an offer writing regularly for a US newspaper?

Saudi democracy is too vibrant

A member of the powerless and appointed Saudi Shura council calls for punishing those members who leak "secrets" to the press.  Kid you not.  (thanks Mariam)

This is how the reactionary New York Times summarizes the career of Che Guevara

"After having overseen the firing squads that followed the Communist victory he helped secure in Cuba, and after a stint running the country’s central bank, Guevara suddenly vanished in 1965, sent by Fidel Castro to organize revolutions abroad."  The paper even managed to blame him for the economic crisis in Venezuela today.  Absent from the article are references to CIA-formed militias and death squads which were facing communist guerrillas around the world.  Also, the Cuban revolution was the least bloody revolution, in relative terms.  The regime rarely resorted to executions.  I favorably compare that regime to any of US-supported/armed autoacracies in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Zaire, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Morocco, etc.

US versus Russian propaganda on social media and in elections

Is it with a straight face that US newspapers are feigning outrage over allegations of Russian propaganda infiltration of social media? Are the assumptions there that US government would never resort to such methods? And which is more extensive? US or Russian propaganda around the world? US or Russian interferences in elections worldwide?

WP questions the legitimacy of the vote in Catalonia because of the voter turnout. What is the voter turnout in US congressional elections?

"Just 42 percent voted."  In some US Congressional elections, voter turnout is even lower than this.

Syrian civilian casualties of US bombing

Notice that Western media don't even mention Syrian civilian casualties of US bombing in the week when scores were killed by US bombs.  Only Syrian civilian casualties of Russian and Syrian regime bombings are mentioned.

bigotry against Syrians in Lebanon continues--from all sides

"Lebanese actress Anne-Marie Salameh has revealed this week that she was “attacked and almost raped.” Speaking to a local entertainment news site, Salemeh said a man - reported to be a Syrian – scaled her building from the stairwell and entered her apartment while she was sleeping in her bedroom." (thanks Basim)

George Clooney makes a distinction between "high-level" and "low-level" sexual harassment

"This is harassment on a very high level."  He should consult with his lawyer wife if the law makes such a distinction.

Harvey Weistein's first public comments on the scandal

"Oscar-Winning Producer Harvey Weinstein at Algemeiner Gala: ‘I Am Israeli in My Heart and Mind’"

New York Times on the wit of Malala

"Part of the problem? “Some say over pack and some say pack less,” she saidin a follow-up post." haha. Hilarious. How witty.

Suzanne Mubarak's aide wants to lead UNESCO

"Today, who would be better than an Arab Muslim woman, with the necessary qualifications, to speak up against all sorts of radicalism? And this is without taking into account that my country, Egypt, has been at peace in the Middle East for 40 years and can speak with the Israelis and Palestinians,”" (thanks S.)

FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists

They are 29 in total: by my count, all are Muslims except two: one is a white animal rights activist, and the other is a black woman.

The promise of communism among Muslims: revisionism

On this article in the Times:  What revisionism: 1) during the Cold War, Western writers protested the rise of communism and socialism among Muslims; now, they want to complain about why communism failed to prevail among Muslims. 2) absent from this account the role of Western powers in sabotaging and combatting all manifestations of socialism and communism among Muslims. As if the reasons for the lack of success were entirely religiously doctrinal.

The case of Ouroba Barakat: not a single Western newspaper corrected its early stories that they were assassinated by Syrian regime

""I am the one who killed Orouba and Hala Barakat, I admit it. They are both my relatives. Orouba is my father's cousin," Ahmed Baraka told Turkey’s magistrate's court.

"When I was in Syria, my father and my older brother were killed in the war. I decided to escape in order to get rid of the pressure that was exerted on me to join the forces of the Syrian regime," he explained.

"Orouba told me that I could come see her if I'm ever in Turkey. So I came to Turkey illegally and started working with Orouba."

But Ahmed Barakat, who says he regrets the killings, said he was invited to Orouba's house that night to receive his salary after quitting. 

"I went to see her that night (the night of the crime) in her house. In the morning, I asked for my money. She said she gave the money to someone else and she had no money left. I got angry and started yelling at her face. She slapped me so I pushed her," he told the court."  Every singe Western media sources insisted hours after the murder that they were politically assassinated by the regime, although they were killed with knives and strangling.  This story is symptomatic of the unreliability of Western media reporting (from the right to the left) about Syria and its conflict.

