When it comes to US puppets in the Middle East, US media peddle propaganda stories only

"For the past several years Palestine Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's name on the streets of the West Bank and Gaza has become synonymous with the words credibility, honesty, and transparency." And you want me to believe that all those fawning stories on this man who received 1% of the support of his people in the last legislative election are purely coincidental and not orchestrated? If you don't call me conspiracy theorist, you insult me. (thanks Emily)

House of Saud and House of Obama

"Holbrooke virtually confirmed media reports that Saudi intelligence is engaging the hardcore Taliban leader, Mullah Omar. He admitted, "We would be supportive of anything that the kingdom chose to do in this regard.""

Obama propaganda

"The VOA effort to grow its Latin American audience comes as the Obama administration tries to counter the attacks on U.S. policies by several presidents in the region: Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, Evo Morales in Bolivia, Rafael Correa in Ecuador and Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua." (thanks Dina)

This is in France

"Les violences faites aux femmes font énormément de victimes. En France, en 2008, cent cinquante-sept femmes sont mortes sous les coups de leur compagnon, ce qui représente un décès tous les 2,3 jours. "Dans de nombreux cas, le meurtre est l'ultime étape d'un continuum de violences, puisque, dans un quart des cas, il existait une violence connue antérieure", soulignait, en juillet, une mission d'information de l'Assemblée nationale, dont la présidente (PS) était Danielle Bousquet et le rapporteur (UMP), Guy Geoffroy." (thanks Karim)

Qaboos

"Foreign Ministry director-general Yossi Gal has held secret state-level meetings in Oman's capital Muscat, a senior official in Jerusalem told Haaretz. Diplomatic relations between Israel and Oman were cut off in 2000 at the start of the second intifada." I mean, Qaboos does not sip a beverage before receiving orders from his Western handlers. (thanks Mariam)

Sale Arabe

"Allez, dégage sale Arabe. On peut vous tabasser comme on veut". Michèle, a French citizen, sent me this and asked me to express her apology to all French citizens of Arab distraction. I have heard that Arabs at French schools are commonly referred to as "sale Arabe".

One day, you will be made to pay: for all that you have done to our people

"The human rights organization Yesh Din says not one of the 69 complaints filed during the past four years on damage to Palestinians' trees in the West Bank has resulted in an indictment. The organization released a report on the matter Tuesday and makes specific reference to damage caused to olive groves, central to the livelihood of Palestinian villagers." (thanks Sarah)

Will he resign now? After Scahill's article?

"In his statement to the senate standing committee on interior, Malik said Blackwater was not operating in Pakistan and if proven wrong he would tender his resignation." (thanks anonymous)

The Battle for America

By the way, if you didn't follow the American presidential election, or if you did but want to know more about the behind-the-scenes, or if you teach American politics courses, I highly recommend the book by two serious reporters, Haynes Johnson and Dan Balz, The Battle for America: 2008. And if you want banana ice cream, I recommend Cold Stone.

That Qaboos coup

""History records that it was a family affair, but documents reveal London's hidden hand. Offically, the architect of the coup was the Sultan's son, but in papers seen by the programme, Britain is seen to be calling the shots. Worried that the country's faltering regime could fall to communism and so threaten its vital oil interests, London decided to act. Formerly secret documents clearly show British civil servants and military leaders plotting regime change in Oman, by the use of force if necessary. They concealed their plans and only nowcan the real story be told." Asa sent me this and added: "Very interesting. There's a part where a radio interview from from the time asked Qabus how he managed to pull of the coup and his reply is "I have some friends and they helped me".." I still have not listened to it yet.

NowHariri: Now Racist

The picture in this article has been changed. The original article is displayed above. (Thanks Matthew)

Cheering

Soldiers of the House of Saud celebrate shooting at refugees. (thanks John)

Comrade Zeina

Comrade Zeina is profiled in Al-Akhbar.

Obama's Empire

"The United States is massively building up its potential for nuclear and non-nuclear strikes in Latin America and the Caribbean by acquiring unprecedented freedom of action in seven new military, naval and air bases in Colombia. The development – and the reaction of Latin American leaders to it – is further exacerbating America's already fractured relationship with much of the continent."

Too many Arabs...in Arab lands

"Other complaints from Egyptian holidays include “Too many Arabs in Egypt”, “Too much sand on the beaches”, “loud moaning” from a local mosque." (thanks Emily)

Photoshop journalism

This Bahraini government newspaper published what it said was a picture of Kofi Annan meeting with its correspondent in New York City. But the picture was doctored, or photoshopped from this picture of Annan. (thanks anonymous)

"Masculine performance"

Husni Mubarak congratulated the Egyptian soccer team, which lost to Algeria, for their "masculine performance".

