Tunisian public opinion: don't discount the Arab left

Look at this comprehensive survey of Tunisian public opinion.  The Nahdah Party has the support of 1/3 of Tunisian public, which is within less a percentage point from public support from the leftist Democratic Progressive Party.  More importantly, the Communist Workers Party got the support of 9.2% of the public (the party really was the leading force in the Tunisian uprising).

Where is Bashshar Al-Asad?

Even longtime supporter of the Syrian regime, Talal Salman (publisher of As-Safir) criticizes the Syrian regime and asks:  "Where is Bashshar Al-Asad"?

Gulf state security

"Kuwait has banned nationals from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan and Afghanistan from entering the country over fears political unrest in those nations could pose a risk to the Gulf state’s security.   The blacklist includes trade, tourism and visit visas as well as visas sponsored by spouses, immigration sources quoted by Kuwait media said Saturday." (thanks Nasir)

You know Obama is bad when....

You know Obama is bad when a columnist in Haaretz praises his speech at AIPAC.

Bahrain updates: or what does not bother Obama

"Today was the appeal for the 4 protestors who got death sentences for supposedly killing the policemen. Two got their sentences changed to life, two others are getting the death penalty. I can't believe they are actually going threw with this. The four men are so young.   In another trial today, Shaikh Al Muqtad, one of Bahrain's most important religious figures that was imprisoned, told the judge that drilled a hole into his leg and showed the judge the hole. He then said he has even more torture marks but he's not allowed to show them.  Oh they also arrested a high school girl from the Al Khawaja family (they really can't stand that family). She called her family and told them to bring her clothes. She says they tortured her." (thanks anonymous)

Salam Fayyad on Qatar: from Wikileaks

It is hilarious when small US puppets, like this Salam Fayyad, thinks that they can sway US policies.  "PA Prime Minister Fayyad, meeting with Under Secretary of the Treasury Stuart Levey on August 10 in Jerusalem, said that he was extremely worried about Qatar and its continued support for HAMAS and other Islamist organizations in the West Bank and Gaza. ""Qatar is a very lousy country, in every possible way,"" he said, claiming that they provide ""more support to fundamentalists than Kuwait or Saudi Arabia."" Fayyad said that there was lots of money coming into the region from Qatar. Qatar's support for these organizations ""on camera in the Security Council"" (a reference to Qatar's recent sponsorship of a Council statement that Ramallah saw as one-sided) should, he suggested, be a strong indication of where their financial support is going. He added that Qatar is using charitable organizations to move funds to Gaza. ""Qatar is willfully bad on money,"" Fayyad said, and he encouraged the USG ""to make life difficult for Qatari banks in the U.S.""" (thanks Shadi)

Prince Nayif to head Al-Qa`idah?

Will Prince Nayif bin `Abdul-`Aziz succeed Bin Laden as the head of Al-Qa`idah? More on the news at eleven.

Obama and the Israeli lobby

"When even Israel-devoted stalwarts such as former IDF Corporal Jeffrey Goldberg and the ADL's Abe Foxman are dismissive of the condemnation of Obama's statements, it's crystal clear that they pose no challenge to the dominant pro-Israel orthodoxy that has shaped American policy (and political discourse) for decades.
At most, Obama's public endorsement of this position was a symbolic gesture to chide Netanyahu for his overt indifference to U.S. interests (and, more so, belligerence toward Obama), and a small rhetorical fig leaf to the populist forces driving the Arab rebellion. Yet even the most microscopic deviation from the dictates of the Israel Government produce shrill and ludicrous backlash from The inside-the-U.S. Israel Lobby." (thanks Yaman)

Information Affairs Authority of Bahrain speaks

"Shaikh Fawaz welcomed the principles outlined by US President Barack Obama in his address at the US State Department. "The principles and visions expressed in President Obama's speech harmonise, in general, with the democratic march initiated by His Majesty King Hamad," he said." (thanks anonymous)

