Is the Syrian government now trying to arrest people for political dissent at the rate of one per day?

"The independent study finds that the Taliban, which two years ago was largely viewed as a defeated movement, has been able to infiltrate and control sizable parts of southern and southeastern Afghanistan, leading to widespread disillusionment among Afghans with the mission." (An Afghan I met in Amsterdam asked me why the world does not admit that the relatively best government in Afghanistan's history has been the communist, especially if you measure by the standard of women's rights.)

If there is no oil in Saudi Arabia, the world would realize that House of Saud and Al-Qa`idah are theologically (and practically) indistinguishable: "A Nigerian woman and a Pakistani man were executed in the Muslim holy city of Mecca today for drug trafficking, the Saudi interior ministry said. Ghulam Nawaz was beheaded by the sword after being found guilty of drug smuggling in the ultra-conservative kingdom, the ministry said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency. In a separate statement, the ministry said Tawa Ibrahim, the Nigerian, was beheaded for cocaine trafficking. Their executions bring to 18 the number announced by Saudi authorities since the start of the year, after a record 153 people were put to death in 2007. Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking can all carry the death penalty in the oil-rich Gulf Arab country, where executions are usually carried out in public."

"Europe and the United States increasingly tolerate autocrats posing as democrats out of pure self-interest, in countries such as Pakistan, Kenya, Nigeria and Russia, as human right abuses go on, Human Rights Watch charged Thursday."

"There is someone in Israel more exploited than the migrant workers or janitorial staff and it is Arab women."

Time's Macleod tries to absolve Islam of responsibility for terrorism so he blames it all on Habash: "You could call George Habash, a Palestinian leader who died in Amman on Saturday at the age of 82, the godfather of Middle East terrorism."Publish Post

"Orlev calls for MKs who attended Habash funeral to be put on trial"

Safieh responds to Lantos: "On Wednesday Safieh countered with a statement. "The PLO Mission rejects this unfortunate and insensitive characterization by Mr. Lantos, which is deemed as a direct insult to the Palestinian people as a whole," he said. Habash was "undeniably the second most important figure" in the history of the Palestinian national movement, Safieh said. "Honoring the memory of a national leader of the historical magnitude of Dr. George Habash does not constitute an endorsement of every ideological position or method used by Dr. Habash over the past 60 years of political struggle on behalf of the Palestine cause.""

Rashad Abu Shawir on Fakhri Karim's suit against Al-Adab.
PS Why did Abu Shawir bring up the Kurdish ethnicity of Karim as if it was some stigma? Why did you bring it up in the first place? I don't get it.

Who woke up Human Rights Watch? "Israel's blockade of Gaza denies 1.4 million Palestinians the food, fuel and medicine they need to survive, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday, calling it collective punishment and a violation of international law."

Israel's Supreme Court reminds me of Saudi Supreme Council of Fatwawawas, or Iran's Council of Experts: "Israel's Supreme Court Upholds Gaza Fuel, Electricity Cuts."

Overwhelmingly, Lebanese favor both sides making concessions to reach a compromise agreement. Let me translate: it will not happen, if this is what the people want.

Obama's political ambitions are directly proportional to his ostensible appreciation of Israel's quest for "peace." ""I'm confident," Obama said, "that Israel is ready and willing to make some of these concessions if they have the confidence that the Palestinians can enforce an agreement."" Ready and willing, o Senator from Illinois? Ready and willing? Is that how you spoke about Israel when you were a Chicago-based politician? Ready and willing, huh? And this is your honest and sincere position, I take it.

"Libya rescinds bid for UN condemnation of Israeli blockade on Gaza"
PS Let me guess: US Congress will suddenly find improvements in the human rights situation in Libya now.

Husam `Itani on Lebanon's "Winograd."

According to a poll by the Beirut Center, Nayla Mu`awwad is the most disliked Minister in Lebanon. 66 % of all Lebanese don't want to see her return as a minister. (We have to factor in the variable of sexism here as much as I dislike her).

Does mini-Hariri now writes the editorials of the Los Angeles Times? (thanks Yasmine)

I feel that we should overthrow an Arab regime--at least one--in memory of George Habash.