This is Zionism

"The social, economic, health and educational gaps between Israel's Jewish and Arab citizens are continuing to grow, mostly as a result of unfair government policies and prejudice from the Jewish population, a study published Wednesday has found. Now in its third year, the Equality Index of Jewish and Arab Citizens in Israel, published by Sikkuy, the Association for the Advancement of Civic Equality, cites growing housing shortages and a looming welfare crisis as the main concerns facing the country's 1.5 million Arabic-speakers. "The index shows an alarming picture: that the gap between Jews and Arabs has increased by almost five percent in just two years," commented Ron Gerlitz, co- executive director of Sikkuy." (thanks Olivia)

Zionism is racism

"An Arab student who wanted to enroll in a university mentoring program told Ynet Monday that he had been rejected by the program's sponsors because of his race." (thanks Rashid)

Kingdom of Horrors

"Human Rights Watch conducted research missions to Saudi Arabia in November and December 2006, and again in May 2007. We found pervasive injustices in the Saudi criminal justice system and systematic and multiple violations of defendants' rights. Individuals in Saudi Arabia may find themselves detained and arrested for behavior that is not inherently criminal, or for apparently (and unwittingly) offending vague legal prohibitions. They may then find themselves in solitary confinement and subject to forms of ill-treatment. The authorities often do not inform individuals of the crime of which they are accused, or the evidence supporting the accusation. An accused person typically does not have access to a lawyer, faces abuse when refusing to incriminate him or herself, and waits excessive periods of time before trial, where he or she is often unable to examine witnesses or evidence and present a legal defense, not least because of a presumption of guilt and shifting charges." (thanks Nadim)

Disgrace unto the nations

"Some 79 percent of single women and 15 percent of married women suffer sexual harassment in the workplace, but only 3 percent of those women ever complain, according to a new study by Dr. Abigail Mor of Tel-Hai Academic College." (thanks "Ibn Rushd")

Obama Watch

"At a covert forward operating base run by the US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, members of an elite division of Blackwater are at the center of a secret program in which they plan targeted assassinations of suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives, "snatch and grabs" of high-value targets and other sensitive action inside and outside Pakistan, an investigation by The Nation has found. The Blackwater operatives also assist in gathering intelligence and help run a secret US military drone bombing campaign that runs parallel to the well-documented CIA predator strikes, according to a well-placed source within the US military intelligence apparatus." (thanks Nabeel)

Peace? What Peace?

"Angry Arab take

“The paradox is that despite Arab leaders’ willingness to make Israel a natural addition to the region, Israel itself continues to generate its unequivocal rejection through ongoing massacres, which renders all Arab overtures of normalisation obsolete. It is a kind of dialectical argument: the Zionist oppression and tyranny is built on violence, meaning Israel needs violence to maintain its existence. In the meantime this violence hampers any chances for its acceptance in the region among the region’s populations.”" (thanks Musa)

Poor US marines

I mean US marines go to a foreign country to occupy it, and in the course of occupation they face so many hardships and obstacles. Most unfair, really.

My talk last night

"As’ad AbuKhalil—a politics and public administration professor at California State University Stanislaus—offered a blistering critique of the Obama administration’s record thus far, focusing on combating beliefs that Obama’s foreign policy has marked a departure from the expansionist philosophy he said was espoused by the Bush administration." (thanks Nimer)

Israel would like to invite you to fight wars on its behalf

"With an American public increasingly tired of war, any war, the US president is unlikely to send in the air force, navy and special forces to smash the Iranian nuclear installations." And who will smash Israel's nuclear installations? (thanks Dina)

`Abdur-Rahman Munif

"The positive reception of the novel encouraged Munif to leave his dreary job in the Oil Ministry in Damascus and move to Beirut, working as a journalist. He arrived with an unpublished second novel, Sharq al-Mutawassit (East of the Mediterranean), which Munif held back from publishing for three years. Its subject was political torture and imprisonment, a theme that would become one of the most prevalent in modern Arabic literature, and had already produced a certain body of fiction. [8] Munif’s novel, however, was of exceptional power and ambition, aspiring to write the ultimate political prison in all its variations, for it takes us to seven political prisons and lives with its hero in them for five years, during which there is scarcely any kind of torture he does not suffer. An epigraph from Pablo Neruda speaks to the need never to forget such suffering." (thanks Hassan)

zeee planes, zeee planes

Lebanese Air Force still dominates the Middle East skies: "Six Hawker Hunter jets took part in the parade, performing low-level acrobatics." (thanks Bart)

red-handed

"South Africa deported an Israeli airline official last week following allegations that Israel’s secret police, the Shin Bet, had infiltrated Johannesburg international airport in an effort to gather information on South African citizens, particularly black and Muslim travellers."

