"terror" in the French revolution and Israel

I have had enough with your talk about "terror" in the French revolution.  During the reign of the Committee, the number of victims were a very small percentage of what the Israeli terrorist state managed to kill in a few months in 1982 in Lebanon.  The terrorist state of Israel killed some 20,000 Lebanese, Palestinians, and Syrians mostly civilians.  

a petition to the UK government

Activists in the UK have been asking me to sign this petition.  I won't on at least two counts.  We want an apology to erase the historic crime of taking over Palestine and forcibly expelling its population? Are you kidding me? And toward what end? To service the "peace process"?  Are you kidding me again.  An apology?  

Israeli deliberately target journalists but Western journalists still find that to be cute

""The Foreign Press Association on Sunday accused the Israeli army of "deliberately targeting" journalists after soldiers fired rubber bullets and threw stun grenades at photojournalists clearly identified as press.""

socialist lies

""Late October, French President François Hollande expressed his indignation over the revelation of the National Security Agency's spying on major European leaders and citizens. New documents revealed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden to French newspaper Le Monde, however, show a completely different reality. Indeed, the General Direction of Exterior Services (DGSE), the French intelligence agency, works closely with the NSA and its British equivalent, the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ)"" (thanks Amir) 

Thomas Friedman has a big mouth

The Gulf affair in Abu Dhabi in which Shimon Peres addressed (via video) the foreign ministers at the invitation of sons of Zayid and Saudi princes was supposed to be a secret, but Friedman publicized it and now the GCC officials are frantic in handling the embarrassment. 

Max Fisher on why Israel is a victim: this man makes Thomas Friedman sounds like Hegel

"Tehran actively supports the Gaza-based militant group Hamas and the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah, both of which have long records of attacking Israel and killing Israelis."  You are supposed to read this and sigh: poor Israel.  He also meant to say that Israel has a very short record of attacking Tunisia, Sudan, Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria and killing Arabs.  Very short record.  Is this guy for real?

Propaganda to go: Max Fisher on Israeli nuclear weapons

"Of course, many Westerners would likely argue that Israel's weapons are morally and historically defensible in a way that an Iranian program would not be, both because of Israel's roots in the Holocaust and because it fought a series of defensive wars against its neighbors. "Israel has never given any reason to doubt its solely defensive nature," said Robert Satloff, executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, summarizing the American position. "Israel has never brandished its capabilities to exert regional influence, cow its adversaries or threaten its neighbors.""  Run that by me again? How did you go form the Holocaust to Israeli nuclear weapons?  So if the Jews of Europe were to be threatened again, Israel would throw the bomb in their defense?  Have you taken basic courses in logic, ever?  

After two days in Saudi Arabia, Thomas Friedman shares his observations

"King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, who in Gulf Arab terms is a real progressive, remains widely popular". (thanks "Ibn Rushd")

Wahhabi analysis of International Relations

This is the dumbest analysis of international relations that I have read this season: written by a columnist in the mouthpiece of Prince Khalid bin Sultan:  "Beyond that, it is not difficult to recognize cultural sympathy--American and European, Right-wing and left-wing--for Persians more than for Arabs, and for Shi`ites more than Sunnis".

"فوق هذا، ليس من الصعب استبيان عاطفة ثقافيّة، أميركيّة وأوروبيّة، يمينيّة ويساريّة، تستسيغ الفرس أكثر من العرب، والشيعة أكثر من السنّة"

it is a borderless world alas

""A 'borderless world' they call it, as they try to persuade the world to drop national borders and 'go global'. Everybody, that is, except the US, UK, (and 'little Israel'). So when China asserts that it is a sovereign state, the White House, Pentagon and their friends go ballistic.""

All what you have done to our people is registered in notebooks

""Israeli police officers shot and killed a Palestinian laborer in the Petah Tikva area, north of historic Palestine, after chasing him. The police also kidnapped 20 of the workers."" (thanks Amir)

His Last Speech: Maximilien Marie Isidore Robespierre (1758–94)

"THE ENEMIES of the Republic call me tyrant! Were I such they would grovel at my feet."

