So this guy, who for years has been referring to Jews AND Christians in the most hateful and vulgar terms, is going to preside over a Wahhabi conference on inter-faith dialogue. An Israeli newspaper reported that he has contacted an Israeli organization to send official religious representatives. It is possible that he will invite Al-Qa`idah to send representatives too. By this guy's definition, 99% of the people of the world (including the majority of Muslims) are infidels. He also announced the name of the official beverage of the conference: Kool-aid.

Take it easy. They are only "liberating" the hell out of you. (thanks As`ad--not me). (Al-Balad newspaper).

Al-Akhbar reports that the demonstration against the appointment (by whom?) of Carlos Ghosn in the AUB's Board of Trustees attracted only tens of students. And the AUB's Dean of Students (who is doing his best to muzzle any protests) is a well-known Phalangist who supported Amin Gemayyel during the May 17 days. I was a student then but I remember.

The times are changing. The daughter of Jamal `Abdun-Nasir was ordered by an Egyptian (puppet) court to pay a settlement to the daughter of Anwar As-Sadat. And both daughters were ordered by the same court to prostrate before the son of Husni Mubarak. As my father used to say in Egyptian accent (that he had acquired during his law studies there):
ودي تيجي؟

The mouthpiece of Khalid Bin Sultan promotes...Khalid Bin Sultan as a "water sociologist." Oh, yeah. Does that make his brother, Prince Bandar Bin Bribe, a potato anthropologist?

Hazim Saghiyyah only criticizes the Syrian and the Libyan governments. But the fact that those two regimes are the only ones that the Saudi government opposes is a mere coincidence, of course. Of course. It could be that the rest of the Arab regimes follow the secular and liberal models that Saghiyyah esposes. Of course, both governments of Syria and Libya deserve heavy criticisms (and overthrow) as do ALL other Middle East governments. Now, if the Saudi government reconciles with the those two governments, Saghiyyah will face a dilemma. Not really.

Guess who was mediating in the conflict between the sectarian militias of Badr and Mahdi? None other than the "secular-liberal"--that was how the US press referred to Ahmad Chalabi prior to the US invasion--Ahmad Chalabi. He was negotiating on behalf of his ally, Muqtada As-Sadr.

An adviser (Nimr Hammad, I think if I heard his name correctly while in the shower) to Abu Mazen told AlArabiya that Bush is exerting great effort to solve the Palestinian problem. Oh, yeah. Wait until his last week in office: he will liberate Palestine for you too.

"This incident is just another example of the cavalier way in which the US military treats non-American lives. We've witnessed this over and over again in Afghanistan and Iraq where families have been incinerated for driving too close to US Army vehicles, entire villages were bombed under suspicion they were harbouring "terrorists" and wedding parties wiped out all because of celebratory gunfire." (thanks Haisam)

Habib Yunis responds to my critique of his obituary of May Murr.

"A total of 76 percent of Israeli Jews give some degree of support to transferring Israeli Arabs to a future Palestinian state, a poll commissioned by the Knesset Channel revealed, Monday." (thanks Ali)

"The last days of Mubarak" by `Abdul-Halim Qandil (who was beaten up by Mubarak goons a few years ago) (thanks Kamal)

Who is worse than Al-Qa`idah, and worse than who is worse than Al-Qa`idah? Iraqi puppet prime minister (former Da`wah leader, and the party specialized in car bombings), Nuri Al-Maliki (loyal to both Iran and US) said that he is going after Al-Mahdi militia because they are worse than Al-Qa`idah. But after the failure of his offensive, he said yesterday that his offensive is not necessarily targeting Al-Mahdi militia? So who is he targeting them??? "The failure of Mr Maliki to make good his threat so far to eliminate the Mehdi Army and growing signs of dissent in army units is damaging his authority, "It is possible that Muqtada and the Mehdi Army will emerge from this crisis stronger than they were before," warned one Iraqi politician who did not want his name published."

""There are few foreigners who have had as much impact as Ahmad Chalabi has had on U.S. government policy and perhaps even on U.S. history. And none except Chalabi have done it fully funded by the U.S. taxpayer."" I detest the man but I am amused when they now try to blame all the mistakes and debacles of US foreign policies and wars on this one man.