House of Saud goes to war

"Indeed, Saudi Arabia has fought every "ism" that has sought to dominate the Middle East, including Nasser's pan-Arabism, communism, and today's Islamism of the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, the terrorism of al-Qaida and the Shi'ism of Iran. The tools it relied upon were oil money and Wahhabi Islam. During the 1980s, Saudi Arabia spent more than $75bn on the propagation of Wahhabi doctrine, funding schools, mosques, and charities across the Islamic world in an effort to bolster its influence. A large share of these resources was reserved for its back garden, Yemen. Thousands of schools were established, covering every city and village in Yemen. Saudi Arabia created in Yemen a strong Wahhabi current that was politically and ideologically loyal to the ruling al-Saud. Indeed, Yemen's president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, used imported Wahhabism to defeat his domestic opponents – first the communists, then the Houthis – despite being a Zaidi Shia...Both the Saudi and Yemeni governments have also claimed that there are strong links between the Houthis and al-Qaida, thereby gaining American support. But the Houthis are not terrorists. Abdul Malik al-Houthi, a leader of the insurgency in Yemen's Sa'dah region, said this month that the Houthis, who are Zaidi Shia, are ideologically and strategically antithetical to Wahhabi Sunni al-Qaida...But the Saudis are unlikely to succeed militarily in Yemen. Yemen's army of 700,000 could not suppress the Houthi rebellion, despite five attempts since 2004. Now they are leaving Saudi Arabia's untested army of 200,000 men to do the job for them. And, while the Saudis are currently relying on their air force, a full-scale land battle will have to follow – on the same harsh terrain that helped defeated Nasser's battle-hardened troops in the 1960s."

In every sense of the word, Israel is a disgrace unto the nations

"Independence Park in Tel Aviv has for years been known as a meeting place for gays looking for casual sex as well as relationships. Poems and books have been written about the park, and it inspired several films. The park retained its popularity as a discreet and convenient location, even as other venues catering to the LGBT community emerged in Tel Aviv over the years. Now, community members say, the Tel Aviv municipality is trying to evict them from the park - installing stronger lighting, getting rid of bushes and trees, and increasing harassment by municipal patrols. Visitors say that for the last two months, city inspectors have been blocking them from entering areas with shrubbery." And yet, I still have to read in the Western press about how Israel is this great haven for gays. Give me a potato, NOW. (thanks Olivia)

Queen Youtube: She is just like you and me

"Her Majesty Queen Rania tours Al Bokharyeh and Al Balabseh souks - two of the oldest markets in downtown Amman - on Sunday. Marking the Eid Al Adha holiday season, the Queen spoke with shopkeepers and salespeople to check on their situations during what is considered to be a peak shopping period." (thanks Marcy)

Ruling dynasties that you like and arm

"Saudi Arabia, long the major arms-buyer in the region, is now being overtaken by relative minnows such as the United Arab Emirates as they share their neighbour's fear of the growing military strength of their Shia neighbour...BAE Systems, Britain's biggest arms manufacturer, is currently delivering to Saudi Arabia an order for 72 Eurofighter Typhoon jets, which it makes as part of a European consortium.Defence spending in the kingdom is projected to rise from $43.52 billion this year (pounds 26.17 billion) to $47.4 billion (pounds 28.5billion) in 2010. But other Gulf states are catching up. Eurofighter's chief executive, Enzo Casolini, told the show he thought the Middle East would buy half the 300 Eurofighters he has set as his target sales figure by 2020. The United Arab Emirates is now the third largest arms importer in the world, after China and India, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute." (thanks Dina)

Chief PA buffoon

Yesterday, a member of Sa'ib `Urayqat's family told me stories about him but she would not let me use any of them here. Just want to tell you that.