BBC Whitewash

""In keeping with the BBC theme of a kindly Israel, reporter Tim Whewell reports that "Israel has built towns specially for them [the Bedouin], and is now building more." Since that report in January, as international outrage has grown against what will be Israel's single biggest act of ethnic cleansing against Palestinians since 1948, the BBC's news programs have fallen silent on Prawer.""

One Palestinian child has been killed by Israel every 3 days for the past 13 years

"One Palestinian child has been killed by Israel every 3 days for the past 13 years"

Saudi foreign policy

I really strongly recommend that you read the chapter "Saudi Arabia and the 1948 Palestine War: beyond the official history" by comrade Madawi Al-Rasheed in Eugene Rogan and Avi Shlaim, eds., The War for Palestine: Rewriting the History of 1948. (the second edition, by Cambridge University Press).  It sheds light on real determinants of Saudi foreign policy.

Look at this news in Saudi media

"Suspected Ethiopian illegals attacked a Saudi man and engraved a Christian cross on his chest with an edged piece of metal before fleeing the scene on Saturday, media reports said." (thanks Mohammad)

Rod Nordland is furious that anyone would be upset by American shooting of civilians at Afghanistan

This non-expert of the Middle East who covers the Middle East is outraged that Karzai (for his own political reasons) would express outrage at regular stories of US murder of Afghan civilians.  So what he does is that he basically expressed his own views and put it in the mouth of "Afghans" (see the headline) or to puppets of the US in the Afghan government.  "The disparity in the Afghan president’s reaction has been rued by American officials here, but little commented upon, to avoid a messy diplomatic squabble in an already troubled alliance. Now it has started to draw criticism among many Afghans, who complain that their president has been looking for excuses to besmirch the Americans and delay signing a vitally important security deal with them, while overlooking equally serious or even worse abuses attributed to the Taliban.

In short, many Afghans have begun asking, Who exactly are our enemies here? The Americans, who underwrite our government and military but now say they will be forced to withdraw in 2015 without a security deal? Or the Taliban, who have a history of killing officials even remotely connected with the government — a policy that has apparently begun to claim the lives even of some independent relief workers?"  Is this a foreign policy dispatch or an editorial? If the purpose is to serve US national war interests it does not matter really. But wait: Mr. Nordland did base his generalization on a survey of the Afghan people, here it is:  "“We were so shocked by the president’s decision on postponing the signing of the B.S.A.,” one high-ranking official said..." 

The first American Anarchist

It is agreed that the first American anarchist was Josiah Warren.  But the last biography of the man was written in 1906.

Some are saying that this is Sisi from an Egyptian movie starring Mahmud Yasin.

death sentence to Camp David

This is from the engineering school at Alexandria University and the students were chanting: "Tomorrow the revolutionary people will certainly apply the death sentence to Camp David".  (thanks Hossam)

Riyadh as a world city

Saudis on Facebook on Twitter have been mocking House of Saud in the wake of the recent flooding that exposed the bad infrastructure of the city.  They put a contrast between an interview with Prince Salman in which he predicted in 1975 that by 1985 Riyadh would be a world city comparable to the largest world cities.  Contrast that with this video below

Israeli assistance to Syrian rebels?

This front-page article in As-Safir talks about recent Israeli military assistance to Syrian rebels.  Surprised? 

