Dictatorships that you find cute

"Amnesty International has condemned the conviction of a dissenting Tunisian journalist who has been jailed for six months on trumped up charges after an unfair trial. Taoufik Ben Brik, a prominent government critic, was sentenced on Thursday on charges of committing violence, damaging property, harming public morality and defamation."

This is Zionism

"On Friday, 13 November, soldiers were documented firing 22-caliber bullets at demonstrators during the weekly demonstration against the Separation Barrier in Ni’lin. The shots were fired a few dozen meters from the targets, and lightly wounded two demonstrators. The IDF Spokesperson’s Office confirmed that 22-caliber bullets had indeed been fired." (thanks Olivia)

Masters know what puppets will do better than puppets

"Officials in Jerusalem estimated that within a few weeks the PA will declare its willingness to return to the negotiation table as part of an agreement reached between Israel and the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah."

Injustices in Lebanon

"Khaled is not a unique case. Hundreds of young women and men live in a similar ordeal. Their main crime is being born to Lebanese women who had the misfortune of having children from non-Lebanese men. By the time you read this story, Khaled might have been deported. He has now reached an impasse. No employer will hire him and declare him. He cannot afford or navigate through the confusing and expensive administrative paperwork and red tape." (thanks Mirvat)

Did they meet or did they not? That is the question

US military commander accuses the Economist--the best magazine there is, despite its political flaws and its constant use of the word "reckon"--of Iranian connection. "General Odierno claims that we were manipulated by the Iranians. Sadly for him, that is not true; we would not have run the story without the confirmation from the American source (and the corroboration of other Westerners present when the information was confirmed). Even so, we should plainly have given greater weight to the original denials of General Odierno and Mr Hill." (thanks Raed)

What does Iraq mean to you, o Western "democrat"?

"Google CEO: A New Iraq Means Business Opportunities". (thanks Jamal)

The New York Times is opposed to imperialism--only when not at the hand of the White Man

"Saudi leaders were frightened: heavily dependent on imports, they had seen the price of rice and wheat, their dietary staples, fluctuate violently on the world market over the previous three years, at one point doubling in just a few months. The Saudis, rich in oil money but poor in arable land, were groping for a strategy to ensure that they could continue to meet the appetites of a growing population, and they wanted Zeigler’s expertise."

Dubai miracle

"“This is another wave of the credit crunch,” said Christopher Davidson, an expert in Gulf politics at Durham University in Britain. “Dubai was fairly much the worst example of overextension. It had the worst debt per capita in the world by far. I would like to put it down as a really enormous white elephant that doesn’t have much in common with the regular economy of a regular state.”" Christopher has been right all along on this. Read his piece on Dubai in Al-Akhbar more than two months ago. Dubai is lost, I think. Mark my words. The skyline will soon show empty buildings. It will be a backdrop for movies. For Egyptian movies. For B Egyptian movies. No, for cheap B Egyptian movies that could not afford shooting elsewhere in the Middle East. Sheikh Mo may have to go back being a chief of police in the city of Dubai. Books on Dubai will not be a books on the history of Dubai.

Shi`ite Madoff

""All logic and reason suddenly disappeared in one day, as well as the simplicity in life and its requirements," wrote Ibrahim al-Amin, editor in chief of Al-Akhbar, a pro-Hezbollah newspaper." Ibrahim's piece is not bad but she managed to refer to As-Safir (an Arab nationalist, secular newspaper) as pro-Hizbullah and to Al-Akhbar (a secular leftist newspaper) as "pro-Hizbullah". But yet she is citing two sources (the director/founder in the case of Al-Akhbar) who were critical of Hizbullah. Reporters have a hard time understanding that those two newspaper (and others in Lebanon) don't support Hizbullah per se but support resistance against Israel, whether by communist or fundamentalists, and whether by Lebanese or Palestinians. But I agree with the article: that Hizbullah does not have the same clean image that it once had: some figures within the party are now known for high living.

