" "“It’s all part of an effort to delegitimise western efforts to stabilise Syria,” said Sam Woolley, who studies computational propaganda at the University of Oxford aid."" Why can't people just let Western countries stabilize Syria? Why? That is all what Western countries ever wanted to do in the Middle East, to stabile it. Just as they stabilized the Gulf region. Is that so wrong? It is all about stabilization. Ask the Oxford University expert cited above. He can tell you.
Monday, December 18, 2017
Hizbullah in Politico: smuggling of drugs and...frozen chicken
Regarding this long piece: look. I don't know how Hizbullah finances itself (Nasrallah now publicly says that their funding is entirely from Iran), and I don't know about secret methods and operations of this party, but I have to say US/Israeli stories about Hizhbullah and drugs and surveillance of targets in the US are as unconvincing as the story or the car salesman in Texas who hired drug dealers from Mexico to kill the Saudi ambassador in DC while eating a Chinese meal. Look at this: "Hezbollah — in league with Iran — continues to undermine U.S. interests in Iraq, Syria and throughout wide swaths of Latin America and Africa". Hizbullah is active in Latin American and Africa? It is barely active in Arab countries outside of Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. Also, many of those stories assume that any Shi`ite who is involved in illegal trade must be a cover for Hizbullah operations when many of the names are often loyal to Amal Movement. What makes those stories more suspicious is that not only they cite Israeli and Zionist sources exclusively, but they also only cite fanatic Zionists as experts on the stories.
Saudi embassy had a tribute and display for the one Huthi missile which fell in Riyadh: what about the thousands which they dropped on Yemeni people?
Cornel West on the Palestinians
I am glad how passionate Cornel West has become on the Palestinians. It is now an essential criterion for him in judging intellectuals. But it was not always like that. Back in the 1980s and early 1990s, Cornel West was very quick to denounce the PLO and accuse it of anti-Semitism, when the PLO was never guilty of anti-Semitism. He, writing in Tikkhun, once spoke of the "ugly anti-Semitism" of the PLO (Joseph Massad reminded me of this one). He also co-wrote a book with Michael Lerner of Tikkun in which I remember he also took a swipe at the Palestinians. Cornel West was an establishment figure in the 1980s and 1990s. The rise of Obama and his (first) experience at Harvard radicalized him.
Sunday, December 17, 2017
Friday, December 15, 2017
US policy towards Jerusalem
My weekly article in Al-Akhbar: "A History of the Context of US History toward Jerusalem.
Robyn Creswell on Adonis in the New Yorker
I respect Creswell's knowledge of Arabic literature but on this piece:
1) he notes how disappointed people have been with Adoni's stance on the Syrian uprising (count me as one) but he cites on that none other than Sadiq Jalal Al-Azm. Does he not see the irony on that? I have been disappointed with the stance of Adonis for sure, but the stance of Al-Azm has been far worse especially in his resort to sectarian language and rhetoric and his subservience to Gulf regime stances during the uprising. In fact, the political transformation of Al-Azm has been far more glaring than that of Adonis.
2) He says that Adonis ("This is a topic that, unlike most Arab intellectuals of his generation, he has generally avoided") has avoided the Arab-Israeli conflict. Nothing more farther from the truth. He missed that the journal of Adonis in the late 1969, Mawaqif, basically went over the experience of Shi`r and championed the Palestinian resistance in very strong terms. There is rarely an interview or an article in Al-Hayat where Adonis has been writing in which he does not mention the Palestinian. To be sure, in the 1990s, when he was hoping for a Nobel, his stances because a bit more muted but not anymore. He is very vocal in his views on Israel.
3) he does not mention that Adonis was really influenced by the Jesuit Orientalists at St. Joseph University where he earned his PhD. His PhD dissertation (subsequently published) is a lousy academic work which approaches the heritage of Arabic literature in a most dogmatic and Orientalist fashion.
4) He does not mention how supporters of Syrian rebels often attacked Adonis on account of the sect in which he was born.
1) he notes how disappointed people have been with Adoni's stance on the Syrian uprising (count me as one) but he cites on that none other than Sadiq Jalal Al-Azm. Does he not see the irony on that? I have been disappointed with the stance of Adonis for sure, but the stance of Al-Azm has been far worse especially in his resort to sectarian language and rhetoric and his subservience to Gulf regime stances during the uprising. In fact, the political transformation of Al-Azm has been far more glaring than that of Adonis.
