The Berri-Basil conflict

My weekly article in Al-Akhbar: "The Constitutional and Sectarian background of the conflict between Tayyar and Harakat Amal".

A rare long report about the heavy Israeli military intervention in the Syrian war on the side of (some) rebel groups

"Another major shift in Israeli policy occurred during this time as well, according to Syrian activists and rebels I have interviewed, as well as pro-regime and opposition media reporting. Rebels from Quneitra and western Daraa, as well as media activists in those regions with ties to the rebels, told me that Israel began providing more military support to a greater number of rebel groups affiliated with the Free Syrian Army. This support came in the form of weapons, ammunition and money to purchase weapons on the black market. All of my sources confirmed the identity of at least seven factions receiving Israeli support, on the condition that the groups would not be named. However, two of these groups have been publicly identified before: Liwaa’ Fursan al-Jolan and Firqat Ahrar Nawa. Israeli officials have vehemently denied support to jihadist groups, leaving open the possibility that the government supports these non-jihadist groups. Some of the groups that started getting Israeli support in late 2017 were previously supported by the Military Operations Command, a CIA-directed center in Amman. Until January 2018, this center paid the salaries for tens of thousands of Free Syrian Army “Southern Front” fighters and provided them with materiel and ammunition." And as typical of the Israeli racist apartheid state, the occupation state has only contempt for its quisling Arabs: "Israel’s military establishment is entering relationships with rebel groups with a sense of distrust and even disdain."

Liz Sly of the Post

Liz Sly (who blocked me on Twitter) is by far one of the worst Western correspondents to cover the Middle East. By far.  Look at this article: she assembled three experts to talk about Syria: one is an Israeli, one is far right-Lebanese, and the 3rd is GCC think tank type. Not one person of the other side. Also notice, that while Israel admits that it raised and bombed Syria more than 100 times, Sly insists that Israel is merely watching developments in Syria with great alarm but not interfering at all.  Sly has eliminated the thin line separating some Western correspondents from Western propagandists.

Can Western governments please make up their minds whether chemical weapons have been used in Syria? They got me confused

"“Today, our agencies, our armed forces have not established that chemical weapons, as set out in treaties, have been used against the civilian population.”"

Trump tells an Israeli newspaper that Saudi regime accepted his decision on Jerusalem

" How do you see the future relationship between Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, and Israel?

"They are getting much better. I think they respect me and they accepted what I did [on Jerusalem]."

The length to which Qatari regime is going to appease the US

"In his meetings last week, Defense Minister Khalid bin Mohammed al-Attiyah said Qatar would upgrade living quarters for United States military personnel stationed at al-Udeid Air Base, which hosts nearly 10,000 American troops."

American Zionists spend a few days in Gulf countries and return with unpaid praise: Dennis Ross on Saudi "revolutionary" Prince

Dennis Ross said that there were no criticisms of the Crown Prince in Saudi Arabia. Yes, the regime will arrange for you to meet critics and dissidents in prisons to express their views openly, o brilliant foreign policy expert.

You can occupy, and you can steal, and you can perpetrate massacres but your rule and occupation won't last

"Virgin Atlantic has changed the name of an in-flight meal after social media backlash from pro-Israel supporters.The dish – a mix of Maftoul and other couscous, tomatoes and cucumber seasoned with parsley, mint and lemon vinaigrette – was formerly called “Palestinian couscous salad” on the menu."

Berlin Wall vs. Israel Apartheid Wall

Beech Forest Buchenwald I, by Gustav Klimt.

When will Democracy Now host Thomas Friedman for insights?

Really.  It is high time that they host Thomas Friedman, ever since DN went mainstream establishment.

Demonstrations in Tehran

Just like in Syria, why do Western media and DC pundits ignore demonstration when in support of regimes that are not on good terms with the US and only highlight demonstrations against regimes that are not aligned with the US?  And why do they ignore demonstrations in places like Jordan or Morocco or Tunisia where the governments are aligned with the US? Why? We know why.

Palestinians in 1948 Palestine

There is a new trend among Palestinians in 1948 Palestine. They hold in their hands pictures of Arab symbols of resistance against Israel, and they circulate them and they get spread on Arab social media.  Some of them are in cities like Tel Aviv (the suburb of Jaffa would be the accurate name of this occupation settlement) or other places.

Gustav Klimt, The Apple Tree I.

PS I can't believe how long it has been since I posted art here.  