For those who don't care, I shall appear on AlJazeera (Arabic) on the show From Washington, next Monday at 11:00AM (2:00PM Eastern Time). Unfortunately, they did not invite me to speak about George Habash.

When Israel Honors Terrorism: "This week, the Knesset marked the 100th birthday of Lechi founder and commander Avraham Stern, known by his codename Ya'ir. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert spoke warmly of the former anti-British fighter, saying, "His way was not the general path taken by the Zionist movements, but we are all obligated to honor his greatness. He was like a match that ignites a large flame."" (thanks Asa)

I dedicate this news item to Lebanonese readers: "Singing in Damascus for the first time in more than 20 years, the Lebanese diva Fairuz, 73, electrified an audience that included Vice President Farouq al-Shara on Monday night as that Syrian capital celebrated its designation as Arab Capital of Culture 2008, Agence France-Presse reported. Fairuz, above, widely considered the greatest Arab singer after the death of Umm Kalthoum in 1975, is to give eight concerts, all sold out."

"Klein versus the capitalists"

Clovis Maqsud on the "Dean of the Resistance."

Ilyas `Atallah wrote a silly word in An-Nahar on Geroge Habash. He dared to compare George Habash to Rafiq Hariri.

Today, I was watching the LBC Newscast. They said that a human rights commission in Lebanon issued its annual report assessing the human rights situation in the country. I looked and the report was read by none other than Pierre `Atallah--a supporter of the Guardians of the Cedar (a fascist party in Lebanon which, among many similar slogans, advocated that "killing a Palestinian earn you entrance into heaven.")

"Saudi Arabia on Wednesday beheaded two men"

Human Rights Watch used to issue statements of condemnation and concern if Muhammad Mughrabi (a right-wing lawyer in Lebanon who had supported the fascist militia of Bashir Gemayyel in Lebanon, and who reportedly had supported the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982) had a stomach flu. They even gave him a human rights and right-wing advocacy award. Yet, I have not heard a single word from Human Rights Watch about Lebanese Army shooting at unarmed demonstrators. Amnesty International at least called for an investigation.

Bashshar Al-Asad and Rafiq Hariri have one thing in common: they both promised "a spring" to their people, and they both gave them stormy winters.

Do you notice that Israeli inquiry commissions always produce window dressings? Do you notice that they state the obvious, and always wind up absolving the government? And did the Arab media need to wait for an Israeli report to know that Israel, which used massive, reckless, and indiscriminate violence on the whole of Lebanon was humiliated and defeated in its military endeavor?

Remembering "the Arab Guevara"

How many times per week does AlJazeera plan to air this one-hour report on the assassination of Ysufu Siba`i? I have had it with that report. I mean, I did read Siba`i's trashy novels as a kid, but come on. There are other victims in the world, unless the intention is to whip up anti-Palestinian sentiments among Egyptian people.

I found somebody who is a worse speaker than the Saudi King. It is Hizbullah MP, Muhammad Haydar. Who is he and why is he such a fumbler? He also said that he was not angry with states, like Saudi Arabia and Jordan, which supported Israeli war on Lebanon.

"'Abused lives' of Jordan's maids" (thanks Laleh)

"US Congressman Tom Lantos harshly criticized Safia, calling it “stupidity” and arrogance to expect US leaders to express sorrow over the death of Habash. Safia’s desire to honor an anti-American terrorist leader is disturbing to those who wish to see true peace between Israel and the PA, he said." Any peace that is supported by Lantos is a recipe for perpetual war. Count me out of his peace process NOW. (thanks Ali)

So now that Rudy's campaign is down the drain, literally, does that mean that Daniel Pipes will not be serving as Secretary of Homeland Security? But then again, Hillary or McCain could easily put the people of Campus Watch in charge of the Justice Department.