2) He says that Adonis ("This is a topic that, unlike most Arab intellectuals of his generation, he has generally avoided") has avoided the Arab-Israeli conflict. Nothing more farther from the truth. He missed that the journal of Adonis in the late 1969, Mawaqif, basically went over the experience of Shi`r and championed the Palestinian resistance in very strong terms. There is rarely an interview or an article in Al-Hayat where Adonis has been writing in which he does not mention the Palestinian. To be sure, in the 1990s, when he was hoping for a Nobel, his stances because a bit more muted but not anymore. He is very vocal in his views on Israel.
3) he does not mention that Adonis was really influenced by the Jesuit Orientalists at St. Joseph University where he earned his PhD. His PhD dissertation (subsequently published) is a lousy academic work which approaches the heritage of Arabic literature in a most dogmatic and Orientalist fashion.
4) He does not mention how supporters of Syrian rebels often attacked Adonis on account of the sect in which he was born.
Thursday, December 14, 2017
Saudi regime is really angry at Palestinians
The protests by Palestinians in Palestine and elsewhere inlaced chants against Muhammad bin Salman. This really angered the regime and it unleashed the Saudi Mabahith goons on social media to vomit racist anti-Palestinian trash talk. Mahmoud Abbas (the puppet) had to intervene and declare yesterday that the Saudi King assured him that the regime won't accept except (East) Jerusalem as capital of Palestine.
Changes at the New York Times
I resent the suggestion that A.G. Sulzberger was selected for his new post at the New York Times for any reason other than sheer talent. Nepotism didn’t enter the picture at all. This isn’t some Saudi royal dynastic rule.
Tuesday, December 12, 2017
Another freedom of expression case that you won't hear about in Western or Arab media
Mustafa Sbayti wrote (under the influence of alcohol by his admission) a poet comment on Facebook in which he expressed his desire to "sleep with Virgin Mary". Of course, the Christian AND Muslim religious establishment called for a severe punishment of him although he quickly removed the comment and profusely apologized. He has been in jail for the last few weeks, and was released today. Here is m article on the matter: "Between the Bishop and the Poet". Naturally no one in Lebanon lifted a finger for the poet because he is a secular communist who posts Lenin's picture on his Facebook. Human Right Watch's office in Beirut--increasingly part of the Hariri coalition camp-- would have made a stink about the matter if the poet was a pro-Hariri right-winger.
When Anne Barnard linked Lebanese secular leftists with Hizbullah
From Alfred: "...Those who demonstrated outside the US Embassy in Beirut were not only secularists. More importantly to Anne Barnard, they are from organizations that are NOT listed by the US as "terrorist organizations". She wants to link those who are anti-Israel in Lebanon with Hizbullah...you know the organization that killed Americans and are called terrorists. "
On the secular communist and Arab/Syrian nationalist protest in Beirut on Sunday
I am summoned by the Lebanese Ministry of Justice over a tweet
Under pressure from the orphans of the Israeli occupation of Lebanon, i.e. Lebanese Forces and their media like LBC TV station, the Minister of Justice of Lebanon succumbed to pressures and ordered a summon for me based on...a tweet. The tweet was a "quoted tweet" in which I comment on a tweet by the Twitter page of UNIFIL in Lebanon in which it reported a high level meeting between "senior Lebanese Army officers" and Israeli occupation officers. This happened the day after the Jerusalem move by the US. I wrote: "Disgrace. Disgrace. Lebanese Army commanders meet with officers of the Israeli enemy while Arab streets are boiling with anger over Jerusalem. Let us call for disarming the Lebanese Army while keeping the arms of the resistance". (The last sentence was written as irony but some Lebanese--like Americans--don't have an appetite for irony). As you know, the Lebanese resistance movement started in 1978 by a bunch of Marxist-Leninists and later broadened to include other secular and leftist forces and later other Islamist-oreinted forces. Throughout those times, the defense of Lebanon against Israeli aggression and occupation was undertaken by those volunteers with the exception of the time when Emile Lahhud led the Lebanese Army and when he was president, and insisted that the Army be used in defense of Lebanon. I have lived in the US uninterruptedly since 1983, and yet the Lebanese Ministry of Justice can still be concerned over my tweets from California.