"But in the final months of the Bush presidency, Rice isn't pursuing only Middle East peace. There is a North Korean nuclear deal to complete. There is a missile defense pact with Russia to negotiate. There is a civil nuclear deal with India to save. And, of course, there are wars in Iraq and Afghanistan." Make no mistake about it. She will solve all those problems in no time. I have no doubt whatsoever. The only thing that disturbed me is that they did not mention Sanyurah or mini-Hariri here. That can only mean one thing: Sanyurah will go boo hoo hoo on me. Damn.

...off to DC, and then to Pomona College until Sunday.

The New York Times gets it: Zionism fuels Palestine crackdown.

Very casually the New York Times wrote this caption under this picture: "An Israeli soldier throwing noise grenades on Sunday at Palestinian demonstrators during a protest near Nablus, West Bank."

Hariri Big Brother. The Hariri militia came to a woman's house in Hamra and forced to fill in the form. She refused. They came the next day with an order from the security forces that they control. (Notice the question about whether her house overlooks the house of "the ra'is"--a reference to the dead Hariri guy). (thanks Z.)

Unlike other leftists and liberals at the time (like Adonis, Foucault, and Anwar Abdul-Malak), I never harbored any sympathy for the Islamic Revolution in Iran: "In February 1983 Maryam, who was then 70, and her husband were imprisoned, and Kianouri was accused of spying for the Soviet Union. That April the party was banned and many of its members were executed. Maryam was kept in solitary confinement and fell ill. The severity of her illness eventually led to her release to house arrest. She rented a house with her daughter Afsaneh and lived on her German pension. A year later, her husband was allowed to join them, on the understanding that he would never speak to the media. In an open letter to Khomeini, Kianouri recorded a horrific catalogue of maltreatment and tortures meted out to him and his wife during their imprisonment. His death in 1990 was a sad blow to Maryam, whose health deteriorated."

A Horror Unto the Nations: ""These are women who may be defined as homeless," explains Yifat Ben-David, the director of the sexual-health clinic operating on Levinsky Street. "They sleep in yards and on the street, are undernourished and don't have anything, sometimes even the clothes on their backs are torn, they are rejected by their families and by society, lonely and exposed to the extreme dangers present on the street: they are raped frequently, beaten by clients, pimps and drug dealers and by users."

"By contrast, neither Senator Joe Lieberman...nor Senator John McCain have been required so publicly and so repeatedly to repudiate extremist and racist comments by Israeli leaders or some well-known radical Christian leaders supporting the Republican party. Foxman, whose organization devotes enormous resources to burnishing Israel's image, has rarely spoken out about the escalating anti-Arab racism and incitement to violence by prominent Israeli politicians and rabbis. That is no surprise. African Americans, Arab Americans and Muslims all share some things in common: individuals are held collectively responsible for the words and actions of others in their community whether they had anything to do with them or not. And the price of admission to the political mainstream is to abandon any foreign policy goals that diverge from those of the pro-Israel, anti-Palestinian lobby."

The American University of Beirut has a new member of the Board of Trustees: "Carlos Ghosn, the president of the French-Japanese car manufacturer Renault Nissan, is expected to visit Israel on January 21, and take part in the inauguration event of the Israeli electric car enterprise. Members are now selected in Israel. There are protests on the AUB campus but I doubt that the spoiled brats of Beirut will mount a serious challenge. (thanks Daniel)

"The Supreme Council was the power behind the Shiite governorates in the south and was steadily expanding its influence over the Iraqi police. It was clearly positioning itself to counter Mr. Sadr’s popular support and preparing for the provincial elections scheduled for Oct. 1. American military and civilian officials were candid in telling me that the governors and other local officials installed by the central government in Basra and elsewhere in southern Iraq had no popular base. If open local and provincial elections were held, they said, Dawa and the Islamic Supreme Council were likely to be routed because they were seen as having failed to bring development and government services."

"Egypt's arrests of hundreds of opposition Islamists, including would-be candidates in local council elections due on April 8, amount to a "shameless bid" to fix the vote, Human Rights Watch said on Sunday."