On March 2nd, 1974, Al-Hadaf (the mouthpiece of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine), published the transcript of an interview conducted by an Italian leftist newspaper with the late George Habash. Here is what he said about the Rome bombing*: "And regarding every operation that our organization undertakes, we are responsible for the evaluation of the magnitude of gain and damage that an operation nets, on all levels--Palestinian, Arab, and international. But at the same time, we don't constitute the whole Palestinian people which is uprooted and dispersed, and we don't plan all external operations, and consequently we can't guarantee the health and safety of all operations that occur outside [of Palestine]....As for the recent Rome operation which does not match the revolutionary lines that we adhere to in our external military action, we inside the Executive Committee of the PLO, were staunchly in favor of forming a commission to investigate this operation." (p. 12).
* To show you the ignorance of the Western AND Arab media. That Rome attack is still referred to as one of the "operations" of the PFLP when it was perpetrated by a Fath defector, Abu Mahmud (Ahmad `Abdul-Ghafur) who, under direction from the Libyan regime, formed a small gang, known as Arab Nationalist Youth for the Liberation of Palestine. Later, Arafat sent hit men after Abu Mahmud and he was gunned down in September 1974, in Beirut. If you are in doubt, would you kindly check the facts first? Or even call me. No, don't you ever call me. Never mind.

New TV had this headline for its evening newscast: "Syria and Saudi Arabia [the governments] agree on penalizing democracy."

Electronic Ali asked me to write something about George Habash. Here, it is.

A previously unpublished interview with George Habash. (Read the important answer to the last question in the interview).

Cheap shot: Arab Neo-Conservatism in a word or two. Hazim Saghiyyah, the dean of former Arab leftists, in his regular column in a Jordanian newspaper, takes the opportunity of George Habash's death to....praise the Jordanian regime. (But don't get me wrong: Al-Ghadd is a serious newspaper, and has a special supplement (cover above) for the birthday of King PlayStation, under the headline "A Sun Illuminating the Future." There is a fundamentally juicy irony of bashing George Habash under this picture and this banner, no?)

`Umar Nashshabah on Juzu (thanks As`ad--not me)

For real literature, you should turn to An-Nahar newspaper (the right-wing, sectarian Christian, anti-Syrian (people), anti-Palestinian (people) propaganda sheet. Here, a poem/tribute to the Saudi ambassador in Lebanon.

It is all over Hariri media. Rafiq Hariri's eldest son, Baha', named his newly born son, Rafiq. As soon as he was born, the dept of the Lebanese Republic increased ten fold. The new Rafiq Hariri said that he will not rest until all Lebanese live below the poverty line.

Mrs. PlayStation, otherwise known as the queen of Jordan, courageously speaks on behalf of the forgotten victims. Here, she speaks about victims of traffic accidents. Who but the courageous Queen of Jordan can take on the powerful lobby of reckless drivers?

"Mr. Rezko, a Syrian-American..." Now why did the New York Times mention that? Would the New York Times editor identify him as "Jewish-American" or "Swedish-American" (if he were either)?

Nayif Hawatimah started to write a tribute to George Habash but wound up writing a tribute to himself. This man can't help himself.

"Saudi reformists are to send a new petition to King Abdullah calling for the release of fellow activists and an end to the harassment of bloggers and journalists, one of them told AFP. The petition also demands the promulgation of a law "guaranteeing people's rights and freedom... on the basis of Islamic tenets," said Mohammed bin Hudeijan al-Harbi, one of 12 Islamist reformists who drafted the document. The petition, which complains that the scope of freedom and "peaceful expression" in the ultra-conservative kingdom has narrowed over the past year, is timed to mark one year since nine reformists were arrested."

"the state of Israel canceled your performance in the country due to lack of budget and because several politicians in the Knesset had believed at the time that your performance might corrupt the minds of Israeli youth.”"

"The proposed amendment to Basic Law: Jerusalem, would enable the Jerusalem Municipal Council to ban gay parades and rallies for considerations of disturbance to public order, offending the public's sensitivities or for religious considerations."

"The UN-model ended with a gala dinner, attended by all delegations, Arab and foreign ambassadors and the Israeli commerce attaché to Doha, Roi Rosenblit."