I can't believe that Cambridge University Press would publish such a trashy Zionist book: Antisemitism and the American Far Left

As you know, I do read the production of Zionists in the media and academia, often times to relish their poverty of ideas and logic.  I also enjoy realizing that Zionist propaganda in the 21st century is as bad, crude, and vulgar as Ba`thist propaganda of the 20th century.  Take Stephen Norwood's Anti-Semitism and the American Far Left published by Cambridge University Press.  The author maintains: "Of course, administrators consistently ignore situations when campus opponents of Israel create a hostile environment for Jewish students."  (p. 239).  Of course, he does not tell us how and why this is related to "the far left" and he does not even bother to explain as for the evidence of his generalization about campuses across the US? He relies on "One student testified that her Islamic studies professor told her she was not "Semitic".(p. 239).  He also claims (shame on Cambridge University Press if not for publishing the propaganda of this book at least for the stupidity between its covers) "many university administrators" adopted the "Bandung Conference" and he adds that the Bandung conference is anti-Semitic because Nasser and Sukarno excluded Israel from it. (p. 238).  I am not making this up.  He also faults the "New Left"--not to be confused with the "Far Left" of the book for undermining "public perception of the Holocaust as unique by accusing the United States of waging a genocidal war in Vietnam".  So in order to preserve the uniqueness of the Holocaust, we should have maintained that the US was being merciful and kind in Vietnam?  Of course, like all Zionists he freely uses anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism interchangeably or he uses this expression: "virulent anti-Zionism laced with anti-Semitism" (p. 236).  I have one question for Cambridge University Press: would they publish a book that claims that Arab and Muslim students in the US suffer from a "hostile environment" due to the overwhelming Zionism of the country?  The guy is so lacking in basic knowledge and elementary education that he claims that "university courses on European, American, and Middle Eastern history have rarely addressed the issue of anti-Semitism, or even the Jewish experience".  (p. 236).  I really would like to meet the professors who read this manuscript and recommended its publication.  

The ethnic cleanser of the 21st century

"Tens of thousands of Palestinian Bedouin are being forcibly displaced from their homes and lands. At the same time, there are Israeli government advertisements on the web that promise you funding as a British immigrant to come and live in 'vibrant communities' in the Negev – if you are Jewish. This is ethnic cleansing." "

Repeat after me: Israel has no nuclear weapons, and if it does, they are harmless

" "Going back 10 years into Post archives, I could not find any in-depth reporting on Israeli nuclear capabilities." To be fair to the Post, if you look for such featured pieces in other major media outlets, you also will not find them. For example, according to LexisNexis, since Jan. 1, 2000, "Iran" and "nuclear" appear in New York Times headlines 603 times; "Israel" and "nuclear" appear 21 times."" (thanks Amir)

When the US government pushes for a puppet

I saw this headline on the politically sleazy (and notoriously unreliable) Saudi news website of the news station of King Fahd's brother-in-law, Al-Arabiyya.  It claimed that Mustafa Abdul-NATO is the most popular man in Libya.  I really had my suspicious and read further to find out that the poll was conducted by the DNI.  I mean, I know that the US is not pleased with `Ali Zaydan but come on.  Also, can someone tell me how the DNI was able to conduct the survey in war-torn Libya these days?

The first time I heard the word "thug"

I have been expressing my outrage at the plight of the `Alawites of Lebanon: they have no defenders really because it is a small community and has no real sectarian allies (they are viewed religiously either as infidels or just plain weird).  And their leader, `Ali `Id is thug who aligned the community with the Asad regime.  The first time I heard the word thug was from Hanna Batatu who told me the story of `Id. He was his student at AUB before the civil war. He told me that he used to frequent a nightclub at Zaytunah in its heyday and noticed that a Saudi prince has a table there.  He cooked a scheme whereby he started a fight with the prince and his entourage and then claimed that he became disabled and sued the prince for a lot of money.  Batatu told me that he was healthy but would come to class in a wheelchair pending the verdict of the court.  He then told me that he was a "thug".  I asked what is a "thug", and he said: Az`ar.