I am not a monster, damn it

So I am around MESA (the Middle East Studies Association) convention here in Boston, as my talk (at Harvard Law School) is not until tonight. So I enter this hall yesterday to attend a panel dealing with Lebanon. First, a dear colleague asks me not to criticize the presentation of one of the speakers because she is her student. Then, another speaker comes to the podium and says to the audience: "I am sorry but I feel very nervous because I see Dr. As`ad AbuKhalil in the audience and I am afraid that he would be critical of my presentation on his blog." I felt bad. I am not like that. And I am particularly sensitive to people working on their PhDs or are early in their careers,. I can be, politically speaking, mean and nasty but that is directed at the people who deserve it, I believe. Of course, I may add: just dont mess with Palestine and the Palestinians.

Hariri Inc hearts right-wing Zionist Americal journalists

"My host on the trip was New Opinion Group, a Lebanese NGO. Created in the wake of the March 2005 Cedar Revolution, it is dedicated to "achieving a nonsectarian, democratic, and sovereign Lebanon." The small group of American journalists, policy analysts, and scholars of which I was a part met with civil society activists, professors, journalists, TV personalities, and leading politicians representing Lebanon's major sects." And then this Zionist fanatic reports this from Beirut, having spent a few days there and feeling the authority to report on Lebanese public opinion throughout the country: "One hears from all sections of Lebanese society that Israel is the key to reining in Hezbollah." And he does not shy away from offering policy advice: "Second, the United States can expand programs to support civil society in Lebanon, particularly K-12 education, and also economic development, particularly in the south..." I mean, if only the US governments heeds his advice, all Lebanese Shi`ites would be paying tribute to Alan Derwhowitz. This brilliant foreign policy brain is onto something, big. (thanks very anonymous)

To the Editor of the Economist

I read three issues of the Economist yesterday, and I counted several usages of the word "reckon". How many time do I have to tell you that it is overused in the magazine. Stop. Please.

White Farmers in Zimbabwe

As for as the British press is concerned--and that includes the Economist, there is no injustice in the world or in history that is more cruel and more savage than what befell the white farmers in Zimbabwe. The press goes nuts on that, for some reason. Race, of course, is not a factor. In fact, as far as the British press is concerned, the plight of white farmers in Zimbabwe is worse than colonialism itself.

David Ottaway

Remind me to write about the new book by David Ottaway on US-Saudi relations and the role of Prince Bandar. I finished it yesterday. I may write a long article about it for AlAkhbar, and a brief response here. David Ottaway is a serious and decent American journalist. He is not somebody to write a fawning book on the House of Saud. He has too much of self-respect. Bye for now.

Saudi Arabia

I was thinking on the plane yesterday, King `Abdullah is the weakest king ever in Saudi history. He has no constituency and no major factions within the royal family. To be sure, King Khalid who followed King Faysal did not rule much: but that was by choice. He was more into prayer and falconry, and he did not mind that Fahd rule on his behalf.

Saudi foreign policy: dissent from the neighbors

"His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah is going to pay a two-day official visit to Iran today, leading a high-level delegation. The visit, which comes at the invitation of Iran's First Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi, aims to further promote and cement historical relations between Kuwait and Iran." By the way, Oman, Qatar, UAE, and Kuwait have problems with Saudi Arabia and its foreign policy. The Arab press is not free to report on this, and the Western press has other concerns.

Lawmakers in Egyptian parliament

"Lawmakers applauded Mubarak's comments Saturday." What is the job of Egyptian lawmakers except to applaud the comments of the president. Some of the lawmakers were friends of my father, and they applauded for Nasser, and then applauded for Sadat, and then applauded for Mubarak. Do you know that the Mustafa Khalil, who led Egypt's peace with Israel process was a staunch Nasserist, under Nasser?

Israel's ambassador

I am told that the Israeli ambassador in the US, Michael Oren, is speaking at Harvard Law School a few hours before my talk. I asked the students whether I should show up at his talk to inquire about the conflict.

Chutzpah

"Palestinian Ambassador to Iraq Dalil Al-Qasus called on Arab countries during a celebration of Palestinian culture in Baghdad on Saturday to close their embassies in Israel as a sign of support to the Palestinian people." The audacity. The (un-elected) president of this ambassador takes his orders from the Israeli government, and this ambassador has the audacity to call on Arab c ountries to close their embassies?

The actual record

"The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has claimed almost 8,900 lives in two decades, the vast majority of them Palestinians, the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem said in a statement published on Sunday. Israeli forces killed 7,398 Palestinians, including 1,537 minors, both in Israel and the occupied territories during that period, while Palestinians killed 1,483 Israelis, including 139 minors, B'Tselem said."