Hitler's mentors

""Large numbers of men were castrated with pliers. Others were raped, sometimes with the use of knives, broken bottles, rifle barrels and scorpions. Women had similar instruments forced into their vaginas. The guards and officials sliced off ears and fingers, gouged out eyes, mutilated women's breasts with pliers, poured paraffin over people and set them alight. Untold thousands died."" (thanks Amir)

Science in the US Congress

""Planet Earth is "about 9,000 years old," and the study of evolution, embryology, and the Big Bang Theory is based on "lies straight from the pit of Hell," according to a Congressman responsible for crafting US government policy on science and technology.""

Lara Logan wants America to "exact revenge"

"Logan even called for retribution for the recent terrorist killings of Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, and three other officials. The event is a harbinger of our vulnerability, she said. Logan hopes that America will “exact revenge and let the world know that the United States will not be attacked on its own soil. That its ambassadors will not be murdered, and that the United States will not stand by and do nothing about it.”" (thanks Tom)

If this was at a synagogue, it would have been a front page headline in the New York Times

""Though his modest two-story mosque has been the target of three serious threats over the past year — last week a bottle of gasoline was left at the entrance and the structure plastered with "Defeat Jihad" posters — he remains steadfast, refusing to be intimidated.""

Walid Jumblat

"It all quickly veers into the absurd. The man whose fighters rained artillery down on U.S. Marines during the Lebanese civil war -- and who speaks bitterly about U.S. foreign-policy crimes to this day -- maintains that he "would have preferred to be a garbage man in [New York City] than a zaim[feudal leader] in Lebanon." The man who is now supporting the Syrian uprising had visited Assad only a year prior to the revolt, after offering his apologies for his earlier "indecent comments.""

Like George W. Bush: he believes in "traditional values"

"One of the main rebel leaders at this stage is Jamal Maarouf, more commonly known as Abu Khalid, the founder of Syria's Martyrs Brigades, a rebel group that now fields around 45,000 fighters. Abu Khalid's troops in his home base of Jabal al-Zawiya, a mountainous area in the northern province of Idlib, are likely around 10,000 to 12,000 men -- the rest of his fighting force agreed to join his ranks after developing a certain rapport with him over the past few months. A pious man and husband to three women -- polygamy is pretty common in rural areas throughout Syria -- Abu Khalid stands for traditional values, a mixture of Islam and rural mores, rather than political ideology. He does not advocate the establishment of an Islamic state, is wary of Salafi groups, and hates the Muslim Brotherhood. In operational matters, however, he cooperates with them all. It's this pragmatic streak that distinguishes most rebel leaders."

Nasib Makarim and Arabic calligraphy

Nasib Makarim is in my judgement the best Arabic calligrapher of the last two centuries.  So much of the Arabic calligraphy out there are attempts to mimic his style.  So much of the Arabic official insignia and loges and official signatures were designed by him.  I also like that Ottoman calligrapher who designed the official seal of the Sultan: what was his name?

Madeleine Albright

Madeleine Albright reminds me very much of Thomas Friedman: they both are talented in making any topic of discussion or debate shallow and superficial, and this could be why people in the public relate to them and prefer them to other more serious pundits on foreign policy.  I was taking a graduate course on Soviet Foreign Policy at Georgetown in 1984 with Angela Stent and she invited Albright for a guest lecture.  It was such a joke and felt that Albright herself does not take herself seriously.  Reading her account of her experience in the Clinton administration confirmed my impression of her as a Thomas Friedman-like commentator. And who told her that she was funny? Maybe the same person who told Friedman that he was funny.

Democracy Now headlines

Karen sent me this:  "Democracy Now never headlined anything about the murders of Palestinians over the past few days - not one - until today: "Palestinians Fire Rockets After Deadly Israeli Attack""

US pursues policies in Syria akin to its policies toward the Iran-Iraq war: let both sides kill each other for a long time

"As a result, the rebels have just enough weapons to maintain a stalemate, the war grinds on and more jihadist militants join the fray every month."

Anti-Semitic trash in Saudi Gazette

"The concept of freedom of expression was capitalized on and used against other faiths, of course, including Christianity. I remember that three decades ago when I came to the UAE, I found the Arabic translation of a book titled “Jews are at the back of all crimes”. Now, the recent sacrilegious insults leveled at the Holy Qur’an and Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) remind me of the abovementioned book. I am afraid it is the hand of the Jews pulling the strings of puppets to bring about a clash between Muslims and Christians, the two major communities of the world."  MEMRI and Western Zionists no more report on Saudi anti-Semitism out of respect for the Israeli-Saudi alliance. (thanks "Ibn Rushd")

John F Kennedy writes to his father from Palestine, 1939

This is the full text of the letter from the official JFK library.  (thanks Joseph)

More secret documents on Syria from House of Saud

The Al-Arabiyya fake documents on Syria have been widely mocked and ridiculed by Arabs on Facebook and Twitter.  This was produced as an example: It says that "we take responsibility for all political assassinations in Lebanon and admit Hizbullah's involvement in undertaking them.  The failure of our chef in preparing Barziq.  John Lennon was killed by Air Force Intelligence under the orders of Hafidh Al-Asad."