"Clashes have been breaking out among Egyptians waiting in long lines for subsidized bread and the president has ordered the army to start baking more to contain a political crisis." Of course, the Egyptian army should be baking bread. Hell. The Egyptian army which needs Israeli permission to deploy or to mobilize or to move, should be baking bread and cookies, and making mulukhiyyah for the people of Egypt. What else do they do, besides oppressing the Egyptian people and keeping the Mubarak dynasty in power.

I know that I mock the puppets of US and Israel among Arab rulers and officials. But I have to admit this: many of them even appear full of dignity and pride. Look at the Palestinian puppet prime minister, Salam Fayyad, for example. Does he not look like somebody brimming with dignity and pride?

Guess which Arab delegation made it to the front page of the Hariri daily rag?

"“This plan will enhance the human capital, will broaden the basis of knowledge and experience in the various fields of economy, and will stimulate Israel’s economic activity,” Finance Minister Roni Bar-On said in unveiling the new program."

"In April 2002, while Israel butchered Palestinian refugees at Jenin in the West Bank, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney was a featured speaker at a belligerent "National Solidarity Rally for Israel." In 2006, leadership of the American Federation of Teachers embraced Israel's war on Lebanon" (thanks Nevin)

"Others, like former FBI agent John Paige, who had regular contact with Qatanani as the FBI's supervisory special agent in West Paterson, and Gov. Jon S. Corzine, who spoke at Qatanani's mosque in 2006, have declined to comment."

This is a classic one: "a former resident of Beirut". I just blogged about this. How the required qualifications for Middle East analysis and policy making in the US are now confined to Zionist fanaticism. That is all what you need. If you are a Zionist fanatic, like say Elliott Abrams, you can even run Middle East policy at the National Security Council. So the New York Times wanted somebody to review a book on Lebanon (by the lousy Sandra Mackey), and they asked a blogger who, just happens to be, a Zionist fanatic. The blogger never studied the Middle East, does not know any Arabic, and has not lived in any ME country, but the New York Times found a way to explain his Middle East qualifications: "He is a former resident of Beirut." So the man visited Beirut, is that not enough? So I visit China will I be asked to review books on Chinese history for the New York Times? Yes, I will, if I visit China and report that the Chinese people love Israel, and they hate Israel's enemies (which is what the blogger does on his visits to Lebanon).
PS Laleh found why the blogger was chosen to review a book on Lebanon in NYT, in addition to the qualification that stemmed from his visits to Lebanon, he said this about the Israeli war on Lebanon: "I sympathize one hundred percent with what Israel is trying to do here."

""For the first time in history we are no longer at the top: the Muslims have overtaken us," Formenti told Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano in an interview, saying the data referred to 2006."

"Mr. Maliki has staked his reputation on the success of the Basra assault, fulfilling a longstanding American desire for him to boldly take on militias." We need a team to deconstruct the language of the New York Times on daily basis. Take this lousy sentence. Staked his reputation? Where? In Iraq or in Washington, DC? Certainly not in Iraq as the failed assault has been unpopular. Yesterday, the Maliki sectarian (pro-US, pro-Iran) puppet government said that Mahdi sectarian militia is worse than Al-Qa`idah, and today the same government praised the stance of Mahdi militia. Then the sentence speaks about "longstanding American desire for him.." Desire? Are you kidding me? US makes its desire known? How do you define desire? Like I desire that you bow down to me? I desire that you go and fetch me a beverage. I desire that you shine my shoes, o puppet prime minister of Iraq. And then it talks about "taking on" militias. Oh, no: there are militias and there are militias. The US wants him to take on the Mahdi militia but not the sectarian militias of Badr and Da`wah, or the US funded sectarian militias of the thugs of the tribal chiefs.

The Clinton administration inaugurated this principle: that the only required qualification for Middle East analysis and policy making is fanatical Zionism. This article about Iraq cites two "experts": Dennis Ross and Aaron Miller, neither of whom is a trained expert in the Middle East, and both who worked on Arab-Israeli issues are asked to analyze the situation in Basra. They know about Basra and Iraq as much as I know about potato science.