A store in Lebanon announces a special sale for the downing of the Israeli fighter jet

Arabs respond to the downing of the Israeli jet

I can bet the farm (which I dont have) that none of the Western correspondents in Beirut or elsewhere and none of the DC pundits and journalists (especially those Lebanese who work in Saudi regime media and tweet in English) will convey to you the jubilation expressed by Arabs on social media about the humiliating downing of the Israeli fighter jet.

Creatures from outer space inspect the remains of the destroyed Israeli jet

Western correspondents and the downing of the Israeli bombing jet

I am sure that Western correspondents in Beirut would now claim that the Israeli fighter jet was on a peace mission and that it was dropping flowers over Syria.

The humiliating downing of the Israeli fighter jet

The people of South Lebanon quickly responded by posting this sign saying: "Your jets have been downed". haha.

More Scary than Trump? Gen. Mattis

It seems to me that Gen. Mattis is the most dangerous man in this administration.  He--not Trump--seems bent on taking the country to war--in different places.

This is a tour of Beirut which won't be covered by Ben Hubbard of the New York Times

Ben Hubbard covered in a story a silly touristic tour of Beirut conducted by the son of a former minister. There is nothing insightful or significant of this tour.  He points out landmarks. But comrade Jana Nakkhal of the Lebanese Communist Party Central Committee conducts a different tour of Beirut which points to the social injustices and struggles within the city and the monstrous reconstruction of Rafiq Hariri, who is praised by the first Ben Hubbard-Loved tour.

New York Times calls Al-Qa`idah terrorists "rebels": Anne Barnard calls them "insurgents"

Can you imagine if the families of Sep. 11 victims were to know that New York Times refer to the Sep. 11 terrorists as "rebels"? Here is the headline about the recent downing of a Russian jet by Al-Qa`idah terrorists in Syria: "Russian Warplane Shot Down in Syria by Rebels".

Israeli bomb targeting a teacher in Sidon: Lebanese police identifies the Mossad terrorist. Lebanese and Dubai police now beats the Mossad. haha

Dumb Mossad.  This is a regular feature on this blog.  How much the image of the Mossad has changed.  A bodyguard of Khalid Mishal in Amman foiled a Mossad plot.  Then Dubai police identifies all the dumb Mossad agents who murdered a Hamas operative in Dubai, hours after the terrorist operation.  And now, only a few weeks ago, dumb Mossad agents placed a terrorist bomb under the car seat of a Lebanese teacher.  Within days, Lebanese police uncovered the plot, exposed the culprits and identified the four Mossad agents involved. Notice that none of the Western media posted anything about the bombing and nothing about the embarrassing (for Israel) identification of the dumb Mossad terrorists.  Here is the article and their picture are above.  If this was an Iranian operation and those were IRGs agents, the story would have been front page in all Western media.

Thomas Friedman is caught in a major fabrication

He says this about the May 17, 1983 humiliating Lebanese-Israeli peace agreement: "Lebanese militias, led by Hezbollah, quickly emerged to resist the May 17 treaty."  Hizbullah militia lead the effort? Hizbullah militia did NOT even exist at the time.  Hizbullah's name was not even known at the time, and it was not released.  Amal Movement and PSP and other allies were behind the revolt against Amin Gemayel administration and the May 17 agreement.  If he fabricates about an event that he says he witnessed, can you imagine his fabrications about events he has not witnessed?

Tour of Beirut, covered by Ben Hubbard

I can never understand the interest and journalistic preferences of Western correspondents in the Middle East.  But take a look at this one: I don't understand why a tour which attracts no more than 20 people warrants a story of all the developments in Lebanon.  Who knows. The political orientation of the guide is certainly relevant.  But look at this in talking about the Holiday Inn: " Yasir Arafat, the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization, moved in for a while but was later pushed out".  Never ever did Arafat stay at the Holiday Inn.  He never was there.  If the guide said it, he was lying and the correspondent should have verified it.

Scandalous: Qatari regime succumbs to pressure from US Zionists to kill a documentary on Israeli lobby

My sources in the network tell me that the Qatari regime has reached an agreement with US Zionists to kill a documentary on the Israeli lobby.  Staff are concerned over the impact of this unprecedented pressures from the Zionists and their influence over the regime.  