The UN special coordinator for Lebanon

I have argued in Arabic that the presence of this guy in Lebanon is a relic of colonial times.  He makes statements on every single aspect of internal Lebanese politics, and not a single Lebanese politician or party ever criticizes his presence.  Here is his reaction to the Israeli shooting at unarmed civilian demonstrators from last week:  "
United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Michael C. Williams

Statement following Meeting with Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri

Beirut, Lebanon

Monday, 23 May 2011

I am very grateful to his H.E. Nabih Berri, the Speaker of Parliament, for receiving me today. We had a very lengthy meeting and we discussed several issues, domestic issues and regional issues.   We talked about the situation in the south and the implementation of Resolution 1701 and how to try and avoid a repetition of the tragedy that happened in Maroun El-Ras. I think all of us need to work to prevent any repetition of that tragedy, the LAF, UNIFIL, the Palestinians and the Lebanese authorities."   So he blames all parties except Israel which perpetrated the shootings.  (thanks Firas)

King of the poor

You can't accuse the King of Jordan of not caring about the poor in his country:  "Rubicon Group Holding (RGH), a Jordan-based diversified entertainment organization, has announced that it has been appointed to design and produce The Red Sea Astrarium (TRSA), a 184-acre themed entertainment resort located in Aqaba, Jordan.  The US$1bn (714m euro, £640m) resort will be anchored by a Star Trek theme park, which will be developed by Paramount Recreation.   According to a statement from RGH, the Star Trek attraction will deliver a variety of multi-sensory "23rd-century experiences", including a space-flight adventure featuring real-time immersive experiences.   "At its core, Star Trek is about bringing worlds together and about a profound hope for the future," said Liz Kalodner, EVP and general manager of CBS Consumer Products. "We are proud to bring such a unique, interactive Star Trek property to this part of the world to be a part of Jordan's future." Elsewhere, TRSA will feature story telling combined with immersive entertainment experiences.  Exact details are to be confirmed but the resort will include a number of attractions, a large theatre, late night entertainment as well as a range of accommodation options, restaurants and retail.
Scheduled to open in 2014, TRSA will be designed as a family destination. Architectural firm Callison has been appointed to master plan the resort."  (thanks Matthew)

Chief PA Buffoon

The buffoonery at the PA is limitless and extreme.  The men there have no qualms about embarrassing themselves.  Only few weeks ago, we read that chief Bufooon, Sa'ib `Uraykat, has tendered his resignation in the wake of the leaks from his office that produced the "Palestine Papers".  Yet, suddenly and without explanation he is now back in his job vomiting opinions on the peace process.  When Palestine is liberated, men like `Uraykat would only be invited on TV on children's shows for the kids to mock them. 

Racism of Obama

Did you read the text of the speech at AIPAC by Obama?  There is a section in which he goes blatantly racist and talks about the alarming high birth rates among the sand niggers and how that will pose a threat to Israel.

Arab uprisings and their origins

Comrade Khalid writes against the conspiracy theories of Arab uprisings.

King PlayStation

King PlayStation and his Youtube wife have been sequestered in their palace in Amman for months: they were so scared of leaving the country that they even skipped their beloved Davos affair.  Yet, yesterday an American station interviewed the King about the developments in Syria and he was not even reluctant to offer advice to the Syrian potentate.

When King Fahd reports the news: Ya Latif

The news station of King Fahd's brother-in-law, Al-Arabiyyah, is airing its "documentary" on the Egyptian uprising based on accounts of participants.  One of the "participants" interviewed is none other than Thomas Friedman, simply because he was at a hotel during the uprising.  I kid you not.  Friedman is expected to appear on another documentary on the news station of Hariri family to report as a participant on the French Revolution. He claims that he also was at a hotel then.

Hariri tribunal

The camel Hariri court is supposed to be secretive and independent.  But yesterday, in Obama's speech before AIPAC, he seems to have read the conclusions of the court before the beginning of the trial when he attacked the "political assassinations" by Hizbullah.