"But the Pentagon researchers found no documents that referred to a plan to kill Bush. The absence was conspicuous because researchers, aware of its potential significance, were looking for such evidence. "It was surprising," said one source familiar with the preparation of the report (who under Pentagon ground rules was not permitted to speak on the record). Given how much the Iraqis did document, "you would have thought there would have been some veiled reference to something about [the plot]."" (thanks May)

Al-Arabiya is reporting with great fanfare (this word is from an Arabic word, by the way) and neon lights that Israel plans to remove 50 checkpoints. We used to speak about the liberation of Palestine, and Wahhabi media now celebrate the removal of 50 checkpoints.

Ethiopia is bombing the shit out of Somalia. Somebody should compile a list of countries that were bombed by the US or its allies during the two terms of the Bush administration.

Al-Arabiya TV yesterday reported that Rice will criticize Israel during this trip. Yes, the US administration did not dare criticize Israel in 7 years, and will do so in the last months of the administration.

Conspiracy? What conspiracy? ""And we try to convince the people about the US, about British. They came here to give you peace."" (thanks Laleh)

Ash-Shraq Al-Awsat, the mouthpiece of Prince Salman, noted that Bashshar Al-Asad did not preface his speech to the Arab summit with "In the name of God, the merciful, the compassionate."
Even the liberal pretender, the Wahhabi Saudi advocate who edits the mouthpiece, complained about that. In Saudi Arabia, it is a required refrain, you must understand. It is uttered even before beheading a victim, or stoning lovers.

To protest the attempt (by the Lebanese security services to please Iran and its supporters in Lebanon) to ban the film in Lebanon--it has since been unbanned, Persepolis, Al-Akhbar published illustration from Persepolis.
(Al-Akbar was the only paper to do so in Lebanon. Yet, Hariri propagandists and hoodlums continue to wrongly associate the newspaper with Iran. I defy you to look at all the issues of last year to try to find one article in Al-Akhbar that praises Iran. I have criticized Khumanyni's Islamic Revolution, the Iranian president, Iranian policies, and the spiritual guide of Iran in Al-Akhbar. And I also defy you to look at the Hariri rag issues from the same year and try to find ONE issue in the same period that does NOT contain praise for Saudi Arabia. Start the exercise NOW).

The Muslim World League (which was founded by Saudi Arabia (with US support) to spread fanatical religious thought and practices against Nasserism and communism during the Cold War) has spoken: it condemned Danish cartoons and the Dutch film. It does not speak about the oppression of Muslims by their own governments, of by foreign occupiers.

My response to the obituary of May Murr by Habib Yunis in Al-Akhbar.

Did you see Muqtada As-Sadr on AlJazeera after two years of absence from the media? He is very changed, in appearance and in personality. As if he underwent a PR course. He never used to smile in interviews: in fact, he used to scold and sneer at journalists. In today's interview: he did not stop smiling, and he seemed so far more articulate. He used to insert the expression "if the expression is correct" (Idha Sahha At-Ta`bir) in every sentence, and he rarely used it today. He also said that he loves Sunnis: you would believe him if his sectarian militia has not been killing Sunnis. He is at once critical of Iran, and supportive of Iran: but he criticizes Iran more than say, the Sadr militia and the Da`wah militias in power. Yet, only As-Sadr is described as "pro-Iranian" in the US media but not the sectarian militias of Badr and Da`warh. Also, what happened to Da`wah's past experience of car bombing? Are they still using that method against their enemies in Iraq? But I must confess that I was surprised to see how much he has worked on himself, or how much somebody has been working on him--at least in matters of PR and public speaking. The man was pretty lousy. He predicted that Iraqi municipal puppet elections will not take place. And do you notice that Iraqi puppet elections are always planned very close to US elections? Was that timing intended as a boost of McCain to show the easily impressionable US public (on matters of foreign affairs) that there is a political process in Iraq, and that democracy is flourishing?

Michael Husayn Young cites in a recent article Paul Berman citing Camus. I don't know about you, but does that not certifiably promote Michael Young to the status of an intellectual? And let us not forget the man's contribution to the literature on offshoots.

Return? Today, in his speech, Bashshar Al-Asad talked about "the return" (`awdat) of occupied lands and not tahrir (liberation). I have never heard of a liberation movement talks about the "return of occupied lands". As if occupied lands just return on their own, or they fall from the sky. But then again: in the era of Bush, they are afraid of using the word liberation. Arabs need to liberate not only their occupied lands, but also their own countries from those lousy regimes.

