People are very nervous in Lebanon. They have every reason to be. They don't know if a civil war or an Israeli war will engulf their country. I have a hard time predicting what will happen. Anis Naqqash thinks that those who are edging toward civil war don't have the means. But that could easily change, as we have seen in the history of the last civil war.

Doha Shams on the disgraceful "document" by Arab information ministers for the control and censorship of Arab media. (This is the full text of the document: Orwell would have included it in 1984).

Arab politics is now in the hands of Sheikh Mo. You can go to sleep now.

"As for Brzezinski, Obama's circle is saying he does not advise the candidate about Israel-related issues."

What is behind the Saudi travel advisory to Lebanon? Does the Saudi government know of some influx of their exports of Bin Ladenites to Lebanon? Or do they wish to cloud the situation and hope that conflict between the factions only get worse? And this is not a coincidence. The tone of Walid Jumblat dramatically changed after his visit to Riyadh and his meeting with the Saudi king.

Did people notice that US media are not covering the Bandar's bribe scandal? Look how the New York Times is covering up his role here. (thanks Emily)

"Senior Pentagon officials are using a classified Army study on the 2006 war between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah to retool the U.S. military's combat strategy for future wars."

"Poverty in early childhood poisons the brain.” That was the opening of an article in Saturday’s Financial Times, summarizing research presented last week at the American Association for the Advancement of Science. As the article explained, neuroscientists have found that “many children growing up in very poor families with low social status experience unhealthy levels of stress hormones, which impair their neural development.” The effect is to impair language development and memory — and hence the ability to escape poverty — for the rest of the child’s life. So now we have another, even more compelling reason to be ashamed about America’s record of failing to fight poverty." (thanks May)

AlJazeera net asked me to comment on the recent plan by Arab information ministers to restrict freedoms of the TV satellite stations. Here, is my response. (They printed it as is, including my reference to the impact of Saudi-Qatari reconciliation).

"Two U.S. intelligence officials, in public appearances last week, outlined plans to join the ideological fight against radical Islam, much as the CIA worked behind the scenes during the Cold War in the battle against the creed of world communism. "How do we and our allies counter the ideology that supports violent extremism?" asked Michael Leiter, the acting director of the National Counterterrorism Center, in a speech Wednesday at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. The goal, Leiter said, is "to prevent the next generation of terrorists from emerging," and one approach he suggested is "to show that it is al-Qaeda, not the West, that is truly at war with Islam."" (thanks Laleh)

Flash. The (Saudi-controlled) Muslim World League has spoken...against...Danish cartoons.

"All across Europe, the new breed of right-wing populists are trying to revive their political fortunes by appealing to anti-Muslim prejudice." (thanks Kamal)

"He said Mughniyeh had prepared a variety of “spectacular” attacks to be executed by Hezbollah if one of its top leaders was assassinated. These were now being dusted off and updated. On the day Mughniyeh was buried, Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, summoned Dagan from his cottage in Galilee to Jerusalem. “It was a one-on-one meeting,” said a source. But it is believed that Dagan was complimented by his boss and told that he would stay as head of Mossad until the end of 2009."

"Civilian militia groups that have sided with US troops in the battle against al-Qaeda in Iraq are threatening to withdraw after three fighters were killed in a suspected friendly fire incident."

"About half were set up in Europe, officials said -- in part to put the agency in better position to track radical Muslim groups there, but also because of the ease of travel and comfortable living conditions. That consideration vexed some CIA veterans. "How do you let someone have a white-collar lifestyle and be part of the blue-collar terrorist infrastructure?" said one high-ranking official who was critical of the program.""

Look at this headline: "U.S. military says Iraqi civilians fired on troops."

In the Saudi Wahhabi kingdom, guest workers from Bangladesh are described as "savages" and "black aunts". (thanks Hussein)

Somebody needs to find me the transcript (NOW). The answer that was given by US Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell on the assassination of `Imad Mughniyyah on Fox News Sunday today revealed something--more than he wanted to reveal, I felt. ("First, the assassination of terrorist Imad Mughniyeh this week — did the U.S. have anything to do with that?
MCCONNELL: No, Chris. I'm aware of the circumstances around it, and we are now — interestingly, from the kinds of capabilities we're talking about, we can see how various parties are commenting and so on. And the big question, of course — Hezbollah has blamed Israel. But there's some evidence that it may have been internal Hezbollah. It may have been Syria. We don't know yet, and we're trying to sort that out.")

The last line of Jumblat's passage from the speech was not accurately translated. He said that "which we will take from you" (not launch on you).

You have to read this account of a speech on the Middle East in the New York Times. What I like about the New York Times is that it does not even try to be "fair and balanced" when it comes to its coverage of the Middle East.