Obama administration is still impressed with Saudi reforms: beheadings continue

"Saudi Arabia on Sunday beheaded a Pakistani convicted of killing a fellow citizen in the holy city of Mecca, the official SPA news agency said."

House of Saud's contributions to civilization

"Islamic charities from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates financed a network in U.S. ally Pakistan that recruited children as young as eight to wage holy war, a local newspaper reported on Sunday, citing Wikileaks.
A U.S. diplomatic cable published by WikiLeaks said financial support estimated at $100 million a year was making its way from those Gulf Arab states to a jihadist recruitment network in Pakistan's Punjab province, Dawn newspaper reported." (thanks Rudy)

Freedom

If freedom means Egyptian General, Tantawi (the head of the unelected Military Council whose members were all hand picked by Husni Mubarak), I don't want it.

Al-Arabiyyah: serving the White Man

So Al-Arabiyyah (the news station of King Fahd's brother-in-law) posted a flash about news that armed men loyal to Yemeni dictator were surrounding the "UAE embassy where the US ambassador is present."  It later re-edited the text to indicate that other Gulf and international ambassadors were present too.

I am not making this up

Bahraini MPs (supporters of the Bahraini dictatorship) called on Syrian regime to end repression. I am not kidding.

A tribute to a rapist (by one of four Arab friends of Israel)

`Ali Salim is a silly and unfunny and sleazy Egyptian playwright.  He writes--of course--for the mouthpiece of Prince Salman, Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat.  But he became known in the Western Zionist press because he visited Israel and wrote a boring book about his trip (and the silly book got translated into Hebrew and English--kid you not).  He is known as advocate for normalization with Israel but he rarely if ever does that in Arabic.  He may do that when he gets invited by WINEP in Washington, DC but I have heard him on numerous times bash Israel and even the Jewish people.  He is one of those anti-Semites who established friendship with Israel.  In this article, he offers his defense for Strauss-Kahn.

To Jimmy Carter

Anyone who says that the apartheid analogy applies to the West Bank but not to "Israel proper" is a racist.  Pure and simple.

Israel's existence

For the first time I find myself in agreement with Obama on the Middle East.  He just told AIPAC that Israel's existence should not be "subject of debate."  I can't agree more.  It is never a subject of debate as far as I am concerned.  Israel's existence (just like the existence of Apartheid South Africa) should be rejected categorically and unconditionally.

Friedman in Beirut

Read this article by a writer who manages to write several columns a week without ever coming up with an original idea or insight.  It is based on the views of his right-wing, racist anti-Syrian (people) contacts.  And notice that he begins the article with the typical racist anti-Syrian (people) "joke" that Lebanese racists like to tell.  It is intended to show the people of Syria as dumb and ignorant.  The racism by March 14 in Lebanon is not only repugnant on moral and humanitarian grounds: it is criminal.  The propaganda of March 14 and the incitement against the Syrian people have resulted in pogroms against the Syrian workers in Lebanon--a matter that barely gets attention from Western human rights organizations.  And then Friedman interviews one such racist from L'Orient-Le Jour--a man who has specialized in right-wing racist anti-Syrian trash talk.  This is the irony in Lebanon today: the same Lebanese who have incited hatred against the Syrian people--PEOPLE--over the last few years are now feigning solidarity with the Syrian people.  As we say in Lebanon: go play in the garden.

German occupiers in Afghanistan

"Germany's military, the Bundeswehr, has released new and explosive details about a violent altercation between demonstrators and German soldiers in northern Afghanistan on Wednesday that left 12 dead and dozens wounded, including two German soldiers. In a statement posted on its website Friday morning, the military contradicted its earlier claims and admitted that German soldier had deliberately fired upon the demonstrators. The Bundeswehr also said it was possible that the shots had been responsible for at least one death.