American polarization

From the Saudi regime newspaper Um Al-Qura in 1964: about communism and Karl Marx

It reads: A statement from the Minister of Interior (I think Prince Fahd was Minister of Interior then) about those who adhere to the communist principles: "What honors this nation is that God made its constitution Islam and blessed it with holy sites to which the heart of Muslims are directed...And if some deviants want to spew their prisons denouncing the heavenly message which was brought by our prophet Muhammad...to the advocacy of a destructive doctrine formed by a Jewish evil doer, the state will see to it that one of its most important obligations is to strike on the hands of those destroyers, out of belief in its religion and in defense of he entity of this Muslim nation against the chaos and blood spilling which are the end of all those who believe in communism."

Christian Jihad Organization

Do you know that a Lebanese right-wing Christian militia was formed in the late 1980s with the name of Christian Jihad Organization?  I don't see any references to it in books except in the book by Antoine Jubayli on the Phalanges Party.  

Netanyahu and his lies: the Fox News interview yesterday

It was quite an interview.  I have never seen a more fawning interview: and by the founder of the tabloid TMZ.  Apparently Trump, who is friends with Levin, arranged for the interview with Netanyahu.  Netanyahu is such a liar that in the course of one hour, he lied blatantly and fundamentally contradicted himself at least twice: at one point, he said that as a child he never thought about the "threats" that Israel faced and the dangers he was in.  Minutes later when asked about when he first started to think about the dangers facing Israel, he said: since I was a child.  Kid you not.  In the hour interview, the word Palestinian was not mentioned once, and the interviewer did not ask anything about them.  They did not exist as far as he was concerned and Netanyahu could not be happier.  When people talk about Netanyahu's father, notice that no one mentions the work that he did for Jobotinsky.  The writings of Jabotinsky are his racialist doctrine (he spoke about the "racial recipe" of nations) are never mentioned in US media.  My wife had told me that I will be upset if I watch it, but it was so ridiculous that it did not even upset me as it usually would.  

The Sleepover: by KhalidAlBaih

#Khartoon - Sleep Over - after the lifting of the sanctions #Sudan joins the #Trump #Saudi #Israeland #Egypt

Map of Ottoman Lebanon during WWI

Source here.  (thanks Talal)

Egypt and Jews: US and Muslims

There has been a debate about Jews of Egypt on the pages of the lousy Haaretz.  Of course, the debate is among Zionists exclusively.  It started with this article in which the author asserted the truth: that there has been no mass explosion of Jews from Egypt.  This American then responded with a frantic plethora of fabrication and unsubstantiated claims just to make the point.  But the article is ridiculous:It invents facts when no facts exists and typically projects Nazi analogies about Arabs.  Notice he does not mind fudging the issues: nationalization of wealth (affecting not only Jews) become anti-Semitic nationalization: the Cairo fire (which resulted in the fire of many stores) becomes exclusively targeted against Jewish owned stores, and when laws targeted people holding French and British citizenships, it becomes a law that only targeted Jews (when it affected non-Jewish holders of French and British citizenship).  But here is the deal: neither article talk about the Lavon Affair and about how the Zionist occupation state jeopardized the status of Jews in Arab lands in more ways than one: not only by claiming that it is a state for ALL JEWS of the world but also by recruiting among Jews of Egypt (not to mention other cases) for its terrorist Mossad operations. That was not mentioned.  But the author protesting the first article basically admits: that there was no mass expulsion but that the atmosphere became hostile, which I won't deny.  But let us compare the US after Sep. 11: 19 hijackers came from outside the US (and they were not recruited by any official state claiming to represent world Muslims--imagine if this was the case) and perpetrated a terrorist attack which was condemned by world Muslims (except some kooks).  How did the US respond? It unleashed a wave of Islamophobia and blatant hatred of Islam and Muslims from which this country has not recovered: and there were mass arrests and expulsion of innocent Muslims, and contingency plans were discussed for the internment and expulsion of Muslims . I will say this: George W. Bush AND Trump invited Rev. Franklin Graham to officiate during their inauguration, and the man is one of the most repugnant haters of Islam and Muslim in the world. If what Graham says about Muslims and Islam is said about Jews and Judaism, the man would be despised and shunned in every Western country in the world.  Instead, he is treated like a national treasure here and is received as a head of state in Western capitals.  The president of the US today has officially called for a ban on ALL Muslims.  There was no such thing under Nasser of Egypt: the regime never sanctioned an official anti-Semitic movement like there is an anti-Islam movement in the US promoted by many members of Congress (Democrats and Republicans).  So if a Muslim were to leave the US in response to the wave of Islamophobia, would that be considered a mass expulsion of Muslims from the US?  Also, notice that laws affecting Jews in Egypt were passed during the monarchy under the British colonial rule.  Is that not significant?  And most importantly, if there was such a mass explosion of Jews, how come there was always Jews in Egypt even if the numbers became very small?  But let us go back to the analogy of US and Muslims vs. Egypt and Jews: if Sep. 11 terrorism was sanctioned by a state which claims to represent ALL Muslims, would that not have resulted in even more public hostility to Muslims in the US?  