I actually watched the speech of Mu`ammar Al-Qadhdhafi. I am bitterly disappointed how much New TV promotes that mentally disturbed man: the promotion of him by New TV is only increasing. The fact that New TV has been signing agreements (to train and advise the launching of new Libyan TV stations) with the Libyan government and ruling family is irrelevant of course. New TV declared Qadhdhafi "the star of the summit." Arab summits have no stars, and certainly Qadhdhafi is less of a star than a potato. I know that Western governments often dismiss leaders they don't like as "crazy," but in the case of Qadhdhafi it really applies. And Qadhdhafi's pontifications are now more jarring than ever: he wants us to ignore his radical foreign policy shifts. Today, he gave a speech that he used to give when he used to espouse a rejectionist foreign policy. It is cute that the US administration lets him get away with a fiery speech here and there provided that he continues in his subservience to US political, economic, and military interests. Personally, I can't, as a teacher on a college campus in the US, forgive this dictator--assuming I want or can forgive him for his crimes--for the downing the of a plane that was carrying mostly college students from Syracuse University. Shame on the families of the victims who accepted to forget their loved ones in return for sums of Libyan cash.

US-approved Wahhabi moderation: "In places as different as Saudi Arabia, they have been looking for moderate voices among the imams."

Dubai, trying to show how environmentally enlightened it is, today turned off its lights for an hour. The ruling family, however, stressed that all brothels in Dubai will stay well-lighted.

"U.S. jets widened the bombing of Basra on Saturday, dropping two precision-guided bombs on a suspected militia stronghold north of the city hours after strafing a house and reportedly killing eight civilians, officials said."

Learning from MEMRI. Just as MEMRI makes all the Arab Zionists it likes "prominent" and "celebrated", Haaretz is doing the same: "Magdi Allam, the most famous Muslim in Italy, and one of the leading and most courageous intellectuals in Europe today." I am sure people will go: Magdi who? (thanks Mick)

"As protests spread across Iraq, US aircraft also attacked Sadr City in eastern Baghdad, killing at least five civilians, according to Iraqi police and hospitals. "There have been engagements going on in and around Sadr City. We've engaged the enemy with artillery, we've engaged the enemy with aircraft, we've engaged the enemy with direct fire," Major Mark Cheadle, a US military spokesman in Baghdad, said later."

"According to a Unesco publication, the creation of the Sharjah Quranic Garden has been supervised by Shaikh Abdul Nasser Abul Basar, dean of the faculty of Sharia and Islamic studies at University of Sharjah. The garden will host samples of regional flora mentioned in the Quran and medicinal plants, which have been used in the Islamic traditions." (thanks Aida)

Look how innocent the US is: "Maliki decided to launch the offensive without consulting his U.S. allies, according to administration officials." And don't you believe that? I do. Iraq, in case you have not heard, is a sovereign nation. As a result, Iraqi puppet rulers are permitted to make their own decisions. (thanks Amer)

Ziyad Makhoul: is a "journalist" in the Lebanese press which is doing its best to imitate North Korean press in its praise for the ruling family, and its appointees: ""...littéralement transfiguré, devenu même cet étourdissant homme d’État – bien plus haut, bien plus loin, bien plus fort..." (thanks Ziyad)

Samera: on Israeli cows. (thanks Melanie)

"One can only celebrate the creation of the Israeli state through the deliberate burying of the following historical facts: that the creation of the Israeli state was made possible at the expense of the indigenous population; that its creation was legitimized through racist Zionist narratives that depicted Palestinians in the words of Zionist leader Moshe Smilansky as “semi-savage” and incapable of self-governance; that it actively engages in the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Palestine through expulsion, massacre and state terrorism; that Israeli “democracy” privileges its Jewish citizens and actively discriminates against Palestinians; that it has left Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza cut off economically and politically; and finally that Israel continues to employ racist and exclusionary legislative policies that prevent the seven million Palestinians living in the diaspora from returning to their homeland."