How Romney will promote democracy in the Middle East

You have to reconcile this:  "And I will make it clear to the recipients of our aid that, in return for our material support, they must meet the responsibilities of every decent modern government—to respect the rights of all of their citizens, including women and minorities… to ensure space for civil society, a free media, political parties, and an independent judiciary… and to abide by their international commitments to protect our diplomats and our property." with this:  "I will deepen our critical cooperation with our partners in the Gulf. "

This is the most imaginative foreign policy initiative in years if not decades

"I will put the leaders of Iran on notice..."  I am sure that Iranian leaders would shift policies and end the nuclear program after being put on notice by Romney.

Romney: another Obama

On this Romney and Obama are in agreement:  "I will deepen our critical cooperation with our partners in the Gulf. "

New York Times headline about Israeli terrorism

Mike sent me this:  "Trying to wrap my head around this NYT headline: "Israel Launches Air-strikes After Attack from Gaza".

Of course this headline conceals the fact that the first attack in this recent spate was launched by Israel. Hilariously the NYT reveals in the first sentence of their article the absurdity and misleading nature of the headline: "Gaza fired a barrage of rockets......after an Israeli airstrike wounded at least 10 Palestinians in southern Gaza on Sunday."

Human Rights Watch

I read that Human Rights Watch objected to the articles of the new Egyptian constitution.  It would have been nice to have heard the voice of HRW against the Mubarak and Sadat constitutions or their criticisms of the no-constitutions countries of Israel and Saudi Arabia.

stupid Hizbullah media

Hizbullah media likes Franklin Lamb because he makes things up for them. 

Subhi Tufayli

Subhi Tufayli is the ugliest face of Hizbullah ever in its history.  He was a mere agent of Iranian intelligence because he had no independent power base in Lebanon.  He represented the party in its worst phases when it engaged in horrific acts.  Yet, this man is now in the Saudi-American-Qatari-Hariri camp.  Please enjoy him. (thanks Sultan)

Oil and gas media

How Aljazeera (station of Thani dynasty) and Al-Arabiyya (station of Saud dynasty) covered the demonstration in Jordan.  (thanks Joseph)

racism at Beirut airport

"While waiting to board there was a group of foreign workers sitting with the rest of the passengers waiting for their turn. They were behaving normally as any other group of passengers would. Then sadly, the lady (looking at her uniform she apparently works for MEA Ground Services and not Air Arabia) at the gate announced on loud speaker (over the whole system covering the airport) the following: “Filipino people stop talking”; then she started giggling about it with the macho gentleman who was with her at the gate. They continued their racist behavior by announcing again “Filipino Nepal people talking not allowed here” and on and on.
Shocked, I obviously became furious and approached them and explained that this racist and discriminatory behavior is not acceptable, impolite and does not at the least reflect what employees at Beirut Airport should stand for (not to imply it’s acceptance in any other situation of course)." (thanks Souheil)

Even Israeli sychological operations are so dumb now

Look at this:  ""Israeli warplanes swooped low over Lebanese villages Sunday in a menacing show of force apparently aimed at the Hezbollah guerrilla group after a mysterious raid by an unmanned aircraft that was shot out of Israeli skies over the weekend.""  Menacing?  People are scared of your planes flying over their heads?  They have seen that for decades.  But I tell you what people in South Lebanon think: that Israel is now scared of Hizbullah's wrath.  In the past, Israel would bomb Lebanon at the drop of a hat.  Now, it does not dare.  Does not dare.  (thanks Ali)

Venezuelan elections

I must confess that I feel cheated in the Venezuelan election today.  Not because I am not a fan of Chavez, but because I feel that my taxpayers money that most likely went to his opponent was wasted.

Greenwald

By far, Glenn Greenwald is the most courageous American commentator working today.  By far.

sanctions as terrorism

""I have one other question: if "terrorism" means the use of violence aimed at civilians in order to induce political change from their government, what is it called when intense economic suffering is imposed on a civilian population in order to induce political change from their government? Can those two tactics be morally distinguished?""

blacks should be grateful for slavery

""… the institution of slavery that the black race has long believed to be an abomination upon its people may actually have been a blessing in disguise. The blacks who could endure those conditions and circumstances would someday be rewarded with citizenship in the greatest nation ever established upon the face of the Earth."" (thanks Amir)

Ikhwan report card

"Speaking to a crowd of tens of thousands in Cairo at Egypt's largest sports stadium, Morsi claimed that scientific methods used to gauge progress on the five issues gave him a success rate of 80 percent on bread, 60 percent on traffic, 40 percent on garbage collection, 85 percent on fuel and 70 percent on security."  And 0 on honesty and 0 on consistency and 0 on fulfillment of promises.  (thanks Basim)

Israel terrorism, as usual

"An Israeli air strike against Palestinian militants wounded eight bystanders and prompted Palestinian retaliation Sunday. Israel struck targets in the Gaza Strip Monday."  Imagine if Israeli bystanders were hit by a Palestinian bomb.  Would the US paper report on their injury with this casualness?  Imagine if the NYT reported that casually: a bomb exploded in Tel Aviv injuring some eight Israeli bystanders. 