Grotesque Islamohpobia of the Independent Newspaper: Las Vegas shooter and his motives

"Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock had visited the Middle East during a series of cruises, police have revealed. Investigators remain stumped as to Paddock’s motives but said he visited the contentious region on a cruise. The region, where Isis and other jihadi groups have a presence in some areas, may be of interest to security services because of speculation Paddock became radicalised. He also took at least 11 other cruises to other destinations over the last several years, the AP reported."   So he made one port stop in Egypt, and that made him a terrorist serial killer?  (thanks Basim)

How to "recover" from homosexuality? Egyptian press now mimics the kookiness of US religious right

A story of a man who recovered.

Yet another doctorate for Saudi King

Russia also bestowed honorary doctorates on the Saudi king.  How ironic: one of the most uneducated men in the world has the largest collection of honorary doctorates--and all deserved, I am sure.

I bet you are.

"Oscar-Winning Producer Harvey Weinstein at Algemeiner Gala: ‘I Am Israeli in My Heart and Mind’"

Nicholas Kristof visits North Korea 2

One of the complaints he made about North Korea is that he was offended by its jingoism.  Jingoism? More than US jingoism? Really?

Nicholas Kristof visits North Korea

Basically, he wants more sanctions on North Korea and more threats and more cyber-warfare.  This is American liberalism.  He compares his visit to his visit to Iraq before the US invasion but forgets to tell you that he supported the war then.

Nicholas Kristof has a comprehensive article on North Korea based on empirical research he conducted there

"and this five-day trip".  Now, does a Western journalist need more than five days in a country to become an expert in its affairs really?

Don't you like it when the White Man visits a developing country and assesses the intelligence of the natives? I do

"the students are extraordinarily bright".  Oh, thank you. That is so nice of you.

The Empowerment of women: according to Western donors

"When non-Western women already have strong political identities, their removal is sometimes required even if it involves pushing them back into the very roles from which empowerment was meant to deliver them. In Sri Lanka, a former soldier for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam told one of my co-authors that she and other ex-fighters were offered classes in cake decorating, hairstyling and sewing. A government official confessed that despite years of training programs, she had never seen any of the women earn a living from these skills. It’s time for a change to the “empowerment” conversation. Development organizations’ programs must be evaluated on the basis of whether they enable women to increase their potential for political mobilization, such that they can create sustainable gender equality. On the global stage, a return to this original model of empowerment requires a moratorium on reducing non-Western women to the circumstances of their victimhood — the rape survivor, the war widow, the child bride. The idea that development goals and agendas should be apolitical must be discarded."

And Tillerson is supposed to be the reasonable one in the administration:

"Tillerson wondered aloud whether the entire effort to improve relations with Iran wasn’t doomed by history. “We have more pounds, and our hair is gray,” he said. “Maybe we don’t have it in our capacity to change the nature of this relationship, because we are bound by it—maybe we leave it to the next generation to try.” He thought for a moment. “I don’t know. I’m not a diplomat.”"

Dexter Fiklins version of US diplomatic history

"The U.S. has given billions of dollars to help expand trade, fight disease, and foster the growth of democracy." Where in the Middle East has the US ever spent a penny to foster the growth of democracy except in countries which are not allies of the US? And even in those countries, the US always opted for reactionary or fascist or right-wing death squads or putschists.