Zionism: The promise of doom for us all

"With the western allies having been entangled in two destructive and illegal wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Benny Morris (Obama's nuclear spring, 24 November) is eager and willing to start a third one. The history professor who now believes that the Nakba in 1948 did not go far enough, with too few Palestinians being ejected out of their land, is now of the opinion that Obama must give Israel the go-ahead for an attack on Iran, to destroy its nuclear potential. The coming war, which he admits will engulf not just the Middle East, but regions far beyond, is, for him and for most Israelis, seemingly unavoidable. Interestingly, there seems to be no problem with a nuclear Israel. Let's hope that for once the US president will show some resolve and fight back against the Zionist lobby, and stop this terrifying prospect of an all-out conflict in the Middle East. The advice given by Morris, Lieberman and Netanyahu is the promise of doom for us all." (thanks Dina)

More on the bunglings of the Mossad

"A trainee spy for Israel's secret service agency Mossad was arrested by Tel Aviv police while taking part in a training operation, media reports say. The young trainee was spotted by a female passer-by as he planted a fake bomb under a vehicle in the city." When the Mossad history is written, it needs to be covered in a sitcom. A farce really. This organization has become rather funny, if it was not for the wanton murders that they do. I mean, you need a movie-of-the-week about when it kidnapped the farmer Hasan Nasrallah from Ba`albak, because Mossad expert thought that he was the Hasan Nasrallah. Mossad experts think that there is only one "`Ali" and one "Muhammad" in the Arab world. (thanks Bill)

More on the Saudi-Zionist alliance

"The 54-year-old Israeli was already at the club in his second spell working as director of football. He will take charge of Saturday's home game with Manchester United in that role as his work permit needs to be changed before he can become manager." (thanks Mohamed)

The Israeli-Dahlan tour

"Attend a briefing by the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, and in Tel Aviv visit the Yitzhak Rabin Memorial in honor of the slain Israeli prime minister." (thanks Jobo)

Wahhabiyyah parading as liberalism: the case of the Hariri Movement

I have noted to you before, that after Sep. 11, Wahhabiyah propaganda has found a new way to parade before Western audiences. So-called Arab liberals who work as propagandists in Saudi media are part and parcel of this trick. Yet, Saudi media continue to fund and propagate the Wahhabi method and doctrine. Read the statements by Lebanese director of Internal Security Forces, Ashraf Rifi (who is a Hariri appointee and who is a member of the board of Prince Nayif University for Security, Torture, and Behadings) in an interview with a French magazine (printed in today's AsSafir) in which he admits that Gulf sources are responsible for funding Salafite fanatical group. And the Salafite element is a major component of the Hairri movement in Lebanon: the key figure of the Hariri movement, MP Samir Al-Jisr, said this summer that "yes, we are all Salafites". Yet, the Hariri movement is setting up an alliance of "liberal organizations" as it markets itself to Western embassies as a "liberal political movement" although Bahiyyah Al-Hariri admitted that she has been funding the fanatical group, Jund AshSham. But this liberal movement takes its clues from such Western liberals, as American Zionists. So they admitted the fascists National Liberal Party of Kamil Sham`un into the "alliance of liberals", while they turned down the Egyptian Ghad Party because the latter's criticisms of Israel and attack on the Israeli assault on Gaza is deemed "anti-Semitic." (thanks Soheil)

The Plight of Syrian workers in Lebanon

Here is a daily chronicle of the suffering of Syrian workers in the lousy potato homeland of Lebanon.

So where is your Dubai miracle?

"Fears of a dangerous new phase in the economic crisis swept around the globe yesterday as traders responded to the shock announcement that a debt-laden Dubai state corporation was unable to meet its interest bill." Remember how Arab and non-Arab Zionists were telling us that if we ignore Palestine and disregard the struggle against Israeli occupation we can enjoy a "Dubai". Where Dubai was bust, to begin with.