"With regard to policy, Obama repeated his well-known stands. He believes in Israel "as a Jewish state"; he does not accept that the Palestinian right of return should be interpreted "in any literal way"; he opposes talks with Hamas until the organization recognizes Israel; and yes, he believes in a two-state solution but only after the Israelis "will have security" that the Palestinians will not only sign an agreement but implement it. Obama also said he would offer Iran "carrots and sticks."" (thanks Laleh)

"Nous ne pouvons rien faire". (thanks FLC)

"Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Tuesday that by insisting on control of the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt, Hamas has shown that it is not concerned with the needs of the Palestinian people." He added that nobody is more concerned with the needs of the Palestinian people than Israeli occupation soldiers who should control the ports. (thanks Ali who sent it to me with the heading "filthy collaborator")

My sister, Mirvat, sent me this: "(Ammo [Uncle] Naji told me this long time ago), my mother remembered (as it was in 1958 during the "revolution"[in Lebanon] and mom and dad were in Tyre..Naji refused to study medicine in USJ as his father (our gradfather wanted). So he escaped to Jordan to Habash who sent immediately a telex to my grandparents to tell them not to worry and that their son is in Amman and will be back in a month to study later in Egypt journalism as he was not meant to be a doctor. While Habash accompanied Naji in a tour in Al-Wahdat camp, he introduced him to Wadi Haddad. After two months, while Habash was visiting Haddad, he was surprised to see my uncle still with thim, so he asked him immediately: Why are you still there? You were supposed to be back as I promised your parents? So my uncle answered that Wadi Haddad convinced him to stop his studies to be an activist (mounadel) with the Palestinian resistance. So Habash summoned him and ordered him to go back home immediately asking him to continue his studies. And that what happened! In the late seventies, while my uncle was in UNESCO, I took him to see Habash the great leader of our time, so modest, so nice, so warm and so polite."

OK. I need somebody's advice. Is there a good reliable Arabic enabling program for Windows mobile? I have tried two already and both fucked up my phone. (Oh, and I need the advice NOW).

About interviewing Habash in his late days.

Comrade Faraj analyzes the "Cedar Revolution."

Saja kindly translated my last article from Al-Akhbar:
"Bush in the laps of Arab Kings
They prostrated themselves to his majesty one by one, king by king and sheikh by sheikh. The oil sheikhs flocked to greet the beloved American as if meeting a date, their hearts throbbing with desire to set their eyes on him. As the Arab poet Al-Akhtal Al-Saghir wrote “they lowered their heads to perform prayer rituals.” The praise him day and night and seek his favor [mercy]. Even the king who prays only [from atop] a gold-plated throne sped to the airport adoringly. He hurried to the plane’s stairs and could hardly believe his own eyes. Bush in his flesh and bone and arrogance blessed the kingdom’s soil. But alas, if only the president had brought along his steadfast army. Like America’s other “democratically elected” allies in the area, the “democratically elected” king showed unprecedented excitement. At the airport he almost jumped out of his skin. The very earth shook beneath his feet. Nobody is too noble before his majesty.
We don’t know what they talked about, though it’s conceivable that Arab oil princes chanted “we sacrifice our lives and blood for you, Bush” (by the way, can you imagine a more hideous chant?) The dialogue between the two seemed warm. Did the custodian of the royal family request the honor of shining the president’s shoes? Did he encourage him to wage more wars? Did he ask him to issue [fatwas] for publication in Arab media?

Women became infertile after Bush’s birth, they told him. What an honor it was for Arab kings and princes to receive a visit from their peerless master. He came to bestow his greetings and issue his orders. “Normalize with Israel, lower oil princes and appear to be afraid of Iran,” he commanded. The orders were clear and direct. Those kings, princes and sheikhs were told “Iraq poses a danger to you” so they answered in unison “Iraq poses a danger to us” (we also have sheikhs in Lebanon thanks to the family of that “who thinks money guarantees immortality.” Today they are told “Iran poses a danger to you,” so they respond in unison “Iran poses a threat to us” and they add on their own initiative that Israel, with its arsenal of weapons of mass destruction, brings peace and harmony.