The incident occurred Wednesday morning in front of a German military camp in the northern Afghan city of Taloqan, in Takhar province, as a funeral march was being held for four people, including two women, who had been killed by US troops in a nighttime operation against suspected terrorists. The Bundeswehr had previously claimed that German soldiers had only fired warning shots to protect their camp from further attacks by enraged demonstrators taking part in the funeral procession." (thanks Joerg)

War mongering

So Obama mentions a missile name before the AIPAC conference, and the audience goes wild for the mere mention of a missile.  Can you imagine if an Arab or Muslim audience goes wild for the mere mention of a missile? Can you imagine the various racist and Orientalist explanations that would have been invoked?

Rape and sexism in France

"The groups said that 75,000 women were raped in France every year and that sexist language in public tended to minimise the gravity of crime, turning it into a vague and more or less acceptable act.   The groups referred to specific statements, including one by former culture minister and Strauss-Kahn ally Jack Lang, who said Strauss-Kahn should have been released on bail earlier, considering that "nobody has died".  Journalist Jean-François Kahn, no relation, denied rape had taken place and dismissed the affair as "troussage de domestique", a phrase that evokes a master having non-consensual sex with a servant." (thanks Emily)

US presidents and the Israeli lobby

Can you imagine if US presidents regularly speak (and prostrate before) China lobby or Japan lobby or Russia lobby or even Belgium lobby?  I mean, the situation is bizarre. That every year when the Israeli lobby convenes its annual conference, all top US officials and leaders have to appear and prostrate themselves.  Historically, decades from now, historians would look back and note the bizarreness of the ritual.

Boycott Israel in Lebanon

Oh, you bet the show would be closed down.  Leftist comrades in Lebanon were planning major protests against the presence of an Israeli photographers. That is how serious the boycott of Israel is taken.  You bet.  (Oh, notice the photo credit for the piece in the article).  (thanks Daniel)

Obama's favorite Arabs

Of course, I have maintained from day one that there will be no difference in foreign policy between Obama and Bush.  The same Zionist fanatics who ran Middle East policy, for example, in the Bush White House are either still there or there are people with similar views.  You can tell that the same Zionist hoodlums are there by looking at the most favored Arabs in both White Houses.  Not only in terms of House of Saud, for example, but even individual Arabs.  Look at this piece.  Was it not sexy to invite bloggers from Bahrain or UAE or Saudi Arabia?

Without dignity

A lot of people are without dignity, but it takes an extreme form of low dignity to become a political servant of House of Saud.

Obama's speech and divisions in the Arab world

"President Obama, in his speech on Thursday about the changes in the Arab world, spoke directly to that feeling. “Divisions of tribe, ethnicity and religious sect were manipulated as a means of holding on to power, or taking it away from somebody else. But the events of the past six months show us that strategies of repression and strategies of diversion will not work anymore.”"  Look at this sentence: as a quotation in a front page article in the New York Times and as a passage in Obama's speech.  I mean, there is no need for a comment? No need to address the external factors in deepening and stoking Arab divisions? I mean, has there been any government (internal or external) that has done more to instigate sectarian, ethnic, tribal, and religious conflict in Iraq than the US itself?  I love how Western colonial powers operate.  They go to a country and they prop up half-dead tribal elders, and then they say: those societies are tribal.  I saw that in South Lebanon in 1982.  Leftist and Arab nationalist organizations have taken over most villages in South Lebanon in the 1970s and have marginalized the old traditional familial and tribal leaders, so the first thing that Israeli terrorist occupiers do is to prop up those old traditional leaders and give them powers.  Many of those folks were men in their 80s---kid you not.  And after Wikileaks, do we have doubts about US manipulation of sectarian divisions in the Middle East in cooperation with Saudi Arabia?  Who are you kidding?

Do you know that Foxman is now interviewed regularly on foreign policy?