"Charges against a US Marine allegedly involved in the killing of 24 Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha were dropped on Friday ahead of his trial, the military said in a statement."

The Phoenicians. You will not find this in Lebanese history books: "[The Phoenicians] were despised as cheaters and hucksters, who could not be trusted; as insatiable mongers and unscrupulous profiteers, who kidnapped the helpless and traded in human lives; and as a licentious and morally corrupt race of people, who prostituted their daughters and butchered their infant children in honour of their gods. The Phoenicians' pejorative image as schemers and connivers has survived in the modern vernacular; 'Jezebel', our term for the quintessential shameless woman, was, in fact a Tyrian princess." From Glen Markoe, The Phoenicians, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 200), p. 10.

My article in Al-Akhbar: "To a Sri Lankan maid: On Her day."

"The dialogue call prompted bitter criticism from As'ad Abu Khalil, a Lebanese political scientist and popular blogger, who compared it to a call by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels for "a conference on tolerance"."

"The object of Mr. Abu Safia’s contempt — Highway 443, a major access road to Jerusalem — has taken on special significance in the grinding Israeli-Palestinian conflict. For the first time, the Supreme Court, albeit in an interim decision, has accepted the idea of separate roads for Palestinians in the occupied areas."

Conspiracy? What conspiracy? This same headline appeared in both An-Nahar and Al-Mustaqbal; "Five million dollars from the US embassy to strengthen the role of civil society."

From electronic comrade: "Anti-Arab racism and incitement are persistent and growing problems in Israel and symptoms of hyper nationalism that seeks to consolidate and justify the state's "Jewish character." For decades, the mistreatment of Palestinians in Israel has been virtually ignored by Palestinian national leaders, as well as by international policymakers and organizations under the doctrine of non-interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states. Yet, the precarious position of Palestinian citizens of Israel is closely linked to the fate of Palestinians under military occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and refugees outside the country. It stems from the same set of historical events 60 years ago. All three categories of Palestinians are targets of discriminatory or abusive Israeli policies intended to preserve Israel as a "Jewish state." In the context of a "solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, some Israeli politicians increasingly speak of population or territorial "exchanges" that would strip Palestinian citizens of Israel of their citizenship and otherwise violate their fundamental human rights. Palestinian citizens of Israel have raised the alarm about this growing existential threat, but they have received little international solidarity."

Arab delegates to the Arab summit in Damascus asked the Syrian government to show them what it does best. Delegates were immediately placed in old tires, and were mercilessly beaten on their feet. Dignateries were impressed.

The Demise of Al-Jazeera. Within one year, you shall no more tell the difference between Al-Arabiyya and Al-Jazeera. This is the most recent example. Al-Jazeera was doing extensive coverage of the Arab summit in Damascus but something happened yesterday. Qatar's foreign minister suddenly left Damascus, and Qatari representation in (the foreign ministers' meeting in) the summit was downgraded, just like Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. Fresh orders must have come from Washington, DC where the Bahraini King was. He too suddenly decided not to show up. Today, Al-Jazeera's coverage changed: the coverage was cut substantially, and Isma`il Haniyyah's speech was interrupted after a minute only (and as you know Qatar has been supporting Hamas for a while now--just after Saudi Arabia stopped its support for Hamas under orders from Bush administration after Sep. 11). And then Al-Jazeera got busy to what it has been doing best: coverage of a Dutch movie and Danish cartoons. Expect to watch wall-to-wall coverage of Danish cartoons and the Dutch movie. This is permissible for the lousy Arab media: the oil and natural gas media. And then Al-Jazeera went to cover the war in Iraq between the Badr and Mahdi sectarian militias. It referred to aerial bombing from "coalition forces." The report from Iraq referred to the participation of "foregin troops." Not once was the word "American" used in the report, even when the US media themselves are open about US military occupation's participation. So it can only mean one thing: Mongolian air force is back in full force in Iraq. And what is annoying is that Syrian propaganda vehicles still like to pretend that all is well in Syria's relations with Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries. Saudi media (and yesterday Egyptian media joined in) are full of insults and offenses to Syria, but the Syrian government--with a long experience in fabrications and lies--does not notice.