Saudi media were ecstatic. They cheered, rejoiced and celebrated. Al-Arabiyya channel anchor Najwa Qasim, who graduated from the Hariri media school of thought, could hardly keep herself together. She repeated “Air Force One” in English more than once and invited viewers (only male viewers because they think of females as “pedunda”) to await the holy plane’s engines to turn off. It was a plane that, unlike any other place, descended from heaven. A flight of angels carried the plane to the kingdom’s soil, which became even holier and loftier when their lord set foot on it. If they could, Arab princes and kings would have toured Bush on a magic carpet and fed him manna and honey. It was a scene like we’d never seen before, with Arab kings and princes appearing as small as we’ve always known them to be. They rejoiced, for their worshipped lord came to them during the last days of his presidency to personally announce his intent to sell them weapons. They sprinkled rice, saphron and herbs on his head. They did even more to honor him; they laid down torn-off body parts of Palestinian, Lebanese and Iraqi children.

This is the hand of a child from Gaza; there is the hand of a child from Qana; there is a head of a child who was killed in Jenin Refugee Camp; and the charred corpse of an Iraqi child is right there. The esteemed guest walked over the body parts proudly as the host cackled for doing the impossible to please him. The sons of Zayid (the United Arab Emirates’ late sheikh) took him to a tent and showed him their falcons (Zayid’s sons descend from the Shakhbuti dynasty. Yasin Al-Hafith insisted on calling the Saudi era the Shakhbuti era to indicate its extreme reactionism, though Hazim Saghieh cites Hafith to garner support for Hariri and Saudi Arabia the same way another ex-leftist relied on Karl Marx to garner support for Amin Al-Jamil and Samir Ja’ja’. Then again, he relies on any accessible sources including Yuhanna Fam Al-Thahab (in English he is known as John Chrysostom) for whom he wrote religious hymns in Al-Safir Newspaper without telling readers that this Yuhanna had written the worst diatribes against Jews to the extent that Nazis found him useful. However, the Arab Right accepts western anti-Semitism at the same time it protests eastern anti-Zionism.) Zayid’s sons surrounded Bush like bodyguards. They reinforced stereotypes about Arabs and projected that they actually live in tents. (The official American September 11 report stated that one of those UAE princes had hunted with Bin Laden in the nineties).

Bush praised the Dubai experiment, and why wouldn’t he? Dubai is a strict class, ethnic, racial and religious hierarchy that opens side its arms and legs to multi-national corporations. Muhammad Bin Rashid’s book, which Daniel Pipes praised because he doesn’t mention Palestine, illustrates Dubai’s scheme; savage capitalism, service and sex tourism, a model Rafiq Al-Hariri tried to implement in Lebanon. Dubai’s model, not democracy, is predominant especially after discovering that democracy couldn’t secure a position for the likes of Salam Fayyad, who won about 1% in the recent legislative elections and desires to lead Palestine along with Dahlan, Ayad Allawi and Ahmad Chalabi. The Dubai model is the young Arab generation’s opium. One must abandon the garb of revolution, and even mere sympathy with Palestinians, in order to gain entrance to Dubai’s artificial paradise.

Claimants of piety and religiosity, who besides yourselves are you trying to fool? Your precious gifts are closer to your hearts than your prayer times, as Hariri in his Maqamat said, then you imposed on us the most stringent, conservative, intolerant and sexist creed. You are the ones who opposed enlightenment, open-mindedness, socialism, and class and gender equality among people. You imposed on us a form of fundamentalism that hardly existed or was otherwise on its way to oblivion. You trained, funded and armed Abdul Nasser’s and Communism’s enemies. You gave rise to Bin Laden and today you disagree with him only on foreign policy. Distributors of religious supremacy, don’t you realize that you’re losing legitimacy? What are you without your riches and your oil? Do you actually believe the homages recited about you? Your Mecca is in the west’s nightclubs, not in the Arabian Peninsula.