"“If Dennis Ross was in the inner circle in the early days, this administration would not have made that colossal settlements error,” Mr. Foxman said. “He would have said, ‘Don’t go there.’ ”"

This AP story is bizarre: it alleges that Husni Mubarak was a gay rights advocate

"While many of their compatriots savor a new political era, gays in Egypt and Tunisia aren’t sharing the joy, according to activists who wonder if the two revolutions could in fact make things worse for an already marginalized community."

Saudi women: why they are not on the agenda of Western feminists

Can you imagine if this happened in Iran? Can you imagine the world reactions? Can you imagine the outrage that would pour from Western capitals?  "RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Authorities detained a Saudi woman on Saturday after she launched a campaign against the driving ban for women in the ultraconservative kingdom and posted a video of herself behind the wheel on Facebook and YouTube to encourage others to copy her.   Manal al-Sherif and a group of other women started a Facebook page called “Teach me how to drive so I can protect myself,” which urges authorities to lift the driving ban. She went on a test drive in the eastern city of Khobar and later posted a video of the experience." Western governments have as much credibility on democracy and human rights as much as Dominique Strauss-Kahn has credibility on gender issues.

Reaction to Obama's speech in Cairo cafes

Al-Masri Al-Yawm summarizes the reactions in Cairo cafes to Obama's speech: "Distrust" and "disappointment."

Arab liberalism and Sadiq Jalal Al-`Adhm

Arab liberalism is another euphemism for House of Saud.  And of course such voices are lauded in the West.  When former comrade, Sadiq Jalal Al-`Azm, was a hard core Marxist-Leninist-Stalinist he was never mentioned in the Western press and he was invited to the US only by Arab-American groups.  When Al-`Azm started talking the liberal talk and the (racist) discourse of Western enlightenment back in the early 1990s, he became a favored guest in the US and by Western media.  Now I understand when Edward Said meant when he told me back in 1992 that Princeton University invited Al-`Azm only because he criticized Edward Said's Orientalism.   

Critique of liberalism and neo-liberalism in the Arab revolutions in Jadaliyya

Comrade Maya writes:  "Perhaps, in order to understand the phenomenon to which I am trying to draw attention, it is best not to approach it with overdetermined words such as “neoliberalism” or “liberalism” or “capitalism” in mind. No matter what the larger framework is called, it is undeniable that international human rights corporations such as Human Rights Watch are important agentive political bodies in Egypt and in Lebanon, for example. Similarly, other “international bodies” such as the UNDP (see the Arab Human Development Reports for examples of these "common sense" recommendations), the IMF and the WorldBank are actors in the reconfiguration of life worlds across the region. This reconfiguration does not come only through market adjustment, but also through World Bank and UNDP “recommendations” as to “optimal” fertility rates, systems of education that are needed, and the types of family structure (nuclear, urban, double income) thatshould be promoted in the name of development. These organizations and their local allies intervene in a connected economic/social sphere, and they play a role in the conditioning of subjects vis-à-vis global market processes. To put it bluntly, organizations such as the IMF and Human Rights Watch are uncomfortable allies in a global and ideological project to shape practices of life, economy, and of citizenship. In addition, the proliferation of the local-global NGO capital networks and their attendant languages and institutions translate questions of justice into questions of rights, a translation which ties a citizen ever more intimately to the state. Thus, the question of economic justice becomes one of economic rights, the question of gender justice becomes one of women's and/or gay rights, and questions of violence are transformed into calls for bodily rights. In this framework, states are posited as potential human rights abusers, yet only the state can ensure the redress of these rights. Hence, the paradox of human rights reports; after spending pages outlining how, for example, the state of Iran is abusing the human rights of its citizens, towards the end of the report “recommendations” are made to said author of those abuses. In these reports, invariably the state is asked to transform (or reform) itself from a human rights abuser into a human rights defender. The move from justice to rights, as authors such as Zizek and Fraser have argued, is a feature of late capitalism that depoliticizes inequality and posits the state as the arbiter of said inequality. Thus, the state is “good” or “bad” depending on how well it regulates the lives of their citizens or, as anthropologists have suggested, depending on how well they perform “good governance.” Such depoliticization should be understood as a political process that aims to separate the messiness of shared life into compartments such as “culture,” “government,” “economy,” “personal life,” and, my personal favorite, “civil society.” Once segregated into neat, independent packages, we, as liberal/neoliberal subjects, are told that our “political” involvement begins, and ends, as participants in “free”, “fair” and “transparent” elections."

