Anne Barnard: will you ever learn the ropes of the Middle East? I doubt it very much

I was thinking the other day: her reporting is an anthology of reliance on English language Beirut press, and conversations with English-speaking right-wingers in Beirut, and reproduction of Western cliches about Arabs and Muslims--not to mention skyping with contacts in Syria provided to her by contacts in the exile Syrian opposition, provided to her by contacts in the Hariri press office.  There is nothing there by way of independent reporting.   Look at this sentence:  "They chanted Shiite slogans and even insulted Sunni religious symbols."  What are Shi`ite religious slogans, I dare ask her?  And you know who the "Sunni religious symbols" she is talking about? Shaykh Ahmad Al-Asir. Kid you not.