What have you done to us, oil kings and princes, what have you done to us? Like Egypt is the gift of the Nile, you are the gift of the colonization. By figs and olives, not a single revolution has raged in the Third World without you fighting it both financially and by secretly collaborating with the western colonizers everywhere from Dhofar to Palestine to Lebanon to Polisario to Yemen. You are a burden to your people’s causes and you never cared about their opinions in the first place. Not a single liberation movement contacted you without becoming polluted. Today we read American foreign policy documents and learn the extent of your influence on Fatah on the United States’ behalf, which in turn influenced you on Israel’s behalf.

How you have harmed the Arabs’ image in the west due to your never-ending quest for pleasure. The West’ nightclubs and brothels know you more than your own sand dunes do. You’ve exploited your own resources and holy sites for colonialism and you’ve made oil a toy in westerners’ hands, enriching them and impoverishing us. You don’t even control your own dates.

You buy weapons for the sole purpose of enriching the west’s treasuries. When foreign powers threaten your thrones you don’t fire a single bullet. Instead, you implore like children self-interested western governments to rescue you. When Sarkozy visits you he doesn’t represent the values of the French Revolution, rather he represents oil companies and latent colonial nostalgia. You’re powerful and tyrannical before your brutalized people but western rulers send goosebumps down your spines. You dance for them with your swords. The king of Bahrain presented the precious ruler who came from overseas with a gold-plates sword.

Arab oil princes and kings, may your oil deplete, may our oil deplete. You’ve used it only to serve old and new colonizers; to pursue pleasures that all religions forbid, and you even prohibit for your people permitted ones while you innovate means of pleasure known only in your bedrooms. You prohibit love between people but allow yourselves love for objects and animals. Leave us alone. Free your slaves and concubines and return to the desert with your camels. You’ve learned nothing from nomadic life besides shortcomings and sexism. Leave us and return to ages that are better equipped to suit your moods, mentality and fanaticism. When your oil vanishes you’ll hear, and the Arab public will be thrilled to hear, the true opinions of your influence in Lebanese politics and journalism. Only then will liberal Wahhabi Arabs alert Arab press to human rights abuses in the kingdoms of oppression. Only then will you abhor public beheadings and stoning of lovers from both sexes. Only then will they confront you and notice that your monarchies cannot be reconciled with notions of modernity. Leave us alone and let your people create their own path without you and your agency of colonialism that appointed you and kept you in power in spite of your people’s will. You’ve polluted our natural, political and moral environments. Go back to the desert and let us be because we can’t take you anymore. Haven’t you oppressed your people enough? Do you never get enough of oppressing your citizens and all Arab citizens, you allies of all dictators in the world? Idi Amin and Jafar Al-Nemeiri could find no other safe haven besides you, allies of Mobutu and Franco.

Oil kings and princes, if I could only tell you what Arabs and westerns alike say about you. Oh if I could only record the east’s and west’s words about you. When your oil disappears you’ll realize how the world despises you. You’re symbols of reactionary fanaticism and polygamy. You’re as far as possible from “the light of reason” as Ibn Al-Arabi termed it. You don’t exert influence on a country without corrupting it with your money and rendering it stricter and more authoritarian and oppressive. You practice repression and religious and sectarian exclusion while you preach coexistence to Lebanon. You produce nothing but oil and Bin Baz’s religious decrees. If the average Arab could access you, you would hear from him (and especially from her) the depth of the tragedy you’ve inflicted on us. You’ve been the best ally for Arabs’ and Muslims’ enemies, and your oil gave you the opportunity to speak for Arabs and Muslims. We’ve been in a prolonged coma because of your oil riches and totalitarianism and you’ve been in a prolonged coma because you have no connection to reality. If your oil were to disappear you’d know how people and even some religious scholars perceive Bin Baz’s religion decrees on photography, the sun’s orbit and prayer in outer space. If oil were to disappear anytime soon, revolutions and rebellions would probably break out at oil wells, and the Palestinian revolution would cleanse itself from your filth.