That is a sign that Badr sectarian militias are not doing well against the sectarian militia of Muqtada As-Sadr. As for the surge, it is still working. Why do you ask? How dare you ask?

I don't like flags, and I don't like nationalisms but for Palestine and the Palestinians, anything and everything.

The press office of the Lebanese Forces militia in Lebanon said that Samir Ja`ja` (Ga`ga` in Egyptian accent) continued his tour of the US, and that he gave a speech "in the state of Cleveland." Kid you not.

Kim Philby. In his autobiography, My Silent War, Kim Philby, obviously, takes issue with John Bullock's account of the Philby's spy case. Philby said: "I have even read recently, in John Bullock's Akin to Treason, that Lebanese security is "very efficient"--a misuse of language by any standard." (p. 135 of the American edition). I have been doing binge reading of the Philby case after watching on DVD the BBC mini-series of the case. So many aspects of the BBC account were not true, of course. (For example, Philby and Maclean did not stay in touch over the years). Personally, I think that those who were motivated in their loyalty to the Soviet Union during the pre-WWII by idealism and keen interest in fighting against the threat of fascism and Nazism should have broken with the USSR in 1939--at least, with the Soviet-Nazi agreement. Philby does not mention much about his stay in Beirut (for years) in his autobiography: it is probably part of the large chunks that were deleted by the KGB censor which had to screen his book, according to Philby's biographer, Philip Knightley. (In Beirut, Philby was of course serving two masters: British intelligence for which he did work in Lebanon, and the KGB. British intelligence did not want to discuss that because it would have been embarrassing for them admit that Philby's services continued long after his forced resignation). Now as is well-known, Philby's father was the Orientalist, St. John Philby, who advised the Saudi King (and predicted to him the victory of Nazism). (Did I tell you that a former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia told me that the current Saudi King keeps a dagger with Nazi symbols on it in his desk--a gift to his father from you know who. And whatever happened to the two kids that St. John Philby fathered with his Saudi concubine?

In his new book, Sen. Chuck Hagels said that Rafiq Hariri had told him that Saddam had no WMDs.

The most competent and qualified Lebanese official ever. Lebanon has over the years sent official representatives and delegates to international and regional meetings and conferences. Meet above the most competent and qualified Lebanese official.

Tyre in the 1880s. Badr Al-Hajj is probably the foremost expert (and publisher) of old photographs of the Middle East. He sent me this picture: "a view taken in 1880's by a French photographer residing in Beirut. His name is Jean-Baptiste Charlier (1822-1907). He owned a book shop at Suq al-Tawila and a silk factory at Ain Hamada in Matn region."

I hate it when people try to validate their religions and holy books with science. Science is science and religion is religion, and a potato is a potato, and they will never meet. OK? So NASA posted pictures of the moon showing evidence of cracks. Some Islamic religious group is asserting that this had been predicted in the Qur'an in this verse: اقْتَرَبَتِ السَّاعَةُ وَانْشَقَّ الْقَمَرُ وإن يروا أيةً يعرضوا ويقولوا سحرٌ مُستمر
Oh, please.

This will be a cause for celebration. The Lebanonese will declare it evidence of the presence of the White Man in them: "The team says it found a particular DNA signature which recently appeared in Lebanon and is probably linked to the crusades." (thanks Kawkab, Jens, and David)

I am not making this up. Arab League clown-general, `Amr Musa, spoke at a press conference in Damascus today. He was asked by a reporter whether the delegates discussed the issue US ships off the coast of Lebanon. He answered by saying that the delegates did not discuss the US war ships off Lebanon because they are not in Lebanese waters but said that Arab delegations discuss and denounce Danish cartoons at every Arab League meeting. Kid you not.

I should have a regular feature titled MEMRI lies and propaganda. So MEMRI sent out a new item titled: "Lebanon publishes New Evidence of Ties between Syria and Fath Al-Islam." You read the item further and you discover that it refers to a Hariri family-appointed prosecutor who submitted a report which, in MEMRI's own words, "implies a possible connection between Fath Al-Islam and the Syrian regime."

"Mr Strasler did not mention the recent declaration – equally remarkable in the eyes of many secular Israelis – by one of Shas's most prominent Knesset members, Shlomo Benizri, that recent mild earth