Dahlan Advocates: now you see the board member, now you don't

I have heard stories of how the Dahlan advocates at the Dahlan Task Force for Israel assembled its board. But the recent White House State Dinner crasher is a case in point. The fellow is a member of this lousy board of this lousy organization: it says so on Wikipedia. But suddenly, the organization's website first removed the picture and then the name of its proud board member. And to see the orientations of those Dahlanists, look at this: "Tareq gave just $1,600 in political contributions ($600 to George Allen, $1,000 to Jim Moran) over the past nine years." And for those who are not in the US, I can tell you that George Allen is one of the most fanatically anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, pro-Likud and generally racist politicians in the US. My theory is this: if Meir Kahane was still alive, he would have been invited to serve on the board of the Dahlan Task Force for Israel.

Explaining Yemen

This Saudi writer does an excellent job in explaining the Yemeni conflict. (thanks Hussein)

Socialist-Al-Qa`idah-Iran conspiracy in Yemen

`Ali `Abdullah Salih is losing his mind, literally as Joe Biden ends every sentence. I heard him make speeches this week, and I heard official statements by the Yemeni government. Basically, the Huthi rebels are accused of links with Iran, although no evidence has thus been produced. The Yemeni government and media keep promising us some damning evidence, to no avail. And the government is also accusing the Huthi rebels of connection with Al-Qa`idah, although the latter was very clear in a recent statement about the need to combat Shi`ites in the peninsula. And this week, Salih topped himself. He accused the separatist movement in the South, which is led by socialists, of links with Al-Qa`idah. I am not making this up, by the way. And the events in Yemen have to be studied in the context of the power struggle inside the Saudi royal family. As is known, many Saudi princes are assigned certain regions in the Arab world. Like Prince Muqrin deals with Lebanon, and Crown Prince `Abdullah (when he was Crown Prince), dealt with Syria, while Prince Sultan (who is dead in Morocco where his body is rotting comfortably) dealt with Yemen. After the Yemeni decision to align with Saddam back in 1990, and to refuse to vote for war at the Security Council, the Saudi government decided to sponsor and fund the socialists of South Yemen to stir up trouble for Salih. You may read about that in David Ottaway's new book, The King's Messenger. Damn. I am supposed to write something about this book here. Remind me.

Suide of foreign maids in Lebanon

Al-Akhbar puts the story of suicide of foreign maids in Lebanon on its front page.

Preparing

Bassam Haddad of George Mason University, Tartus took this picture of me while preparing for my talk this week.

Mut`ah Marriage in the southern suburbs in Beirut

A Lebanese academic who does not want to be identified sent me this about that ridiculous story about temporary marriage in the southern suburbs in Beirut: "Ridiculous. I mean I lived in Dahia all my life (Hayy al-sellum and later haret hriek)and never got to hear these stories except from people who are very foreign to the place (both Lebanese and Westerners). But even so, whatever happens there is to be criticized: whether sex was allowed, encouraged, banned or discouraged. It sucks."

‘Real Americans’ Pissed at Best Buy for Extending Holiday Wishes to Muslims

"Best Buy has struck a nerve deep in the heart of Americaland for including a “Happy Eid Al-Adha” note to Muslims in a holiday circular." (thanks Maria)

Female happiness in the US

"By most objective measures the lives of women in the United States have improved over the past 35 years, yet we show that measures of subjective well-being indicate that women's happiness has declined both absolutely and relative to male happiness. The paradox of women's declining relative well-being is found examining multiple countries, datasets, and measures of subjective well-being, and is pervasive across demographic groups. Relative declines in female happiness have eroded a gender gap in happiness in which women in the 1970s typically reported higher subjective well-being than did men. These declines have continued and a new gender gap is emerging—one with higher subjective well-being for men. Our findings raise provocative questions about the contribution of the women's movement to women's welfare and about the legitimacy of using subjective well-being to assess broad social changes." (thanks Nabeel)