Ziad Rahbani

My latest blog post for Al-Akhbar English on Ziad Rahbani.

Lebanon has planes

The caption above says: "a small plane violated Israeli airspace".  The caption of the kid says: "So that they will know that we too have planes."  By comrade `Imad Ba`albaki.

Your press won't show this: 11 Palestinians were hit by Israeli terrorist bombs yesterday

(Reuters)

Netanyahu on his good relatiosn with House of Saud (CORRECTION)

Netanyahu admits that he has good relations with Saudi Arabia. (thanks Mounzer)

PS Correction.  I was alerted that he did not say that the relations were "good" but he did speak about mutual interests.  I took Hebrew at the Livermore synagogue years ago but did not keep it up. 

Venezuela

Do you have doubt?  The biggest violator of the freedom of the election in Venezuela is the US, and not Chavez.  Do you have doubts that the US is running the other guy?  Do you have to be foolish enough to wait 30 years for the documents to be released?

Or

Israel anounced that either Iran or Hizbullah are behind the drone over Palestine. Israel added that it is possible that Cuba or Venezuela or North Korea were behind it.

Syrian revolution myths

"The greatest myth about the Syrian revolution is that it is being armed and trained, and effectively working in the interests of the Western powers and its Arab allies."  Of course, it is not. We all know that the Syrian revolution is armed and financed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. (thanks Max)

They are liars

A former Muslim Brotherhood leader in Egypt admits: that the Ikhwans were opposed to Camp David and to peace with Israel and now speak about "respecting international treaties". (thanks Seif)

Moderate beheading

Israeli newspapers now describe the Saudi kingdom as "a moderate" Arab country.

The case of Shakir Hamoodi

Damon sent me this: "I don't know if you are aware of the case of Dr. Shakir Hamoodi and have posted about it on your blog. If not, please consider doing so. Dr. Shakir Hamoodi is an Iraqi-American who was imprisoned for three years for merely transfering money to his family in Iraq during the sanctions period. People are trying to start a campaign to get him pardoned or have his sentence commutted. I have included links to an article by Glenn Greenwald and the family's website.

The King of love

"Dr. Muhammad Al-Oqla, president of the Madinah Islamic University, said the king’s initiative was aimed at overcoming the obstacles of mistrust and conflict that threaten world peace and stability. It also works on building bridges of communication and love among civilizations to ensure understanding and cooperation among nations." (thanks Basim)

The war of Ikhwan on the poor in Egypt

The Muslim Brotherhood prepares to fight the poor in Egypt.  (thanks Joseph)

Seclar Wahhabiyyah

"The Saudi government appears to be trying to finance more secular rebel groups, Maysara said, while the Qataris appear to be closer to the Muslim Brotherhood."  It would be more accurate to say: Saudi Arabia funds Salafis group while Qatar funds the Ikhwan but the Syrian Ikhwans have benefited from Saudi funding for years.  Furthermore, secular armed groups are not identified in the article unless `Abd-ur-Razzaq Tlas and the Tlas defectors are not considered secular.

`Uqab Saqr: dancer (for House of Saud) and arms dealer

"The Saudi government has not officially acknowledged providing arms to the rebels, and the public face of its aid has been charitable support, including a much publicized donation campaign for Syrian refugees during the holy month of Ramadan in July and August. The government is also paying the salaries of many defected Syrian officers, and financing medical assistance to Syrian refugees.

But at the Turkish border town of Antakya late last month, Syrian rebels spoke openly of the Saudi and Qatari intermediaries who dole out weapons on behalf of their governments. The chief Saudi supplier is said to be a Lebanese figure named Okab Saqr, who belongs to the political coalition of Saudi Arabia’s chief ally in Lebanon, Saad Hariri."  The article does not say that he is a member of parliament in the Lebanese parliament.  He is seen above being invited by Prince Salman to dance for Saudi princes--literally.

This crook is blaming the Jews for his problems

So this Lebanese charlatan has fled the US to Lebanon:  ("Tarek W. Wehbe, 46, has been a fugitive since he failed to show up for a court appearance in 2008 for a 152-count indictment that accused him of billing Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance companies $2.9 million for drugs he never bought, office visits that never happened and treatments that were never administered.").  New TV traced him in Lebanon and interviewed him.  He said that he did nothing wrong but that Jews plotted his downfall because he is successful.  I kid you not.  He is nicknamed: Dr. Feelgood

Muhammad Al-Madani: a holocaust denier working for Western media

So today, it was announced that Syrian writer, Muhammad Al-Madain, died under torture in a jail of the murderous Syrian regime.  You will read obituaries of him everywhere: he was a sure victim of the lousy regime.  And he was a secret correspondent for many Western media but what you will not read about him is that he was a vicious hater of Jews and Judaism and was a loud holocaust denier.  So it is a revolution that welcomes Salafis, Jihadists, Ba`thists, murderers, spies, torturers and holocaust deniers into its ranks.  This is your revolution, not mine.