PS If I were a pro-Saudi right-wing Hariri writer, the story would have been picked up by all Western correspondents in Beirut and by Human Rights Watch office in Beirut. They would have raised a hue and cry over the muzzling of freedom of speech. But the views of anti-Israel leftists, are not considered worthy of protection by those people.
PS If I were a pro-Saudi right-wing Hariri writer, the story would have been picked up by all Western correspondents in Beirut and by Human Rights Watch office in Beirut. They would have raised a hue and cry over the muzzling of freedom of speech. But the views of anti-Israel leftists, are not considered worthy of protection by those people.
Monday, December 11, 2017
Ronald Reagan on moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem
"WASHINGTON, March 28 - President Reagan said today that it would be ''most unwise'' for the United States to move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and he strongly suggested that he would veto legislation in Congress to require such a step.
In an interview, Mr. Reagan said a bill requiring the embassy to be moved ''should never have been introduced in Congress.'' He said the disposition of Jerusalem, the West Bank of the Jordan River and other areas ''must be negotiated'' between Israel and the Arab countries. Asked if he would veto legislation on the embassy, the President said: ''I am hoping I won't have to. But like the several previous Presidents before me, I think that that is a most unwise thing.''"
Sunday, December 10, 2017
From the protest in front of the US embassy in Lebanon
Lebanese Communist Party leader in front of the US embassy in Lebanon
Saturday, December 09, 2017
Protests in the Arab world
I noticed that in Jordan they chanted against Trump AND abasing Muhammad bin Salman. But they also chanted in praise of Jordanian king. Opposition and protests in Jordan can be as repugnant as the regime. I also noticed that Iraq was very vocal against the US and Israel. The entire political spectrum was united. Muqtada As-Sadr (who recently got favorable press in Gulf and naturally Western media) was most fierce in rallying the public against Israeli occupation. This image is from a protest in Baghdad. Someone should translate the article to the New York Times correspondents who wrote only two days ago that Arabs don't care about Jerusalem or Palestine anymore--because a Lebanese blogger wrote that in English.
Anti-Semitic depiction of Jewish people is back in Saudi papers: Al-Riydadh
It says "American bias" and the man with the Star of David carries a paper which says: "Jerusalem capital of Israel".
Friday, December 08, 2017
Friday mosque sermons around the world were devoted to Jerusalem except...in Saudi Arabia
The sermons in Mecca and Medina were not about Jerusalem.
The protests by Arabs and Muslims around the world for Jerusalem should have been dedicated to the correspondents who wrote this article in the Times
"Rallying Cry of Jerusalem May Have Lost Force in Arab World"
Founder of Blackwater has deep ties to Israel
"U.S. businessman Erik Prince – who has just been accused of trying to set up a back-channel for communications between the Trump administration and Russia – has deep Israeli connections as well, including business dealings with Ari Harow, the disgraced former bureau chief to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu." "With various people now touting Prince for a Senate run (including Steve Bannon), his Israeli ties could prove significant." (thanks Amir)
Thursday, December 07, 2017
Hizbullah avoids the Lebanese protest in front of the US embassy in Lebanon and calls for a different demonstration in the southern suburbs
The Lebanese Communist Party and the SSNP and other progressive forces in Lebanon called for a protest in front of the US embassy in Lebanon tomorrow (just outside of Beirut). But Hasan Nasrallah today made it clear that Hizbollah is not involved in this demonstration and will be holding its own protest...in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Monday.
Marines snipers on rooftops of US embassy in Amman
The Jordanian newspaper, Al-Ghad, removed pictures and story on Twitter about US Marines snipers on rooftops of US embassy in Amman. It seems ordered were issued to the king from DC.
It was not the US which defeated ISIS: foes of the US defeated ISIS
Look at this ridiculous claim in the New York Times: "The American-led coalition has retaken 97 percent of the territory once held by the militants".