What can we say about you? In any case, we won’t bid you farewell when you leave. The only ones who will miss you are those who received your and Saddam’s gifts (before he withheld them). You’re a group that breaches its promises, and backs out when it is supposed to advance (paraphrasing the classical Arab poet Al-Muhalhal). We won’t miss your oil, and your thrones and palaces will remain only in your memories. You dragged the Egyptian army in the Yemeni War into attrition and you supported right-wing movements around the world for the love of Ronald Reagan. Arab kings and princes, get away from us; you’ve given us nothing but syphilis, coughing and pus. If the classical Al-Hutai’ah were still alive, he would’ve known how to handle you. The Arabian Peninsula will reclaim its glimmer after you’re gone. Before you ruled it, Mecca was a city for dialogue; intellectual, philosophical and legal discourse; poetry and love, and you made it a place for fanaticism, intolerance and bigotry. Arab kings and princes, give the Arabian Peninsula back to the Arabs and release your citizens from bondage. The Empty Quarter Desert beckons you."

I am so glad that I was not there. I would not want to see George Habash like this. That is not he image that I retain of him. I will remember him fiery and angry and eloquent. I stayed until 4 AM last night to watch live coverage of his funeral. It was a mistake. It was too painful for me. This man opened my eyes on Palestine at an early age, and his example made me detest `Arafat at the age of 12. And what was Yasir `Abd-Rabbuh doing at the funeral? And why was he not pelted with eggs--very rotten eggs?

A word about the bloodshed in Lebanon. First, the opposition (Hizbullah, `Awn, Amal and the rest) has no credibility WHATSOEVER on issues of social justice. Hizbullah was silent during the long Hariri years, and did not speak in protest when Hariri was looting the country and deepening its poverty. When I would ask Hizbullah leaders on issues of social justice during those years, they would say that they are not focusing on that. Amal: has no credibility whatsoever: it was Amal that participated in the looting of the state during those years, and in imposing that tool of Nabih Birri at the helm of the labor unions. Ghassan Ghusn was imposed in order to abort a rising labor union in the 1990s--and told him that when I saw him at the office of the Minister of Labor back in 2006 when he said that they are planning to act. I reminded him that he has been asleep for years: the Syrian regime (and its tools) decided to help Hariri by undermining a promising, non-sectarian movement headed by Ilyas Abu Rizq. `Awn's economic program, as analyzed by the late Joseph Samahah at the time, is to the right of Hariri. Secondly, Hizbullah and their allies are lying: they know who shot at the demonstrators and they are dancing around the issue and making insinuations. It was not Ja`ja` (or Ga`ga` in Egyptian accent) but the Lebanese Army who killed the demonstrators. Thirdly, the Lebanese Army, as was reported by Riyad Qubaysi of New TV at the time although the station later played it down, acted thuggishly and recklessly. And this behavior should be blamed on the Army and on the government AND the opposition in Lebanon: they all watched and cheered when the Army was destroying Nahr Al-Barid and recklessly and ruthlessly killing civilians. Fourthly, the Hariri government in Lebanon is taking the country into civil war: you have to give it them and to their sponsors in Saudi Arabia: they have succeeded in their campaigns of sectarian agitation and mobilization: read it daily in Hariri rag, Al-Mustaqbal. Fifthly, my sources in Lebanon tell me that Gen. Michel Sulayman is not trusted by opposition anymore because he was caught playing games, but if he is elected president he should know that he was not elected by the Lebanese people but by the Arab foreign ministers, US, and France. Sixthly, if the Lebanese Army is deployed, it will not fight as one, but will do what it has always done--fight along sectarian lines. This is what happened I think, as I watched the scenes on Sunday on New TV. Seventhly, let me tell the people in the opposition in Lebanon: issues of social justice are real and genuine issues: they are the stuff of daily and consistent advocacy and not for seasonal exploitation for pure political exploitation in order to get that silly "blocking one-third" in the cabinet. Let me also say that thus far only comrade Khalid Saghiyyah and Fida' `Itani of Al-Akhbar (read this tough piece here) have been critical of Michel Sulayman. Finally, Habash is dead and I am not in the mood for those ugly sectarian squabbles in Lebanon.