NowHariri in Foreign Policy

Look at this lousy ill-informed article that mostly is based on rumors and prejudices of Saudi-financed media who only see Shi`ites through the prism of Taqiyyah and Mut`ah marriage. What Foreign Policy does not tell you is that this writer works for Hariri media in Lebanon and that the people she sites are affiliated with Hariri Inc in Lebanon. This writer works for the lousiest and most unprofessional Hariri propaganda outlet in Lebanon: Now Hariri. Just look at her articles and judge for yourselves. But you know how it is in US media: as long as the target is the enemy of the US/Israel, contributions from reporters for National Inquirer, or Hariri Inquirer, are welcome. On the topic of Mut`ah marriage in Lebanon: I can tell you this. Those reports are wildly exaggerated, and spread by the same Wahhabi/Hariri media outlets that have been spinning fitnah between Sunnis and Shi`ites. (thanks Michel)

An Army that does not defend Lebanon but bullies the refugees

"Access to Nahr al-Bared's outskirts as well as to the construction site is still controlled by the Lebanese army. Amr Saededine, a journalist closely following developments in Nahr al-Bared points to the army as a big obstacle to the reconstruction process. "The army interferes in anything. Nahr al-Bared was declared a military zone. But this here is a civilian area, not an army base!""

Mr. and Mrs. God

"In another revelation not usually found in Sunday School classes, Mr. Wright cites Biblical evidence that God (both El and Yahweh) had a sex life, rather like the Greek gods, and notes archaeological discoveries indicating that Yahweh may have had a wife, Asherah."

Make peace with Israel and your country will suddenly become pleasant and pretty, according to the New York Times

Do you notice that the Israeli-centric standards of the New York Times even influence its non-political sections? Look at this case for Jordan: "But treat Amman as a mere way station between destinations and you miss discovering what is perhaps the most pleasant city in the Middle East. Calling a place “pleasant” may seem like faint praise, but in Amman pleasant covers areas like religious tolerance, personal safety, an agreeable climate (at more than 3,000 feet above sea level, Amman is delightful spring, summer and fall) and the availability of French Champagne and excellent sushi. In this strife-torn region, pleasant is no small shakes." (thanks Basel)

The Dahlan advocates are embarrassed

"One would think an organization based primarily on high-level access to power would be happy to have a board member at President Barack Obama’s first state dinner. The American Task Force for Palestine (ATFP), however, has removed from its website Tareq (Tarek) Salahi, the most famous party crasher in the world. He, along with his wife, snuck into the state dinner Tuesday night. This screen shot of their website shows Salahi listed as a member of the board of directors less than a week ago. Today, his image is gone."

Lebanese Air Force

Zee planes. Zeee planes. (thanks Yassine)

The Lebanese Quack

Laure sent me this about Zayn Al-Athat (the Lebanese quack that I wrote about yesterday): "I have to comment of this Zayn Al-Athat. Once a woman calls on his show and asks him "Do you have a cream to enlarge cheeks. My face is too skinny. I lost weigh lately". He was puzzled for a moment then found the solution and he said "You know I have this cream to enlarge boobs, put some on your face. It has the same effect."

Horrors that the West likes

"The New York-based group Human Rights Watch has called on Saudi Arabia to overturn a death sentence given to a man convicted of practising witchcraft."

Not with Israelis or with Algerians: for Jamal Mubarak only

This Egyptian soccer player does not want to play with either Israelis or Algerians. (thanks Khalid)

The Israeli people heart Ethnic cleansing

"Transfer of Arabs from the Palestinian Authority to actual Arab countries was the most popular solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict, according to a poll this week by Israel National News. Of the more than 6,400 people surveyed, 53.2 said 'Transfer of Palestinians to another Arab country' when asked, "What's the best solution for the Arab-Israeli conflict?"" (thanks Ghassan)

Ray Hanania: neither funny nor smart

"2. I oppose violence of any kind from and by anyone. I reject Hamas' participation in any Palestinian government without first agreeing to surrender all arms and to accept two-states as a "final" peace agreement. But I also reject allowing Israeli settlers to carry any weapons and believe Israelis must impose the same restrictions on them." Notice that he wants to completely disarm Hamas, while only wanting to "restrict" settlers' arm, while allowing Israel to continue to enjoy its massive arsenal of WMDs. Oh, but this dude wants Israel to offer an apology. Oh, yeah? That will settle it for you? If Ray Hanania is funny, I would have said stick to comedy, but he is not. So I will only say: try something new. Carpentry or retail or something. (thanks Olivia)