The US war on Yemen
"SA: Absolutely. Yemenis are not asking the US to come and save them from Saudi Arabia. We have to be very clear about that. We’re not asking for intervention. We’re asking for them to stop this intervention, to remove themselves from this conflict, to stop interfering in the politics of Yemen and causing this egregious humanitarian suffering by helping the Saudis at all these levels." (thanks Amir)
This his how the New York Times described this racist Zionist
Israelis like to build. Arabs like to bomb crap and live in open sewage. This is not a difficult issue. #settlementsrock
""Mr. Shapiro, 33, a graduate of Harvard Law School, is the cool kid’s philosopher, dissecting arguments with a lawyer’s skill and references to Aristotle."" Source is here.
Palestinian Jerusalemite historian, Tarif Khalidi on Jerusalem
Tarif sent me this (I cite with his permission): "Trump gives an extraordinary reason why he accepts Jerusalem as the capital of Israel: "Because it is a fact". Had he been in power in Hitler's days, would he have accepted his conquests as a "fact"? Should Lincoln have accepted the Confederacy "as a fact"? Or ought George Washington (beneath whose portrait he delivered his grotesque speech) to have accepted British dominion over America as "a fact"? History is nothing but a series of revolts against unacceptable facts. But the man is beyond any recall to sense or decency.
Saudi MBC fires this TV anchorwoman because of this tweet
The tweet by Ola Al-Faris says: "Trump has not chosen the timing of the declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in vain...After his visit to us it became certain that Arabs will condemn the recognition tonight while chanting the next day: Welcome, Thursday". Al-Riyadh newspaper said that MBC didn't like the insult to the Arab people. Yes, because the Saudi regime is highly respectful of the Arab people.
The New York Times report how on the bright of the Palestinian refugee problem
"A history lesson from the New York Times about how 700,000 Palestinians were uprooted from their homeland in 1948: “Amid violence by militias and mobs on both sides, huge numbers of Jews and Arabs were displaced.” And they were not kidding, mind you.
This is how Zionist media report the news from the Middle East
"Not knowing Arabic, NYTimes correspondents claim that there is no fury among Arabs on social media about Trump’s decision. They also claim that Palestine is not important to Arabs anymore. Their evidence? A tweet by one Lebanese blogger. Kid U not."
Wednesday, December 06, 2017
This in Saudi Arabia
Hashtag "Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine" #1 trending right now in #KSA #Saudi #القدس_عاصمه_فلسطين_الابديه
PS It also is in Iraq and Algeria.
PS and in Syria.
PS It also is in Iraq and Algeria.
PS and in Syria.
Tuesday, December 05, 2017
Fury on Arab social media over Jerusalem
There is such a fury on Arab social media over Jerusalem but I am confident that none of the Western correspondents in Beirut or Cairo will notice in their dispatches.
Origins of the idea of replacing Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital with Abu Dis
The idea of replacing Jerusalem with Abu Dis as the Palestinian capital first appeared in 1995 in the Abu Mazen-Yossi Beilin document here.
Abu Dis
Abu Dis is now by order of Jared Kushner the 3rd holy Muslim site and the 1st Qiblah. Will the US government now order the relocation fo the Church of Holy Sepulchre to Abu Dis? What about the Aqsa? I am sure MbS can easily change Islamic teachings to accommodate this new US initiative.
Monday, December 04, 2017
And there are still some American liberals who still refer to Israeli system as a "socialist experiment". Hilarious
"“The United States made a decision last night to lower taxes . We cannot lag behind in the relief we are giving our business sector regarding both taxes and reduced regulation and bureaucracy,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said just before the cabinet cleared measures aimed at trimming the red tape required to start a business."
Make no mistake about it: all initiatives from UAE and Saudi Arabia are designed by Western companies: hence Western enthusiasm
"McKinsey’s consultants helped design Vision 2030 , the prince’s sweeping reform agenda aimed at ushering Saudi Arabia into a more open, post-petroleum future. "
Underestimating the Huthis
In every turn, the Saudi governments and media underestimated the Huthis. They often mocked them as backward and uncivilized bunch, which only at every turn of the conflict made the Saudi regime look even more ridiculous.
Whenever you think that New York Times can't sink any lower in its Middle East coverage, it surprises you
Look who it assigned to analyze Middle East politics now. What is next? It will assign David Irving to analyze the Holocaust?
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