Tyrant Sisi declared the Sixth Divinely-guided Caliph of Islam

How can you take the Guardian seriously? This is not the New York Times. They say Gene Sharp inspired Arabs

"Gene Sharp, US scholar whose writing helped inspire Arab Spring, dies at 90".  This would be a good parody of Western media coverage of Arab affairs.  And they say: "It has been translated, often by activists themselves".  Activists themselves? Translation of Gene Sharp was done by the institute of...Gene Sharp.  I am a witness of that because they contacted me regarding Arabic translation of his work and asked for suggestions for translation and editing and I thought they were so lame and uninteresting that I referred them to a friend.

The good old days: Apartheid South Africa and Apartheid Israel. Closest of allies.

On that lousy Lebanese right-wing racist film which was naturally nominated for an Oscar

Excellent review.

Downing of a Russian jet in Syria

Check the Arabic and Western press. All the references are to "opposition" and "rebels" who downed the jet. You have to really search to find out that Al-Qa`idah is the one which downed the jet.  

The lies of Colin Powell

A long list from that speech at UN.

Youngest children held by Israel jailed for months

"Abdel Raouf al-Bilawi, 13, from Dheisheh refugee camp in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, was sentenced to four months for throwing stones at occupation forces, the most common charge leveled against Palestinian children in Israeli military courts, according to prisoners rights group Samidoun." "Israeli occupation forces have a policy of deliberately maiming and disabling Palestinian youths who resist their frequent invasions of Dheisheh refugee camp."

Killing Syrian children to make money

"Costello said at the time that the contemporary Syrian war – now in its eighth year – could not have lasted for more than a year without armaments profiteering. As a result, there had been more than 300,000 people killed, including thousands of children, 13.5 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, 6.3 million people internally displaced and 5 million people turned into refugees." "Between 2012 and 2016, the 10 largest arms exporters were, in order: the US, Russia, China, France, Germany, the UK, Spain, Italy, Ukraine and Israel."

Are modern capitalistic cultures nurturing narcissism?

"Narcissism is increasing in modern Western societies and this has been referred to as a “narcissism epidemic” [1]."

Only US and Saudi regime media will believe this

"Saudi Arabia Says Detainees Handed Over More Than $100 Billion"

This Arab who previously wrote in the Times in support of Moroccan despot finds evidence that Arabs don't care about Palestine

"I know. I have heard them tell me these things in the privacy of their living rooms."  This is what we call in academic "primary sources".

Democracy Index: US downgraded

The US now ranks 21st on the Economist's Democracy Index. The U.S. has been downgraded from a "full democracy" to a "flawed democracy".

An article in the Atlantic about BDS

The author found it necessary to affirm that he never was and is not now: "Personally, I do not boycott Israel".

The CIA drug connection is as old as the agency

"On the other side of the world, as a 1993 piece in the New York Times observes, "CIA ties to international drug trafficking date to the Korean War" in the early 1950s. The subsequent brutal US war on Vietnam and neighbouring countries saw the establishment of a heroin-refining lab in Laos - with heroin "soon being ferried out on the planes of the CIA's front airline, Air America". The article continues: "Nowhere, however, was the CIA more closely tied to drug traffic than it was in Pakistan during the Afghan War"."

Warmonger pundits

"How many war-boosters does the Washington Post need?"

NATO could be chasing the recipients of Nobel Peace Prizes

"In a controversial move, a conservative Norwegian party said Wednesday it is considering former NATO secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen as its choice to sit on the committee which awards the Nobel Peace Prize." "Rasmussen, 64, who is no relation to his successor and current PM Lars Løkke Rasmussen, headed the Western military alliance from 2009 to 2014 and notably as Danish premier was a keen supporter of the 2003 Iraq war."" (thanks Amir)

Is it even debatable that Israel is the most blatantly racist state in the world today?

"In the past, he [Netanyahu] has also said that the influx of Africans threatened Israel’s Jewish majority."

Can you imagine Voice of America calling for protests in Jordan or Saudi Arabia or Morocco or UAE or etc??

"An Iranian activist based in the United States, Masih Alinejad, who has a show on Voice of America’s Persian-language satellite channel, has called on women in Iran to observe “White Wednesdays,” wearing white and removing their veils and waving them overhead on sticks to protest the compulsory hijab and other religious restrictions imposed on women."

US stance on chemical weapon use in Syria

So this is the official US government position on chemical weapons in Syria: the US government does not mind if the Syrian government uses chlorine gas but objects to the use of sarin gas. And some accuse the US of lack of humanitarianism in its foreign policy?