Sons of Zayid in Pakistan

"During a recent, rare briefing to parliament, a top Pakistani air force commander made a surprising claim: a remote southwestern airfield long suspected of housing US drones used in missile strikes was actually under the control of the United Arab Emirates." (thanks Laleh)

Can you imagine if those were Muslims?

""George W. Bush's Yale fraternity has been suspended for 5 years by the university for threatening and sexist behavior. Officials ruled that the Yale DKE chapter had violated undergraduate regulations concerning "harassment, coercion and intimidation" earlier this year when pledges were instructed to chant phrases such as: “No means yes" and "Yes means anal.” "" (thanks "Ibn Rushd")

This is hilarious: even Israeli media don't claim that Arab countries attacked Israel in 1967

In the service of Israeli war crimes, everything is possible in the US media:  "First off, he said Israel is not returning to the borders in place before the 1967 Six Day War in which Israel was attacked by its Arab neighbors but emerged from the war having garnered significant new territory." (thanks Khelil)

IMF and women

"IMF-mandated government cutbacks in social welfare spending have often been achieved by cutting public sector jobs, which disproportionately impact women. Women hold most of the lower-skilled public sector jobs, and they are often the first to be cut. Also, as social programs like caregiving are slashed, women are expected to take on additional domestic responsibilities that further limit their access to education or other jobs.   In exchange for borrowing $5.8 billion from the IMF and World Bank, Tanzania agreed to impose fees for health services, which led to fewer women seeking hospital deliveries or post-natal care and naturally, higher rates of maternal death. In Zambia, the imposition of SAPs led to a significant drop in girls’ enrollment in schools and a spike in “survival or subsistence sex” as a way for young women to continue their educations.
But IMF’s austerity measures don’t just apply to poor African countries. In 1997, South Korea received $57 billion in loans in exchange for IMF conditionalities that forced the government to introduce “labor market flexibility,” which outlined steps for the government to compress wages, fire “surplus workers,” and cut government spending on programs and infrastructure. When the financial crisis hit, seven Korean women were laid off for every one Korean man. In a sick twist, the Korean government launched a "get your husband energized" campaign encouraging women to support depressed male partners while they cooked, cleaned, and cared for everyone.  Nearly 15 years later, the scenario is grim for South Korean workers, especially women. Of all OECD countries, Koreans work the longest hours: 90% of men and 77% of women work over 40 hours a week. According to economist Martin Hart-Landsberg, in 2000, 40 percent of Korean workers were irregular workers; by 2008, 60 percent worked in the informal economy. The Korean Women Working Academy reports that today 70 percent of Korean women workers are temporary laborers." (thanks Nikki)

Covering the Middle East

"The working class has no networks, that applies too to Hollywood and television entertainment and series; it is all the same intellectuals producing them. Even journalists with pretentions of being serious usually only serve elites and ignore social movements. Journalism tends to be state centric, focusing on elections, institutions, formal politics and overlooking politics of contention, informal politics, social movements.  Those with reputations as brave war reporters who hop around the world, parachuting into conflicts from Yemen to Afghanistan, typically only confirm Americans' views of the world. Journalism simplifies, which means it de-historicises. Journalism in the Middle East is too often a violent act of representation. Western journalists take reality and amputate it, contort it, and fit it into a predetermined discourse or taxonomy." (thanks Nir)