Dexter Filkins writes about Victoria Nuland like she is a model diplomat: she is the one who famously yelled "fuck the EU"

"Typical of those who have left is Victoria Nuland, a thirty-two-year veteran who spent her formative years in Moscow during the collapse of the Soviet Union. Nuland speaks Russian and French; she served in Vice-President Dick Cheney’s office and worked for Secretary of State James Baker under George H. W. Bush; her last job was as Obama’s Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs."

The extent of Saudi Zionism: Abdul-Rahman Al-Rashid

The Zionist advocacy of Saudi regime propagandists and puppets has reached a new level: Saudi regime reliable propagandists for decades, Abdul-Rahman Al-Rashid, writes that all Israeli  wars, massacres, invasions, and assaults since 1973 have been in self-defense, first against the PLO and then against Hizbullah--according to his account.  

Where was the Post when Israel leveled the whole of Gaza? Where was the Post when Gaza children were slaughtered?

"Humbert shared an aerial photo from 2000 showing patterns of walls from atop the mound. The area “was the first city of Palestine to have a city wall,” he said. Now, “the field work you see in the photo is totally destroyed.”" (thanks Basim)

Look at the kind of trash you read in US media: feeling sorry for Israeli pilots for training to bomb Iran (New Yorker)

"I talked to a commander of the [Israeli] Air Force and said how much my heart goes to those young pilots who exercise for this thing and had to fly very long [routes], with refuelling midair and sometimes flying very low. The very exercises were extremely demanding. We did practice, and it could have been done." Are we supposed to read this and say: oh, those poor Israeli pilots who are exhausted from training to bomb Iran?

People are announcing their withdrawal from Twitter in droves in Saudi Arabia and UAE

There is a clear pattern: not only were people pressured, threatened, arrested and coerced over tweets or even silence or reluctant to spew government propaganda on social media: but people (writers, journalists, and academics) are leaving twitter in droves for fear of offending the regimes.

Canadian children's book

"Under the heading Moving Out, the book claims: “When the European settlers arrived, they needed land to live on. The First Nations peoples agreed to move to different areas to make room for the new settlements.” The First Nations peoples moved to reserves, the workbook later notes, “where they could live undisturbed by the hustle and bustle of the settlers”. "

a champion of Hillary Clinton

"In public, he presents himself as a liberal lion, a champion of women and a winner of not just artistic but humanitarian awards. In 2015, the year Ms. O’Connor wrote her memo, his company distributed “The Hunting Ground,” a documentary about campus sexual assault. A longtime Democratic donor, he hosted a fund-raiser for Hillary Clinton in his Manhattan home last year. He employed Malia Obama, the oldest daughter of former President Barack Obama, as an intern this year, and recently helped endow a faculty chair at Rutgers University in Gloria Steinem’s name. During the Sundance Film Festival in January, when Park City, Utah, held its version of nationwide women’s marches, Mr. Weinstein joined the parade." (thanks Amir)

Jewish population in Palestine before Zionism: Simon Schama

"Meanwhile, those who imagine that the Jewish longing for Jerusalem and Zion began in the 20th century, if not as a post-1945 response to the Holocaust, might be shocked to learn that not only was there a substantial Jewish population in Palestine throughout this period – Schama introduces us to the Arabic-speaking Musta’arabi Jews of Safed – but, at intervals, “messianic electrical surges” would pulse through the wider diaspora, “the travelling tribe, telling them they needed to get to Jerusalem asap”.":  If by substantial, you mean some 24,000 Jews versus over 600,000 Arabs.

Harvey Weinstein and Israel

Among his sayings is that he won't ever produce a movie which is opposed to Israel.

On Human Rights Watch's report on Saudi regime hate speech

I heard from Saudi citizens inside the kingdom. They have major complaints about the report by Human Rights Watch on Saudi regime's hate speech: they said that the organization only focused on Islamists in the kingdom totally ignoring the fact that Saudi liberals are most guilty in the hate speech campaign (see this article by a Saudi regime liberal).  Critics of the report rightly point out that the report basically blamed the weakest element: the religious establishment while totally exonerating the Saudi regime and its liberal establishment inside the kingdom.  One critic said: "the report said 99 correct things but only to promote one falsehood".

In Saudi Arabia you can be arrested for "agitating public opinion"

People were arrested in Saudi Arabia for "agitating public opinion".  Kid you not.