JINSA

Take a look at the corporate sponsors of JINSA--one of the most militant Zionist organizations in the US. (thanks Krim)

How to ward off evil: ask this clerical kook

"Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah al-Sheikh, in a speech delivered Wednesday in the western city of Medina, said the issue of giving women the right to drive should not be "one of society's major concerns". The kingdom's most senior cleric called for "the matter to be considered from the perspective of protecting society from evil" which, according to him, included letting women drive." (thanks Basim)

A reactionary history of the Lebanese Left: brought to you by The Rosa Luxemburg Foundation

My weekly article for Al-Akhbar:  "A Reactionary History of the Lebanese Left".

sign against the Sisi dictator

A man is arrested for trying to display a sign against the Sisi tyrant. (thanks Yusuf)

If a Middle Eastern newspaper published this headline, it would be condemned as anti-Semitic

"Iranian nuclear deal strains Obama's relations with big Jewish donors".

Yet, in the US, Israel is still marketed as a progressive experiment

"In a country in which there is no curse more poisonous than “leftist,” there is no fabrication more baseless than branding these people and institutions as such. Every suspect has become persecuted, every “leftist” has become a synonym for traitor, at the same time that being right wing or even extremist and violent has become a badge of honor in Israeli society."

It is Arabic, damn it

"Arabic is ranked as a more important language for children to learn in school than French in a report published by the British Council today."

I can't get over this

I still can't get over this: Western journalists who can't speak Arabic and can't follow this man's conversation declared this Islamist fanatic (and Al-Qa`idah ally) to be charismatic.

when looking at the poor

"A Princeton University psychology professor, Susan Fiske, has found that when research subjects hooked up to neuro-imaging machines look at photos of the poor and homeless, their brains often react as if they are seeing things, not people. Her analysis suggests that Americans sometimes react to poverty not with sympathy but with revulsion."

Who is worse than Morsi's rule? The sisi regime that sentenced those girls for demonstrating

And now a word from the peace lobby

"Therefore, the United States needs to increase pressure by making it abundantly clear to Iran
that it will either use military force if necessary to prevent a nuclear Iran, or support Israel’s
efforts to do so. To this end, the Administration could bolster its credibility by shoring up
and clarifying its declaratory policy. American leaders should also refrain from making any
more public statements undermining the viability of U.S. or Israeli military action, and instead
reiterate at regular intervals that the United States will always be supportive of the fundamental
right of Israel and other regional allies to ensure their self-defense".

spending on democracy

leading

protecting democracy from its foes

""U.S.-allied petro states there grew rich, buying U.S. armaments and fighter jet squadrons. U.S. strategic interests led it to launch Gulf wars in 1991 and 2003. The greatest symbol of U.S. presence and power in the region is the Navy's 5th Fleet, docked in the tiny sheikdom of Bahrain. Comprising some 30 ships and 20,000 personnel, the fleet protects the Persian Gulf and the Red and Arabian seas.""

What civilian casualties?

""US-led NATO forces in Afghanistan on Friday vowed to investigate an airstrike that President Hamid Karzai said killed a two-year-old boy, as acrimony deepens over a deal to allow US troops to stay in the country after 2014.""

Israeli war on children

""For children like four-year-old Muhammad al-Majid, there is no safety even inside their houses, as Israeli occupation forces can invade any time of day or night. As of 30 September, 179 Palestinian children were imprisoned and prosecuted in the Israeli military court system, according to DCI.""

Can you imagine the international uproar if a government were to "ban", say, Judaism?

""Angola has been accused of "banning" Islam after shutting down most of the country's mosques amid reports of violence and intimidation against women who wear the veil. The Islamic Community of Angola (ICA) claims that eight mosques have been destroyed in the past two years and anyone who practises Islam risks being found guilty of disobeying Angola's penal code."" (thanks Amir)

the end of an Empire

""Fifty-year-old documents that have finally been transferred to the [British] National Archive show that bonfires were built behind diplomatic missions across the globe as the purge – codenamed Operation Legacy – accompanied the handover of each colony.
The declassified documents include copies of an instruction issued in 1961 by Iain Macleod, colonial secretary, that post-independence governments should not be handed any material that "might embarrass Her Majesty's [the] government", that could "embarrass members of the police, military forces, public servants or others eg police informers", that might betray intelligence sources, or that might "be used unethically by ministers in the successor government"." (thanks Regan)