Lately, I don't have the interest to drive all the way to San Francisco to do a press interview. Today, they tempted me by saying that Hitchens would be on the other side (I had debated him before for an hour on an NPR radio station in SF). So I drove only to be interviewed alone. I think I kicked my own ass. Afterwards, I was not even on speaking terms with myself.

For those who care, I shall appear live on AlJazeera (English) TV tonight (7:00PM Pacific Time and 10:00PM Eastern Time) to comment on Bush's State of the Union. The other guest is Christopher Hitchens.

It was confirmed to me that Hamas was the only Palestinian organization that did not send a representative to Habash's funeral in Amman. They said that all their representatives were busy memorizing Saudi fatwawawas and receiving orders from Iran.
PS Mish`al himself was busy lying to Prince Salman's mouthpiece, Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat, and denying that the Palestinians were angry with the Egyptian regime.

So the Saudi Muftititi (seen above) was speaking on some Fatwawawa TV station. He said that he is opposed to the idea that women can stay at a hotel without a male guardian.

Look at this disgusting article about "sexual deviance" among workers from Bangladesh in Saudi Arabia. And read the racist comments that some readers in Saudi Arabia wrote under the story.

Nostalgia and disillusionment. I had to remind myself of the grave political mistakes of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. I dug out my issues of Al-Hadaf magazine from the 1970s. In terms of political propaganda, it was really good and effective, and it makes you politically nostalgic to a previous era where people had hope, and where religion and sectarianism were marginal. But I also saw what disturbed me: two pages in each issues contained paid political propaganda from North Korea. And one of the senior editors of the magazine, `Adnan Badr, would write the most propgandistic article on the Iraqi regime: the front was getting money at the time from the Iraqi regime. A few months ago, I spoke to a guy who knew me from my college days at the American University of Beirut. I sounded politically nostalgic to that era: he reminded me that I was politically very disillusioned and bitter in those days. I said that our politically disillusionment is so deep these days, that I I am nostalgic to my past politically disillusionment. When I saw comrade Fawwaz Trabulsi in Berlin, I asked him--and he is somebody who has been around struggle since the early 1960s: was it ever as bad as it is these days? Never, he answered. But then again: you see the resolve and determination of the Palestinian people, and you can't but be politically optimistic about the future. Zionism is verily doomed.

"Vancouver is 'best place to live'". (thanks Ema) (My city of Modesto, California is often ranked the worst place to live in the US).

Khalid Mish`al, the religio-political demagogue who leads Hamas, and who manages to pledge allegiance to both Iran and Saudi Arabia (both countries did not lift a finger to help the Palestinians in Gaza) arrived in Saudi Arabia. He said that he wanted to check if the Saudi King shoe's needed shining.

George Habash is dead. In other news, Muhammad Dahlan is an excellent health.

"Ending the stranglehold on Gaza" (thanks Naseer)

Lamis Andooni on George Habash.

`Aziz Sidqi is dead. The man behind Egyptian industrialization who was forced to watch the massive privatization of Sadat and Mubakar.

Any Arab, or any supporter of Palestinian struggle, who did not get to watch Habash give one of his long speeches at `Abdun-Nasser's Hall at Arab University of Beirut, has missed something.

When the Movement of Arab Nationalists was founded in the early 1950s, Kuwaiti physician, Ahmad Al-Khatib, was one of the founders. After graduation, George Habash and Wadi` Haddad started a clinic for the poor refugees in Amman. Al-Khatib had a salary of 100 Dinars in Kuwait: he would keep 10 dinars for himself, and send 90 Dinars to Habash and Haddad. Imagine. Those were the days, my friends...

I have not been keen on doing interviews as of late but I may go on Aljazeera English tonight to go against... Christopher Hitchens regarding Bush's State of the Union. I shall let you know once it is confirmed.

I am still in deep mourning over George Habash's passing to write on anything else including on the rising sectarian tensions in the Batata homeland, and the recent eruptions. I noticed that Jalal Talbani (Iraq's puppet president) sent a representative to Habash's funeral in Amman. For those who don't know, Talbani was a big supporter and fan of Habash, and in the late 60s and early 70s did work for none other than Wadi` Haddad (by work, I mean carrying explosives and