Sectarian politics: worse than disunity is sectarian solidarity. Read the text of this lousy letter from the Lebanese state's most senior Shi`ite cleric, `Abdul-Amir Qabalan, to Iraqi puppet prime minister, Nuri Al-Maliki. Notice that he called on him to seek the guidance of the lousy Ayatullahs in Najaf--who are still worried about Chess but not about foreign occupation--and to combat "corruption and terrorism" but not foreign occupation. In fact, he did not use the word occupation in this lousy letter. So according to Shi`ite sectarian parties in the Middle East, foreign occupation is undesirable except when Shi`ite sectarian puppets are installed by occupation forces. This explains why you will not hear one word of criticisms of the Iraqi puppet government in Hizbullah's propaganda outlets. So if Dahlan were to convert to Shi`ism, would he obtain the support of Qabalan?

"In 1986, there was one mosque for every 6,031 Egyptians, according to government statistics. By 2005, there was one mosque for every 745 people — and the population has nearly doubled."

Full text: Human Rights Watch report on "Israel’s Use of Cluster Munitions in Lebanon in July and August 2006." (thanks Nadim)

Conspiracy? What conspiracy? This is the most blatant element of the conspiracy and of the influence of the US administration in Saudi propaganda outlets. Look at this article in (popular sleaze website) Elaph: it does not even have a byline. It begins like this: "The US government, in both of its branches--the legislative and the executive--has been striving to strengthen the programs for the spread of democracy around the world...." This is something. (The website on its anniversary bragged that I criticized them).

Nuclear fatwawawawa: Shaykh of Al-Azhar, took time from his busy schedule of book burning, to proclaim that any state may obtain nuclear technology provided it used for "good."

Much of the leaks in Syrian and Hamas media are pointing to a role by Jordanian mukhabarat in the assassination of `Imad Mughniyyah.

Did people notice that Walid Jumblat referred to the Hariri "dynasty" in his speech this week?

Ibrahim Al-Ja`fari, former puppet prime minister of Iraq, told AlJazeera TV that Iraqi military commanders and "academics"--kid you not--will decide the duration of US presence in Iraq. (Nobody in the news spoke about the ties between Ibrahim Al-Ja`fari and `Imad Mughniyyah during the Da`wah years). I have to run: there is breaking news on Al-Jazeera TV on...Danish cartoons.

"Arab families living in Israel are four times likelier than their Jewish counterparts to live in poverty, according to a report published Saturday by the Mossawa Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens in Israel."

Abu Mazen's Minister of Demagoguery, Sa'ib `Urayqat, said on AlJazeera (Arabic) TV that the "American referee" should determine who is violating the agreements between Israel and the Palestinians. (After the interview, AlJazeera resumed its wall-to-wall coverage of Danish cartoons).

Amal militia and Hariri militia are fighting in the streets of Beirut. When you watch such a clash between those sectarian forces, you understand how Henry Kissinger felt about the Iran-Iraq war. You don't want any side to win, or you want both sides to lose.

Make no mistake about it: we live in colonial times. Notice this headline in the New York Times: "U.S. Struggles to Tutor Iraqis in Rule of Law."

What is up with AlJazeera? They just had a discussion on operations to "Christianize" Algeria by Western intelligence agencies. I kid you not.

Why am I on the email list of the Syndicate of Dentists in Aleppo?

Which gang was behind this, I wonder? "A gang of gunmen attacked the Gaza City premises of the YMCA before dawn on Friday and blew up its library, the head of the centre said." (thanks Maryam)

Religious demagogues called for demonstrations in Islamabad against...Danish cartoons. Less than 200 people responded. Danish cartoons, for potato's sake.

`Ali Hasan Shibli was injured by an Israeli cluster bomb in Halta in South Lebanon. His leg was amputated.
PS New TV just reported that this shepherd's son died a few years ago from an Israeli cluster bomb in South Lebanon.

Those children were hit by an Israeli missile in Gaza. (Reuters)

An internal Fath memo against Muhammad gangster Dahlan.

There is as much religion on Hizbullah TV as there is on Saudi TV. But Syrian TV is largely secular: right now they are playing a song. "The prunes. From where? From where?"

This just in. Hariri TV is reporting that Syria was behind the earthquake in Lebanon.

Walid Jumblat sent condolences over the death of Tom Lantos.

What is Prince Muqrin, head of Saudi foreign intelligence, doing in China?

Yesterday, there were clashes between supporters of Amal and supporters of Hariri in several parts of Beirut.

There was an earthquake in Lebanon today. In Tyre, of all places. I could see my grandfather's house in one of the TV footage. Watch. Tomorrow An-Nahar and LBC will report that the earthquake is a sign that Lebanon is...special.