Ignorance mixed with bigotry=Caldwell

"The most egregious examples of Caldwell's aliens are Muslims, because, as he sees it, they are less susceptible to European cultural influences than other immigrant groups such as Slavs, Sikhs, Hindus, non-Muslim Africans, and African-Caribbeans....Nor does Caldwell exhibit any familiarity with the rich literature describing the spread of Islam in peripheral cultures such as sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia, where a religion originating in Arabia proved every bit as adept as Christianity in adjusting to local conditions. He has similarly failed to familiarize himself, even superficially, with the vast literature charting the encounter between Islam and modern Western society. In his review of Western attitudes toward Islam he prefers to celebrate the prejudices of writers such as Ernest Renan (in 1883) or Hilaire Belloc (in 1938) than to engage with significant Muslim thinkers such as Muhammad Iqbal, Fazlur Rahman, Muhammed Arkoun, or Abdullahi an-Naim who might challenge his essentialist assumptions. Caldwell's "Islam" owes more to tabloid headlines than to responsible research. To borrow a phrase of Philip Lewis, it exemplifies the need for greater religious literacy in the post–September 11 era." (thanks "Ibn Rushd)

Most influential?

"He is followed by Iran's Supreme Leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, King Abdullah II of Jordan and Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan." How accurate or credible is this list which puts the King of Jordan in the "most influential" category. Just ask yourselves: do you know of any Muslim anywhere in the world who considers the King of Jordan influential in her/his life? Enough said. (thanks Suad)

Help

I have a video recording file of my talk at Harvard Law School from this week. But it only plays in Quicktime. Can somebody email me to help in putting it on youtube so that I can link to it here? You may email me if you know how.

Lebanese military parade

So I was away but made sure to record the Lebanese military parade on Independence Day. I am not exaggerating when I say the parade consisted of showing trucks, jeeps, fire trucks, and ambulances. Kid you not. The funny thing about Lebanon is that there is no notion of scale or of appropriateness or of standards or of insanity.

Infomercials in Lebanon

Infomercials in Lebanon are huge now. They are everywhere. One of them is by this alleged crook called Zayn Al-Athat. He promotes various "health" products. He sells a cream that you can use on your head to grow hair, or in...not your head for hemorrhoids. Kid you NOT. Today, he was selling a shampoo; it comes in two flavors. One will put you to sleep--yes, the damn shampoo--and the other will wake you up and give you energy. I was told that the Amal Minister of Health, Muhammad Khalifah (a competent physician) wanted to ban this guy and restrict his activities but that Nabih Birri reigned him in because Randa Birri is allegedly a partner with Atat.

Demographics of this site

The demographics of this site has been changing. Increase in visits from Middle East countries for some reason.

It is not a conspiracy when it is annouced in broad daylight

"He said the Israeli government and the Obama administration are both committed to strengthening the leadership of Mahmoud Abbas."

Hassan Fattah and his brand of investigative, daring journalism

For you, o House of Nahyan:
"On the correct way to act during a chance meeting with Emirati royalty."

Countries of the Arabian Peninsula

""[T]he countries of the Arabian Peninsula are key partners... CENTCOM ground, air, maritime, and special operations forces participate in numerous operations and training events, bilateral and multilateral, with our partners from the Peninsula. We help develop indigenous capabilities for counter terrorism; border, maritime, and critical infrastructure security; and deterring Iranian aggression. As a part of all this, our FMS [Foreign Military Sales] and FMF [Foreign Military Financing] programs are helping to improve the capabilities and interoperability of our partners' forces. We are also working toward an integrated air and missile defense network for the Gulf. All of these cooperative efforts are facilitated by the critical base and port facilities that Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE [United Arab Emirates], and others provide for US forces."" (thanks Dale)

A Palestinian propped up by the enemies of the Palestinians

"Abbas, for his part, holds sway in the occupied West Bank, his administration largely propped up by Israel." (thanks Olivia)